If we hadn’t found her I don’t think I would be writing this article today. The event took place in 2006 if I remember correctly and my younger sister must have been two years old and I was six. My parents were going for a church camping program and since we were both so young and they had no one to leave us with, they took us along. At that age it felt cool to travel with your parents although I can’t really remember the specifics of the journey I remember it was really far from where we lived at that time and we travelled in my dad’s little blue car.
We finally arrived at the venue for the program and we set up to stay in the car for the duration of the time we would be there, we weren’t there long two, three days max. We had come with another family who also had their own car and they had a daughter too and I remember her being a little older than me but not her name.
So on the would-be “incident” day, my parents and my friend’s parents were going for a session of the program and we had to stay back until they returned. Our car was also parked next to this family that had a couple of kids too and so it felt like a fun time but that’s life for you, things are always calm before the storm.
All our parents were long gone and me and my friend had to pee or something like that which required us leaving our cars to go deeper into the camping location and I did not want to take my little sister along because at the time I felt it would be too stressful to do so and that she was safer staying back anyways. I told these other kids to watch over my sister and me and my friend left, thinking nothing about it.
What must have been a very short while later, we returned and yep you guessed it, my sister was nowhere to be found. I really wish that was the worst of it but when I asked the other kids where she had gone I remember them saying they had no idea what I was talking about, you can only imagine my horror. Maybe she had wandered off when they didn’t realize and wanted to deny any responsibility but whatever their reasons was, that was probably my first taste of betrayal. How could they deny when I had explicitly asked them to watch her? I guess we will never know.
Anyways at that point I was already freaking out, not just because my sister was missing but because I was convinced my mother was definitely going to kill me. Sure enough my parents returned and the search for my sister began.
You have to understand, it was a pretty big place with lots of people around for this special program and my sister was practically still a baby. Long story short, by the mercies of God, my baby sister was found. My mum told me the story of how my sister and a lot of children were together behind the altar of the church and my sister was there standing or sitting, I can’t remember which.
I am just really happy because my sister was found because I can’t imagine how my family would have dealt with that or the guilt I would have carried with me forever. My sister doesn’t remember any of it and nobody was eventually angry with me but it is an experience I will carry with me forever because it teaches me the frailty of life and the scary nature of some people.
I want to tell everyone who has ever lost a child or sibling maybe through death, kidnapping or like in my sister’s case, they wandered away and never came back, that God understands and that He will heal and make you okay again. I pray that wherever your lost loved one is, God will be there with them, whether in heaven or here on earth. May the God of comfort who comforts all those who are cast down continue to comfort you in Jesus name. God bless you.
Funny story, I actually went missing too as a child but I was found safe, thank God.
