It was my birthday. We had celebrated that morning with a big yummy birthday breakfast, a princess piñata & a traditional Peruvian cake with lollipops sticking out of it. Later that night, we went to church & celebrated again with more cake, singing, presents from the church ladies & kisses on the cheek from everyone! We topped it off with a visit to our favorite restaurant in town for chicken & fries. It was an awesome day, to say the least, & we were all in high spirits & just loving life.
Until we got home.
"We've been robbed," Tiffany said, as I walked up our small concrete house. I was shocked. "What?!?" "Yeah, some of the girls' iPods are gone."
All of our packs & backpacks had been rifled through, exposing passports, laptops, iPads & lots of cash. But not one of those high-value items had been touched. The final count of missing items was 5 iPods, a flashdrive & a memory card. We were pretty scared. And confused. What kind of thief takes an iPod & leaves a laptop?
Then we discovered a small hole in one of the back window screens. Even though the windows were barred, there was just enough space for a child to slide in, right between the bars.
The children in the neighborhood hung out around our house all the time during the day, just chatting & playing with us. Some of the girls had let the kids listen to the music on their iPods & taken some fun pictures with them.
But we still weren't sure that the thieves were only children. An adult could still have been behind it, creeping in the jungle behind our house, helping a child get in & directing them to steal. That kind of situation is common here. So we called our contact, Crystal, & agreed to meet at the police station in the morning, considering the police wouldn't be able to do anything at midnight.
We also notified the caretaker of the property & his family, & they all came over & checked everything out, told us to lock everything up, & had a few guys stay on the property all night to patrol. That kind of situation is also common here – the kind where families & communities come together & help each other in crisis – but that's another blog.
We double-checked & triple-checked the door & window locks, prayed for safety & went to sleep. At least, we slept as much as we could, considering the situation.
The next morning, we went to the police. An officer agreed to come back to our house with us to assess the situation & damage.
But when we returned home, we found out that the thieves had already been found & identified! The caretaker had discovered the two boys when they came back to retrieve the stolen items (they had left everything under a banana tree, not too far away from our house!). He had also recovered ALL of our things!!!
The two perpetrators, Jack & Piero, were kids we knew. Several of the girls had spent a lot of time with these two boys & already loved them. We were crushed, to say the least.
The police officer called a meeting with the two kids, their mothers, the caretaker, our contact & my coleader Tiffany & I. Jack was sobbing. Piero was completely stone-faced, showing no remorse whatsoever. Even though Tiffany & I couldn't understand most of the conversation because it was in Spanish, we were both close to tears. The faces of the mothers in their disappointment & the boys' remorse or lack thereof was heartbreaking.
At the end, the officer asked Tiffany & I if we had anything to say to the thieves. I silently prayed, Jesus, give me the words to say. "We want you both to know that we love you. We care about you. We still want to spend time with you. And we forgive you."
As soon as we started speaking those words, Piero's expressionless face crumpled. He started to cry big, tragic tears. And he jumped out of his seat & ran away.
And that was that, or so we thought. We didn't know if we would ever see those boys again. We were so thankful to God that our stuff had been returned. And so relieved that the potentially big, scary thieves were two little boys who wanted to listen to listen to music & look at pictures.
It was immediately apparent to all of us that night that the enemy was trying, with this situation, & IS trying, every day, to discourage us in our mission & get us to quit. Or just become resentful towards the people here & render ourselves ineffective. Or become apathetic because we think we aren't making a difference. Spiritual warfare is real. The light of Jesus is shining in this place & the enemy doesn't like it.
Thankfully, we've already been given the victory in Christ Jesus! And we can walk confidently, knowing that He is with us. He loves this place & these people & He sent us here for a purpose.
"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."
–I Cor 15:57-58
I am still in need of $1,410 to stay on the field with my team. Let's pray together for God to provide & then we can celebrate together when he does! 😀
