It was around Friday afternoon when I received a text message from my friend, telling me they we’re heading to the city at 2 pm, asking me if I wanted to join. As I looked over at the time (1:28 pm) I thought about it for a couple of minutes, finally making the decision to come along. As I got myself around, ready to head towards the meeting place, I made a quick stop at the bank to get some cash out. Checking the time on my phone, which read: 1:44 pm. “Shoot. I’m going to be totally late,” I thought to myself staring at my phone. Instead of taking the bus, I decided to grab a taxi. As I entered the taxi, I guided the driver to where I was going. During our 5-minute ride to the destination. The taxi driver smiled at me and tried to carry on a conversation with me in his native language. I pretty much failed to keep up.
Upon arriving, I scrambled through my purse, locating my wallet to hand the driver money. As he handed me my change, I smiled at him and said “Thank you!” Placing my wallet back into my purse or so I thought. As I was ready to make my way across the street to meet my friends, I discovered that my purse seemed “lighter.” That’s when instant anxiety fell upon me. “I left my wallet in the cab!” I said to myself out loud. As I stood there in utter disbelief for a moment, I quickly re-collected my thoughts. I reached for my phone, texting my friends to go without me, that I had left my wallet in the cab. I then connected with my leader, explained to him the situation and he gave me instructions. After getting off the phone, I saw that my friends were still across the street. So I made my way over to them.
I approached them to tell them in further detail what had happened. They seemed just as panicked and freaked out as I was about what had happened. Being in a country with no way to communicate properly, because you don’t know the language, is one of the most difficult parts about being here. As we stood there for a few minutes, they both suggested that I asked our Asian friend for help. I instantly thought to myself, “Seriously? What is he going to be able to do? The taxi has already left.” I agreed to it anyway and decided to ask him for help. After about what seemed to be the longest half hour of my life, waiting, praying, waiting some more, and asking for prayer. I finally asked my Asian friend if there was a corporate office that we could call. He found the number, and soon enough we made our way to their office.
As we stood in their office, waiting on them to search their database to see what cabs had been there during that time, a couple taxi drivers came into the office and overheard the conversation. One of them was kind and decided to send out a mass voice message to all the other drivers, explaining what had happened. We eventually left the office after about a half hour. I told my friends to head to the city and that I would head home. As I was heading home I started praying. I said, “God, show me just how big you are and bring my wallet home. I’m believing in faith that you’re going to come through and provide me with my wallet.” After getting home, I sat on my bed, prepared to make phone calls to my banks, etc. As I was in the process of it all, my two roommates started praying for me. That’s when I received two phone calls in a row! The taxi driver whose cab I left my wallet in called me to tell me he had found it! PRAISE GOD!!!