{"id":163,"date":"2010-06-06T03:22:03","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T03:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/?p=163"},"modified":"2014-03-03T18:55:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T22:55:36","slug":"robbed-at-gunpoint-in-brasil-and-id-go-there-again-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/?p=163","title":{"rendered":"Robbed At Gunpoint In Brasil…and I’d Go There Again, Right Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This is a little long for a blog but you need to at least scan this.\u00a0 Two weeks ago\u00a0I was in the streets of wonderful Sao Paulo, Brazil.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a very crowded yet kind of edgy place.\u00a0 A place of busy well dressed and pleasantly kind people.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0visited\u00a0the University of Sao Paulo where that kindness was extended to me, many\u00a0times over,\u00a0by their students who guided this\u00a0wandering Yankee around campus.<\/p>\n

I toured campus with Church Planter Rob Gaschler.\u00a0 During our\u00a0visits to campus\u00a0we\u00a0met linguistic graduate students like Edson who helped\u00a0us order food at the school lunch counter.\u00a0 They didn’t use the easy numbering system that we’re\u00a0used to at McDonald’s!\u00a0\u00a0We liked Edson from the git go…just like all the students we met.\u00a0 He is a believer in Christ but right now without a home church.\u00a0 It is our hope that he eventually ties into the local church ministry called Zoe.\u00a0 Zoe,\u00a0meaning Abundant life,\u00a0is the church we met with there.\u00a0 They are made up of students like Edson.<\/p>\n

During our first campus visit we met students Sergio and Rafael.\u00a0 Both are language students and they play on a college rugby team.\u00a0 That’s right, rugby in Brasil!\u00a0 I mentioned that I had never personally seen a game so they invited us into their team practice\/scrimmage the next night.\u00a0 I have some video of\u00a0it on YouTube.\u00a0 http:\/\/is.gd\/cEdc3<\/a> It was fun to watch the practice and to meet their\u00a0coach and teammates.<\/p>\n

The day before our return to the States we had lunch with Sergio.\u00a0 Sergio told us that Brasil is a divided country, just as in the US.\u00a0 They have the privileged class (the rich) and the less privileged.\u00a0 People have to work alot for their pay\u00a0which is often pretty low.\u00a0 We had gotten to see this first hand on campus.\u00a0 The teachers had received a pay raise but not the regular staff.\u00a0 Therefore a strike was going on with \u00a0loudspeakers\u00a0blaring from passing\u00a0vehicles.\u00a0 One campus\u00a0cafeteria we tried to visit\u00a0was\u00a0closed\u00a0due to\u00a0the strike.<\/p>\n

Our visit with Sergio was great.\u00a0 An inexpensive lunch and cheap expresso coffee at none other than McCafe!\u00a0 We parted with the hopes of one day seeing each other again\u00a0and then Rob and I headed off to find the US Consulate.\u00a0\u00a0We thought it would be cool to visit and to have our photos taken there.<\/p>\n

Although the Consulate was only four blocks from our hotel, Rob and I managed to get disoriented (not totally lost).\u00a0\u00a0I had previously viewed what appeared to be the US Consulate on a google map.\u00a0\u00a0At some point in the\u00a0walk we thought we would circle the block and discover its location.\u00a0 However,\u00a0what we found was\u00a0a somewhat run down\u00a0US Chamber of Commerce building.\u00a0 Pretty unimpressive walk at that point.<\/p>\n

Moving down the street for the final leg of our circulous jouney we heard a motorbike stop behind us.\u00a0 We were now\u00a0halfway down this quiet\u00a0street\u00a0when we heard someone yelling.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We turned and about 20 feet away was a gunman coming\u00a0directly\u00a0at us.\u00a0 Although I could not describe\u00a0him today, I sure could describe that gun!\u00a0 It was a gray\u00a0older looking revolver and it was pointed right at my lower chest.<\/p>\n

The entire robbery could not have taken over 25 seconds.\u00a0 With the gunman approaching, I quickly stripped off my lightweight jacket to reveal that I had no weapon.\u00a0 He pointed to my front pocket so I\u00a0withdrew my wallet and pulled out my cash to give him.\u00a0 As he got to me,\u00a0he knocked my hand away and the money (all 32 Brasilian ‘reals’) floated down like a butterfly to the ground.\u00a0 I can still recall how it floated!<\/p>\n

The thief grabbed my wallet (probably thinking I was holding tons of cash) and then waving, yelled\u00a0at me to walk on down the road.\u00a0 He then ran at Rob,\u00a0grabbed his backpack and\u00a0quickly skirted off to his bike.\u00a0 The robber was really in a hurry and left Rob with his watch and wallet.\u00a0 I think he figured everything important was in Rob’s backpack.\u00a0 \u00a0At that point I noticed\u00a0the robber\u00a0had an\u00a0accomplice who just\u00a0watched.\u00a0 He showed no weapon and it seemed like he\u00a0was\u00a0there to\u00a0just witness the event.\u00a0 Maybe it was a gang initiation or he was a backup if things went poorly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He had his own motorcycle which was parked in the street.<\/p>\n

I have no idea why but the\u00a0robber continued to yell at us in Portuguese\u00a0as he zoomed off.\u00a0\u00a0 He was still waving his gun.\u00a0\u00a0The robbers turned the corner ahead\u00a0and were gone.\u00a0 Dazed to say the least, I returned to gather my money and\u00a0jacket and then we walked to a safe busy intersection around the corner and down the street.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0 the intersection we gathered our thoughts and met a teacher returning from school.\u00a0 “Eddie” was a GREAT English speaker who called the police and stayed with us.\u00a0 He said that although robbery happens quite often in the city, we were in one of the safest neighborhoods in Sao Paulo.\u00a0\u00a0 As Rob and Eddie spoke, I squated down to relieve my sore back from all the walking we had done.\u00a0 In that moment I prayed and thanked the Lord for our safety.\u00a0\u00a0I also told the Lord that I knew the\u00a0wallet and backpack were gone forever but I\u00a0asked\u00a0Him to\u00a0somehow get them back.\u00a0 I\u00a0told Him that I knew He had the power to do this impossible thing.\u00a0 Rob needed the backpack to carry some things home to the US and of course I wanted my personal info returned.<\/p>\n

Eddie thought the police were taking too long to arrive\u00a0so he called and told them to meet us at the Consulate.\u00a0 Yep, we got to the Consulate through our new friend Eddie.\u00a0\u00a0It was just a\u00a0few hundred feet\u00a0from where we had turned down the side street…figures.<\/p>\n

The Consulate was now closed for the day but Eddie got the Portuguese speaking guards to let us in.\u00a0 We were greeted with great respect by the\u00a0friendly guards and shortly\u00a0thereafter by Joe, the head of security.\u00a0 Joe said that Sao Paulo had 28K armed robbies in the last three months of 2009.\u00a0\u00a0 He did not know how many Americans but at least 2 too many now!<\/p>\n

After a few minutes at the Consulate, the local police showed up.\u00a0 Joe told us that a trip to the police station would take us about three hours to complete.\u00a0 Joe also mentioned that their investigation would unlikely produce any results\u00a0so we waved them off.\u00a0 We decided our report to Joe was sufficient. \u00a0Joe\u00a0was kind enough to call us a cab, even gave us money for the ride, and we went on our way back to the hotel.\u00a0 Oh, I should also mention that while at the Consulate, I got to call my bank and block my debit card from use.\u00a0 Whew!<\/p>\n

When we returned to the hotel, Rob got his cell phone use blocked (it was in the backpack)\u00a0and I got my credit card blocked too.\u00a0 Neither his cell phone nor my credit card had been used following the robbery!\u00a0 The whole\u00a0robbery now seemed so senseless.<\/p>\n

Returning to my room, I sat down on my\u00a0bed and immediately thought about my lunch conversation with Sergio.\u00a0 He had talked to\u00a0me about injustice and how hard it is to forgive.\u00a0\u00a0 I thought about how Jesus had asked the Father to forgive those who were about to crucified him.\u00a0 So I immediately went to prayer and asked the Lord\u00a0to forgive my robber.\u00a0 I wasn’t going to\u00a0let\u00a0anger or hatred\u00a0hold me hostage\u00a0nor did\u00a0I want him to suffer future judgment by God.\u00a0 Done.\u00a0 I moved on.<\/p>\n

Following my prayer for the\u00a0gunman, I realized that\u00a0people face robberies all over the city and in many places of the world.\u00a0\u00a0 I then prayed for missionaries and chaplains.\u00a0\u00a0Many\u00a0face the possibilities of unexpected harm but\u00a0missionaries and chaplains\u00a0are definately targets who need our prayers.\u00a0 I now pray for them quite often.<\/p>\n

Shortly after praying, I and a friend went across the street to have dinner\u00a0at the Morumbi Mall.\u00a0 We had a fairly good meal and an intreging conversation with two men from China.\u00a0 One told us that he had recently been robbed\u00a0in Rio…oh surprise!<\/p>\n

As we left the mall, my friend received a call.\u00a0 The call generated some excitement in his\u00a0voice\u00a0and he said\u00a0“you have got to hear this in person”.\u00a0 Our friend Melody was on the phone and informed me that my wallet and Rob’s backpack had been found and returned.\u00a0 Not only did she say that my wallet had been found but that everything was still in it.\u00a0 WOW!\u00a0 I got everything back.\u00a0 I lost nothing.\u00a0 My wallet nor my money.<\/p>\n

Even though I was\u00a0frighteningly\u00a0robbed, I would go to Brasil again.\u00a0 The people there are friendly, have a sense of their spiritual need, and a willingness to talk about faith.\u00a0 I believe that the Lord will open many hearts in Sao Paulo.\u00a0 As Christians we are told to take the gospel everywhere…including Brasil.\u00a0\u00a0 Robberies can happen anywhere, and we can get hurt,\u00a0but God goes with us and is watching over us.<\/p>\n

Oh, we never did get a photo of being at the US Consulate!\u00a0 I guess there is always PhotoShop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a little long for a blog but you need to at least scan this.\u00a0 Two weeks ago\u00a0I was in the streets of wonderful Sao Paulo, Brazil.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a very crowded yet kind of edgy place.\u00a0 A place of busy well dressed and pleasantly kind people.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0visited\u00a0the University of Sao Paulo where that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[43],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marklydecker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}