A Merciful God

Yesterday we experienced God's mercy in an incredible way.  We are missionaries living in Togo, West Africa. This past Wednesday we drove five hours to our country neighbor, Ghana, to meet with the USCIS office and submit our I-600A.

Yesterday we had an appointment with DHS (Department of Homeland Security) to submit our I-600A application for our adoption.   To be safe, we carried all of our original documents with us to DHS in case the people conducting the investigation wanted to see originals.  Because our car was at the mechanics we were using taxis. 

When we arrived at DHS everyone was in a meeting and we waited, with our 7 and 5 year old sons for two hours in their waiting room.  We finally saw an investigator and she said we must go to another place to be fingerprinted first.  In Accra there is an American embassy and a separate US Consulate.  The DHS is at the US Consulate but we had to be fingerprinted at the Embassy.  We left DHS and took a taxi to the Embassy.  The man who could do our fingerprints was out of the office so we were given his number and told to call and make an appointment.  We left in a taxi and were on our way to the guest house when we saw an optometrist office and so made a quick change of plans because we needed to have our 7 year old son’s eyes examined. 

Up to this point I had been guarding the backpack containing all of our documents with extreme care.  I almost always kept the pack on my back when in taxis.  But when we saw the optometrist office, my mind jumped to our son and my concern about his vision.  So I dropped my guard over the bag and had laid it on the seat in the taxi.  We all four got out of the taxi and went into the optometrist office.  Almost immediately I realized I had left the bag lying on the taxi seat.  Murphy ran out of the office but the taxi was gone.  Time seemed to stand still.  That bag had all of our original documents.  It had 9 documents already notarized by the vice consul in Togo and were ready to mail to the US to be authenticated.  It also had both receipts for the I-600A fee and fingerprinting fee that we had just paid at the US Consulate in Accra.  Without those receipts we would have no way to prove that we had just paid the $715 fees.  It had our original marriage license that we signed
  at our wedding.  It had our original birth certificates.  It had our original police reports from Togo and Benin.  In effect, that bag contained our adoption and it was gone.  Needless to say it was devastating to realize what had just driven away in a taxi without us. 

I panicked but Murphy stayed incredibly calm.  I was crying and praying and felt so completely out of control.  Accra is a very big, busy and chaotic African city.  There are literally thousands of taxis and no way to identify the one with our bag.  We didn’t even have a license plate number or any kind of identifying mark for the taxi.  We had no way to track down our bag. The only thing I remembered about the taxi was that it was pretty ratty looking and the driver was practically reclining in his seat.   We immediately began praying realizing that the only way we would ever get the bag back was with God’s intervention.  Murphy called his sister in the US and told her to start praying.  She called friends and they prayed too.  I was on my knees on the side of the road crying and begging God for mercy.  Murphy and our boys were circled around me praying. 

We had drawn a crowd and had lots of very kind sympathizers.  The optometrist and his receptionist had come out and they were so very kind and helpful.  The optometrist, Ellis, suggested we go to the police headquarters and see if the police would have all the FM radio stations air a message about the missing bag.  Almost all the taxi drivers listen to the radio.  The idea was that we could offer a reward and maybe the driver would return the bag.  I was ready to try anything, so I got in a taxi and headed to the police headquarters.  Murphy and the boys stayed behind in case the taxi were to return.  I took the cell phone so Murphy could call me.  I had just arrived at the police headquarters, about 20 minutes after leaving Murphy, when Ellis called to tell me the bag had already been returned.

Words cannot express the emotions I felt.  I could not stop crying when I knew the bag had been returned.  The guards at the police headquarters were very concerned.  One guard told me not to cry.  He said “we don’t cry in Ghana, we have peace”.  He said this with great compassion in his eyes.  I immediately returned to Murphy and the boys.  As I passed him on the road he was waiving the bag for me to see.  INCREDIBLE!  Our bag had returned within the hour.  The passenger right after us saw the bag and told the driver about it.  The taxi driver put our bag in his trunk and immediately returned to where he had dropped us off.  This is amazing since he had no one to hold him accountable and require him to return our bag.  Murphy’s sister’s friend had specifically asked God that this would happen.  We are convinced that God heard our cries and delivered our bag back to us.

As I type this, we have already submitted our I-600A application and fingerprints to USCIS.  We have Federal Expressed our nine notarized documents to the US and they will arrive Monday. 

Murphy was so wonderful through all of this!!!  He never got upset.  He was very reassuring telling me that we could start over and recollect the documents.  If he had not been calm, I don’t know how I would have reacted.  I was emotional enough for both of us.  Our boys prayed with us and witnessed firsthand God’s mercy.  We cannot thank God enough!  What a compassionate, merciful and amazing God we serve.  He is in control when life seems to be spiraling out of control.  This is just another of many God interventions in our adoption journey.  I know that other parents have similar testimonies to tell.  We are so thankful that God is guarding over our daughter and this experience is part of her story. 

Thank you to all of you who are praying for us and this journey to bring a precious little girl into our family!

Christine Crowson