December 9, 2013

Hello!

Loved the picture!! I'm so excited to play in the snow again!! It's REALLY hot here. Not as hot as last year in Caico, but really close. It will probably be a big shock to feel cold again. Sometimes when the AC is on in the chapel I get cold on Sundays. You'll probably need to bring a coat to me in the airport, haha.

I don't think they broadcast the Christmas Devotional here. This week will be stake conference here. I'm happy to know they are going to be talking about hastening the work. Nothing better than motivating members to do missionary work. That's basically all we talk about here, but finally the members are starting to get the hint that they should put this into practice in their lives. I think they talk about the same thing every Sunday because everyone isn't doing their part yet. Our ward has some good plans this month to better the missionary work here. I'm really excited about it. Good thing I still have one month so I can see some results. My companion from the MTC, Sister Masterson, goes home this Wednesday, weird right?

So this week was pretty routine. Until yesterday. Don't freak out when you read this, but I was mugged last night with Sister M. Souza. Yeah, I know, horrifying. So I'll tell the whole story, with details. You can read knowing that it has a happy ending, well as happy of an ending as a mugging can have. So we finished teaching a lesson and we were walking home, the same path we go all the time because it is the most lit up and the streets with the most movement. Sunday night things are pretty dead though, so we were basically alone and a black car with windows super tinted passed by us really slow, but kept going and I thought to myself "thank goodness they didn't stop." Then I noticed that they stopped a ways down the road, but we were already turning onto our street. Usually our street always has men in front of their house making phone calls because they live in other cities and are here just to work on the stadium and call home to their families every night. There are two houses with 20-30 men in each one so almost always there is someone. Well last night, there was only one as we turned onto our street, lucky us. As we were under the light post a man came up behind us and said "put your hands on your heads." I didn't think he was serious at first so I just kept going.The phrases he used don't translate exactly, but basically he started to say "hand everything over." So Sister M. Souza gave him her backpack and I still just stood there looking at him because I didn't want to give my stuff to him because it seemed like a bad joke. Then he came around to the front of me and I saw his hand was under his jacket as if he had a gun, but I'm 99% sure he was faking it, but it isn't the kind of thing to take a risk on. So he kept saying "give me your money and your cell phone" and stuff like that, but I didn't know what to give him because I had left my wallet at home (thanks to a prompting from the Holy Ghost after lunch) and our cell phone was stolen from my bag last week as we were crossing a crowded bridge (yeah, couldn't steal the cell phone because someone already stole it before him, sick world we live in). Anyways so he tries to grab the sack of mangos out of my hand that I was carrying that our recent convert gave us from his tree, but I told him it only had mangos and he stopped trying. Meanwhile my companion is telling him that we don't have anything worth robbing, we're from the church. So finally he looks at me and says "take off your bag" and my companion screams at me to hurry and I say something along the lines of "calm down I'm taking it off." I handed it to him and then he told us to RUN so we started booking it up the street and he went down the other way. Oh and the man who was sitting on the street had already gotten up and ran inside his house as soon as he saw what was happening. So now I know in that type of situation I don't get super stressed out and panic, but instead my natural instinct is to take my time and get things done calmly. Now for the happy ending. Like I already said, we had left our wallets at home after lunch for no reason at all, except that we decided to. And the only thing in our bags that was actually valuable to him was my camera, but whatever the flash was broken anyways. Also, we both had a pendrive and mine had all my photos that I have taken here in Natal and videos I have recorded. The rest was just scriptures and things we use to teach. So yeah, mostly sadness because of sentimental value. BUT THEN this morning we get a phone call from the Elder in the mission office that a member found my bag on the side of the street and returned it. I'm sure the camera won't be there, but MAYBE the pendrive will be and my companions scriptures are there and my hymnal and other things that are important to us and not of any value to the robber. Long story short, God heard our prayers and protected us and we even are going to get the majority of our stuff back. The man must have been in that car and come running up behind us and then ran back to the car and driven away because the bag was found in another neighborhood in Natal that is like an hour away from where we were. I'm fine though. My companion is fine. Life happens, but God protects us. Unfortunately I won't be taking anymore pictures, but the other sisters will probably take some for me and we'll all live happily ever after. 

Thanks for always praying for me. I know that your prayers are heard and answered.

Love you tons!

Sister Udy