In Malaysia we traveled a lot. We always traveled by bus. Our last bus ride to Penang, our 5th and final city in Malaysia, was quite a journey.
As the prayer track leader for our squad I had sent out a prayer challenge, challenging our squad mates to use prayer as a vehicle for evangelism. The challenge was to get to know someone else who was traveling and hear their story, then ask them if you could pray for them and their journey.
We got on the bus and I noticed a woman with blond curly hair who was by herself. We mostly noticed her because she was in one of our seats. Someone else had taken hers so she had taken my teammate’s and so on. My teammate was kind but I still felt badly that we were asking her to move to a different seat. I apologized to her and thanked her for her flexibility. She responded with a British accent that let me know she was a fluent English speaker and I instantly knew that she was the person I should be praying for. But I had no idea how to approach her about it.
We had a 4 – 5 hour bus ride ahead of us so I figured the Lord had plenty of time to open doors. I settled in, fell asleep and took a nap. I awoke and shortly after we stopped for lunch and bathrooms. The blond woman got off and then back on again with some food. The bus driver had given my teammate next to me the same packet the blond woman had bought. We tasted it to see what it was, concluded it wasn’t too bad and made some small talk with her about the food.
It wasn’t long before 4 hours had passed and we began to realize we were nowhere near our destination. The bus drove on and on – 5 hours had passed, then 6 hours, then 7. Morning turned into day and day began to turn into evening. We began to get hungry and started to grumble a bit about how over due we were for a real food stop and bathroom break, and wondered why no announcement had been made informing us about our late arrival. The blond woman joined in with her own expressions of surprise.
The sun set and the bus became quiet and dark. Most of us had our headphones on. I saw my teammate in front of me take hers out and she started asking the blond woman where she was from. Myself and two other teammates soon joined in on the conversation. Her name was Leoni.
She was from England, and had been traveling all over south east Asia by herself on holiday. She told us about how her phone had been stolen in a fake taxi cab and about some of her adventures. We marveled at the idea that she had done so much and gone so far all by herself.
She asked us about our journey. She had questions about how we all knew each other, about whether or not coming from different denominations and churches divided us in ways. She talked about how she has been to church but had found it to be rather hypocritical and that religion and rule following just wasn’t what she was searching for.
I began to share my story with her, about how I had been in that same place almost a decade ago. I told her what had changed me and about who I was following. She listened and I could tell that my story was resonating with her.
A little over 9 hours after our departure, we finally arrived in Penang. We had hoped to take an Uber or Grab with Leoni but we were going to completely separate parts of the city. Our team started to file off the bus and I saw Leoni grab her stuff.
I knew this was the moment the Lord had been building up to. I knew this was why our day had been interrupted with a 9 hour long bus ride. For a while the whole day had felt wasted, but now it was beginning to feel fruitful.
“Leoni would you mind if my team and I prayed for you and your journey and travels?”
She hesitated for a second: “I would actually really like that. Could we do it once everyone is off and has their stuff?”
“That sounds perfect”.
We piled off our bus and strapped ourselves into our packs. Then we surrounded Leoni, I took one hand and another teammate took another. Other teammates placed their hands on her shoulders.
We prayed over her waterfall style and when we stopped and I let go, Leoni looked up.
“I feel very overwhelmed.” She said with wide eyes.
I began to apologize, that our intent wasn’t to make her feel ambushed.
But she stopped me: “No it’s a really good thing actually.”
I could tell that Leoni had had one of her first true encounters with the Holy Spirit. Our day had been interrupted, but it had been all part of God’s plan to chase after just one of the lost.
We said our goodbyes and she thanked us again for the prayer and conversation; she wished us well.
I watched her walk away fully knowing that the Lord had interrupted my life and my plans for me to share the Gospel and my story with Leoni . I continued on my path, as my team headed off to catch yet another bus fully assured that the Lord would continue to chase after her until she was found.
