My first week went really well at the non-profit organization (I am temporarily working for). Remember the non-profit assignment is temporary. October 1st I will be in the full-time ministry. Our ministry and the non-profit have the same goal in mind, to prevent and provide aftercare for human trafficking victims.
At the non-profit, Christina and I are responsible for raising awareness in the community and trying to find victims of human trafficking. On the first day, they told us we have total freedom to take any approach and try any strategies we want to…how cool is that?!!!!!!
We learned that many victims are allowed to go to church even if they are being held in slave like conditions. So one of the first projects we assigned ourselves is to identify and build relationships with religious leaders in the community.
They are also teaching us Spanish which is so exciting! I took Spanish in high school and college but never used it. Last week we went to a clinic with mostly Spanish-speaking people, and tried to speak Spanish (very poorly) but I hope to improve on my Spanish while I am here getting weekly lessons.
We also had several encouraging meetings with people from our church and have been asked to be the main points of contact for Human Trafficking. Additionally, there is a ministry fair this Sunday and Christina and I (along with other volunteers from our group) will work the booth to raise awareness, increase our network of volunteers and ministry partners and hopefully begin to raise financial support too.
Last, but most importantly…
We ask ourselves daily, “What would Jesus do?” And the answer seems clear so far, Jesus wants us to minister to all of his children involved which include: the victims, the traffickers and the customers. Many of the customers are battling with sex addictions and we hope to offer help for them too. We are not sure how to do this yet, but we have some good ideas to get us started. My hope is to be able to direct men (and women) who want help to an aftercare program of their own. We are so excited about this approach because we are now combating the DEMAND for commercial sex. The Human Trafficking industry is just like any other dollar driven business…it is driven by the demand from the customer who is willing to pay for a service. So if we are not addressing the demand, we are not making any progress to end modern-day slavery.
My current needs:
Prayer: Please continue to pray for me and all those involved in this work. We need God’s wisdom, courage and protection.
Donations: I am in urgent need of a gently used laptop. Additionally I need a blackberry-type phone (with a full keyboard), and a bike rack (for the trunk of my car). I do not want anyone to buy these items for me, just thought I would get the word out incase someone recently upgraded and has extras lying around.
Financial Support: I will be sending info in the next few weeks about how to offer financial support, thank you to all of you who have already offered.
In Summary: GOD just flat out ROCKS, we have been so blessed with open doors, helping hands and many opportunities coming our way…all in just ONE WEEK! It would take me all day to tell you about each blessing but I have found my courage, peace and motivation from God's continued guidance and encouragement...HE is making all of this happen, I am just trying to follow His lead.
Lots of thanks and love to all of you for your prayers and support!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
HUGE Announcement Confirmed
Well I did it…
I turned in my 2-week notice last Monday, and Friday August 8th will be my last day. I have been there for 4 years and it has truly been a family and home to me and I am very sad to leave many friends behind, but I am so ready for my new life in full-time ministry…
What will I be doing?
I will be working with a community ministry...Our vision is to provide real community within this apartment complex to resettle refugees and human trafficking survivors. We are creating a work of unity among non-profit organizations, churches, and volunteers to organize ESL, life skills and job training classes, with many more services to come. We hope this concept can be easily adopted by other cities and multiplied across the nation. We exist to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the local community. Much more to come on our vision and work…
How did this happen so fast?
As you know, in May I left my treasured apartment to move into the low-income apartment complex in the city that we partnered with. When my heart committed to this so quickly, I knew this is what I wanted to do full-time. I did not know if it would be one month or one year but I knew I wanted and needed to do this work. The need for me to work full-time came quickly and I started trying to prepare… Going full-time in this ministry would require me to raise money to pay my own salary and that takes a lot of time and preparation. So for several weeks (maybe a month or 2) I have been asking, how do I do this, when do I quit my job, how much money do I need to live on, and how do I raise money for my salary???
And then we got a call… A non-profit organization that we have partnered with called us with a problem: they have grant money that they need to get rid of by September 30th, and they have to spend on salaries and on human trafficking. Knowing that Christina and I wanted to go full-time and were about to begin raising support, they offered to hire us on a temporary basis to help with the human trafficking street outreach (raising awareness), ending on September 30th. Can you believe it? I can’t imagine a better opportunity for my transition into this ministry. It will be like an internship, I am going to have the opportunity to learn everything about Human Trafficking and be able to go out and educate the community. It is pretty clear to me that God provided this opportunity and answered all of my questions with a simple answer, “the time is now, just follow me, one step at a time, and I will provide for you.” So I did, I am, and I will follow Him! This is something I have been longing for, praying for and needing to do since I wrote that paper in college (see previous blog). God is not just opening doors, he is pushing me through them! It is clear there is no time to waste, He has work for us to do and He wants us to get started NOW! I feel so honored to have this opportunity!
Am I getting paid?
I will get paid a small amount from the non-profit organization until September 30th. With my savings I should be okay for a month or two as I begin to raise support. Starting October 1st, like a missionary, I will be relying on the support of others, on a monthly basis, to pay my salary.
I turned in my 2-week notice last Monday, and Friday August 8th will be my last day. I have been there for 4 years and it has truly been a family and home to me and I am very sad to leave many friends behind, but I am so ready for my new life in full-time ministry…
What will I be doing?
I will be working with a community ministry...Our vision is to provide real community within this apartment complex to resettle refugees and human trafficking survivors. We are creating a work of unity among non-profit organizations, churches, and volunteers to organize ESL, life skills and job training classes, with many more services to come. We hope this concept can be easily adopted by other cities and multiplied across the nation. We exist to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the local community. Much more to come on our vision and work…
How did this happen so fast?
As you know, in May I left my treasured apartment to move into the low-income apartment complex in the city that we partnered with. When my heart committed to this so quickly, I knew this is what I wanted to do full-time. I did not know if it would be one month or one year but I knew I wanted and needed to do this work. The need for me to work full-time came quickly and I started trying to prepare… Going full-time in this ministry would require me to raise money to pay my own salary and that takes a lot of time and preparation. So for several weeks (maybe a month or 2) I have been asking, how do I do this, when do I quit my job, how much money do I need to live on, and how do I raise money for my salary???
And then we got a call… A non-profit organization that we have partnered with called us with a problem: they have grant money that they need to get rid of by September 30th, and they have to spend on salaries and on human trafficking. Knowing that Christina and I wanted to go full-time and were about to begin raising support, they offered to hire us on a temporary basis to help with the human trafficking street outreach (raising awareness), ending on September 30th. Can you believe it? I can’t imagine a better opportunity for my transition into this ministry. It will be like an internship, I am going to have the opportunity to learn everything about Human Trafficking and be able to go out and educate the community. It is pretty clear to me that God provided this opportunity and answered all of my questions with a simple answer, “the time is now, just follow me, one step at a time, and I will provide for you.” So I did, I am, and I will follow Him! This is something I have been longing for, praying for and needing to do since I wrote that paper in college (see previous blog). God is not just opening doors, he is pushing me through them! It is clear there is no time to waste, He has work for us to do and He wants us to get started NOW! I feel so honored to have this opportunity!
Am I getting paid?
I will get paid a small amount from the non-profit organization until September 30th. With my savings I should be okay for a month or two as I begin to raise support. Starting October 1st, like a missionary, I will be relying on the support of others, on a monthly basis, to pay my salary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)