Friday, February 24, 2006

So I heard this crazy story and it really made me think; what would I do in a situation like this? I want to share the same story w/ you. Just be prepared, the story is kind of hard to follow at first, at least it took me to while to really understand how it went. But the story is true, and is worth the read:

A 30 year-old Brazilian was arriving home with his girlfriend at 8 pm that same evening when out of nowhere the South African man emerged and managed to rattle out in Portuguese, “I need to speak with an English teacher, please.” The Brazilian was startled, but soon realized that the South African could not speak any more Portuguese than that. The Brazilian had compassion on the man and decided to help him. For fear he was a bandit, the Brazilian left all his valuables at his house and then he led the South African fifteen minutes to the nearest English school that was still open. Apparently, they were both a little untrusting, as when they walked through dark streets, the South African increased his stride and began speaking with everyone that passed, begging for help, in English.

Upon arriving at the English school, the two men encountered an English-teaching Brazilian who helped translate and together they figured out that:
o The South African, who had been studying in Europe, had been traveling from Europe to Brazil to visit a friend and participate in a “Congress” at his Presbyterian church. He had been traveling for the past 12 days, but had been put on wrong buses, had the worst luck and had lost all of his money. He did, however, have a bus ticket to part of his destination, but that was about all the English teacher could understand. The two Brazilians said they felt like someone at the local “Mormon Church” would be able to help the lost South African man.

The American teacher, nervous and suspicious, finished listening to the Brazilian’s story, and then tried to get more information from the clearly shaken up South African man. With success, the American learned he did have money, but hadn’t succeeded in getting it exchanged. Oddly enough, the bus ticket he possessed was bought in a city three hours away when he ran into two American, Mormon missionaries. The ticket was for R$100,00 and he explained that he had the donor’s bank number and was planning on repaying the money. On another piece of paper he had written down he needed R$28,00 to purchase the last leg of his trip, and another R$20,00 to pay for the locker he was using to store his luggage at the airport.

This confused the American; for ten minutes they conversed, trying to understand what the South African man needed.

The two Brazilians and American finally realized he needed $48,00. The American at first said the “Mormons” had already helped quite a bit with his tickets, and R$5,00 more was all he could offer.

The Brazilian man then offered to give him a ride to the airport to get his baggage, and then a ride to the bus station where he wanted to sleep for the night before getting his bus in the morning. The American translated; the South African rejected the idea – he did not want to sleep at the bus terminal with his luggage, for fear of it being stolen. The Brazilian then offered to give him a ride to the bus terminal, 25 minutes away; the South African agreed.

At this time, the English-speaking teacher felt her service was complete and that she should go home. To help with translation, the Brazilian asked the American to accompany him and the South African; the American felt nervous, but upon judging the character of the individuals, decided to help.

The four of them walked to the edge of downtown, accompanying the English teacher to her home, and than returned to the Brazilian man’s house, got his car and girlfriend, and drove to the bus terminal 25 minutes away.

During this whole experience, the South African spoke much about God and how thankful he was for the good heart and help of the two Brazilians and the American. His gratitude was clear as he made the American translate, over and over, “Jesus will bless you. Thank you. Jesus will bless you.”

Upon leaving the man at the bus terminal, the American reached in his pocket and donated another R$20,00 to the man’s cause; the Brazilian and his girlfriend pulled together another R$28,00. And after his many thanks, the man was gone, with nothing more than the hope and charity of the Brazilians and American involved in his journey.

___

Quite the story, wouldn’t you say? What would you do in such a situation? I learned the details from the story first-hand, as I was the “American teacher” in the story. This experience just happened tonight!

I was at the ERS office at church this evening, helping Aldo and his son learn how to use email (Dave and I had just made Aldo a gmail account this afternoon). Out of nowhere appeared Keller - the English-teaching Brazilian woman, Adriano - the Brazilian man, and Andrews - the lost South African man. At first I was VERY suspicious, as during my mission we ran across many people with wild stories, just trying to get our money. But the more I spoke with this man, the more I believed his story. There were many points in his story that I didn’t quite understand, but we didn’t exactly have an easy time communicating; he was very stressed out and spoke very slow with an accent.

When Adriano asked me to drive w/ him to the airport and the bus terminal I got kind of freaked out; I thought of the weird kidnappings I’d heard and read about in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and wondered if these three people could really be scamming me? As a missionary I developed what I consider a good sense of character and I trusted Adriano and Keller – I still questioned the intent of the South African.

After kicking everyone out of the soccer court out back and locking up the church, I ran to the hotel down the block to let David know that I was going to be driving to the Island (Florianópolis) with Adriano and Andrews – ha, when I told David the story I couldn’t help but realize how crazy it sounded. When I hung up I said, “Well, if I don’t come back in two hours, at least you’ll have an interesting story for the police.” Dave had the good idea of getting Adriano’s cell phone number, just to keep in touch, which I did.

So, like I explained in the story, the four of us walked through downtown São José to accompany Keller home – Carnaval festivities were already starting, lots of people were in the streets, and its well known that crime is more frequent during the days of Carnaval.

As we walked, with out inquiring, Andrews shared with me what he knew about the Mormon church – Joseph Smith’s vision, New York, missionaries – and then he made me translate to Keller and Adriano an invitation for them to come to our church. They smiled, and accepted, each giving me their phone numbers for later contacts.

Upon arriving to Keller’s home, his parents are girlfriend greeted him with relief; they, too, had been waiting anxiously, not knowing what had become of Andriano and his charitable deed. Fernanda, Adriano’s girlfriend, accompanied us to the bus terminal, as they had other errands they had to run before returning home. I accompanied them on one quick errand, stopping by one of their friend’s house, and then they drove me back to the hotel in São José.

The entire way we talked about how weird this situation was, and debated about whether Andrews was telling the truth or not. There are two things that I question:

- 1. Why his European money didn’t exchange?
- 2. I think I should have gone to the ticket counter at the bus station and asked about his ‘ticket’ and the how he could best get to the city he was looking for. But the terminal was bustling with people because of Carnaval and we almost didn’t find a place to drop him off.

Before sharing your comments that you think he was a scammer, send me your questions and maybe I left out some important information. J

Anyway… before 8:00 pm, I was still having quite an eventful day. At 2:00 pm we scheduled to meet Aldo at the office to record the mock-interviews for him (which we didn’t figure out) and we made some finishing touches to his fliers and made him a gmail account, and taught him how to check his email. He’s in his early thirties, and I think this was his first time using a computer, I promise. He really enjoyed it, and I really hope this help gets his business going. He shared with us how his family is really struggling; lack of food, work, and money. I took the time to explain the importance of Fast Offerings and why we have them, and I encouraged him to talk to the Quorum President or the Bishop. I hope he does, his family needs it.

At 7:30 pm Dave and I met the newly called Senior Missionaries who we will be training to take our place when we leave! That was exciting for us because it means that our organization and hard work won’t go to waste. They are a fun couple from Argentina and speak Portañol (Portuguese and Spanish mixed). I imagine I’ll get some great Spanish lessons.

Today I also made follow-up calls to the people in Joinville; Pablo got a job! He is an English teacher! Makes sense, since he served in the Provo Mission.

All right, well Dave and I have to be packed at the chapel by 9:20 am. The bus for the Single Adults conference is going to pick us up, and than off we go for four days! I think this blog is long enough to keep you busy for the next for days.

Happy Carnaval!!