Some of you have heard by now that on Thursday Cory was assaulted. He is doing fine. We have talked to many of you through facebook, phone calls, e-mails. Thank you for your concern. We got a call last night from some really good friends of ours that they had gotten an e-mail that had been forwaded to them. Well, I haven't read the e-mail but I guess the facts aren't quite right and a little exaggerated. I thought I would post what happened so that you guys can know the right story and not be worried. Yes it was bad, but not as bad as seems to be going around.
Here is a picture of Cory the day after the incident.
Here is the right version:
Cory calls starbucks his office. For the first few years here we and other missionaries were renting offices. In the end Cory wasn't using the office very often and was paying around $200 a month for it. We decided to let go of the offices since it was cheaper to go to Starbucks. The one he uses actually has desks with plug ins and internet. This way he only pays for his "office" when he is there and in the end is saving a lot of money. The really cool thing is that all the employs know him and respect him. He really has some good friendships at Starbucks. One of the employs even gave him a coffee press for Christmas.
So, on Thursday Cory was at the "office". At 5:25 he was leaving to come home because Josiah has baseball at 6:30. When he got out to his car he saw that a Tundra pickup had parked behind him and two other cars, blocking them from being able to leave. This is not so unusual, often when people can't find a parking spot they will park behind someone. It happens to me a lot when I go to the bank as well as a few times at the "office". So, as we always do, Cory went inside to let the owner of the vehicle know that he needed to leave. The usual response in this situation is "oh, I am so sorry, let me move my car". Then when you move out of your parking spot they take yours. Well, this time the response was "No, I won't move my car you can just wait on me." He told Cory that if he is going to live in this country he needs to do things like the Mexicans do and just wait on him. If he didn't want to do things his way then he could just go back to his country.
While Cory stood there waiting on the guy one of the guys from Starbucks went up to Cory and asked him how he was doing. Cory told him he was doing ok but really needed to leave and he was waiting on this guys to finish what he was doing. Then the guys came up to him and asked him why he was involving everyone in Starbucks with his problems and talking bad about the guy. Cory explained to him that he wasn't talking bad about him he was simply telling his friend that he needed to leave and couldn't. The guy then offered to take Cory to the bathroom (guess thats the Mexican way of saying "take you out back") Cory told him he didn't want to be shown how strong he was and if he was going to do it he would rather it be infront of everyone and not hidding in a bathroom. The guy told Cory to just go outside and wait for him to move his car. Cory went outside. He said that as soon as the guys (the one guy and his two friends) came outside they began speaking perfect English to him and cussing and saying many vulgar things. The one main guy then punched Cory in the chest. Cory put his arms up in the air and said "I am not going to fight you. I just want to be able to move my car thats all". Then the guys swung at him with his right fist and Cory ducked it. Cory turned to go to the car and the next thing he remembers is waking up on the floor. As far as we know the guys swung one more time and made really good contact knocking Cory down. The guys got in their car and drove off.
When Cory woke up the police had already arrived and told him that they caught the guys. This might sound like a good thing but in reality it isn't. He was also told by witnesses that the guys are from a well known drug trafficing family. The police put Cory in a police jacket and police hat in the back of their car with tinted windows. They drove him over to where the guys were and asked Cory to identify them while still sitting in the back of the car. I don't even think that the guys knew Cory was there. After Cory identified them they asked Cory what he wanted to do. He could prosecute them, ask them for money to pay for his medical bill, ask them for an appoligy etc. Cory told the police he didn't want anything from them because that could bring danger to him and our family if they really are who people say they are. If he were to file paperwork against them then our name and address would be on record. These kind of people have connections everywhere in govt and pretty much have free access to that information.
In the meanwhile I am sitting at home thinking that he lost track of time. When he wasn't home by 6 I called him. He answered but wouldn't really tell me what happened. I finally got some of it out of him. All he would tell me was that he was fine but that he had been assaulted and knocked unconcious. He wouldn't tell me anymore. So, I ended up sitting at home for the next hour not knowing what was going on. I didn't know how severe his injuries were etc. My two best friends that live in my housing eddition came over and spent time with me. They were so nice and almost seemed more upset than I did. They feel really bad that this happened to us in their country. They have always wanted us to feel safe, happy and inlove with Mexico. We have felt safe, happy and inlove with Mexico and still do!
Two of our friends went to Starbucks and picked Cory up. When he got home I had already arranged for a babysitter and we went to the ER to get Cory checked out. He had a pretty deep cut inside his mounth that we were pretty sure would need stitches. Other than that his face was pretty swollen with a black eye and a very fat lip.
Just a mile or so from our house the breaks in our car went out. I turned into a small neighborhood since I was on a major street when it happened. Luckily I was driving slowly and nothing happend. We were only a few blocks from the Ford house so I slowly manuvered thought the neighborhood to get to the Ford house. We dropped the car off and got a taxi to take us back to our house. There was a puddle of break fluid in our driveway. We assume it was a coincidence but the mechanics are going to check and see if the break lines were cut or if it really was just coincidence.
We got our other car and drove to the hospital. We checked in to the ER 3 hours after the incident happened!! The first doctor that looked at his mouth said he would probably need 4 stitches. They called in a plastic surgeon to stitch him up. When the plastic surgeon looked at him he said it would be fine and heal on its own. The doctor was really nice to us and in the end they didn't charge us anything. The doctor told us as we were leaving "you need to forget what happened tonight. I am sorry it happened in my country. When you wake up in the morning forget about it and go on with your life".
Two days later we are fine. Corys face is pretty messed up but it will heal. We still feel just as safe in Mexico as we have in the past. It definately shook us up. When I was sitting at home wondering what had happened I called a good friend of mine in the states and I told her "I just want to go home". I really was upset but now that I know the facts I don't feel that way. I know that it was a random act of violence just like the ones that happen in the USA. Cory just happened to run into an angry mean guy that was looking for a fight. This can happen anywhere, not just in Mexico.
We thank God for all of you that have called, written, prayed etc. We really feel at peace and ok with what happened. I really think its because so many of you have been praying for us.
I forgot to mention that Cory and I went back to the "office" yesterday. The employees that were working were the same 3 that were there when Cory was attacked. When we first walked in and the guys saw us one of them got teary eyed. They assured us that they had never seen these guys before. They said they had an accent and probably don't even live in Guadalajara. I don't know if they are just saying that to make us feel better or what but it worked.
Thanks again for worrying about us and keeping us in your prayers.