This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Two Mormon missionaries, one of them from Utah, were robbed in Russia.
On Saturday, Kamron Call of Moab and Jeffrey Owen of Coppell, Texas, met a man for a teaching appointment in Engels, Russia — a riverside city in the southwestern corner of the expansive country. For reference, Sochi is an 18-hour drive southwest of Engels.
But after Call and Owen met up with the man, he forcibly drove them to an ATM and demanded they withdraw cash for him before letting them go, according to a statement from Cody Craynor, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Call's brother Mike Call posted on Facebook that the missionaries were held at knife point, but neither of them were hurt.
"Today I am especially grateful for the Lord's watchful gaze over his servants in the field," Mike Call posted. "This situation could have ended very differently and my family is thanking Heavenly Father that our brother was watched over."
The missionaries are staying in their apartment while police search for the man, Mike Call wrote. He added that their apartment is the same one that the LDS missionaries who were kidnapped eight years ago were staying in. That incident spawned the film "The Saratov Approach."
Kamron Call and Owen have been serving in the Russia Samara Mission.
Twitter: @mikeypanda