Just FYI:
The previous posts need to be read in order.
1. Birthing the Butterfly MInisty
2. The Vision
3. Meeting Lily
4. Jesus comes to Lily
Monday, June 13, 2005
Jesus Comes to Lily
Jeannie and I started to ask Lily about her life. She was really open. She told us that she was 15 years old living on her own in Boca Chica. I got the impression that her mother was also a prostitute and live in Puerto Plata. Lily had been living on her own for five months. She hated her life there but it seemed to be her only solution. Jeannie asked Lily if she had ever asked Jesus to be the Lord of her life. Lily answered, “No.” Then she put her head on my shoulder and whispered, “I feel so weird.” It was then that she began to cry. We asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. Lily looked back at our five smiling butterfly girls in the back seat. She asked the girls, “Did you all ask Jesus into your heart?” All five of them responded enthusiastically “Yes! Yes we did!” Lily then said confidently “Then I want Jesus in my life too.” She prayed the sinners prayer right there in my Speed-the-Light van.
I held Lily in my arms as she prayed and then I prayed for her and we all cried together because the presence of Jesus was so real and so close. As I held this 15 year old prostitute in my arms, I remembered once again the prophetic vision of my youth. There I was rescuing prostitutes in my speed-the-light van.
Just remembering the Presence in the van brings tears to my eyes. And what a privilege I had! I was able to be the arms of Jesus wrapped around that little girl. He was so real through our words and ministry because HE was seeking that little lost prostitute. HE was coming to Lily and in the end Lily came to Jesus. My heart just explodes to think that Jesus allowed me such and amazing opportunity to be a part of HIS work in the Dominican Republic.
Meeting Lily
Nelson & Rennae de Freitas
Meeting Lily
It was an incredible week as Jeannie brought the message “ Free as a
Butterfly” to minister to the girls. We had gifts with all sorts of butterfly themes. The idea of the butterfly really was a God given plan. Many of our girls are searching for true freedom that from the slavery that comes with a life of prostitution. It also has cultural roots as well. I will have to make that story for another day and another blog!!!
So here we were taking butterfly gifts to prostitutes in brothels and on the streets as well. We went all over the city and ended up our time in the town of Boca Chica. The entire city of Boca Chica is basically a brothel. This is where we were able to rescue 9 girls, all minors, through a police raid. We were able to keep them at our shelter for 10 days and then they were released to their families. This is the difficult part. We have been keeping tabs on them, doing follow-up care and Jeannie came to do a whole program with them for the day. We taught the girls worship dance and we ministered to them. They all got a butterfly T-shirt. It was really a special time. That evening we asked the girls to go with help us find the brothels and give gifts in the streets.
We met the girls at 10 pm. They all had on their butterfly shirt and big smiles on their faces. They were excited about helping us. We started driving around. We found quite a few places and girls. We gave the gifts and told them that Jesus loved them. Just ministering the love of Jesus made an amazing impact. I was surprised at the impact.
As we drove the girls recognized a friend (and fellow prostitute) on the street. We stopped and the girls called her to our window. “Lily!” they yelled. She came over and was impressed with their T-shirts. She asked “What are you chicas doing?” They explained and Lily said, “Hey that’s cool, can I come?” We said, “Sure hop on in!” She got in this van totally unaware of the incredible presence of Jesus that was about to invade her world.
Meeting Lily
It was an incredible week as Jeannie brought the message “ Free as a
Butterfly” to minister to the girls. We had gifts with all sorts of butterfly themes. The idea of the butterfly really was a God given plan. Many of our girls are searching for true freedom that from the slavery that comes with a life of prostitution. It also has cultural roots as well. I will have to make that story for another day and another blog!!!
So here we were taking butterfly gifts to prostitutes in brothels and on the streets as well. We went all over the city and ended up our time in the town of Boca Chica. The entire city of Boca Chica is basically a brothel. This is where we were able to rescue 9 girls, all minors, through a police raid. We were able to keep them at our shelter for 10 days and then they were released to their families. This is the difficult part. We have been keeping tabs on them, doing follow-up care and Jeannie came to do a whole program with them for the day. We taught the girls worship dance and we ministered to them. They all got a butterfly T-shirt. It was really a special time. That evening we asked the girls to go with help us find the brothels and give gifts in the streets.
We met the girls at 10 pm. They all had on their butterfly shirt and big smiles on their faces. They were excited about helping us. We started driving around. We found quite a few places and girls. We gave the gifts and told them that Jesus loved them. Just ministering the love of Jesus made an amazing impact. I was surprised at the impact.
As we drove the girls recognized a friend (and fellow prostitute) on the street. We stopped and the girls called her to our window. “Lily!” they yelled. She came over and was impressed with their T-shirts. She asked “What are you chicas doing?” They explained and Lily said, “Hey that’s cool, can I come?” We said, “Sure hop on in!” She got in this van totally unaware of the incredible presence of Jesus that was about to invade her world.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
The Vision
At the age of sixteen, I had the opportunity to visit Buenos Aires, Argentina on a short term missions trip with the West Florida District. It was a special time in my life and God used that trip to soften my heart to his calling to missions. I guess you could say that at that time, I truly felt "called to the missionfield" but I began to ask God what it was exactly that he wanted me to do.
One day as I was at the altar of my church praying I had a vision. I remember seeing a van driving up and down the streets of Buenos Aires, picking up prostitutes. I went home that day to tell my parents that I had figured out what I was going to do with my life. I was going to go to Argentina to rescue prostitutes in a Speed-the-Light mini-van. My mother and father smiled with that supportive, yeah-that’s-a-teenage-wild-idea expression.
Time passed and the Lord led me down what I thought to be and entirely different missionary journey. I forgot about the vision over the years. Instead of Argentina, God sent me to the Dominican Republic. We had been serving Jesus there eleven years the day that the vision was resurrected from my memory banks.
I was asked to participate in a meeting with former Congresswomen Linda Smith. She had come to the DR to see how her organization, Shared Hope International, could get involved in the Dominican Republic. It had come to her attention that the DR was the third worst country for human trafficking. She explained to us that the most severe case that had come to her attention was the problem of trafficking between the DR and Argentina. She wanted to see how she could form and alliance of people of faith in the DR that could help rescue Dominican women in trapped in prostitution in Argentina. That was when it all came back to me.
I literally had chill bumps all over my body. I could see that vision in my minds eye all over again. God always had it in his plan for me to rescue prostitutes from the streets of Argentina. He just had me doing it across the international borders and in his perfect timing.
It was from that meeting that I began to work with Shared Hope to form the Alliance against the Traffic of Women, Children and Adolescents. We set up offices and a home for temporary shelter. We had been working for just a little over a year with women who called our hotline or were referred to our offices when Jeannie Turner and her ministry team came to work with us on the streets of Santo Domingo and Boca Chica.
One day as I was at the altar of my church praying I had a vision. I remember seeing a van driving up and down the streets of Buenos Aires, picking up prostitutes. I went home that day to tell my parents that I had figured out what I was going to do with my life. I was going to go to Argentina to rescue prostitutes in a Speed-the-Light mini-van. My mother and father smiled with that supportive, yeah-that’s-a-teenage-wild-idea expression.
Time passed and the Lord led me down what I thought to be and entirely different missionary journey. I forgot about the vision over the years. Instead of Argentina, God sent me to the Dominican Republic. We had been serving Jesus there eleven years the day that the vision was resurrected from my memory banks.
I was asked to participate in a meeting with former Congresswomen Linda Smith. She had come to the DR to see how her organization, Shared Hope International, could get involved in the Dominican Republic. It had come to her attention that the DR was the third worst country for human trafficking. She explained to us that the most severe case that had come to her attention was the problem of trafficking between the DR and Argentina. She wanted to see how she could form and alliance of people of faith in the DR that could help rescue Dominican women in trapped in prostitution in Argentina. That was when it all came back to me.
I literally had chill bumps all over my body. I could see that vision in my minds eye all over again. God always had it in his plan for me to rescue prostitutes from the streets of Argentina. He just had me doing it across the international borders and in his perfect timing.
It was from that meeting that I began to work with Shared Hope to form the Alliance against the Traffic of Women, Children and Adolescents. We set up offices and a home for temporary shelter. We had been working for just a little over a year with women who called our hotline or were referred to our offices when Jeannie Turner and her ministry team came to work with us on the streets of Santo Domingo and Boca Chica.
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