Blood curling, horror movie screams is what I woke up to on February 19, 2014 at 4:00 am. My first thought was that there was a baboon in the living room, but it was one of my teammates who had woken up to use the bathroom. Still in my room I heard a voice scream, "EVERYBODY WAKE UP!" We froze. We knew something was wrong.
There was someone in our house.
I asked the girls in my room if anyone had a phone to call the police, but no one did. Then the same voice cried out, "WHO ARE YOU?!" I remembered there being a field hockey stick in the corner of the kitchen so I ran from my room to the kitchen and when I turned around there he was..skinny, almost naked, light skin, 18 years old, and probably about 5'9-5'10.
I don't remember what happened next, but according to my teammate I hit him a couple of times with the field hockey stick. I ended up on the ground with this kid over me, knife in hand screaming, "YOU WANNA FIGHT?! YOU WANNA FIGHT?!" All I remember doing during that moment is kicking him while I was on the ground yelling for help.
He moved from the kitchen to the bathroom with all of us surrounding him screaming at him to leave. He kept saying that he didn't want to hurt us that he was just hungry, but that he would leave. He slammed the bathroom door shut then crawled out the window.
A couple of girls ran down to our contact's (Bradley) house for help. When he came he told us to worship and he would catch the guy before sunrise.
We worshipped and prayed. During this time of worship and prayer I was journaling. I wondered what would've been more impactful: hitting him or making him a sandwich. What would Jesus have done? Would He have asked the kid why he didn't just knock? I felt so regretful. I prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel with him. Something shifted in me. I was moved by compassion for the man who instilled fear, anger, and rage in all of us.
When Bradley returned to the house with the news that they caught someone, we went to the police station to identify him. It was the kid, and we were able to share the gospel with him! God is so good! God uses what people meant for evil for good. He used an intruder to teach me compassion.
God broke my heart for the kid who broke into our house.
…but if he comes back, I will break his leg.
