I just want to mention the past three nights....because each night has been terrible in its own way. Sorry this email is not really gonna brighten your day.
Especially mom...maybe you should just skip over this...I thought really hard about if I should relate what happened this week or not. Everyone told me I wasnt allowed to tell my mom...but I said ¨No my mom is super brave! She can handle anything!!¨..
With that being said....no one is allowed to call my mission president or anything!
Okay.
So thursday I ate something bad..not sure what it was. But I threw up about every 15 mins through the night. The next day I had absolutly no strength and could barely sit up in bed. I was kind of out of it the whole day. And was super tired the next night.
Friday night I woke up ( a little before 4 am)..I´m not sure why. I just kind of laid there in bed and felt weird...I thought maybe its because I had to throw up again or something. I kind of went back to sleep and then opened my eyes again when my bedroom door opened. The door to our bedroom is really old and you have to put all your strength agaisnt it and really push to open it. Our bedroom is also really small and my bed is in front of the door so we can never open it all the way.
Anyways, I knew it wasnt the wind that opened up the door and thought it was werid how my companion was able to get up and leave without me noticing. (and that she was then trying to get back in). Thats when I heard my companion moving in her bed.
And that was pretty much the scariest moment in my life.
About a million things passed through my head..and I laid there trying to think of a reasonable okay reason for our door to have opened by itself.
Then I was overcome with the smell of alcohol...super super strong. And my eyes adjusted a bit to the dark and I saw the lights of two eyes looking at me. Something told me that he thought I hadnt seen him and was still asleep.
I cant really explain how terrified I was in that moment. I couldnt move or breathe.
Then I heard some whispering...someone dropping something and running. I thought I heard the running going into our kitchen. All I could think of were the hundreds of drunk and not drunk men that have made so many awful comments to me in the streets...that have sat and stared as we walk in the house..that have chased us down the streets.
Somehow I got up the strength to get out of bed ad reach for the cellphone. My hands were shaking so much and my brain was so fogged up from fear and being sick that I couldnt find the cellphone anywhere. I was panicing a lot. I went over to my companions bed...covered her mouth so she wouldnt scream and said "hermana...theres someone in our house¨¨. She asked for the cellphone...I told her I couldnt find it..then we realized it was charging in the opposite wall. I grabbed it and tried calling the elders...when I realized that the cellphone had run out of mins and no calls would go through. If I wasnt scared before...I was scared then!
I tried calling president and the call immediately went through. I covered my mouth with a scarf and said ¨President...theres someone in our house¨ He said he would call the police. And I realized that I was crying We made a split second decision to jump out our bedroom window into the backyard...well its more of a back pit. Once we jumped into it there was no way to get out. The walls in every direction are about 15 feet high. It was pouring rain and we were barefoot in our pajamas. We sat in the dirt and put our backs to the window trying to hide. And we waited for about 20 mins like that..easily the longest 20 mins of my life.
I dont really remember everything that happened after that but eventually the elders arrived and climbed over the roof to find us shaking and crying in the backyard pit. They brought iron pipes and things to use as weapons and we all kind of waited there til the police arrived and broke in the front door. They searched the house and helped us climb back in the window. The bishop and counselors arrived about this time too. A little while later the mission president and his wife arrived. The bishop put my mattress in the main room so I could lay down. I was completely out of strength.
Then we saw the destruction of the house. The people had thrown a rock through the front window and used a latchet thing to open the window. All our books and everything were in piles around our study room. The elders had broken huge holes in the roof and there was water pouring in everywhere.
The rest of the day was a daze. Basically the whole ward came over and made a big breakfast and party out of the whole affair. They put bars over all the windows and put new locks on all the doors and fixed the roof. We have members sleeping in the house with us everynight but even with all the that I havent really slept at all in three days. It didnt help that we had an earthquake the next night too. Basically my nerves are spent and I´m not doing to well. I jump at every noise and cant handle the smell of alcohol at all...
I´ve wondered a lot why this happened but cant help being grateful for the many miracles that happened too.
One...the cellphone was in our bedroom. There are many nights when we leave it in our study room.
The call to the president went through.
Nothing happened to us and everything is okay.
I know I´ll be okay soon and will eventually be able to sleep again.
In other news...we had transfers today! My companion is going to my old branch in Linares and I will be training again. I´m not sure who yet. But I will pick her up tomorrow. Also President is putting two more hermanas here with us in Hualqui so that we will be safer.
I know this probably scared you but we are okay now! Our house is basically a compound now.
I cant think of anything else that happened this week. Next week will be a happier email!
Anyways, have a great week!
Love you all!!
Hermana Orchard
