The Robbery :( and the Support :)

Hi Everyone,

I wish this post could be as upbeat as the last, but it won't be! Sunday night, we slept on the comfortable couches at Jacob's Porch. Monday morning, we awoke to stolen stuff. First, Sonja noticed that her purse was missing (with her personal stuff and treasurer stuff). Us four girls were sleeping upstairs (on ground level) and Luke was sleeping downstairs. We looked for it for like 20 minutes and then finally woke up Luke, our team leader. He woke up and then helped us looked for a short time, then looked to see if their was more missing. He noticed that his laptop and cell phone were both gone. We all began to panic and looked to see if our stuff was there. All of my stuff was there, because I slept in the back of the room where it was darker (and where there was a comfortable couch!). Next, we told the two residents of the place what was missing. One of them called the pastor, who came shortly. Later, Lindsay noticed that her backpack was missing. We began making a list of all that was stolen, so we would be ready for the cops. Sonja's camera, i-pod, sunglasses, and money was stolen. Also, all of our money for Youth Encounter was stolen (about $500). In the midst of her activities, Sonja missed her hand lotion and pens, which made Adrienne check her toiletry bag for hand lotion--then she realize that her toiletry bag was gone (probably because it looked kind of like a purse). The cops came and we did an incident report. Unfortunately, the side door was left unlocked, which was left unlocked accidently as it is not usually a door that is open. We explained how the robber could have seen the labtop and cell phone from the sliding glass doors, which we understand how they stole those, but they kept going. Four of us were sleeping in the room and two of the items were right next to the girls' heads (Sonja's and Lindsay's). None of us woke up! We are trying to convince ourselves that there was a reason that none of us woke up (something worse could have happened). The robber had to meander through couches to find what he did. Also, he could have taken so much more.

Thankfully, that is not the end of the story. At first, we thought that all of Sonja's cards (id and credit cards) were missing as well as the team's credit cards. After talking to the cops, Luke checked the dumpsters near the building and found some of our stuff in there. He came in and told us and Jay (the pastor) jumped in the dumpster to help us. He was amazing. We recovered Sonja's purse, which had her personal cards and the YE credit cards. Unfortunately, there was no cash in there (~$500 was stolen). Also, some of Lindsay's clothes that were in her bag were in the dumpster. We really appreciated Jay and all that he did for us! Thankfully, Sonja didn't have to replace all of her Denmark id's. We were overjoyed at that, but still overwhelmed with everything that was missing.

Monday, Jenny France (a previous contact at another Columbus church) took us out for lunch. She was very helpful and generous to us. Jay gave us some money from Jacob's porch to put us on our feet again. We were supposed to stay at Jacob's Porch again Monday night, but we went to Luke's parents instead. It was really comforting to stay with a teammates family. They cooked us an amazing meal and took us shopping (and paid for items for the people without money). They were will really great and I am anxious to be with them for Thanksgiving.

In the midst of all of this, Cross Fire has remained surprisingly calm. Yes, there were tears and moments of panic, but we held together pretty well. It will be interesting to continue on the road withouth any YE money, but I know that we will be okay because we have already received money from Jacob's Porch and will receive money from Jenny France's congregation (she's a youth pastor). While what happened was terrible, I know that we will be okay and I am thankful for all of the support we have had.

Next, we travel to Kentucky and Virginia. Hopefully, there will be pics in the next post.

Please keep Cross Fire in your prayers.


Peace,

Tiffany