It is dark. A few of us look up at the clear sky and see the stars as we wonder, “Why did this happen to us?” Tall hotels and banks surround us. I guess we never realized that this was a bad part of town until then. Groups of teenagers walked down the street, their pants sagged and they carried backpacks around their shoulders, police were making arrests while we all just stood there, isolated from it all. Katie was crying, the tears were running down her face so fast you would think they were in a marathon. We tried to comfort her, but she told us she would rather be alone. So we all stood there, still as statues, while we awaited the arrival of the police.

Nobody anticipated that the day would turn out like this. Just this morning we rolled into San Antonio, Texas. You could see the excitement in our eyes from a mile away. Our two white vans reading  United Methodist Church Youth Group” pulled into one of those parking lots where you could pay to park your car while you walked around for the day. The adults driving couldn’t find any spots next to each other so they had park into separate rows.

It took us all a minute to get out of the large van. We had our bags containing our electronics and other entertainment for the two day drive thrown on the floor of the van, along with our pillows, blankets, and food. There was no room to put these things in the trunk because our suitcases filled that thing to the roof. Once we dug ourselves out of the van, we immediately felt the fiery wrath of the Texas sun. Most of the group wore shorts and a T-shirt, not caring about our appearance, except for the Anastazia and I of course. We made Texas look good. Our hair and makeup done to perfection, dressed to kill as usual. Nonetheless, we sweat as much as everyone else as we went about the day. Our spirits were kept high with Kimmie, Jaclyn, and Liz, the song birds of the group, singing, “The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!” continuously because that was the only line anyone knew as we spent the day visiting museums and eating at the Hard Rock Café.
When the day was coming to a close we were exhausted, our eyelids tried so hard to shut it was as if elephants were sitting on them, but we forced them opened to absorb every last second of that marvelous day. By that time almost all of our phones were dead, except a lucky few, Anastazia being one of them. I was especially eager to get to the van to test out that new portable charger I had bought for the tip. We trudged along the dark sidewalk, with the city lights guiding our way.

When we finally arrived at the vans we could barely stand up. Our youth leader, Kim, took the keys and unlocked the door on the passenger side, no one really knows why she does that but she has for as long as anyone could remember. We all crawled into our seats and one by one we placed our hands under the seats and felt nothing. “Have you guys seen my bag?” Kyle was the first to inquire. Eventually, we all found ourselves asking the same question. Kim was the first to slowly begin to understand the situation, so she stepped out of the van. Like lost puppies we followed her. Once we got out it was as if we were looking in a mirror because the other van was experiencing the exact same thing. We had been robbed.

Once Kim called the police we took turns borrowing the phones that were still alive to call our parents. “Hey mom it’s Mamie, I’m just calling to tell you there was an incident in Texas, some guys broke into the vans and took some of our stuff,.” I explained.

“Oh my gosh are you okay?” She responded, just as any concerned mother would.
“Yes mom we’re fine. They only took the bags in the front, but we still have our suitcases, pillows, and all of that,” I replied.

“Did you guys call the police?” she questioned.
“Yeah Kim did, we’re still waiting for them to show up though. Hey I got to go because Anastiazia’s phone is almost dead. I love you,” I told her.
“Okay I love you too, let me know what else happens when you can,” she replied.

By the time everyone was getting pretty annoyed with the fact that the police still haven’t arrived, so we pulled out some sleeping bags and laid them on the parking lot. Some boys grabbed the water jug and Kim got out her stash of Oreos. From anyone else’s point of view of our situation we probably looked a little sketchy, but none of us really thought anything of it. I finally got a chance to look up at the sky. It was so beautiful, the stars shined brighter than my phone screen in the middle of the night. Then as if everyone else was witnessing the same sight that I was, Kimmie, Jaclyn, and Liz began singing in their angelic voices, “The stars at night-“  we all began to join in “are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!” We sang that line over for about 3 more times until we finally got tired of only knowing that line, so we spent the next 20 minutes just talking and looking at the stars. No one needed comforting because each other’s presence was comfort enough.

Once the police finally arrived they pretty much told us there was nothing they could do until we got back to New Mexico and filled out police reports. Disappointed, we went back to the vans and continued our drive to our next stop, the Days Inn.

After we got settled in it was time for our nightly devotional, which is where we all come together as a group and talk about the day, say a prayer, play a few games, it just kind of depends. As one would assume, the topic of that devotional was the robbery. Kim asked us what we felt should be our next step. Simultaneously, we told her that we obviously need to stay and finish what we came here for, which was to re-build houses for the less fortunate. I’ll never forget when Kimmie said “Even if our suitcases were stolen I think we could still stay for at least a few days.”

That week turned out to be the most amazing and character building week of my life. Even though the police never recovered our missing items, we didn’t even have time to think twice about them because we were so busy making more memories. I truly learned the low value of material possessions and I realized how close I am with every single one of those people. I can honestly say after that trip, I could trust those people with my life.