Yes, you read that right.
On Saturday, September 2, my wallet was stolen right out of my little backpack as we were walking the streets of Belgrade. My whole squad was together in Serbia for nearly a week during our first debrief. My teammate Melissa and I had gone to eat lunch at a Wok restaurant. We walked about a mile and a half to a bubble tea café. I pulled my bag around to the front and my bag was unzipped.
“Melissa, my wallet is gone.” Melissa immediately sprang into action. “It’s to be okay, it’s going to be okay.” She looked through some of the trash cans nearby. I used the phone at the bubble tea café to call the restaurant to see if I had accidently left it there. No luck.
I thought through everything in my wallet: cash, driver’s license, credit card, debit card, immunization record and passport. Shoot, my passport, seriously?! I created a mental check list of everything I needed to do. We walked back to our hostel. One of my lovely squad mates, Ashley, let me use her phone to make calls. Melissa asked what she needed me to do. “Just stay here and sit with me.” I called and cancelled my credit and debit cards and called to let my parents know what was going on.
I held myself together long enough to take care of business. I felt myself on the verge of tears. I rushed to the bathroom and cried.
I pulled myself together for my one-on-one with Julie, one of our squad leaders. She asked how I was doing. I teared up again and told her what was going on. She stopped me and said let’s pray. She then told me a story about how she and a squad mate of hers at been robbed at the beach during their first debrief. She stopped herself and said let’s pray again. In that moment, she prayed that the person who stole my wallet would feel convicted and would somehow get it back to me.
After that, I sent a quick text to my cousins, Shanna and Anna. The immediately sent texts back. “Prayers for favor and divine intervention!” “Lynna, I believe they are going to dump your passport… The Lord knows exactly where it is!” Shanna shared my story with my home church, Chickasha First. The ladies (and men) were so quick to lift me up in prayer!
At this point, I was already filled with such faith and peace, trusting that the Lord was in control of the situation and knowing that one way or another, the situation would be resolved.
Over the next few days, my teammates, squad mates, and leadership team showered me with such grace and support. They prayed for my wallet to be found; they prayed for the heart of the one who stole from me; they prayed for me; they spent hours walking the streets with me, searching through every trash can we passed; they paid for my meals; they loaned me spending money; they reassured me. They are seriously THE best!
On Sunday, I filed a police report with the local authorities. Savannah, Dosson, and Connor were so kind to walk with me to the closest police station. We talked with an officer who informed us we would need a translator to file the report. We all looked at each other and shrugged. “Okay, let’s go find one!” We stepped outside and walked to the nearest intersection. “We just got to let them come to us.” Connor and Dosson ran over to the second guy we saw coming our way. “That’s our guy.” That guy was Dusan. He sat in the room with me as I gave the officer all my information. He was so patient and I am so thankful for his willingness to help me, a stranger off the street. What a gift a stranger could give me, his time and patience amidst such confusion and chaos.
I scheduled the first available appointment with the US Embassy, which was Wednesday at 9:30am. Monday was Labor Day, so they office was closed and there were no available appointments on Tuesday. That was not a problem, except that my entire squad was leaving on Tuesday to travel to our next country, Romania. Which meant, I would have to stay behind in Serbia until I could get a new passport.
On Sunday, I printed off and filled out the passport application forms. Melissa and I spent about an hour at the hostel trying to take the perfect passport photo. After probably 928,347 attempts [a rough guess-timate], we printed off the best one using her polaroid printer.
[For your viewing pleasure!]
Tuesday morning came, my squad left for Romania, and my teammate Marissa and I stayed behind. Operation get a new passport was underway. My appointment was not until the next day, but I decided to call the embassy to verify I had all the necessary documents. I asked the lady on the phone if there was any way I could get an earlier appointment. “Can you come in today at 2:45pm?” YES!
It was only 10am, but Marissa and I left right away. I just wanted to make sure we could get to the embassy without any problems. Bus #42 took us right to the embassy. A guard from the consulate came up and asked us what we needed. He walked into the office and returned a few minutes later. “You can go in now.” “Now?!” So, at 11:00am I entered the office and handed over my application. Everything was accepted! “You can come back at 3:15pm to pick up your passport.” It was totally surreal, but at the same time, it was so easy; step by step, following in the Lord’s goodness and provision.
So, Marissa and I left Serbia on Wednesday morning for Romania. We had a vague set of travel plans. Train to Vrsac, Serbia; train to Timisoara, Romania; train to Alba Iulia, Romania. I was a little nervous crossing the border because I was issued an emergency passport that is good for one year, but has limited validity. Luckily, [except that the second train ride did not exist, so we had to take a taxi] our travel was easy breezy!
We got settled in Romania, which is all squad month, spent the first few days evangelizing in the city and got our ministry assignments for the month [ours is working at a kindergarten! Fast forward to Saturday. At this point, it’s been a long week. I received an email from the embassy back in Belgrade that my wallet had been turned in! Everything except for the cash was accounted for! I was in total awe, but at the same time I wasn’t, because I know that the Lord always comes through on what He says He will do.
