Dave & Monica Hancock were recently on a missions trip in Guinea and have an incredible story to tell about a miracle (miracles!) they experienced. We asked them to share it with us. Be encouraged as you read!
_________________________
It was February 25, day 8 of our ten-day visit with local Global Workers, Phil and Judy Bowler. We would be teaching at an English learning school for young adults; Monica would be talking about Canada, and I (Dave) about fire safety. We had with us a small suitcase full of stuff. And that’s the best place to start the story…
As we unpacked the suitcase, I grabbed the AirTag out of the suitcase and put it in my little carry bag. This bag had everything we needed: toilet paper, cough drops, extra battery pack, headphones, money, wallet and passports.
Jump ahead to 8 pm, as we walked home from the Bowlers’ to our guest house. I put my phone in my pocket and not in the bag. The walk takes about 15 minutes, and we had a choice to take the main road instead of the back road. It was Ramadan, and the streets still had a lot of people out getting food and going to prayers. The motorcycles and tuc-tucs are still out zooming around, looking for passengers to pick up.
Monica and I had travelled this way most nights. Nothing about the motorcycles or the tuc-tucs surprised us. So, when a motorcycle crossed the street in front of us and just sat there, no red flags went off. The motorcycle then proceeded to pass us up closer to the buildings. The driver turned around behind us, and as he passed me, he grabbed the shoulder bag and was gone.
Everything we needed to fly home in 2 days was gone.
We stood there in shock. Monica heard me saying, “Really, God?” Yet, there was an interesting calm in the Spirit. We finished our walk to the guest house, just wanting to get off the street and breathe. We talked with the manager of the mission compound and told him what happened. Peter was very gentle with us and assisted us in getting into our room, and offered to do anything we needed.
I started making calls, first to the Bowlers: details given, prayer request made. Second, I reached out to our life group at Freedom: details given, prayer requested. Third request to family, and so on. We would later find out that people all over the world started to pray as everyone was passing on the need to everyone they knew.
I then contacted the Canadian Embassy: details gathered, emails sent.
Time to pause again; time to pray. First, we forgave, then we praised, and finally, we requested - peace, documents, and purpose. It was time to rest, as we couldn’t do anything at 10:30 pm, except trust God. Just as I closed my eyes, I heard God say, “AirTag”. I grabbed my phone and looked – the tag was right in front of the guest houses on the street. How could this be?
I went and grabbed Peter, and out to the street we went, looking for the bag and its contents. Nothing was found, but the AirTag’s location was right here! We started to ask people around the area as God directed, and then the floodgate of the miracle opened. A young man had a story about a blue bag dropped by a motorcycle guy. It had been collected up by the shop owner across the street. She had taken it to the area Tribal leader, and he had taken it to the police. So off to the police station.
The police didn’t have any good news, so off to the Tribal leader. The time was now around 12:30 am. The Tribal Leader got out of bed, looked me in the face and called me by my name… he had seen the passport! The leader called the Colonel of the police station and it was confirmed that there was indeed a bag with documents at the police station, but that it would need to wait till morning. I returned to the room at 1:30 am.
At 7:30 am in the Colonel’s office, all the documents lay out on the table, and nothing of any true value was missing.
At 8:00 am, Peter gave the Colonel a bible that looked like a Quran, and read scripture to him right in front of the Tribal Leader. The Colonel marked the page and tucked it away. We gave a small gift given to the Colonel, and he gave us his card. The Leader walked us back to his home, and again, another small gift was given. Peter and I headed back to the guest houses. God has given Peter contact with these leaders he never had before, and he plans for future conversations.
By now, we had stopped counting the miracles.
At 9:30 am, the Canadian Embassy in Dakar called me. I was able to witness to the staff member about what God had done. She was in disbelief, and this was the first time we heard, “That doesn’t happen in Guinea”.
Throughout the day, as we told the story, almost everyone commented that this doesn’t happen in Guinea. Hundreds of people prayed, and we saw God do miracles. Hundreds of people were encouraged by God about the power of prayer. And the story has more small God details than can be written about here.
As everyone now knows, we made it home. We learned so much during our time in Guinea and are very thankful that we had no issues with our documents.
A message to the darkness: “You intended to harm me, BUT God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
Because God was behind this story, it is not finished until it is finished. Lives were touched – the Colonel, Tribal Leader, young man, thief, shopkeeper, prayer warriors, a large selection of Global Workers in Guinea, people at Freedom, people at the Embassy, and everyone we tell the story to.
God had a plan before we even knew we needed one.
Monica and I are amazed and humbled by what God did in all of this, and we want to say a big thank you to you all. We are available most nights and weekends for food and storytelling… just saying! But really just saying…
Praise God!
Dave & Monica Hancock
