When life strikes you down - pick yourself up with the help of the Holy Spirit -
who will give you strength to carry on...
We, in trying to keep fit, try to go for an early morning walk around the mission station several times.
The first soccer field we walk past
On Monday March 11th we actually left the house a little earlier than usual (6:20) - as soon as we stepped onto the road in front of the house we met a young man dressed in dark clothes with a black hoodie which shrouded his face. Jack greeted him with, "Bon jour" - with a mumbled reply and a slight smile from him. I responded, "I've never seen him before".
Computer, hard drive, 2 flash drives - our two cameras - our two cell phones - a pair of binoculars - Jack's wallet with money, Visa card/Debit card, Drivers license, Birth certificate, Medical cards and most important - his Cameroon Identity card.
I will not go into what all we did following our search of every room (the individual had been in each to get what they did, all in ten minutes). Needless to say we were devastated.
Who was the culprit? In Jack's Sherlock Holme's mode... would make an assumption - knowing that assumptions can be misleading - that the black hooded guy was the thief?, we cannot positively say that. The guards had put their 'guards' down - we had put our guards down, trusting... What has happened now in this past week? We are all more diligent.
Replacing the material things is a problem, especially the computer, but not as devastating as the loss of all photos, videos, documented details in files of what we have been doing for the past two years. Oh, all those spreadsheets have to be entered again - all the Kids pictures. Memories... they cannot be replaced through your insurance but many will remain indelible in our hearts.
The photos I post may be repeats - our Internet connection has been terrible. We pray for our present computer problems.
We will be celebrating Passion Sunday with our four churches (from 1999-2003) in Toumboroum, Kum Kilba, Marma and Likok (some of them have changed villages but they know we are coming). It will be wonderful. Yes, we will celebrate Easter/Jour de Pâques.
May we all walk the path that God has laid out for us - Staying Strong in his armour. My yellow bracelet reminds me daily as I wear it. Thank you Jacqueline.
Too bad he wasn't on guard duty on the 11th
we pass this soccer field on our walk
We continued and met our neighbour, Phil. We made two loops (~22 minutes) - Phil and I headed for home. Keep in mind each loop takes slightly over 10 minutes, taking us past our front door. I noticed the door ajar... Why? Cautiously I entered and peeked into the office on left of doorway - in alarm, seeing an empty table, our computer and all drives gone!! We had been robbed! I quickly ran out to the road, and desperately called Jack back - there was a guard right there beside the house...Computer, hard drive, 2 flash drives - our two cameras - our two cell phones - a pair of binoculars - Jack's wallet with money, Visa card/Debit card, Drivers license, Birth certificate, Medical cards and most important - his Cameroon Identity card.
I will not go into what all we did following our search of every room (the individual had been in each to get what they did, all in ten minutes). Needless to say we were devastated.
Who was the culprit? In Jack's Sherlock Holme's mode... would make an assumption - knowing that assumptions can be misleading - that the black hooded guy was the thief?, we cannot positively say that. The guards had put their 'guards' down - we had put our guards down, trusting... What has happened now in this past week? We are all more diligent.
Replacing the material things is a problem, especially the computer, but not as devastating as the loss of all photos, videos, documented details in files of what we have been doing for the past two years. Oh, all those spreadsheets have to be entered again - all the Kids pictures. Memories... they cannot be replaced through your insurance but many will remain indelible in our hearts.
On the other hand, we are alive and well.We appreciate the many prayers and consoling words from the EELC and ELCIC. We thank the group that came to visit us two days later - to sing and offer their prayers, in French, Norwegian and English. The prayers offered out of the USA, SA, and Canada - my friends on FB from all over the world. Merci!
Jack & Val
In Mission for Others...
