DAD,
Hey if Mom is reading over your shoulder, or anything, you may want to read this later. It's an experience that I had yesterday and it may be a little intense for Mom to hear but you can be the judge of that and tell her if you feel she can handle it.
We had lunch in Tanguá, a city next to Rio Bonito. After lunch, we had to go back to the highway to grab a bus to take us back to Rio Bonito. We were waiting on the side of the road for a while because the buses were running late because of carnival. Up the road we could see three people on bikes riding down towards us. Eventually when they got down to us I could see that it was 3 kids and they were all only wearing underwear. Well two of them were only wearing underwear and the other kid had clothes on. The kid with clothes on passed by us and the next kid in line came up to me and asked for my phone. I said I didn’t have one. He then grabbed my hand to look at the watch I had on. I thought he was just a Brazilian with bad manners trying to see what time it was, but the next thing I know he says his friend behind him, (the other kid in the underwear), had a gun and would shoot us if we didn’t give them everything. I tried to pull my hand away but he grabbed the watch and ripped it right off my wrist. At this point I realized we were being robbed! I looked at the kid who they said had the gun and he had his hand inside his backpack and pointing it at us like he had a gun. When I resisted with the watch he got all animated like he was going to shoot or something. I didn’t think he had a gun but the consequences would have been greater than losing a watch-- if he did have a gun. Elder Myers gave them our cell phone and then they asked for mine. I said I didn’t have one but they didn’t believe me. I kept telling them I didn’t but that just made them more and more mad. I started emptying my pockets, opened my scripture bag and showed them I didn’t have anything. They then believed me. They then rode away with our stuff as the kid with "the gun" pointed it as us until they were a ways away. At this point I was just thinking that I almost died! I'm still not sure if he had a gun or not. I was scared for a little bit but then I just got angry that I didn’t fight back or something. And also angry that Brazilians would do something so dumb as to hold up two missionaries at gun point and take a phone and rip a watch off my arm.
Well, they say that you haven’t had the true Brazilian experience until you have been held up, so I guess that I've now had the true experience. I'm fine now, just a little suspicious about everyone around me but I'm sure that that will pass. Once again, you can tell mom and the family if you feel they can handle it. But I know ill be safe because I have the name of Jesus Christ on my shirt at all times.
Love You!
-Jeff
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