We jumped into the back of a truck for our normal afternoon of evangelism in one of the nearby villages. As treasurer of our team, I had to make a stop at the ATM in order to pull out this week’s money to pay our host for food, lodging and transportation. We picked the ATM by the Mzuzu mall, and since Christmas was approaching it was especially crowded. One of the nearby stores was blasting music, and the ATM had a noticeably long line.
I jumped in line with a teammate and when it was my turn I routinely stuck my card in the slot and proceeded to choose the allotted amount for the week. When I pressed finish, the machine said the transaction could not be completed and my card was nowhere to be found.
A treasurer’s worst nightmare!
Luckily our Malawian friends were there to help us out. Rabson called the company and our friend Prayer assured me this has happened to him before.
Standing in the mall’s parking lot, and with attempts to hide my panic, I asked if he got his card back.
“Yes, but it took over two hours for the company to show up.”
I thought to myself, “two hours…. but we have things to do!” We had people to meet and people waiting to join our group at the village. Why in the world would something like this happen?
All we could do is wait.
Despite the circumstances, my team held very good attitudes. Some found seats at a table nearby and struck up a conversation with some teenagers. A few of us sat close to the ATM waiting for the company to arrive. About fifteen minutes later we noticed a girl had a confused look on her face as she stared at the ATM screen. Sure enough her card also disappeared. We invited her to join us as we wait and I began to chat with her.
Her name was Queen and she was studying to be a nurse at St. Johns hospital. I shared with her about the world race, and why we were here. At one point I looked up and realized something. We may not be in the village, but we were still doing what we had planned to do that day; talk to people about Jesus.
Our friend Rabson was invited by a couple to share Jesus with their daughter later this week; I encouraged Queen to seek a deeper friendship with Jesus, and Nettie and Kenadi had their heads bowed leading two teenagers through a prayer of accepting Jesus!
Sure enough after over two hours of waiting, the company finally came and had my card waiting in their hands. As we drove away I was reminded that our plans are not always God’s plans. He can use annoying situations like a lost credit card, stolen purse, or getting stuck in traffic to glorify his name. We just have to choose to look for him amidst the chaos.
And to add to our joy, we turned around Sunday morning to see the two teenage girls who accepted Jesus sitting a few rows behind us. God is good and he is always working!
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Merry Christmas to all my friends and family! It is definitely hard being away for the holidays, but our Malawian family is making us feel right at home. We have listened to several Christmas carols, watched an adorable Christmas program by the kids at church, and had a Christmas lunch with rice, chicken, and cherry plum soda, yum! Now we are waiting for some of our friends from the church to come over to watch a few Christmas movies, and we have a few Christmas surprises for our host family tonight. There may not be snow on the ground outside, but we are still in the Christmas Spirit!
Thanks to so many of you who have made this new Christmas experience possible through your prayers and financial support. I am happy to say that a Christmas miracle has come through and I am officially fully funded! God is so so good!
Many blessings to you and your family on this very special day!
