Hey so it's been a while since I was able to update this so I'm going to try and crank out some posts this week. I'll start with a cool story.
So we arrived a few weeks ago and went to a big shopping area where we could get any gear people needed for some of the treks we have planned and also just minister to people in the area. On the way back we took a taxi, our group is 14 people strong so we needed 4 taxis. Some of the taxi drivers can speak English, some can't, but one thing they understand is "beat that taxi". If you've ever been to South East Asia you know that the driving can seem a little intense to most of us westerners, add in a little street racing and it gets pretty wild... and fun. So we are in the midst of a race and I'm the team media person, so I am responsible for taking pictures. I'm snapping pictures as we are zooming through traffic, at one point I think there was a hive five given from taxi to taxi. The taxis are quite small, and we were crammed 3 in the backseat that should really only have 2 people. When we got back I was waiting for change and didn't check I had all my stuff and realized right after the taxi drove away that I had left my phone in the back seat.
I asked one of the locals if there was anyway of finding that taxi again and he said no, but sometimes they come back if they find something. Well, he never came back. I had been here less than 3 days and already lost my phone...
The next day I was going through the pictures I took and I realized that the taxi numbers were on the inside of the car and that when I had taken a picture of my friend in the front seat one of the pictures had focused on the taxi number instead of his face!! So I told one of our translators, but he said the police were just corrupt and slow and if they found it it would be in 2 years. The next day I had a taxi driver who spoke very good English and he told me the traffic police could help and gave me the address where their station was.
The next day off a friend of mine went with me and we tried our best to talk to the police. At first I had no hope because nobody spoke English and they kept sending us to different places on the compound. We finally got to the right office and had somebody who spoke pretty good English. When I told him I had a picture of the taxi number he didn't really believe me until I showed him the picture, I could tell he was surprised that I had it from the look on his face when he saw the picture. There's probably a million taxis or more in this city so it was a longshot. We bounced around to a few more tables, showed the picture, listened to them talk to each other and then we were back where we started. Nothing seemed like it had been accomplished. Then a new guy walks up and asks me when I'm leaving that city, it was Wednesday and we were leaving at 5 am on Friday. His face told me there was no chance, but I had a number of a contact in that city so I thought maybe if nothing else they could hang on to the phone for me. A few minutes later he comes back, looks at me and says "the taxi driver has your phone at his house, come back tomorrow at 10am and you can get it".
I was just super excited, we walked out, and then started wondering if he had actually talked to him or just said he thought he had it. Either way I was coming back the next day. The next morning I arrived at 10, the taxi driver came in, the police officer opened a locked case and my phone was there!! I was so happy, but, they wanted me to unlock it and inspect it. Right away I could tell the screen cover had been removed and put back on, then I noticed that the touch screen didn't work but the display did. The police began to talk amongst each other, then the taxi driver, I could tell they were asking him why it didn't work. I thought I heard them say he had to fix it. So I began to pray, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I had brought some money to give to the taxi driver as a thank you but now I was just upset. He was sitting beside me and I could see he was nervous, folding his hands over each other over and over. I leaned forward bowing my head and looked at his worn out sandals and just asked God what I should do.
The phone was at 2% battery and I had brought the charge cable so the police insisted we wait until the phone reached 5% and see if the screen worked. A few minutes later I was testing it again but the screen still didn't register touch. I looked at them and said "so what's the plan?" They told me that I had to go with the taxi driver and he had to pay to fix the phone and make it work again and then we had to come back. I have the Samsung S8, both edges of the display are curved so it's not just a normal glass screen, I knew this was going to be an expensive fix. I looked at the cop and said "listen, I know this guy probably did something to my phone. It worked before and now it doesn't. But, I follow Jesus and tells me to forgive people, so I forgive this man. I don't want him to pay for this, I'm happy, I have my phone back." I should also add that it's illegal to convert people in the country I'm in. Being a Christian is fine but converting somebody is a crime. So in a way it was a risk, but there were 4 English speaking police officers in that room and without trying to convert them God had given me a way to tell them about Jesus and in a way that was more than just words. They talked to each other for a minute, said "ok", then asked me for my passport. I was a bit nervous when I handed it over, but I think it was just clerical, who knows. They let me go either way. I was also afraid they would do something to the taxi driver and I had a gift for him, so I asked them if he was working and said I want him to drive me home. So they gave him back his paperwork, license, and from what I understood told him next time he would get in more trouble.
The night before I had gotten 3 bibles in the local language. My taxi driver spoke almost no English but tried to tell me how the phone had fallen out of the car and that's why it didn't work. I didn't try to argue with him about how if it fell out then I would have picked it up off the road and it wouldn't have been in his taxi. I just said "it doesn't matter, I forgive you. Thank you for keeping it." If you haven't read my previous post you should, I had an amazing experience in a locals home and got to spend some time getting to know his family, we were the first outsiders ever to visit them. What I don't think I mentioned in that post was that all of this story took place that morning, I was supposed to be back at 10:30 to leave and go with them, I have no phone or way to communicate with my team and it's now 11. I was hoping they waited, but the village was an hour from where we were staying and I knew they couldn't wait long. As I was giving the taxi driver directions (there aren't really addresses so you kind of have to know where you are going here) I saw my team on the corner walking to get taxis and leave for the village. I stopped the taxi, yelled at my team and then pulled out the bible, the taxi driver took it and said "gift?". I told him yes, thanked him for returning my phone and hopped out. My leader later told me they waited as long as they could, I was one of the contacts for the person we were going to visit so they really wanted me to come but they felt God saying "if Josh is meant to come you'll meet him on the way."
It's been a crazy start to this trip, but I'm learning to trust God more, have faith that he knows what he's doing, and just been blown away at his timing and plans. At one point I thought how if I hadn't waited 3 days to go to the police maybe the driver wouldn't have tried taking my phone apart and it would still work, but I didn't get the bibles until the night before I picked up my phone so I wouldn't have had anyway to tell him about Jesus. If my phone had worked I would have no reason to tell the police how Jesus changed my life, that forgiving people is easy when we know about his forgiveness. As nice as it would be to listen to music on this trip, or have a camera that easily fits in my pocket I'm strangely ok with it. Please pray for the taxi driver, that he would read the words of the bible and that God would speak to him through it. Pray that a seed was planted in the hearts of those 4 police officers, that they see there's more to Jesus than just a story.
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