Tourist conned me out of $30,000

Dear Pastor,

I am 65 and I am writing to you about a problem. Twenty years ago, I met a woman who was vacationing in Jamaica.

She told me that she was never married. I went out with her many times while she was in Jamaica and we fell in love. She said she did not have any children. I told her that I have two. I spent a lot of money so she could enjoy herself. The group she came to Jamaica with left her with me. We were all over the place during the day and she only went back to the hotel to sleep. I took her elsewhere in the night a couple of times so that we could have our time together.

I bought her a beautiful engagement ring. She wanted us to get engaged so that she could tell her friends that our relationship was real. When she went back to America, I heard from her twice. When I tried to call her at the number she gave me, there was a recording saying that the number was not in service. I didn't have a number for her friends. I went to the hotel where they stayed and I was told that they could not give me any information on their guests. I had pictures of her on my phone, but someone stole my phone, so I have lost everything.

When this woman was leaving Jamaica, she took $30,000 from me and promised that she would send it back; I never got the money. I wish I had that money now. I put my heart on this woman and it has taken me a long time to get over her. She had promised to help me with my children to attend school in America and that was part of the reason why I got involved with her. My children are doing well; one went to HEART and the other to The Mico University College.

I am now in a relationship with a woman who is 10 years older than me. Her husband died and left her a house that needs a little repair. She asked me to marry her and that is what I plan to do. Although she is in her 70s, she is very strong and active. Do you think I should take the risk to marry this woman? She has four children but they are not in Jamaica.

P.A.

Dear P.A.,

I don't need to say that the American woman conned you, but I will say it anyway.

However, I do not condemn you, because you felt that you fell in love with someone who would help you and your children. It is not unusual for the men in Jamaica to spend money on foreign women because some of these women promise to give lots of help; but they are liars and thieves.

You bought this woman an expensive engagement ring and gave her money. I can imagine how much she sold that ring for. The telephone number she gave you could have been real, but it was out of service and that was on purpose. I did a wedding for a Jamaican man who was living here with his children's mother. He was fooled by a woman from the US. She came to Jamaica to marry him and he agreed. He spent a lot of money on a ring. I saw the ring because I officiated at the wedding. He did not tell the woman that he was living with his children's mother. But after the ceremony, she asked him to buy different expensive items in Jamaica for her, and he could not afford it. Then she took off the ring, gave it back to him, and threw the copy of the marriage certificate to him and flew back to America.

How did I know all these things? Well, one of his sisters called me and told me what transpired after the wedding. I saw the gentleman at a plaza some weeks later, and he told me, "Pastor, I was only trying a thing." He was not an honest man. He was trying a thing, indeed, but it was the wrong way of trying to go to America.

My friend, I am sorry you lost your money by getting involved with this woman. But now you are with a widow. She has her own home and you are comfortable. If you believe that you love her, marry her and both of you try to serve the Lord together.

Pastor