Moving Forward

We are licking our wounds and moving forward with life. We can't be depressed and discouraged for too long, or we won't be effective missionaries. We came here to serve, and because some people decided to take advantage of us, we can't let that taint our feelings for all the good people that are here and the humble members of the church that we know and have come to love. When the "Why me?" thoughts surface, we think of the Prophet Joseph Smith and all the saints in the early days of the church, or . . . .Christ, himself, and quickly we realize our blessings and our trials seem more bearable.

We decided to post a picture of us (with the copy machine being the tripod) to show that we can still smile and hold our heads up. We are fine, and do appreciate all the love and concern everyone has for us. We appreciate all the emails of comforting words, and the prayers that have been said in our behalf. You are all wonderful, and we feel loved.

The good news in all of this is that it looks like our homeowners insurance will cover some of the cost of our loss. Marianne has been working hard to find serial numbers and receipts for our computers and cameras. She has been successful in her detective work. We made a list of what what was taken, and the cost of each item as far as we could determine, and the amount was staggering. If we could re-coop even half of it, or at least the price of the computers, we would feel blessed.

Monday, the 27th, is my birthday, and for part of the day we will be at the area offices getting our visas finalized. So the Elders decided to surprise me on Friday with a birthday cake. They had a sister in our ward make a cake and she delivered it to the office. They came in singing Happy Birthday. It was so cute. The tall thing sticking out is a tall candle. I've never seen one that tall before. The cake has Dulce de Leche between the layers, which is like a carmel sauce. It is "the thing" over here and many pastries and goodies contain it in some form or another. We all indulged, and have some left over for seconds on Monday. Yummmm!

This is the monster lock that was installed on our front door after the robbery. From the outside, that key goes all the way through to the inside where the lock is and moves that sliding bar to lock the door. The stem of the key is about 3 inches long. It could be a weapon.

Here is another view of the lock. Then on our balcony doors they installed a lock that bolts both doors together (not much to look at) and has to be opened with a regular looking key. Neither door can be budged or lifted out. So we don't know of anything else to do. Those are the only two ways inside. It was suggested that we could put an alarm system inside that would detect motion or anyone entering, and an alarm going off might scare a would-be robber away.

This is how some people protect their property. Is this creative, or what? All along this wall is broken glass stuck onto the top. We really couldn't see what there was to protect behind it. It is just a field of tall growing grass with two large dogs that are aways hovering close to the gate as we pass. I wouldn't try entering because of the dogs. . . . no broken glass needed.

The insurance company needs a police report in order to process our claim. We have been told it would do no good to report the theft because the police force has the reputation of being corrupt also, and nothing would be done about it. So we didn't know what to expect when we paid them a visit. But they were very helpful, and we were directed to speak a First Lieutenant.

We sat with this officer while he typed up the report. He didn't give us any hassle, and we made it easy for him because we had our report all typed up in Spanish. He, then, proceeded to type his report, and when he got to the price of one of the computers, he asked if that was the correct figure and wanted to know if it was in pesos or dollars. He was a bit surprised at the amount. He was using a computer to type the report, but, (get this) he pulled out a piece of CARBON PAPER and placed it between two sheets of paper and stuck it in a Dot Matrix printer. We tried hard not to laugh. I haven't seen a piece of carbon paper for 20 years. Unbelievable!! And we were given the carbon copy. I decided we needed to document this experience, as we hope we don't have to frequent the police station again. So when I asked if I could take a picture, he moved the garbage can out of the way and straightened his hair for the pose.

I, then, saw two other hombres out at the front counter, and thought, "What the heck, I'm going to ask them, too, if I can take their picture". They were all decked out with a bullet proof vest and all. They were pleased to comply, as you can see.

The police cars are quite small, and they are buzzing around everywhere all the time. Wonder why they couldn't see someone climbing onto our balcony?

In the week and a half that we haven't posted anything on our blog, we have had some experiences going out with the missionaries in the evenings to teach investigators. That has saved us. We needed something positive to do so we didn't dwell on our problems.

We have been three times to the home of Laura, who is converted in her heart and wants so badly to be baptized, but can't, because her live in boyfriend with whom she has a 5 year old son is unable to marry her until his divorce is final. She would either have to marry Alejandro, or leave the relationship, in order to be baptized. She loves him and they are a family, so she wants him to marry her. He claims he can't find the necessary papers to finalize the divorce. . . . . Hmmm. This has been going on for three years. She comes to church and has a testimony, and she is a really cute girl. She really likes Elder Kroff. She needed a blessing one night when we were there, and she wanted him to do it. And she knows he likes hot chocolate, so this week when we went, she had a big pitcher of hot chocolate ready for us. The humidity was high that day and after walking from the train to get to her house, we were all steamy and hot. But we drank the hot chocolate and beads of sweat were pouring from us. Hope she didn't notice. The missionaries like to keep in contact with her to keep her spirits up and encourage her. At this visit, she told us that she searched and searched, and found the papers needed for the divorce. All they have to do now is go to the courthouse and take care of it. She was going to approach him this week about it. So we're interested to see what happens now.