My friend Lizzie in Cambodia said, “If the world was like Molly Reel it would be Disney Land everyday. You would either be laughing or crying!” Amen! I like to laugh and have a good time. I also tend to have situations bring me to tears! Sometimes I even laugh while I am crying. What’s a girl to do?
Sunday I felt off all day. I didn’t feel my normal joyful self. I am with team End Zone this month and we are working with Acts Church Botswana. I love being with team End Zone and I love our ministry. Our hosts are so kind and personable. We went to church from 9-1:30pm to help set up and then were able to participate in the worship service. I have never felt more welcomed by a church. We were hugged, clapped for, and I even got a few hollers in my introduction when I said I was 34 years old. There was no reason for me to not feel joyful. Then at 1:30pm we took a combi (public transportation van) to a local motel for a baptism service. We were privileged to watch five members of the church be baptized. I always tear up at baptismal services because I am so happy that they know our Lord and want to live a life for Him. However, I didn’t cry on Sunday. I sat in the shade thinking, “What is my problem? How come I don’t feel anything?”
We walked home to our guesthouse. We get real beds and a real bathroom this month! Yea! Earlier we had decided that it would be fun to eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant at the mall. (We cook for ourselves this month. Our budget is $4 a day per person for food, so going out to eat is a treat!) We stopped at home to change clothes and bags. I remember thinking through what I wanted to take and was trying to decide if I should take my computer. The Mexican restaurant had wifi, and it is always nice to check messages. I threw in my computer, team wallet, and personal wallet. I bought a pretty cloth bag from the women in Swaziland and it fit my computer and other small items perfectly. I swung my new bag across my body and out the door we went.
We left the mall about 6:45pm. Three people stayed behind to grocery shop. Zach was in front, then Lizzy and Shannon, and then Jordan C. and I. We were close together walking on the sidewalk. I was not alert like I should have been. Two guys were walking towards us. I saw them as they shared the sidewalk and when they were right next to me I made eye contact. The next thing I know a scream is coming out of my mouth and I am on the ground. The two guys are standing over me pulling on my bag as hard as they can. The bag is around my body so the pulling hurt my neck. Then I have the thought, “Give them your bag or you are going to get hurt.” I don’t know if they cut the straps, ripped it off of me or if I wiggled out of the bag, but before I know it they have my bag and are running away. It happened in seconds.
Fast forward to Monday. Our host, Lizzie and I are at the Botswana police station filling out a report. The man taking my report is not professional at all. He is asking me question after question. Why didn’t I fight back? Why was I carrying so many valuables? Would I marry him? Can he come to the states with me? Why aren’t you talking to me? He kept saying, “I want to talk to you and you are not talking to me.” I wanted to yell, “I am not here to get to know you!!!” (Many men in southern Africa are very forward. They will ask you to marry them while just walking down the street. I wear a fake wedding band that does help stop some of the questions.) With each question, I was trying so hard to not cry. They told us to wait and they would take us to the scene to look around. Maybe they dropped my bag. As we were waiting for transport we stepped outside and the tears came. I couldn’t keep it together anymore. I didn’t want to go back to the scene, I didn’t want to talk to the man taking my report, I was mad at myself for carrying both wallets, I was mad at myself for taking my computer to dinner, I was mad at myself for getting too comfortable, and I was tired. I didn’t sleep the night before. I replayed the scene a hundred times. Then I remembered it was my mom’s birthday! Originally, I was going to call her, but figured a crying daughter from Botswana probably wouldn’t be the best gift.
A few weeks ago I was praying about hearing God’s voice. I know I hear him but was curious how I hear him the best. A couple of times in the last two weeks I have heard, “Separate your money,” “You are carrying too much cash in your wallet.” I heard these thoughts loud and clear. And I didn’t do anything about it. Then walking home from ministry one day I felt a hand down my back. I turned and hit the guy right next to me on the shoulder and said, “Hey! Are you trying to steal from me?” My friend Susan saw his hand in my cloth bag when I yelled. He didn’t get anything and it startled me. Yet, I still kept wearing the cloth bag and didn’t separate out my cash. I know God was trying to get my attention. I was being stubborn. When I heard, “Give them your bag or you are going to get hurt,” I knew instantly to listen. If I don’t listen in the small things, I am going to miss the big things. Lesson learned. I do hear God’s voice. God protected me and kept me from harm. I ended up with a few cuts, a sore neck and a really sore finger, but am so thankful that was all.
John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
God is good even when you get mugged and shaken up a bit!
*The police found my computer on a bus headed to Zimbabwe! I still can’t believe it! I had no faith in the Botswana police. Friends were praying that my stuff would be returned. God hears our prayers and is so good!
*My prayer is that my cash and beautiful cloth bag are being used for good and were just the blessing those two men needed for their families. I picture them giving my bag to their mother for her birthday. 
(They really hit the jackpot of bags. It had a little bag inside of it with chap-stick, sunscreen, band-aids, Neosporin, other med kit type supplies, a pocket mirror, hand sanitizer, a roll of toilet paper, a cross necklace, a flash drive, sunglasses, squad cellphone, South Africa rand that I was going to use in a couple of weeks, Swaziland Lilagani that I was going to exchange at the airport, emergency USD and the Botswana Pula…I like to be prepared. Therefore, it would be the perfect bag for a family in need.)
*My sister, Emily Marie Baum, gets the Sister of the Year Award. She has been the best personal assistant! I would not have been able to come on the World Race had she not been willing to help with my responsibilities at home. Her help, support and love have been invaluable. If you see her, congratulate her on her award! 
