These 2 verses set the stage for the following story:
"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!" Hebrews 13:2
"Cheerfully share you home with those who need a meal or a place to stay." 1 Peter 4:9
Last Monday, April 27th, Tim and I were at the Library for our homework help session. I was actually also working as the librarian at that time. A guy came in and asked to use the computers, I had to issue him a visitors card and that was it. His name was Joseph E. Tim was also at the public computers because we didn't have anyone to help with homework. Joseph started chatting with Tim, asking him some questions and telling a bit of his story.
Joseph arrived in Lab City that day on the train from Sept Iles, QC. He came originally from Montreal. His checked bag was missing and he said his wallet was in it. So he didn't have a place to stay or money. He was on his way to St. Johns and thought he could get there from here, not knowing that there's no ferry running this time of year. (I actually don't think he knew much about the geography of this province...)
Tim looked at me after he said he didn't have a place to stay - I knew what he was thinking and shrugged my shoulders. Tim offered him a place to stay for a couple of nights. We have a spare room, no prob. I worked until 9 that night and then my friend Kim invited me out for coffee so I didn't get home until later. When I got home Joseph wasn't there, Tim told me that they went out to play some pool and then Tim dropped him off at Corby's (local bar). Tim gave him some money to survive the few days until his bag came in off the train. He said he would pay it back.
The next morning Tim woke up for work and we noticed that light in the hallway was still on. He wasn't sleeping in his room and we wondered whether he had made it home from the bar. Tim found him sleeping on the couch in the basement... The only time I was nervous was when Tim left for work and I was alone in the house with a strange man (who is much bigger and stronger than me). I got up and went over to Kim's early that morning!
Everything was fine. Tim talked to him a lot and found out more of his story. I tried not to be home much when Tim wasn't home because I wasn't comfortable with that. Tuesday he mentioned that he was thinking of staying in town until the ferrys were running (June) and said that he would finish our basement or paint our house for room and board. Tim thought it was a great idea, me - not so much.... We didn't know him at all, what kind of work he did (I guess basic labour and carpentry was his profession or something), and I didn't want a strange man in my house that long. Yet I was feeling if this was an opportunity that was presented to us to help out someone in need I wanted to not let my insecurities get in the way.
We went to youth that night and afterwards to Tim's to have a chat. Over tea and timbits we talked about what was going on, our dear friends and lab city parents Bonnie and Dave, came into Tim's at that time and we decided to talk to them about it. They gave us some great advice and compared our story to The Good Samaritan". Buddy in the story helped out the guy but only delayed his journey by a bit. He paid for his hotel room but that's it. He wasn't taken advantage of. We talked about many issues and left with the decision made that Joseph had to be gone by friday morning when we left for Goose Bay with the youth. He had to find somewhere to stay by then and that was it. I told Tim we weren't going to give him any more money because supposedly he had spent $70 at the bar the previous night and I didn't want to give him money for that.
We went home and Tim told him the plan and he was fine with it. Said he understood and everything. He wasn't a sketchy guy really, just seemed like a normal guy that needed a place to stay until he got his wallet (supposed to come on Friday on the train).
So that was it. I was at peace and everything was great! Wednesday night I was over at Kim's and we were trying to search him on google to see if we could find out anything about him. No luck there but I knew that he had gone on our computer so I decided to check in the morning to see if I could find anything interesting in our computer history.
Just a side note: I had taken all of our personal files containing our banking information/sin number...anything that could be used against us and put them over at Kim's. Tim erased our computer history and all saved passwords and everything as well. So we thought we were pretty safe.
Thursday morning I was over at Kim's for a bit and then I returned home. Joseph's shoes weren't there so I figured he was out or something. I decided to take that opportunity to look at the computer history. The first interesting thing I found was that his name wasn't Joseph E. it was Joseph L. So He gave us a different last name. I also got his age and his e mail. I found him on facebook and saved his profile picture to our computer just in case. I called Tim at work to tell him what I found. Tim said he found out some interesting information as well. Tim had called the train people to see when the bag was going to be in and they said that he owed them money. They let him on the train without paying and without ID...he had told them he had lost his wallet at the bus station. So, Tim called the police to tell them about him just in case anything happened. They said that if he wouldn't leave in the morning then to give them a call and they would be over to pick him up.
So the story was a bit sketchy now considering he had told us a different name and a different story. I still don't understand why the train people let him on... I noticed after I got off the phone with Tim and all his stuff was gone out of the spare room. There wasn't any trace of him left in the house. I looked for a note saying that he left but there was nothing. So he was gone. I called Tim to tell him. That was about it really. We went on to Goosebay in the morning and came back Sunday night.
The story wasn't over like we thought it was. Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to skating and right after we were to go over to a friend's house for supper. I got home from skating and waited for Tim in the car. He came out to the car and said "Now I know why Joseph left so suddenly on thursday". I was like...oh no, what's missing? Tim had checked our online banking while I was away and saw two charges to our account, one for $500 and one for $300. Two cash advances totaling $800. They were filled at a local bar so Tim called the bar and inquired. The guy who was actually working last wednesday remembered Joseph and wasn't going to do the cash advances (he had my card number and expiry date written on a piece of paper - a little sketchy..) but his boss told him to. This also blows my mind. Who in their right mind would give someone a cash advance of $800 from a credit card number written on a piece of paper...unbelieveable.
So we filed a police report and now it's out of our hands. They have a photo of him so hopefully they will be able to get him so that he doesn't take advantage of any other generous people. The credit card company said not to worry because they have insurance for stuff like that and they would put the money back on our account as credit.
Honestly, I think we would do it again if the opportunity was there. We don't know the impact we had on his life for the short time he was living with us and we may never know. I want to be available and if I get taken advantage of in the mean time (as long as it's not physically)... oh well, it's just material things, it's just money. The police officer asked us if we had learned our lesson...maybe not. If we live a closed life to strangers, how are we going to ever impact lives?
