It was a normal morning here in Malaysia.
Half of the team was ready and heading to the orphanage to do ministry with our Pastor and the rest of us were going to the chiropractor with one of the girls on our team. The Pastor waited for the taxi to arrive to make sure that he knew where to take us. The three of us going to the chiropractor climbed in the taxi and were on our way.
The taxi driver seemed a little confused about the best way to take, so we made a few u-turns before finally heading in the right direction. About five minutes into the trip, the driver turned and asked us to all make sure we were buckled because we were coming up on a roadblock.
Most cars were just passing through the roadblock, so we didn’t think anything of it….until they stopped us.
The officers were armed with guns and began motioning Shawna, who was in the front seat, to roll down the window. As she did so, the policeman started speaking in Malay to our driver. The driver then got out of the car. He seemed panicky and began speaking faster and anxiously as the four policeman surrounded him.
They asked for our passports. Bad timing…our passports are with our logistics team about an hour away. We are in the process of trying to get visas for future countries. Shawna and I had a copy of our passports in our wallets, but Kaitlyn only had an ID. We gave it to them anyway. The officers seemed pushy and impatient.
When we handed our forms of identification to the officer…he looked at me and told me that it wasn’t a copy of my passport. I tried to show him my passport number and expiration date and explain the situation of our passports with him, but he wasn’t buying it.
The situation was NOT looking good..so we all began to silently pray. I felt fear initially, but had a peace and truly felt God’s presence right there with us.
Out of no where, Pastor walked up to the huddle of officers right outside of the taxi. Where did he come from? He was using a very firm and matter-of-fact voice. The taxi driver was still freaking out. We couldn’t understand anything going on but the tension of the situation was obvious. What the heck was going on? What was about to happen?
Two of the officers began to approach Pastor's car where the other four girls on my team were. This is when my heart sank. I felt worried for them and fear for what they would be asked or how they would be treated. I just continued to silently pray, whispering Jesus’ name for strength and security. The officers didn’t stay at their car long and came back to join the argument going on outside my window.
After ten to fifteen minutes of intense conversation….they decided to let us go on.
*Sigh*
We were relieved, but didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation until hours later when we talked to our Pastor.
So here’s what happened…
The policeman stopped us because we were traveling in a taxi and that seems suspicious with three foreign girls. When we didn’t have our passports and Kaitlyn didn’t have a copy of hers, they were accusing us of being illegal immigrants. We technically didn't have proof against it if they didn't want to accept our copies. The taxi driver was panicking because he didn’t know us and had no way of defending the fact that we were legally there. The officers were wanting to hold us and take all of us in, including the taxi driver.
(We almost went to jail!!!)
Here in Malaysia, the legal system is very corrupt.
When they take foreign girls to jail, it is assumed they will be treated inappropriately and be sexually assaulted upon arrival. If our pastor had not shown up in the moment that he did…we would have more than likely been held in Malaysian jail. He informed us that once we were in their custody, there would be nothing that he could have done to help us, especially without our passports on hand.
He explained to us that the officers were accusing us of being Russian prostitutes….that’s a first!! Especially geared up in our modest missionary attire. Apparently they were not speaking very kindly about us, but the Pastor didn't go into detail.
Our Pastor had to fight for us. He had to explain where we were staying, what we were doing, and how we were affording our stay. You could hear in his tone of voice that he was angry and very serious. The officers, then, wanted a bribe from us since we were Americans. The Pastor refused and said we would not be paying them anything and that they should be ashamed for treating us, "students that are here to study the culture of Malaysia", this way!
I could not believe all of this was happening right in front of us without us having a clue of what was really going on!!
The coolest part of it all is that the Pastor should have been five minutes ahead of us meaning he would have never seen us at the roadblock. Instead, he decided to run home and pick a document up really quick. This put him right behind our taxi and provided a divine appointment to save us from a potentially very horrible situation.
This instance reminded me how perfect His timing really is.
That he can turn a situation that Satan is trying to use to sabotage the Kingdom work we are doing here and turn it into an incredible God moment :). Praise God for his providing protection us. Praise God for peace in a very bad situation. Praise God for his perfect timing.
…and praise God we were not locked up today!!
Please pray for continual safety for our team and squad as we travel. Your prayers are all greatly needed and appreciated!!
