It was a beautiful day in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua.
I was standing at a busy bus stop, waiting for a bus to go home from church when a police pick up truck came driving slowly past the bus stop.
I noticed the police men inside were watching and carefully analysing the people at the bus stop.
I wondered to myself why they would drive so slowly but I dismissed it in my mind as I knew it had nothing to do with me.
About a minute or so later, I noticed the car had stopped and then reversed towards the bus stop.
Two policemen got out and headed straight in my direction.
To my complete surprise they grabbed my arms and held them behind my back uttering some words in Spanish I barely understood. Before I knew it I was being shoved into the back of the pick up truck!
Everyone at the bus stop looked on in amazement.
As the police truck sped off towards the police station I tried frantically (with the little Spanish I knew) to plead my innocence and to explain that they there had to be some kind of mistake.
However each time I spoke, one of the officers would raise his club at me gesturing that I should shut up.
Finally after the third effort, he warned me that the next time I spoke he would hit me with the club.
I obediently kept quiet from that moment.
When we arrived at the station, they did a full body search and ushered me to a corner where pictures of me were taken (front and side views).
Sounds like a movie right? Well it did feel like a movie!
They searched the bag I had and found only a bible, a Christian book in Spanish about the Cross and a notebook.
At this point their attitudes began to change. They became less aggressive.
I thought the experience was coming to an end and they would finally believe that I was an innocent missionary. But to my surprise, I was directed into a cell!
I tried again to protest. I told them I had a right to an interpreter so that I could explain myself well. Once again they ignored my request and ushered me into the cell and locked the door.
So here I was, just about 4 months on the mission field and I had been locked up in
a dark and dirty cell with no chairs!
I sat on the floor in the corner and tried my best not to look around at the others in the cell.
There were about seven other men who looked quite accustomed to being there and didn’t even seem to notice my presence.
My mind began racing. How long would I be here? Would it be hours? Days?
Or would I just be forgotten like Joseph when he was thrown to prison???
As I sat praying, the overwhelming sensation I had was one of hopelessness. I imagined that this was a taste of what hell was like – being trapped in a place of no escape forever.
I imagined how hopeless it would be like to go to hell and have no way out.
I determined in my heart as I sat there that when I got out of this place I would preach about Hell like never before!
Minutes turned to hours.
I sat, waited and prayed.
Finally after about four hours the bars opened and I was called out.
I was asked to sit down in the office and finally given the chance to speak.
I told him I was a missionary sent from the UK.
He looked at me with doubt in his eyes. I guess I didn’t quite fit the picture of the typical white American missionary they were used to in Nicaragua.
The chief officer then explained to me that a woman in the area I was picked up had reported a theft and the thief had matched my description.
I looked like a thief??? Oh goodness! Lol.
Anyway, I was finally allowed to make a phone call so I called my next door neighbour and asked him to bring my ID. When he finally arrived with my passport, the chief saw that I was a British citizen. He was quite alarmed.
He knew that I wasn’t lying and i was indeed a missionary. He asked me if I wanted to press charges against the officers who had arrested me but at that moment I didn’t want to spend a minute longer in the police station!
I simply said no and left with my neighbour.
“However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
(1 Peter 4:16 NIV)
Clarence Welds – Missionary, Nicaragua
Serious!