International Day of the Girl Child - Sonali's* Story

Since 2012, the United Nations marks 11 October as the ‘International Day of the Girl Child’. It is a day to promote girls' human rights, and addresses the various forms of discrimination and abuse suffered by girls around the world. It seems like today is an appropriate day to give voice to the silent stories of my girls in Dominican Republic; to proclaim that in the midst of the injustice of poverty, abandonment, and abuse; THERE IS A REDEEMER.

And this is just one story.

It is one story, with a hopeful ending. It doesn't end all beautiful and perfect but it there is hope.  And in the midst of the story, I still have questions, and I still worry about the future, but I still have hope. So I offer this one story of one girl. one Pastora. and One AMAZING Redeemer.

She was just 8 years old when I met her.

Grandma was her primary caregiver, and had been sentenced to 7 years in prison for drug trafficking. Every Wednesday, the ladies of our local AG church in Santo Domingo join Pastora Ketty (my ministry partner)  to minister at the local woman's penitentiary.   So when the Pastora met Grandma, she begged Pastora Ketty to go and find Sonali, who was all alone living in one of the most dangerous barrios of our metropolitan city. We found her and brought her to the girls home and Sonali grew up going to church, going to school, and her life was on a totally different trajectory. She would not be vulnerable to the drugs, prostitution, and abuse that infested her former neighborhood.

And then everything changed.

Grandma completed her sentence, was released from prison, and returned to the barrio. She asked that Sonali be permitted to come home with her. So we had to let beautiful Sonali leave the safety of our cocoon. It felt too soon, too harsh. We worried that she wouldn't go to school. We worried about how she would eat. We worried about how she would adapt after so many years in the home.

Our worries weren't unrealistic.

As an ex convict, it was impossible for Grandma to find a job to support them, to put food on the table, or to put a roof over their heads. There is only one possible solution in the barrio for a woman in this situation. If they were going to eat; prostitution was the only answer.  Grandma, however was old, her body was hardly marketable. This left Sonali at 15 years old, to sell her body on the street, so that they could eat. For eight months, she suffered horrible abuse by the johns who paid her less that $5 a trick for a couple hours of narcissistic pleasure.

She would go to the church in that barrio seeking Jesus, looking for an escape from the condemnation that swirled in her mind and heart. No one knew what she was suffering, how could she tell them? She was all alone. Her whole world was on the other side of the city and there was no way to go back to Bethesda, not now after selling her body.

One day the john took her to the other side of the city.

She knew she was so close to Bethesda. And she knew that she had to escape. She asked God to help her. She told me that she knew that if only I can just get back to the home, there will be hope. There will be food. There will be a real future.

And she returned.

Ketty took her in, gave her food to eat, clothes and shoes. She took her to the doctor. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief to know that she did not have AIDS after all that she had been through. Still there was a long road ahead.

She was pregnant.

I sat with Sonali on the bed and she told me her story. She left our home a little girl and came back to us as a woman that had her childhood stolen from her. An orphan herself, she cannot imagine what it means to be a mother, and yet that reality is confronting her everyday. My heart grieves that little girls can be stolen from cocoons before they are ready to fly. I don't understand why there are places in this world in which the only way a girl child can eat is by selling her body. I cannot fathom this injustice.

I WANT TO SCREAM HOW THIS ISN'T FAIR.

Still in the mess of this sad story, hope is blooming. Sonali can feel the hope that protects her, feeds her, and redeems her sadness. It is the presence of the Redeemer in the middle of our story, in the middle of the stuff we cannot understand, or even explain, and yet He has not abandoned Sonali. Maybe her mother left her, maybe her father left her, maybe Grandma exploited her, and society used her BUT Jesus came in the middle of her story and redeemed her.

I know that my Redeemer lives in the midst of injustice.

If anyone understood injustice it was Job of the Old Testament. Job wanted to scream too and yet in the midst of his messy, he said these words. "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last." I think the key for Job is that our hope is certain because we know how the story ends. We may not be sure of the middle, we may even be disappointed in the middle, but our middle is being redeemed. We can be sure of it. Because our Redeemer lives. WE know it. Not that we feel it, not even that we understand it, we just know it.

And still I ache because I have walked in the barrios and brothels of Santo Domingo and looked in the eyes of too many girls that have yet to encounter the hope of redemption and experience the presence of the Redeemer.

Job goes on to say: "And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.  I am overwhelmed at the thought!"

This is the kind of  hope that helps us in the middle. 

*names have been changed. 

What the note DIDN'T say...

She ran to me with a little note covered in butterfly stickers and placed it in my hands. "Take this to Julie*. I don’t want her to forget me."

I opened the note knowing that I would have to translate it for Julie. Julie didn’t speak Spanish. Yet even without the benefit of the language she had made a special connection with this little girl. A child who once lived as a slave in a miserable shack before she came to Bethesda Home.

The note read:
To: Julie
From: Alejandra
Julie I love you so much. Thank you for coming to share with us at Bethesda Home. Thank you for the shoes. Julie, I will always remember you. Thank you for coming to share with us. I love you Julie.

Julie
&
Alejandra
Friends Forever

What the note didn't say, but what I know is in her thoughts everyday was this question, “Will Julie remember me?”

Julie came with a team of women from her church and they spent just one week with the Bethesda Home children. That week was a special time for the children as they tremendously enjoy all the attention and mother love. Now, they ask about the ladies all the time and they cherish the photos that we put on the wall to remember our time together. And every time I visit, they ask me if the ladies remember them.

Bethesda Home is a home for abandoned and at-risk children. Some have mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts; some have been rescued from domestic abuse and slavery. Sister Ketty began this beautiful rescue in 2004 and along with the partnership of her local church and other ministries; she has been able to rent a house for these children. The house that they currently live in is up for sale.

Last Thursday I sat down with Sister Ketty after she called to tell me to pray about a meeting that she was to have with the lawyers representing the house. The owners are now giving us two months to purchase the house or they will be forced to take it back.

So today we find ourselves in anticipation of a REALLY BIG MIRACLE. The owners are asking $250,000. This is a very large home and the PERFECT location for the home. We really do not want to lose this house.

Please pray for Bethesda home and Sister Ketty as we walk this journey toward our miracle. Ask the Holy Spirit how you can be a part and then ACT in FAITH & OBEDIENCE. You will never regret it.

I feel a lot like Alejandra. We were blessed to meet some amazing women on the teams that came to visit but there is that nagging question in the back of my mind. It's what the note didn't say. After the ladies left, “Will they remember Bethesda Home?”

PLEASE consider helping us. You can make a secure online contribution by clicking this link http://tiny.cc/BethesdaHome Please note Project #14261 Class #62 in the comment field.

Or you can send your contribution to:
Assemblies of God World Missions
1445 Boonville Ave
Springfield, MO 65802
Mark your check or money order for project #14261 Bethesda Home Dom. Rep.

*some names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved

World Water Day

In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water. The Dominican Republic, like the majority of developing world countries, has serious problems with water supply.

Many people live without running water and for those who do, they must deal with the reality of constant water shortages. Also, like other majority world countries the running water is not potable which results in sickness and disease.

Dealing with this water issues in the country is a part of daily life and our ministry as we work to serve the needs of this country. Yet the issue that is of greatest concern to me is solving the problem of spiritual thirst. Jesus is the real answer to the world’s water problems not digging a well (not to minimize well-digging BRING IT ON!!!) Yet even with contaminated water I have seen God’s people live joyful abundant lives! You see it everywhere in this country. So my passionate quest is to get to the ones in this country who have the least access to living water. And my compassionate actions i.e. well digging and grocery giving, are the tangible demonstration of the eternal, rescuing and thirst quenching message that I am compelled to PROCLAIM.

Friday night I stood in the rain on a street corner with a group of shivering, scantily dressed girls huddled under cardboard boxes. They were there to sell their bodies. We were there to offer them water.

I put my arm around my new friend Luzmely*, three months pregnant holding a saturated piece of cardboard over her head. I asked her if she would trade her piece of cardboard for my umbrella. She smiled at my absurdity, but gladly made the trade.

My friend Rita told the story of the Samaritan woman and her encounter with Jesus. I was amazed at how these girls were totally captivated by the story. As Rita shared, cars stopped at the corner waiting for a girl to come to the car in order to be whisked away into the night. Yet the girls would not move; they wanted to hear the story. Meanwhile, I noticed that one car circled around three times!

It was like Jesus was there with us Friday night just like he was with the Samaritan woman—offering water! As the rain fell on us, we did what Jesus would do, we offered them water, but not contaminated water, not water that is always in short supply. We offered living water. And with all the rain, we all went home drenched, both literally and spiritually!

“Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” --Jesus Christ

My journey with Maireda*

Maireda’s story begins in the fall of 2006 when I first began this post…

It has been a hard road to walk but I am grateful for the opportunity to follow Jesus wherever he may be leading me. Fourteen years ago, when I first responded to the call, I could not have expected that it would take me to abandoned buildings in far off fields to find a prostitute and her baby. Yet, it is whenever I am walking those kinds of roads I feel the closest to my Savior. I feel his compelling motion in my feet looking for that girl and his abundant love swelling in my chest in those awful brothels. As dark as the brothel is, and I’ll never understand this, but I feel so close to Jesus there. I feel so near to his heart. It is the weirdest thing. I never imagined that it could be like that in those dark, dismal places.

Every time I go to Boca Chica I am amazed at the absolute misery and darkness that abounds there. Just when I thought that I had heard or seen the worst there is to hear or see, something else hits us. This past Saturday was no exception. We went first to find Soraidy* a fifteen year-old prostitute with a one-month old baby. She lives with her prostitute mother in an abandoned building with no running water or electricity. We arrived kind of late, just in time actually, because we caught them just before they were going out to find a trick. They were all dressed up with all the make-up and skimpy clothes. Even the baby was dressed up in the clothes that I had brought to her on my last visit. I found that odd, but I was so glad that she didn’t just leave the baby as she did on one other occasion according to our sources. Soraidy was not so happy to see us. You could tell that she felt caught. We prayed for her and we told her that we would not give up on her or her baby. The baby (just two months old) still had sores all over her body from the STD. We left and on our way out of the building we heard a baby crying in another room. It was a baby boy, obviously mal-nourished and lying naked on two rotting, dirty sponge mattresses with a gun lying beside him. When we looked in on him a man came out of the shadows and asked what we wanted. We asked about the mother. He told us that the mother was working and he was looking after the baby. He said that he was one of the guards of the building. We recognized that we were in a dangerous position. So we left quickly. It was so freaky and absolutely heartbreaking; I wanted to pick up the baby and run, yet I was completely impotent in the situation. Anyway, one of the ladies is following up on that one.

Next we made a stop at an orphanage to pick up a little girl. Sister Ketty, my ministry partner, has a little children’s home in Santo Domingo, our capital city where we both live. Anyway, Ketty was told that this particular orphanage desperately needed help with a little girl that was having a hard time there. When we got there, we found out that the girl is too old for Ketty’s home. She is 11 and Ketty’s home will only take in girls under the age of 8. Well, this little girl senses that something has happened and I see her standing chewing her fingernails, her face nervous with fear. We try to reassure her best that we can. I began to distract her asking her about her little back pack. She showed me a brand new little bear that she was given because she was going to be leaving the home. The director of the home pulls me aside and shows me her case history. The girl’s mother was going to sell her to a trafficker that was using kids’ eyes for transplants! It was a horrible situation. I will never forget that little girls eyes. They were beautiful chocolate brown, but full of fear. She did not need words to communicate because her eyes said it all. I pulled Ketty aside, and I implored Ketty to ask the Holy Spirit about what to do. Ketty looked at me and said, “We need to take her, don’t we?” So in that split second we made a decision that I am convinced transported that girl from darkness to light. Her name was Maireda. Ketty gave Maireda a big hug and said, “Let’s go because it is time for you to go to your new family.” THOSE EYES! They danced with delight in response. When we got in the car she wanted to give me her bear to thank me for taking her to her new family. Here was a little girl with absolutely everything that she owned it a little backpack and she wanted GIVE AWAY her teddy bear. I was incredibly humbled by such extravagant generosity.

Maireda arrived at the home and for the next several weeks she struggled to adapt. She was angry and was abusive to the other children. In the meantime, one of Maireda’s family members asked for her to be returned. Ketty sent her back to live with her family. I was crushed. I felt like we had rescued her from darkness to light only to send her back to the misery and darkness of poverty. So I never finished this post. There was no real happy ending.

Two years later…

Meanwhile Ketty never really gave up on Maireda. She kept tabs on her and paid for her to attend school and get her books and materials. Maireda was passed around to different family members but mostly ended up with an aunt. Unfortunately, we came to find out that Maireda was basically a slave at her aunt’s house. She cooked, cleaned and did all the laundry. She was never paid and often was unable to attend school because of all of her responsibilities. During the Christmas holidays Maireda came to stay at Bethesda Home but Ketty promised that aunt that Maireda would return after Christmas.

During Christmas Ketty called me and explained the situation. Maireda had asked about me often during my time in the states and now that I was back they asked if I could come by to see her. I was thrilled! Seeing those beautiful eyes made my heart smile. She was so glad to be back at the home and she asked me if she could please stay. She begged me for my phone numbers and I gave them to her and the next day she was returned to her aunt.

Two days later Maireda called me and asked me to call her right back. The cell phone was out of minutes. I called her but I could not get a hold of her. I wondered what was going on. Maireida was able to get in touch with Ketty. She now felt brave enough to tell Ketty that her uncle was beating her and her uncle’s 17 year old son was abusing her. She wanted out. She wanted to go to school. “I promise to be good. Please take me back. Please.”

Ketty could not refuse. She went to find Maireda. Evidently she had been moved again and Ketty had to search throughout the barrio looking for Maireda. People even warned Ketty, “This is a dangerous area of town; you shouldn’t be down in these neighborhoods.” Ketty was not concerned. She was committed to finding this little lamb.

Today Maireda is back at Bethesda Home. She desperately wants to stay and we are committed to keeping her. Yet I know that there may be family issues and custody issues that will need to be worked out.

Yesterday at the home we were talking about how wonderful it is to have Maireda back home. Auntie Trina told how mama Ketty went to find her. As I listened it reminded me of the parable of the shepherd who went searching for the lost lamb. I told Maireda that she was our lost lamb. She smiled a great big smile and tucked her head under in embarrassment. I lifted her little chin to see her smile but what I really saw were those chocolate brown eyes –dancing with delight!

So is this our happy ending? For now it is, but I have learned that in this walk with Jesus there is no ending— just a journey and our destiny is not temporal happiness but joy everlasting.


"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." Matthew 18:10-14


*names and identities have been changed to protect the privacy of persons involved.

Human Trafficking in Dominican Republic

The Persons in Trafficking report was just recently released and it doesn’t show much improvement on the part of the government of our beloved island of Dominican Republic. The fact of the matter is that I know that the hope for children of our country will never be found in any government solutions. The real hope for a little girl in the bondage of prostitution in the tourist zones of our island can only be found through the power of Jesus Christ. That power is most often presented to those girls through a walking and talking and loving and “being with” relationships with Spirit-filled believers. It is my passion to see the church, the Pentecostal church, in particular become a powerful force for transformation in the lives of boys and girls who live in the filth of bars and brothels. 

Today I am thinking about my friends in Boca Chica. Angela, Natalie, Jaquelin. Their journey towards transformation was just beginning when I left. I am wondering about the three girls in a little town where the traffickers are very active. Their aunt had been taken to Argentina and was dying of AIDS. She would never return to her homeland because of the disgrace that it would cause her family. I’ll never forget 16 year old Miseidy asking me “When will we see you again? When can you come back to visit us?” 

We have just a few months left to raise the remaining part of our budget to be able return in August. Please pray for God to provide and pray for the boys and girls in Dominican Republic that are victimized EVERY DAY, yes even TODAY.

Below I have posted a summary about the report from the Dominican Republic’s English news website www.DR1.com

Persons Trafficking report


The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report from the US State Department highlights the DR as a Tier 2 country and urges the country to increase efforts to bring human traffickers to justice. The report also urged the DR to emphasize pursuing "complicit high-ranking government officials" who partake in this illegal activity." The Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A large number of Dominican women are trafficked into prostitution and sexual exploitation in Western Europe, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, and other Caribbean destinations. A significant number of women, boys, and girls are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude." The report indicates that the Dominican government has made some attempt to curb the illegal trafficking of people. "The Government of the Dominican Republic does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so." 
For more information see: www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/

The Witch in the Bathroom

My last week in the Dominican Republic was probably one of the most special weeks of my life. For the past couple of years I have been working with a wonderful woman Ketty Figueroa. Ketty is an educator, pastor’s wife, and minister who began a small school in a barrio slum of the capital city of Santo Domingo many years ago. Since 2004, Ketty has been a part of the outreach we have been doing to reach girls involved in prostitution. It was through this outreach that Ketty felt the need to begin a children’s home to receive children of prostitutes and abandoned kids that we were finding through our contacts in the red light districts. Ketty had no funding except from her local church where she and her husband were pastors. The church found a home to rent they relied on donations of clothing and food for the children.

The home that she was renting was really falling apart and not an adequate place for the children. The bathrooms had plumbing problems and they always smelled like urine. Yet at least in this home the children were loved, fed, educated and taken to church. I began to dream with Ketty about a new home for the kids. It was my sincere desire to help her purchase a home so that the church’s money could provide for the needs of the girls. In response to our prayers God sent the Women’s Ministries of Colorado and Utah to help us. The women raised enough money to pay for one year’s rent on a better and bigger home. They also came to paint and fix it up.

After one week of renovation work on the new house, we would bring the kids in to see their new home and celebrate with a party for all the children of the home. The women had brought new clothes and shoes for all the children. They also brought a brown baby doll for each one of the 17 girls and trucks for the 2 boys. Needless to say the children were elated and thrilled with all the blessings. Each girl found their bed full of gifts and began to play with the baby dolls and try on their new cloths.

For me it was one of the BEST days of my life. It was as though the combined joy of each one of the children was heaped inside my heart. I laughed and played with the girls as they looked over their gifts. One of the girls, Daysi, caught my eye as she admired the beautiful new purple butterfly dress that was given to her.

Daysi is eleven years old and the oldest of three sisters that came to Ketty through contacts in the brothels of Boca Chica. She is one of the quieter girls in our home. She LOVES to get attention and longs for it, but she would never demand it. It is as though she feels unworthy of any special attention. So I wanted to make sure that I shared with her this special moment.

“Daysi, would you like to try on your new dress?” I asked.

She smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go change in the bathroom.” I responded.

A worried look replaced the excitement in her face. “Will you come with me?” she asked.

“Of course.” I found it somewhat strange that she wanted my help to change in the bathroom but I was delighted to share with her this special moment. As we entered the bathroom she almost froze with fear and explained with a quivering voice, “I’m scared to go into the bathroom alone.”

“Why Daysi? What’s wrong?”

She then began to explain that before Sister Ketty had taken her in she lived in a horrible place that had a witch in the bathroom. All of the sudden our giddy happiness was replaced with the haunting past. I had so many questions about this “witch in the bathroom”. Yet I sensed that these answers and explanations could never erase the fear that I saw in those beautiful chocolate brown eyes---only the powerful work of Jesus could erase that fear.

“Daysi,” I responded, “I want you know that this place is nothing like the place where you used to live. The place where you used to live may have been filled with many awful things and awful experiences but this new home if filled with love. There is love in the kitchen and love in the bedrooms and even the bathrooms are filled with love. I want to pray right now and ask Jesus to erase your memory of the witch in the bathroom.

“Jesus,” I began, “by the power and authority of your mighty name I ask you to remove every awful memory in the mind of my precious Daysi. Come in this moment Holy Spirit and may your presence erase the haunting image of the witch so that it could never enter her thoughts again. I come against the enemy and his wickedness and I remind him that this home is dedicated to the glory of God alone and that these children are precious treasures that belong to Almighty Father God. I pray that every day Daysiwill grow in the knowledge of her Heavenly Father’s love and may that perfect love take away every fear. In the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.”

Tears were glistening on both of our cheeks when I finished praying. The fear in Daysi’s face was replaced with a big smile. “How about trying on your dress?” I asked. She nodded with excitement and quickly changed her clothes.

Looking at her with that pretty butterfly dress, I reminded Daysi that the butterfly was once an ugly caterpillar. His past was ugly but his new life is beautiful. I told her that she is very much like that butterfly. The past may have been ugly but now everything is new. She has new home and a new life and her future is certain to be beautiful.

Rescuing Angela and Yolanda

Angela

Her name is Angela. She is fifteen years old. Her face still displays the innocence of childhood. Yet her swollen abdomen will tell you that this is a girl who never really had the opportunity to be a child or know true innocence, because Angela is a child prostitute.

At a young age, Angela’s mother sent her to the streets into prostitution to earn money. She took every penny that she made and often would beat her. She was abandoned by her father. She was beaten so much that finally a “client” helped her runaway from home. He kept her in a small room and brought other men there to have sex with her. He told her that he would be her husband. This man was 45 years old and the supposed father of her baby. Once he found out that she was pregnant, he kicked her out of the house.

Angela was alone, pregnant and living on the streets when a beautiful Christian woman found her. Nieves works at a clinic for adolescents in Boca Chica. It is a government funded clinic and a place where the young prostitutes know they can get free medical care. When Nieves met Angela and saw her terrible situation, she knew that she had to something to rescue her. Nieves took her to a children’s foundation in Boca Chica.

Caminante is a children’s program in Boca Chica that is working hard to get kids off the streets. They are mostly involved in prevention programs but they are a point of contact for kids like Angela who need help. They are very well respected in the community. The Alliance against Trafficking has been involved with the institution since we began. When Nieves took Angela to Caminante, they immediately called us. (The Alliance against Trafficking)

When we were called about Angela’s situation we had actually been planning a visit to Boca Chica that day. It was as though God had it all planned for us. We met her and took her to the Alliance home. Angela is eight months pregnant and infected with venereal disease. As I write this she is being taken for more medical tests and we are working on a plan for the birth of the baby. She will have to a C-section because of the STD.

We are all so excited about this opportunity that the Lord has given us to participate in the transformation process in Angela’s life. I believe that the curse of sin and poverty will be broken and will change the course of generations because Angela was rescued.

Pray for Angela and her unborn child. Pray for her health and for her heart. Pray that she will come to know a real, personal friendship and faith in Jesus.

Yolanda

When Yolanda was six years old, her mother died of AIDS. Her mother was a prostitute who was regularly trafficked in to Haiti. As a result of her mother’s very unstable lifestyle and eventual death, Yolanda has been raised in the home of her paternal grandparents in Boca Chica. Ever since the horrible death of her young mother, Yolanda’s grandfather has told her that she would die of AIDS like her mother. She is sixteen years old now and is living her days in this involuntary pursuit of the fulfillment of that prophecy. She spends the nights in the brothels making money in prostitution to support her drug habits. She sleeps most of the day. She is in and out of her grandparents’ home because her grandfather beats her and verbally abuses her. Her grandfather tells her regularly that she is a piece of trash.

We have been visiting Yolanda for over a year now, because she has shown such an interest in getting help. During my last visit, her grandfather yelled, “I hope that you will get that piece of trash out of my home!” We are now in the process of formalizing our long term shelter at the home and we trying to rescue Yolanda out of her situation. In her heart, I know that she is screaming, “Somebody please rescue me!!!!!” but reality is that her addictions are very STRONG. She is scared.

We told Yolanda that we will give her one week to make a decision to leave, so I want to ask you to pray for her this week. Pray that she will make the right decision. In the name of Jesus SHE WILL NOT DIE LIKE HER MOTHER!!! She will live for Jesus.

Finally please pray for my work with the Alliance against Trafficking. I am so excited as God is finally opening the doors for us to offer a long term shelter and life recovery program for adolescent girls. This has been a dream of mine for two years now. The program is in its birthing stages and we are learning along the way. We have a great financial need but we are trusting that God will supply every need. We are estimating that it cost us at least $200/ month for each girl that we take in. Pray for wisdom for me and the other members of the Alliance board as we begin this totally new area of ministry.

FYI

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

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.

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.

Birthing the Butterfly Ministry

Nelson & Rennae de Freitas

I have had it in my heart to take some time to "blog away" ever since an amazing week of mininstry that I spent with Jeannie Turner and three women from Ft. Myers Florida. Together, along with the team of Dominicans that I work, with we visited six brothels and many prostitutes in both Santo Domingo and Boca Chica.

Jeannie has a ministry to Strippers and women who work in the adult entertainment industry. Five years ago, I was privileged to be in a service at Ft. Myers First Assembly of God when five women who left the clubs were baptized in water. It was an exciting night, I will never forget it. I now know that it wasn't a coincidence that I happened to be attending that service. God had us there with divine purpose.

I remembered Jeannie when God began to open the doors for me to work with women who are involved in prostitution and human trafficking. As we began to form this Non Government Organization, (NGO) I knew that I wanted to put together an outreach ministry to these women. I just wasn't quite sure how to go about it . That is when I remembered Jeannie Turner. We began to dialogue back and forth. I asked her to come visit us here in the DR. Well she did come and there is so much to say about it.

But this story really starts aroung quite a few years ago. This story begins with an experience that I had when I was 16 years old...