About three years ago in Sudan, a prince from Mali, along with his bodyguard, came over for some tea.  He told me that he needed $2,500 to ship a package containing his inheritance, with which he would repay me.  Riiiiigghht… I told him I was unable to help him with this, despite his persistent calls reminding me that we were brothers in Christ, so I should help him.

Hmmm…what did Dr. Seuss say?  “Oh!  The places you’ll go!”
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Fast forward to last month.  Two guys from Liberia pull me aside in the market.  They tell me they are traveling to another country to study Arabic, but haven’t any food to eat or money for travel.  They asked if I could help them with $20 for travel fare.  I told them I didn’t have any money for travel, but they were welcome to eat with my family and I from what we had at our table that night.

They dropped by that night.  Nehemiah and I sat to eat with them.  They started to share their story as refugees from Liberia, who lived in Cote d’Ivore, and that they were actually going to Sudan for a business venture.  They quoted Job, the Psalms, and other passages as they answered my questions and shared their story.  I realized I was way off the mark in my original thoughts about them.

But then, as I started to ask them about their business venture, one of them told me that he worked as a janitor at a bank in Cote d’Ivore and when the rebels there “busted the bank” he came across a very secret bag, which he did not feel safe with and was the real reason behind their travel.  I wasn’t sure if I should ask more…..but I did.

It turns out that the bag contained millions of some European currency, which he was trying to figure out how to exchange for local currency.  I looked at him and said…..umm, that’s stealing.  He compared it to finding a dollar on an empty street, which I said doesn’t work because he knows the owner of the cash.  He told me about all the things he could do with the cash to help others, but I told him it does not honor God to steal from the rich to give to the poor.  Then, when I told them, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world”, he finished the passage by stating, “yet lose his soul”.
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Really strange?
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When they asked me what I thought they should do, I told them, the responsible one should return to the bank, give back the money, apologize, and face the consequences for his actions.  He said he could not return because he did not want to go to jail, but that they would return to the capital and send the money back.  We prayed together.

They were gone for a week and came back to tell me they had returned the money.  They have asked for money from us once since then, but I have just shared our food with them.  Is their story true?  I don’t have a clue, but these are some of the things that come across our path as we live and work here.