Saying Goodbye

It has been far too long since my last blog update. I have no excuse rather than to say I have been busy soaking up every moment in my last month here. Unfortunately everything in this world seems to have an expiration date and I have been struggling with how to effectively leave here not damaging the relationships I have made or forgetting the lessons I have learned. This struggle unfortunately leads my heart to worry. I worry about how things will change for those I love here when I am gone. I worry about how I will adjust coming home being so changed myself. 

Jacques Cousteau was right when he said “People protect what they love.” God has given me such a heart to protect those that I have been entrusted in to love here. That’s why it seems easier for me to protect my relationships and myself by not addressing my leaving. I want to protect us all from the pain of this reality. How am I to tell my three year old roommate, who now calls himself my brother, that I am leaving and don’t know when I am coming back? How am I to leave the woman I am living with after becoming her closest confidant without causing her to feel abandoned? How am I to leave my team as their program is expanding in incredibly large ways? How am I to leave the people of this culture so oppressed by religion, materialism, and male-dominance? 

Yet the Lord challenges my fears of addressing my leaving through the way he chose to address his leaving of this earth to his disciples. He says “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” John 14:28-30

The disciples were Jesus’ closest friends. They were the people he did life with every day and had experienced the rawest things with. They were also the people he mentored and invested in deeply. How could he prepare those that he loved for the horrible way he was leaving? How could he say goodbye knowing what they would have to endure in his absence? Could it be that Jesus might have felt tempted to not address his leaving at all and just let the events unfold? When thinking about telling them, did Jesus have that feeling in the pit of his stomach that equated to dreading anticipation? What I am positive of is that Jesus shed tears over the thought of leaving his beloved friends and family.

 Jesus is fully God but fully human and can understand my feelings of leaving because he experienced them too. Through his understanding of me, he has taught me that it was because of his great love for his disciples that he had to prepare them. If he had not, they would have never known the significance of the crucifixion, the beauty of experiencing salvation, or the calling to participate in God’s future work as believers in Christ as Messiah. In the same way, if I don’t prepare my loved ones here for my leaving they may miss out on a deeper understanding of the unique calling of God on all of our lives. God at this time has called me to finish my Social Work degree at my college so I can further be prepared in helping oppressed populations, specifically women in sex trafficking and refugees. Where I will be after I am finished my studies, only my God truly knows that. God at this time also has given callings to my loved ones here: The calling to continue the work of rescuing and rehabilitating abused women. The calling to continue to heal in Christ from being abused physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. The calling to raise up holistically healthy children who experience trauma from abuse. If we avoided talking about the change that is inevitably going to take place, we fail each other in cultivating and encouraging one another in the knowledge of these callings. 

Just as stated above, “People protect what they love.” How much more so does God protect those that he loves! When Jesus was telling his disciples of his coming death, he did not leave them to feel abandoned or ill-equipped for the task of spreading the Kingdom. Instead he made sure they were taken care of by sending them an intimate helper, the Holy Spirit.

In John 14:15-21 Jesus tells his disciples:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will also live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” 

In John 14:25-27 he further states:

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you of all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

In the same way God has already been protecting and providing for the people I am leaving. We have two new staff members coming, one from South Africa and the other from Wales that are going to be living in our building at the Red Light District. We also have a woman who prospectively may take my place in running the safe house. The lady I am living with and her son have received their official UN refugee papers which essentially rescues them from the fear of being manipulated with the threat of deportation and allows her son to attend kindergarten in the fall. They also have reached a point of stability and independence enough to actually move out of the safe house. This will allow them both to take steps forward in further recovery and a more hopeful future. God has also been providing for me with the joy of seeing my friends and family, continuing my passion of studying social work, and all the possibilities of where he might have me go next. 

I want to leave you with this thought:

A friend of mine who spent his summer in Zambia said something very insightful before he left. He said “it isn’t about me. It isn’t even about Zambia. It is all about God’s love.” At the time I didn’t fully understand the weight of this. The hippie inside of me was quick to nod my head in agreement and sing a little Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”, but my practical side was saying of course it’s about you and your calling to the Zambian people too. It wasn’t until I got to this country and experienced the things I did that I began to understand my friend’s meaning. 

I recently was reminded of the powerful verses in John 15:9-17 that state:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” 

When I read this, it actually takes my breath away. I stand in awe of the beauty of our Savior’s heart. The heart that so loved the world that he left all the splendor and glory of heaven and humbled himself to be born in a dirty, smelly cave. The heart that so loved the world that he had compassion on the broken and used his power to heal the sick. The heart that so loved the world that he chose to spend time with the prostitutes, tax collectors, and fisherman of his day instead of with the prestigious religious authorities. The heart that so loved the world that when he was spit on, insulted, and beaten, he yelled out no words of hate, but rather asked his father in heaven to forgive his perpetrators. It is the heart that so loved the world that he gave his life as a sacrifice for all and continued on to beat the powers of hell through his resurrection to give us hope. We now get to live in the promise of this love of Jesus forever to be in the presence of our God because he loved the world so much.

 It says in the passage above that if you love Jesus you will follow his command. His command is this: for us to love one another. God chooses to use us to be bearers of Jesus’ love for the world. That is why my friend is right in saying “It isn’t about me. It isn’t even about Zambia. It is all about God’s love” God so loved the world that he saved it through the price of his life. When we share this love with another it isn’t about our capacity to love. It isn’t about that person and their capacity to be loved. It isn’t even about a people and their need to be loved. It is all about God and His furious love for His creation. God’s love surpasses one’s ability to love, one’s ability to be loved, and one’s need or seemingly lack of a need to be loved. 

1 John 4:7-12 explains this perfectly saying:

“Dear friends let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

God does not just love. He is love. Love is the very essence of God. When we choose to love one another that is how this world comes to know God and his heart because he lives within us and his love is made complete in us. 

This encourages me greatly because wherever I go, whoever I am with, and whatever I am experiencing God’s love with be shown to this world. How he pursues the heart of his creation! I am so blessed to be a bearer of God’s love. I encourage you all to embrace this command of loving one another and allowing God’s love to be complete in you wherever you are.  

Further things I would like to say:

It was my dear friend Corrin’s birthday this past week. Happy birthday!!!!! I hope you had a day filled with love, joy, and tons of laughter. Can’t wait to see you and go on our road trip with our crazy moms  

 

I fly out on the 15^th of August. I just ask that everyone be in prayer for the rest of my time here and the continuation of those prayers for these people long after I am gone. I will be home for about 4 days with my family until I have to move back into Hope so I will be seeing all of my college friends soon. Love you guys!

The Relentless Pursuit of Beauty

Hello Friends and Family! Time for another life update. Hope you aren’t sick of them yet! 

Last week Wednesday we celebrated a team member’s birthday by taking a ferry boat tour up the Bosporus into the Black Sea. The day was absolutely beautiful. It was actually cool weather and we enjoyed the relief it brought. We spent hours cruising along the borders of the city seeing all of the ancient and beautiful architecture that has been here for ages. My favorite part was seeing the smaller villages on the outskirts of such an immense city. The business and crowdedness hadn’t seemed taint the peace and sense of community there. I wonder if its inhabitants know what a special place they live in. At the last stop we got off and hiked a mountain to where the remains of a castle dwelled. It was designed to be a protective post at the entrance of the Bosporus all the way back to the times of Daniel. It is so unique to experience the ancient history that captivates this area. We concluded our day by having a gorgeous meal overlooking the sea. I cherish the adventure, peace, and community of that trip.

After such a lovely day, I had the unfortunate experience of getting sick in a foreign country for the first time.  I had the classic fever, stuffy nose, inflamed throat, and plugged up ears. It was quite miserable and left me bedridden for a couple days. Without my dear mother to take care of me, my team here stepped in by helping me get antibiotics and making me some delicious soup. Then I was forced to make myself rest. Rest is somewhat of a foreign concept to me and honestly is hard to obtain when one of your roommates is a three year old boy bursting with what seems like endless energy. Let’s just say that this time of rest was extremely difficult for me. I wanted to be fine so I could continue the work we are committed to. I didn’t want to be a bother to anyone or have them go out of their way to take care of me. Then I realized how incredibly foolish this attitude is. 

God revealed to me that I spend way too much time trying to pour out love to others, but won’t actually allow people to truly pour that love into me. By feeling guilty to receive from my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am denying them the gift of serving and am relying on myself to somehow sustain my level of love to give others. The truth is if I am not filled with the Spirit of God, the love I try and give to others isn’t anything compared to what it could be when it is done from the Spirit flowing through me. I need to allow myself to be cared for and refreshed in order to care for and refresh others. 

This became particularly evident when a Y-team from the States spent some time in prayer for us. Their team expressed such a heart to pray over us so that we could be renewed with the Spirit in our ministry. As we were getting acquainted, I was feeling like a zombie- completely distracted and drained by my sickness. I couldn’t breathe through my nose. I couldn’t hear from my ears. I could barely swallow. Feeling rather shy when asked, I sat in the middle of the circle and allowed these beautiful people to lay their hands on me. Beyond just the asking for healing of my physical needs they addressed my spiritual needs. One of the women felt particularly strongly that God was asking me to be an interceder for the people. A totally new concept to me, yet it completely made sense with the overall call God has placed on my life and the gifts he has given me with understanding the hearts and needs of people. I honestly was filled with the spirit and felt the power of healing through this team’s prayers.

I also was encouraged that as followers of Christ, we have been given an inheritance of courage and authority which actually brings about change both in this realm and the spiritual realm. I have always subconsciously held the idea that my presence and my prayers are ultimately of little significance. This lie causes me to tend to be timid in my approach to spiritual matters. This team showed me that we have not been given a spirit of timidity or fear, but a spirit of immense courage in Christ. Its time I started living into that truth. Why limit what God can do through me by doubting my significance. To God, I am significant enough to die for. In turn I get the absolute privilege to be a vessel of his all-powerful love. How beautiful is that! 

Speaking of beauty, I have been reading a book that has inspired me to go on a relentless pursuit. The pursuit of experiencing beauty in God, beauty in His creation, and beauty in us. Yes there is still beauty left in us to marvel at! This book is called Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge (author of Wild at Heart). These authors peel back the lies accredited to being female and replace them with the truths of our essence as women. When God created Eve, she was something to marvel at. Eve wasn’t an afterthought of creation. She was absolutely essential for creation to be complete and for God’s image to fully be shown. The authors of Captivating write:

“Eve is created because things were not right without her. Something was not good. “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). This just staggers us. Think of it. The world is young and completely unstained. Adam is yet in his innocence and full of glory. He walks with God. Nothing stands between them. They share something none of us has ever known, only longed for: an unbroken friendship, untouched by sin. Yet something is not good? Something is missing? What could it possibly be? Eve. Woman. Femininity. Wow. Talk about Significance.”

 We too as women have the role and characteristics of God that the world so desperately needs. Being in this culture where women are considered cursed because of what Eve did in the garden, I see the desperate need of these women to understand their own significance. 

One of the deepest desires of the female is to be found beautiful and to unveil beauty. This is true across every age or cultural boundary because it is how we were created to be. Beauty is in our design and should be cultivated. Sadly, the world has perverted this desire of beauty to cheapen women painting them as either vain or insecure. Full of themselves or worthless. Beauty, which was part of the original design, became something that brought shame to women instead of inspiration and life to all. Instead of exemplifying God’s beauty, it now is used to degrade the worth of his creation. 

When I am talking about this beauty, I am not speaking of it in superficial or shallow means. I am talking about the all consuming beauty that absolutely captivates the attention, affection, and heart of our God. It is the mind, body, and soul kind of beauty. It is the beauty that resonates the true life of our savior, both in males and females.

God has revealed to me the importance of pursuing and unveiling this sort of beauty especially in the lives of the women we are working with. Many would not immediately think of this as something to be addressed, but I believe that it is vital in the healing and restoration of women who have experienced trafficking, addictions, and abuses of various kinds. Honestly, it is essential in the life of all women. 

Somewhere along the line we have been deceived to look at ourselves as failures, many times as the result of our experiences or broken relationships. Never pretty enough. Never smart enough. Never thin enough. Never recognized enough. We continually perceive ourselves as not being enough and therefore loose what makes us truly unique and influential. If we embraced our beauty instead of denying it exists or hiding it because of the pain we have experienced, just image how the world would transform. We would not only transform ourselves but also inspire others in the unveiling of beauty.  That is what these women desperately need after having to live a life full of darkness, dirt, and shame. After having their value so degraded by sexual abuse and violence. Who are we to withhold beauty from their healing process? Who are we to hide our beauty from them? Who are we to not help them recognize beauty in themselves? 

God created us all for beauty and sees us as his masterpiece. Psalm 45:11 says “The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” The Lord is enthralled by our beauty. Just as I feel enthralled by the beauty of the sea, the smell of a lily, the innocent smile of a child, or the look of a bride on her wedding day, God is enthralled by me. He is in absolute awe of your beauty. Don’t deny it or hide it any longer! God desperately wants to rejoice in you and the world desperately needs to see your beauty. How else will it see the beauty of its creator? 

Final things I would like to say:

My dear friends, Evan and Lia, got married on Friday! Congratulations you two! I pray such blessings over your marriage. I know that it honors God in such beautiful ways! Can’t wait to celebrate with you when I return home! Have fun on the honeymoon. 

Love and miss you all! I can't believe I only have 35 more days here. 

The Heart of God

My apologies for taking such a long time to update! I have been attempting to write this blog post for days now. God has been teaching me an immense amount and it has been difficult to find the right words to tie everything together. I pray that all reading will be able to follow what may seem like a bit of rambling on my part. 

I am currently reading a book called “Faces of God” by Gordon and Gladis Depree. I found it in the english clearance bin at a five-story book store down the street from my apartment. Interestingly enough, among the random 80s workout books and cheesy romance novels, there was a selection of Christian materials (most likely disposed of or donated by local believers). The book proposes the concept that every person on this earth is in fact a face of our God. This means there is no person or place void of God. There is not one person that we will fail to learn a characteristic of God from. This way of viewing people should radically change how we think about and treat others. A passage from the book says: 

“When I look around, how can I possibly accept everybody, just everybody as a face of God? This one lies and that one cheats. That fellow was involved in a scandal. This one screams at his wife. This boy is on drugs and that girl is promiscuous. That woman manipulates her family and the whole neighborhood. Is it not an insult to God to call these his faces? My face can become distorted, pushed into or out of shape by what is done, by the lack of the awareness of who I am… But is a dirty face any less of a face?” 

Throughout this internship, and throughout life really, I have come in contact with people society would deem as having dirty faces. These are people who struggle with bondage of addictions, hate, violence, sickness, extreme poverty, and abuse. Their lives are broken and messy. If I am being honest, it isn’t always comfortable to be in the midst of these broken lives. I have to continually check myself not to judge people for what I perceive their circumstances to be, but rather to look at them with a love understanding that they are in fact a beautiful face of God. I pray that they will have the grace to look upon me in the same way in my personal brokenness. 

When meditating on this, God revealed several scriptures that really speak about His heart for the broken, chained, oppressed, abandoned, and poor people of this earth. James 1:27 writes:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted from the world.” 

When it comes down to it, we can say the right words, attempt to live honest lives, and even give of our possessions to the Lord, but what really honors God is the way that we love and take care his people. He makes it very clear that his presence is especially with the poor and that it is our job as his followers to have a similar presence. 

In Isaiah 58 this calling is explained further when God says:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?” 

For those who take these commands seriously, God promises:

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” 

God so blesses those who are willing to place themselves in the lives of the messy and broken. Because that is his heart, he does amazing work through people who are willing to answer that call. 

When talking about helping the poor, many get defensive. They believe the person calling others to this kind of service is self-righteous or prideful. The problem with this reaction is that it isn’t the person calling others to action; it is God who is calling. It isn’t a choice of whether you feel like participating in this work or not. God demands that his followers must do this. Granted, it is much easier to live comfortable lives away from the messiness, but God never intended for our lives to be comfortable. 

The most beautiful part is that whether we respond or not, faithfully God still is with the broken. He continues to bring healing and restoration. Isaiah 57 assures us of this by proclaiming:

 “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” 

Even earlier in Isaiah 11, a prophecy of the coming of Jesus is made where it exclaims:

“He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”

God’s passion and promise is for the poor. 

To really get to know God means going to the places he is. I have a feeling God isn’t particularly choosing to dwell on an oversized couch watching yet another re-run of Seinfeld. (Not saying his presence is void there or that he wouldn’t get a chuckle from Kramer’s rambunctious hair.) What I do know for certain is that God is with the child who grew up without a father. He is with the elderly women who just lost her husband of forty years to cancer. He is with the man hopelessly addicted to alcohol. He is with the woman who chooses to fill her emptiness with the company of men. He is with the man begging for change on the streets. He is with the child infected by HIV who has no access to medicine or even clean drinking water. He is with the girl who was taken away from her home and sold into sexual slavery. If we are to truly understand the very essence of God’s character, if we are to truly follow as his disciples, we need to dwell with these people too. 

The humbling part of this is that we all have some place in our lives that is messy and broken. That hurt we try to hide from the view of the public. That struggle we barely can admit to ourselves we have. We all in some way are the poor. Because of God’s all-encompassing love, he dwells with us and won’t give up until we all reach healing and restoration in him. We are his faces: young, old, rich, poor, healthy, sick, admittedly broken, or attempting to appear to have everything together. We need to start viewing each other like this. We need to start viewing ourselves as this. We need to enter into the depths of each other’s lives and be a part of shining the light of Christ in the darkest places of us all. Then and only then can we reach a deeper understanding, appreciation, and love for the God who sacrificed it all to dwell with the poor like us.

 So there are the truths that God has been challenging me with and they never fail to play into my everyday work here. 

Time for some life updates! Last week we had a birthday celebration for the woman I am living with. We got a large group together and went to an island which was about an hour away by ferry boat. The ferry boat was so densely packed that you could not move anywhere because there were so many people sitting in the aisles and on the stairs. To make things even more crowded, we brought the family’s miniature doxen named Snuggles. Snuggles is so adorable that she caused what seemed like every child on board to come over and shyly giggle as they reached out to pet her. 

Stepping out the boat, I immediately knew I would love our visit here. It had the flavor of a Greek Island complete with white stone buildings, antique metal gateways, and an abundance of greenery which I had been desperately missing in the cold concrete of the city. We enjoyed the day there by picnicking under a gorgeous tree which protected us from being scorched by sun. We got to go exploring to see the unique houses and shops which were speckled all over the Island. At the end of our time there we even got to wade into the sea. Every time I ride the ferry or go running by the sea I have this desire to just submerge myself in the water. I realize this impulse would be a very foolish one due to the depth of the sea and the massive amounts of jellyfish which plague the waters, yet for some reason I can’t help but equate truly feeling alive with the sea. Though I couldn’t fully submerge myself that day, I got a taste for it. 

Ever since my first day in this country, I have completely fallen in love with the sea.  I love how the expanse of blue looks in comparison to the skyline of the city. I love the sweet but salty smell of the air and the refreshing coolness on your face as the wind blows over the waters. I love to see the small fishing boats being gently tossed by the waves as the fishermen go about their daily business. I especially love to watch the sun set over the sea. Such an array of colors and never is one sunset the same. The sea has never failed to put me in a place of awe of God’s beauty, creativity, and genius. Due to this love affair with the sea, I have decided that wherever I live someday must have access to the sea. I have no clue how I have gone so long without it!

We have been continuing to work on the building. We are aiming to have a 24-hour prayer time on the 16^th of July! Hopefully we can get the rooms plastered and painted and the bathrooms up and running at that point.

Final things I would like to say:
My close friend and her husband are having a baby! Congratulations! I cannot wait to celebrate with you both! 

 

Love and Miss You All!

It's All About "the one"

How incredible is it that I have been in this country for a month already! It feels as though I just stepped off the plane, but also feels like I have been here for ages. Each day I am growing more accustomed to life here. I am learning how to be a city dweller: discovering which bus/ferry/taxi to take to get where I need to go, knowing which supermarkets, vegetable vendors, and bakeries to shop at for the cheapest price, how to best j-walk the streets full of passing cars, and my favorite: practicing the city-dweller walk. Those that have lived in a large city (my city housing over 20 million people) understand what I mean when I mention the walk. The key to this art form is to maintain composure by always looking like you know exactly where you are going. You direct your gaze straight ahead and walk with confidence. There is a certain toughness to this walk (no it is not a swagger), and it simply sends a message saying “it would be unwise to mess with me.” I laugh to myself each time I practice this city-dweller walk because I am sure I look foolish. I am that girl who usually smiles too much and laughs way too loud. Looking tough has never been a part of who I am so it is strange to have to put on the face for safety. I always just pray that living in a city this large would never cause me to become hard or cold. This city is immense in size and it is easy to forget that each person you pass has their own personal story. They are all going through different experiences and trials in their life. Being emerged in such a vast sea constantly makes this reality harder to grasp. 

I believe the vastness of the city can also relate to the overwhelming size of the sex trafficking problem. It is easy to look at the issue and feel discouraged because there are so many women affected and too much corruption, governmental complacency, and organized crime that stand in the way of bringing lasting change. Even in the work we are doing I get discouraged because there are so many more women who need rescuing and rehabilitation than just those in our program. I get frustrated with the lack of justice which is desperately needed to take down the pimps, mafias, and corrupt police officers who hold these women in bondage. While feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and discouraged by the immensity of sex trafficking, I discovered a beautiful quote in a book I am reading. I am currently reading “Terrify No More” by Gary Haugen. It is a book written about International Justice Mission who does incredible work of partnering with local governments around the world to rescue and rehabilitate the victims, while also ensuring through local legal systems that the criminals are prosecuted. In the chapter called “It’s All About The One” IJM employee, Sharon, explains “While there are millions of girls and women victimized every day, our work will always be about the one. The one girl deceived. The one girl kidnapped. The one girl raped. The one girl infected with AIDS. The one girl needing a rescuer. To succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one. And more is required of us.” 

God doesn’t call us to solve all of the major issues in the world. If we are being realistic and honest, it would be impossible to do so. He calls us simply to love the person in front of us. He has placed us all in certain places and roles for a reason- to love those he has put in our lives. What a tragedy it is when we overlook these people because we are too focused on solving what is seemingly a more important issue. Change starts with that person. It all begins with loving “the one.” This is such an encouragement and really shows us the character of God. God has impeccable attention to detail.  There is not one person he does not know. No one is ever overlooked or their problems deemed too small to be important to God (and he has concerns of enormity that we can’t even dream of!) 

There are certain days here where my work can become repetitive or even seem mundane. I may think to myself: what is buying groceries or watching Beauty and the Beast for the million time with my little boy doing in the grand scheme of things to fight Sex trafficking? God once again has shown me that it is through the small acts of faithfulness every day that he works. By being consistent in my love and diligent in the work he has given me, I believe God can and will do great things. He has the big picture and I honestly am only certain about today. It is God who conquers and redeems, not I. This realization is both humbling and immensely comforting. If the fate of taking down the whole sex industry was left up to me, I would not have a clue what to do. God knows. Therefore I will just continue to faithfully love the ones he placed before me. I owe it to them and to God. 

We are continuing to renovate the building in the red light district. I was just there on Monday. We scraped paint, plastered walls, super cleaned the floors, and raged war against the black mold. We are hoping to have a refugee family from Iran move there as soon as possible. We are slowly beginning to meet our neighbors who are all very curious why we are there. One lady is extremely concerned at the state of our filthy windows (an understandable concern, yet if she saw the inside of the house she might have a heart attack.) Slowly but surely the house is being fixed up. We have been incredibly blessed with so many hands willing to help.

 Life at the safe house is going well. I introduced the new Disney movie Tangled to the little boy living with me. He always says to me “I like girl” and “she is very sweet.” Safe to say he is crushing on a cartoon. We have implemented our schedule and classes are going on every day. It is still a challenge coming up with things to cook (proud to say I made a delicious stir fry for dinner.) Hopefully this will prepare me for feeding myself when I return to college. A new woman just moved in tonight. She is from Turkmenistan and has been living in Turkey trying to make money to send back to her four children. Please pray that she will feel safe and welcome here. 

Speaking of prayer, I heard from a friend that my church back home spent some time on Sunday praying for my work here. I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to pray for me! Prayer is always needed and I really do feel the impact of them. How awesome it is to be supported by believers back home!

Final Words: I finally found hummus! You would think that the Middle East would be the land flowing of hummus and flatbread but in actuality I had to really search to find this treasure. Now I will be putting hummus on everything to make up for the lost time I had to spend without it! 

Greetings to all of my family and friends back in the states. I actually felt quite homesick this week and that’s because there are so many amazing people there! You make home feel like home and I can’t wait to see all of your faces in August!