Theft

Yesterday, right before we had orientation with our team, a young woman who was with them had her backpack stolen from the conference room. A stranger walked in from the street, with a friend, and one of them distracted the front desk hostess and the other one quietly walked in, picked up her bag and left. This is suppose to be a secure hotel. She was in the room and figured there was no threat to her stuff while she was getting her breakfast. The room is not that big, but with a lot of people in it (just the group), it is easy for someone to swipe a bag. Apparently, the police said this is very common now and is the new thing for thieves. Unfortunately, her bag had $500 (which the team replaced for her within minutes), her camera, $150 pair of Dolce and Gabana sunglasses, and her PASSPORT. Thank goodness that her iphone was in her pocket. We did find out that their group travel insurance will cover everything. So, I spent yesterday morning runnning her around trying to get a passport, only to arrive to the embassy at 12:30 p.m. to find out that they closed at 11:30 a.m. We will go back to the embassy on Monday and hopefully we can start the process so that she can have a new one by Thursday morning. It should be okay.

None of this is a surprise to God and we are so thankful it was just "stuff" that was stolen.  The girl said that God had been teaching her, for the past 6 months, to not hold her stuff so tightly and that it is "just stuff." After she cried a little bit from initial shock, she really had a GREAT attitude and I got to spend the day with her. She is someone I would be friends with, for sure, so part of me is sad to say that her mishap turned out to be a great blessing for me! :) Like the old saying goes, there is always a silver lining and yesterday she was mine!