We were recently privileged to be able to help out with an organization away from here that works with exploited peoples; one of them being women who work the streets. It was so much worse than what we confront here, one main difference being that a majority of the women there do not choose to be on the streets. Some have been trafficked, some tricked into it by family members or partners, some as young as nine years old. So many of them beautiful, with so much seemingly ahead of them. Their behaviour and speech demonstrated an outward normalcy towards us but their eyes reflected a tiredness, a deadness; in some, a hardness. In others, a desperation.
Men book all inclusive vacations here with a twist. They book according to various personal specifications and delivery of girls to the doorstep is also included in some all inclusive vacations. Just like pizza. You order what you want and it can get delivered to your door if you so choose. Only that this is not pizza, or chinese food or an inanimate object. These are lives, countless lives trapped and enslaved by others who choose to make a living from them and use them. Broken lives, lost hope, trapped in a living death. I find it so hard to understand the perverse minds that can do this. But then, I realize that those perverse minds are also just as lost, used not only to enslave others but themselves as well so that all traces and semblances of their humanity are lost.
Yet, there is a beacon of light that shines within this perverse and sordid darkness. A small local church that dares to defy convention along with a group of people who have chosen to follow Psalm 82 to rescue the exploited from the wicked quietly reach out to the ones who believe that they have no hope. We were amazed at how many women came to the weekly "get-together with sandwiches and munchies" gathering at the church. The first meeting they had, 25 women went. We were there for the second meeting and about 35 showed up, most of them, women who had gone the previous week. One woman even brought her boyfriend to get prayed for. Some showed up with children and babies. A small group of us had gone out a few minutes before the meeting started to invite women to come and it absolutely amazed me to find that it was not that hard to have the ladies come. I spoke to one lady to invite her and she immediately said, "Ok" even though she was sitting at a bar awaiting clients. We started walking towards the church and then she felt uncomfortable in her shorts and said she wanted to change. I told her the church people would accept her the way she is and more importantly Jesus accepts her the way she is but she was adamant she was not going to church in shorts so while I waited, she changed.
When we got back to the church with some ladies whom we had invited, there were already about ten women there from the previous week. After introductions, they broke off into small groups to listen to the Word. As one person from the group and I placed food on the plates, my husband served as a waiter. I realized later on how his servant heart and attitude probably impacted the women in a way that no other woman can. While the men the ladies of the streets knew used and exploited them, here was a man who didn't know them, serving them as a waiter and treating them with respect and dignity peppered with a little humour to break the ice. Here was one man amongst many other Godly men who did not see them as something like pizza but saw them as women with much worth. There was another man whose actions reflected how much he loves Jesus. It was a man from this small church who rode his motorcycle to invite and bring the women back to the church. He was like a lifeboat out in the open seas, rescuing each drowning person and bringing them to shore one by one and at times two by two on his motorcycle. To him, these women's lives were more important than his reputation or what other people might think of him.
These women are reaching, grasping for a way out. And there is a way out, only one way. Jesus. Only He can set them free, wash them clean, make them new, transform their mindsets and heal their broken hearts, help them forgive and walk forward into the purpose and future He has for them. Only He can show them the value and worth they have in Him when they choose to receive Him and give their lives to Him.
Some of us cannot be out on the mission field physically to serve. But we can all pray and we can all sow financial seeds. If this has touched you, please pray for these enslaved women and men as well as for the ones we have been walking with listed in previous blogs on this blogsite. If you choose to give financially as well, please contact us for details.
Thank you.
Men book all inclusive vacations here with a twist. They book according to various personal specifications and delivery of girls to the doorstep is also included in some all inclusive vacations. Just like pizza. You order what you want and it can get delivered to your door if you so choose. Only that this is not pizza, or chinese food or an inanimate object. These are lives, countless lives trapped and enslaved by others who choose to make a living from them and use them. Broken lives, lost hope, trapped in a living death. I find it so hard to understand the perverse minds that can do this. But then, I realize that those perverse minds are also just as lost, used not only to enslave others but themselves as well so that all traces and semblances of their humanity are lost.
Yet, there is a beacon of light that shines within this perverse and sordid darkness. A small local church that dares to defy convention along with a group of people who have chosen to follow Psalm 82 to rescue the exploited from the wicked quietly reach out to the ones who believe that they have no hope. We were amazed at how many women came to the weekly "get-together with sandwiches and munchies" gathering at the church. The first meeting they had, 25 women went. We were there for the second meeting and about 35 showed up, most of them, women who had gone the previous week. One woman even brought her boyfriend to get prayed for. Some showed up with children and babies. A small group of us had gone out a few minutes before the meeting started to invite women to come and it absolutely amazed me to find that it was not that hard to have the ladies come. I spoke to one lady to invite her and she immediately said, "Ok" even though she was sitting at a bar awaiting clients. We started walking towards the church and then she felt uncomfortable in her shorts and said she wanted to change. I told her the church people would accept her the way she is and more importantly Jesus accepts her the way she is but she was adamant she was not going to church in shorts so while I waited, she changed.
When we got back to the church with some ladies whom we had invited, there were already about ten women there from the previous week. After introductions, they broke off into small groups to listen to the Word. As one person from the group and I placed food on the plates, my husband served as a waiter. I realized later on how his servant heart and attitude probably impacted the women in a way that no other woman can. While the men the ladies of the streets knew used and exploited them, here was a man who didn't know them, serving them as a waiter and treating them with respect and dignity peppered with a little humour to break the ice. Here was one man amongst many other Godly men who did not see them as something like pizza but saw them as women with much worth. There was another man whose actions reflected how much he loves Jesus. It was a man from this small church who rode his motorcycle to invite and bring the women back to the church. He was like a lifeboat out in the open seas, rescuing each drowning person and bringing them to shore one by one and at times two by two on his motorcycle. To him, these women's lives were more important than his reputation or what other people might think of him.
These women are reaching, grasping for a way out. And there is a way out, only one way. Jesus. Only He can set them free, wash them clean, make them new, transform their mindsets and heal their broken hearts, help them forgive and walk forward into the purpose and future He has for them. Only He can show them the value and worth they have in Him when they choose to receive Him and give their lives to Him.
Some of us cannot be out on the mission field physically to serve. But we can all pray and we can all sow financial seeds. If this has touched you, please pray for these enslaved women and men as well as for the ones we have been walking with listed in previous blogs on this blogsite. If you choose to give financially as well, please contact us for details.
Thank you.
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