The Funny Part About Church in Milwaukee...

Is that there's hardly a safe place in the whole city of Milwaukee. Each time that I participate in the annual church landscaping project, I clean up a plethora of cigarette butts; sometimes I really wonder who's hanging around the church when we're not there. I got a small answer to that question last night.

We had our church meetings from 1-4 and then choir practice from 4:15 to 5. Everyone but the choir members had evacuated the building by 4:30. Around 4:45, Jordan and Carter were running madly through the halls to stave off boredom when someone walks through the front door of the church.

In Jordan's words, the man was "black, kinda short for an adult, had an American flag shirt on, and had a cigarette in his mouth!" Jordan didn't feel like the guy had very good intentions, so he ran away and grabbed Carter's hand in the process. Jordan even looked back to make sure the guy wasn't chasing them. Well done, but he didn't tell an adult about it.

The guy then poked his head in the chapel where the choir was. Cynthia (and a few other ladies) saw him but failed to tell one of the four men in the room. We all failed to see him as we were....uhh....rehearsing. Yeah...rehearsing. Talking about ninjas actually. Hrmm hrmm...

If I had known this guy was in the church, I would have talked to him. We've had some stolen items from the church and several people asking for money, so prevention is the best policy. However, I didn't know about it until 5 pm after the closing prayer. One of the sisters told me she saw him and then she asked me to do a sweep of the building to make sure he wasn't still inside. Then my wife informs me that for whatever reason, she left her purse in the foyer.

Yeah, it was gone. Her purse, her scriptures that I got her as a wedding gift seven years ago, her lesson manual, her makeup bag, a copy of her patriarchal blessing (the original is safe at home), and all of our quiet books and coloring books. Luckily, Cynthia kept her class roster including addresses and phone numbers of the young women, her coat, her keys, and her wallet in a different place. So the guy got nothing of monetary value. Still sucks though.

Cyn's name, maiden name, birth date, place of birth, and both parents' names were in the bag, but as this is the fourth time that her personal information has been compromised during our marriage, we're pretty familiar with the routine of keeping her identity from becoming completely stolen.

Jordan was really shaken up about the whole thing. He kept crying about the crayons and coloring books that were stolen. He kept saying "that's the first time I ever saw a robber" and other such phrases. After a while I had to tell him that it could have been a lot worse - our car, for example, could have been stolen. For the rest of the night he decided to see the positive and be glad for everything that wasn't stolen.