.Hope. is to Brothels as Chocolate is to Cookies

We walk into Lollilop, our favorite strip club on the coast, and immediately all heads turn. Cries ring out from around the room and whether from a pole on the stage or from the lap of John, the girls greet us with smiles and the whole room welcomes us for the night.

“Just a minute,” One of the girls says to her client and runs over to me for a hug. I hold her close, she’s perfect. A young vivacious girl with dreams that seem to slip further away from her with every lap dance.

I love hope. I love how quickly a situation can be turned when Jesus walks into the room. We laugh, we chat and we reawaken hearts that seemed frozen in time. Then we arrange coffee dates, tea times and plans for “church”- our upcoming venture for working street girls before they start their nights with clients.

I love how hope finds us. One night while sleeping in a shady hotel room, (you know the ones that make your stomach turn as you lay on it’s dirty sheets) it woke me. We were overnighting in the brothel and as most of the team worshipped in our beautiful Nevaeh Center, I slipped away to crash for a couple hours. Most find it hard to sleep here. Closing my eyes I heard at least 3 different clubs BLASTING music and I swear something was crawling on every inch of my body. But then I heard it. Between my dreams, hope called out: “Let it rain, let it rain… open the flood gates of heaven, and let it rain”

The most beautiful unexpected sound erupting through the streets and into the hourly rate rooms. And there it was. Through my exhaustion - I was reminded that I’d been found.

I love how hope pursues us. We have a million stories, from girls searching us out during Nevaeh worship sets and begging us to pray for them, to Jesus walking into rooms of women as they service clients and in an open vision he invites them to leave with him. He’s after their hearts. I’m undone. Absolutely undone time and time again at how tangible it is. How real his pursuit of them, of me, it’s perfect.

Every girl we speak to says the same thing, “I feel so unclean, how could he stop for me?” And every single time, it never gets old when they meet him and realize he sees them as flawless.

I love my busy crazy life in the brothels. It’s been such a treat to share it with a couple dozen visitors this month from Bethel students to Iris Alumni to YWAM friends and so on. It’s been a blast!

The time is quickly wrapping up for a minute and I can feel my heart shifting as I prepare for the Middle East. Only a few days now and I’ll arrive in Jordan, ready to see hope manifest itself in another war zone! My heart comes alive at the thought!!

I hadn’t had as much prep time as I would have liked, so last night I stole away to a hotel room on the beach. In the silence of crashing waves and praising palm trees, I processed our time in the red light districts and got my heart ready for the next venture. Thank you for those who gave for “me” and let me value REST and take a moment for my heart. The hotel had hot water and in my 13 hours off I took 4 showers. :) Jesus is goooood.

This blog feels rushed as I could go on forever about the beauty that’s being unveiled here. Maybe another time though. Please be watching out for posts on my time with IRIS Relief in Jordan, loving on Syrian Refugees. (April 14th-May 4th) I still can’t believe all that’s going on there and consider it the biggest honor to be apart of a small group responding to history unfolding.

(If you want to still give to the work in with Syrian Refugees see the “Contact” page or see the IRIS relief page on the Iris Global site)

Mother May I and the Middle East

So… raising teenagers huh? I now have a new respect and appreciation for all you parents out there as another one of our girls seems to have reached adolescence overnight!

There are so many sides to every story. One side of this story sounds romantic. Heroic almost. Rescuing young girls from prostitution or boys out of the army. I had dreamt of it for years. Busting down doors, sneaking down back alley’s and while I never imagined Kumbaya by the fire, I did probably have a few more rainbows and quiet nights in there.

And though at times, that may be a part of the story, I’m learning that a large part is quite different. A 5:15am alarm clock wakes me from my short night’s sleep and calls me to make breakfast for our sweet daughters. Suddenly my life, is no longer my own.

Time is rushed doing homework checks and though I’m absolutely obsessed with loving our girls, I breathe a happy sigh when we finally get them all out the door with school bags and uniforms together. Any other mother’s relate?

(Photos with our youngest babe on what we affectionately call “Afro Sunday”)

I know my life is different and I have the privilege of seeing them raised alongside a few other ‘house parents’ who carry it year round. They are amazing and I am SO grateful for them! I love the adventure and am very aware that I am learning A LOT. Wow. A lot about love and truly laying your life down for someone else. A lot about patience! And understanding adolescent girls, especially those with harder backgrounds like our own babes.

It’s been a beautiful time and I’m so thankful for every moment I have with them.

Along with everyday life in Bella House, things are also growing and developing here with new opportunities, not only in Kenya but also…the Middle East.

A large part of my passion is war zones. It’s bizarre sometimes, as I can spend hours dreaming of the transformation to be had in lands of war lords and grenade explosions. To places where my purity, not to mention my very breath can be on the line, yet somehow something draws me. Like a renewed version of Sirens calling; “There is hope. There is transformation available. Who will go for me to bring home the desolate and the dying?”

It was in November that my heart got really wrecked for what was happening in Syria and area. I started praying “God, let’s do this thing, let’s shift atmospheres. I’m not sure how but if I can be apart the answer to my own prayer, please send me!” In December he finally answered with: “For your 26th birthday, I’m sending you to the Middle East.”

I was in Nashville during a worship set and I couldn’t even respond, I could only laugh. See, Jesus and I LOVE exchanging gifts, always trying to “out give” the other. (I’ve learned the best way to love Him are two things - Quality time, and sitting with the poor aka: Matt 25) So this felt absolutely about right. Trumped again! ;)

The funny thing is I had utterly no clue how I’d get there. Just thrown into one of those “trusting gigs”. Days passed and eventually turned into weeks and soon two months had gone by, but then at the end of January the beautiful Skype call came. I connected with others from Iris Global and a relief team was forming with an extra extended portion into the most needy places we could find. I now leave Mtwapa, Kenya for Amman, Jordan April 13th and return to Kenya May 4th (My 26th birthday being May 5th. Sweet right?!)

Here are some articles on Syria. There are currently over 4 million internally displaced people in Syria. FOUR MILLION. And over 1 million displaced internationally. Currently they’re predicting over 3 million refugees by the end of the year!! I can’t even imagine that.

Syrian Internally Displaced Reaches 4 million

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21676542

Immediately my pioneer heart hears this and switches to: “Ok, after years working throughout African war zones I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, so let’s go in and develop education programs! They can be partnered with counseling, art therapy and sponsorship. We can scout now, implement by the summer and have something launched by fall!!”

And then he spoke again. “Just listen. Love. And let’s get a little dirty. For now.” I watched a TED talk (God LOVES to speak through TED) about dead aid and the power of actually listening first. (By Ernesto Sirolli) Ok God. Agenda’s aside, let’s go in, hearts on the table and without reservations, love the Syrian people in Jordan!

The team plans on bringing in relief supplies and therapy programs, I’m excited.

I hope to tweet as often as I have internet. Hashtag #hopetosyrianrefugees Follow

If you’re interested in donating to the costs of this trip, to supplies or to my ground fees, you can donate HERE and sow into the refugees.

If you’re interested in helping Justice Rising Projects in the Kenyan brothels, we have a new venture!! “Pads with a Purpose”. Start collecting new Always Pads and we give them to young girls in the brothels who are normally kept out of school when they have their period. (Making them vulnerable to sexual abuse) Brilliant right!? We then take them back to Africa with us and give them to a sweet young girl that we work with here. :)

Half the Sky

Soooo, in case you haven’t guessed it, sometimes I can be a little passionate. Just a little ;)

Standing up for the rights of the downcast, the oppressed. Being a voice for the voiceless; my kids and the ones with stories just like theirs.

I say it all the time but, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice EVERYWHERE.” -MLKJ

So powerful.

So in the quest to changing the world… Not just covering an issue, but going to the root. Finding the DNA of the injustice and decoding it and rewiring it to stand for love and honor and freedom… We find others are on the same journey!

Here’s one of my absolute fav’s, Nicholas Kristof  and his wife Sheryl WuDunn and their documentary that’s an incredible mark against injustice. A PBS special gone movie. Order your copy Here

And then come back and join us as we dare to go after transformation in some the darkest regions, among the most needy…

Rebel Raids to London Lattes

(Written last week, posted this week… C’est la vie in transition!)

For a moment, a beautiful, awkward transitional moment, I close my eyes and purse my lips, and I’m back in Africa. I remember holding one of my girls as she sobbed in my arms– she’d been raped for a living and desperate for some love. Or I listen, almost holding my breath to determine the location of the bomb blasts of active conflict and I see the faces of my sweet boys who’ve gone from the front lines of battle to the front rows of a classroom.

Opening up my eyes it’s a different story though. The English country side. Scones and tea in the gardens of an old castle, as deer frolic past us and swans play in the brook. What?!

I hold the moment as there are few in this life quite like it. Straddling two completely different worlds, yet still having my heart forever rooted and grounded in the lap of my papa. It’s in these moments I feel the richest.

I left Africa last week, just as our first girl moved into Bella House. A girl who’s been sex-trafficked, oh how honored we are to be trusted with some of papa’s most absolute favorites! Out of respect for our girls, we don’t share too much of their stories on blogs but watching life play out, I feel SO SO privileged at who God has brought into our beautiful Bella House family!!!

I chat with my Kenya team frequently and my heart gets SO excited at all that’s happening.

Right before I left, our “Can’t be Bought Campaign” was launched. (YAY!) This is our prevention side to working in brothels. Yes, I absolutely ADORE Bella House, but reaching a dozen girls is a pretty small drop in the ocean. If we REALLY want to take down this giant of sex slavery, there NEEDS to be justice along with mercy. PREVENTION.

In the first week we reached several hundred kids and hope to be reaching a few thousand per week by the beginning of the new year.

With this campaign, our team goes into public schools and teaches kids about prostitution, sex-trafficking, their value and worth and that they are created with purpose and can truly change the world! It’s amazing, our first class I stood at the back taking pictures and almost cried as the kids rang out a cheer “I am not for sale… I cannot be bought! I’m valuable… I’m powerful… my body’s mine…” In a place where sex with children is normal, this felt ground breaking.

It’s been a journey… choosing to “see” can sometimes be the most difficult part.

Imagine being in the 5th grade and because you don’t sell yourself for sex, you are a minority.

Imagine wanting a snack during recess, so for your bag of popcorn it’s acceptable to find a man who will violate you for it.

Imagine growing up knowing if you don’t get the luxury of education, you will most likely be forced to sell yourself for sex.

And imagine knowing not much else. Your mom is a prostitute, your grand-mom is a prostitute and your aunty is now forcing you to be a prostitute.

This is the life of SO many in our community here.

It’s so… engrained in a culture, and we’ve had our shirts stained with too many tears of child prostitutes to do nothing about it.

With the curriculum of this campaign, we hope to use it as a foundation in brothels around the world. Entering public school systems and empowering kids to protect their body, stay in school and dream for a better future. I’m excited!!

So now I go from rescuing kids on the ground to being their voice abroad. (As of now, I’m officially back in N.America!) They say children exploited in sex-work or conflict are the most voiceless population in the world. So for my babies and family in another world—it’s time to speak up!!

Exciting times we live in! That we would get the opportunity to touch so many lives! Amazing really! Change the world, and now get hot showers too. Life just keeps getting better 

If you want to join us in rescuing child sex slaves and hopefully, well, shutting down brothels : ) you can donate today and be apart of the journey of writing history! Donate