A fellow missionary and friend once gave me some valuable advice. “Don’t think about how you’ll respond if you’re assaulted; plan for how you’ll respond when you’re assaulted.” Encouraging advice, huh? But she’s right. Here in Brazil, the chances are better than not that a person will be assaulted, and those chances only increase the longer one is in Brazil. While precautions can be taken to avoid risky situations, assaults can happen to anyone at any time of the day – and any number of times! I know several people who have been assaulted more than once. In fact, there are a few poor souls who seem to be target victims and have been assaulted several times. Some assaults are brutal and dangerous with high stakes while others are small, quick and seemingly painless; however, regardless of how it takes place, all assaults leave an impression on their victim.
This weekend, two in my small circle were assaulted. The first was Edissa (eh-gee-sa), Fortaleza Academy’s Portuguese teacher. On Friday after school, Edissa went to the bank with her sister who withdrew a large sum of money. As the two entered Edissa’s front gate, a man suddenly appeared with a gun, demanding the sister’s purse. She refused and he shot the pistol into the floor, threatening that the next would be for her. When the sister again refused, the man called for his partner who was waiting outside on a motorcycle. The two men easily wrestled away from the older woman and escaped on their bike. At this point, Edissa fainted. She was taken to the hospital but returned home later that day. Later, we deduced that the men must have been tipped off by someone at the bank because the men demanded only the sister’s purse, not Edissa’s.
The other assault hit a little closer to home. There is a large praça kitty-corner to our church in Edson Queiroz that includes some park benches and a large cement quadra that is often used for soccer, volleyball and occasionally basketball games. On Saturday afternoon, Lydia, the daughter of ABWE missionaries Jerry and Lynda Neuman, was lying on a bench when she was approached by two guys. One flashed a revolver and asked for her purse. Lydia asked if they were joking. In response, he showed her the bullets in the gun. She handed over the purse but, in shock, refused to let go it. By this time, the guy with the gun had taken off, so the other literally ripped the bag out of her hand, the material tearing the handle. The scuffle ended with Lydia chasing and yelling after them as the second robber made his escape. The two boys ran down her boyfriend’s street (André actually locked the door as the two ran by, a clear indication of trouble) and so Lydia stopped when she reached his house. The authorities were able to recover the purse (minus cell phone, I think), but there is now a lot of red tape necessary for Lydia identify and prosecute the thief. In addition, the family of the thief threatened André and his family should Lydia do so. Unfortunately, the boy with the weapon was not implicated and cannot be charged.
As I mentioned earlier, all assaults leave an impression on their victim. Please pray for faith, peace and calmness in Edissa and Lydia’s life. Edissa, especially, is struggling with fear as the threat occurred within the confines of her home.
I confess I wrestled with some doubt, as well, after hearing Lyida’s tale, for while I have known since the beginning that Edson Queiroz is a dangerous neighborhood, and Fred and I are just weeks away from moving into our apartment there. It would easy to allow this story (and that of Lilica, our pastor’s wife, who was very nearly assaulted by these same guys just two weeks ago!) to make me fearful; but “God gave [me] a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control” (2Tim. 1:7).
So I ask that you pray. Pray for our daily protection and that of our church family. It is not something we take for granted, especially now with the threat made against André and his family.
Pray also that this incident, rather than incite me to fear, will heighten my awareness and burden of the need in Edson Queiroz. There are so many lost, hurting souls crammed into this economically depraved neighborhood, and entrapped by their sinful nature, they have no choice but to sin; but praise God for the hope we have in Christ! And God is at work. Before this the assaults occurred, I had planned to blog about the testimonies of recent converts and the five women recently baptized at Saturday’s baptismal service; but that will have to wait for another day. Até mais!