English

I remember long time ago; when I was nine years in fourth grade (2005).

In Christmas break something happened to me and my family. This happened in our way to . What happened was that some robbers came into the car and I didn’t know what was going to happen from there, so I just prayed.

It all started when we were going to to meet our family. It was two days after we had gone out of school already. Me and my family where really excited, we where going by car, everything was okay, nothing seemed bad. My mom prepared some sandwiches that smelled like if she had just made them. The trip was going really well. I saw animals all the way like black and white cows, black birds and a gray little pig. Then when we were already in Guatemala, almost in it was already five o’clock and it was a little bit dark and cold I could see the round moon, but the color was very bright. Suddenly four men got out of a car and shoot to the ground, it was a very strong noise, but in that time I didn’t know where did the noise came from. Then they asked my dad to open the door pointing with a gone, my dad had to open. When they came in they told my dad to go to the back, one was driving, two where carrying me and my brother and one went on top of my mom! I actually barely remember them, but I remember one was skinny with a scare in his face and had glasses he looked like a normal person like of 23 years old, another one was fatty and brown like about 30 years old which looked completely the opposite of terrifying, about the other two I don’t remember. While the man was driving my mom and dad where telling us to pray and each time my mom talked they told her to shut up. At first the men said that they where policeman looking for drug that had been given to us in the frontier .At first I believed them, but after a while I realized they where robbers. Then the man that was driving took us to a place where there was just tall. When you touched the tall yellow grass it felt like a cut. I was really nervous, terrified and crying. I remember the place was like if we were in the middle of nowhere, full of yellow tall grass. After we got there, they told all of us to go upside down to the grass with our hands behind, except for my mom and dad, who they tied there hands. My brother still thought they where policemen. They asked us question, where are you going? , where do you have the money? , Where do you work? , Where exactly do you live in ? .My dad and mom explained that we came to pass Christmas with our family. Then they took my dad out of the car and told him they where going to kill him, so to calm down. I started to cry more.

Since I have been little, I wanted to tell the bad people about God, like robbers. I inherited that so much that I dreamed robbers coming in my house and me getting the Bible and sit and read with them and them becoming Christians. Going back to my story, while they where looking for valuable things in every little place of the ca rand having my dad, something went on my mind I’m pretty sure it was God, saying “Raquel you’ve wanted to tell about God know is it’s the time, it’s now or never”. I went to the guy with the scarf on his face and told him “do you know that there’s a God that loves you and died for you on the cross” he listen to me and got quiet for a moment. After some time, they decided not kill my dad. Then, they said they where living and to do not go back on the car until they had left. When they were up, I heard like five gone shuts. It was already dark and cold by then. My parents started to pick up all the papers they had gotten out to search for money. I remember that they where all over the grass and flying away with the wind. We got back in the car. They had taken everything valuable, like the fallowing: cell phones, money video cameras, credit cards and gifts. It was pretty easy to get out of there; we just went up the quest and back to the road. My mom was terrified she was shaking. My dad was just quiet. My dad stopped in a gasoline station and told my mom to calm down .He went to cancel there credit cards and told my aunt what had happened and that that was why they where coming late, but we where okay. When we got to our aunt’s house, my mom called my grandma, she came immediately. She was freaked out and started to cry and hugged me and my brother. I just prayed and went to sleep.

When I came back to school, my mom wanted to take me to the counselor of the school and I cried and she told me that ok she wouldn’t. After two days in school, the counselor came to get me to the classroom and took me to her office. She asked me how I felt and If I remembered what I was wearing and I said, “yes”. Then she asked me what I was wearing and I told her. Still today I remember what I was wearing. I was wearing a skirt with squares and with colors brown, yellow, green and purple and a purple shirt with a flower on the center. I just had to go once to the counselor.

I’ve learned a lot and keep learning from this experience. I’ve learned that you always need to have faith in God, because he does things for a reason. Like my parents where deciding to move back to Guatemala to live that same next year, so that was like God saying, no, stay there that place is not where I want you . One time I was at a tennis club and saw some strange people that were all dressed in black and had the death or a demon kind of thing on there cloth. I was going to go and tell them about God but then I remembered one day at church that God has to give you the gift of doing things like speaking to people that don’t believe in Jesus, or take demons out because if you don’t have that the demon can go into you or just stay there, so I got afraid and didn’t do anything about it .Then I told my mom the story and why I didn’t talk to them about Jesus and she told me, “that I probably had the gift of that, because when the robbers came in the car, you didn’t care and wasn’t afraid and told the robbers about God,” so I know that, God is going to use me in that way, and that when I have the opportunity to talk about Him to someone I need to do it. After that, know I’m really aware of what and is who around me. I’m also more afraid of robbers.