Giving Tuesday

On this “Giving Tuesday” we want to invite you to join us in seeing lives set free and restored from sexual exploitation and human trafficking!

Human trafficking remains a key area of concern on our hearts. The average age of entry is between 12-14 years old. In the US alone there are an estimated 300,000 children involved in sex trafficking. Wichita has been rated as the 5th largest originating city. Driving through downtown Wichita you find a large homeless population with ties to the drug world and where women turn to prostitution just to survive. Youth who runaway often find themselves approached by a pimp or trafficker within 48 hours of living on the streets. It can seem overwhelming and hopeless at times. While investing in this work for the past 7 years, we have seen God take people out of impossible situations, and give them a fresh start. This next year, there are many ways that we are looking to expand to make a difference and we need your help. Rarely do we put out a general invitation because we love to meet with people on a one on one basis and share the vision with them. On this giving Tuesday, consider this our personal invitation to you, to share from your financial resources to invest in us so that the mission of Shelter and Rain can continue.

Through your monthly or one time gift, you are making an impact in the following ways:

• Outreach to local strip clubs.
• Awareness and prevention initiatives for youth.
• A coalition whose members create a web of services to help victims and survivors.
• Developing a response to meet gaps of care for adult survivors.
• Investing in the long term recovery of survivors through ongoing restorative relationships.
• Global collaboration in anti-trafficking efforts.

We are dependant on the generosity of people who care deeply. Thank you for being one of those who care.

Online Giving can be done securely through http://www.wolm.org/on-line-giving.html

Select Other or Southwest Tithes and Offerings in the drop down box.

Under the giving amount in the Donation section, type "Human Trafficking Ministry" (Most important part!) 

You can set this up as a one time or monthly recurring gift. 

Thank you!

Christmas Giving Trees 

Deciding to Settle

I don't know if you are like me but I cringe at the word settle. Hearing this word offers a sentiment of somehow giving up a life of transience and spontaneity, and embracing a more sedentary, rhythmical life. This view also pushes against my inner world that is constantly reaching out, dreaming forward, taking steps to impact this world with change. I was given a painting once. During a conference I attended, an artist stood at the front and spread paint across a white canvas as the sessions rolled on. At the end, she called my name and gave it to me. The tittle of the art piece, Transition. Taped to the back is a paper with these words, 

"Change can be uncomfortable. Many people avoid change at all cost.

But the most beautiful things can come from change. 

The most beautiful times of the day are sunrise and sunset - the times of major transition. 

So don't run from change. 

If God has you in transition, press into Him.

Ask Him to show you the beauty that He wants to bring in spite of the discomfort." 

Transition can be hard, it is stretching and uncomfortable. Two years ago, we made a big decision, Eric quit his solid day job, and we left for mission's training in LA. Our vision, to do full time anti-trafficking work. We thought this training was the next step towards our return to Thailand. At the end, as we presented this vision to the leadership there, something felt amiss. For several nights I stood in the shower, tears streaming down my cheeks, honestly mad at God. I cringed at the idea of living in the states longer. But as we looked at it, something was unfinished. We both knew that God was reaffirming His call to our current location. Why? God, You better know what You are doing. 

Towards the end of our stay in LA, our clothes were dirty, and we needed to find a coin wash nearby. Walking across the street, we stumbled upon Maytag Coinwash. Hispanic radio was playing and somehow, I felt at home. Growing up in California, our lives were sprinkled with contact with people of various cultures and ethnicities. Many don't know this, but I am first generation American on my mother's side. As a Dutch Armenian immigrant, she and her family came across the Atlantic in a ship when she was 5 years old. The nations are in my blood. I love culture. 

Fast forward from those two weeks in LA, and we are almost at the two year mark. We recently were in the process of looking for a new home. Seriously, I made numerous calls, poured over the internet, and NO RESPONSE from ANYONE. Two weeks, a month passed by. Then while browsing again for the millionth time, I stumbled upon the add for a home I had looked at a month before. Previously listed as a rent to own, it was now just a rental. At the time, looking at the pictures, it was the home I wanted to live in!  For those of you who live in a large city, you know that there are places that you may feel comfortable to live in, and others not so much. Wichita is like that. It's BIG, and there are streets that speak of poverty, wealth, streets with kids running down the center, and others where not a soul is out. Often these places are in each other's backyard. It is hard to know if you want to live somewhere unless you drive there. So we did. On our way, we got turned around and drove past a Cambodian Buhhdist temple. I was so excited! This is where I want to live!!

This morning, the Syrian refugee crisis is on my heart. I honestly don't know what to do. I know that there is much that I can do. I think a lot about how to give my kids a taste of cultures, while living in the heartland of America. And here it is. I have chosen in my heart to not settle down but settle in. When I settle in, I am embracing my surroundings, the people, the circumstances, the social status, and letting God do a work in my life. The longing to travel to the nations is still there. But while I am here, I know that His world, the nations, are all around me. Whether in a coin laundry wash in LA, or in an ethnic community on the urban heartland, there are people who are longing for change. 

My life is marked by caring for two little people, supporting an artistic husband as together we pursue a life marked by compassion and justice. We want to make an impact, we want to be the change. You can too. You are uniquely positioned in the community you live in, with the people around you, to love. Love tells us that it is not about the things that we do but the people we touch. Settling in to love is the greatest invitation alive. It is what Jesus called us to do when He said, "Abide." It is a heart choice, to beat with His heart, to hear and see what moves Him, and to respond. This morning, I woke up before the girls, which is rare, and got to sit for a bit in His presence. "Quiet down, wait, just be." Oh it is so hard! I keep coming to John 15, the vine and the branches and there it is again...abide, love, bear much fruit. He is the one my heart settles for. I can hear little feet pitter pattering towards me, I think it is time, to embrace the chaos and joy. Will you join me? Let's not just settle down, lets settle in to the gift of life we have been given. 

That Doesn't Happen Here!

While running errands on the south end of town, my eyes caught sight of a young woman standing at the corner of the parking lot. "Need Help to Get to Arizona" her sign read as traffic passed by. "Hello!" I asked as I pulled up. "Do you need help?" Her story consisted of needing money so that she and her husband and baby could return to family in Arizona. "Where are you from?" I asked, "Romania." Interesting. This was at the end of October 2014. 

That following Spring I was driving alone and saw another young woman near the same location, similar sign. Parking my car a little ways off, I approached her on foot. Handing her a bag filled with some small snacks and a water bottle, I attempted to chat with her. Apologetically she responded that she didn't speak any English. Her appearance looked familiar. "Are you from Romania?" I asked, "Yes!" "Who are you here with?" The story came out that her boyfriend was currently at Wal Mart getting the car fixed. When I asked her how she had come to America, she opened up and shared that she had come through a Mexican man and that she had no legal documents.

Throughout the past 5 years while involved in raising awareness regarding the trafficking of persons, I have often been met with disbelief and comments like, "That doesn't happen here!" Are you sure?

If we are going to identify human trafficking today, 

we need to step back and reevaluate what is before us. 

While pregnant with my first daughter, I worked on intake at a homeless shelter. One day a young woman sat before me. She had come from Oregon where her adoptive parents had been controlling, overprotective, and refused to give her her passport. This beautiful girl from a third world country was filled with resilience and determination. Have you heard about human trafficking? I asked. "Oh yes," she responded.

Another gal I met while working there was from Wichita, her boyfriend was in jail. An exuberant young person, she boasted of many things and eventually was asked to leave because of her negative influence including drugs. I had my concerns about her. 

There are many more stories I could share.

Trafficking is determined by identifying influences of either force, fraud, or coercion. If someone is being controlled for the personal advantage of another person, money being withheld or required for things that person is not responsible to pay, if they are soliciting help and not able to keep the money, these can all be a part of their involvement in human trafficking. Even if it doesn't begin with sex, it often leads there. 

In 2011 when I left Thailand after volunteering with Nightlight International, I was unaware how my life could help those affected by human trafficking in the states. Part of it has been learning how to identify it here. Often we have an idea of what human trafficking looks like and are missing it completely. I don't think it is by asking them straight out if they have heard about human trafficking or are being trafficked. 

So how are we to respond?

I would like to take the next several weeks as we approach the holiday season to explore how we can respond with compassion and wisdom in regards to those affected by human trafficking and the commercial sex industry. I invite you to explore this with me and share your input as we journey together. 

To Love is to Come Alive

You know when you are doing something that you love, 

you just come alive. 

It was so inspiring attending this year's Abolition Summit in Kansas City with Exodus Cry. This was our fourth consecutive conference. Unfortunately we were only able to attend Friday's events, but it was such an amazing time! The Abolition Summit is a place for both the advocate in the trenches fighting sexual exploitation, to the interested individual just beginning to explore how their life intersects with this work. Exodus Cry does a phenomenal job at joining together experts including survivors, psychologists, pastors, and those who directly serve victims and survivors to speak on this issue. 

I was struck by the similarity in advice given by survivor, Rebecca Bender, and Dr. of Psychology, Dan Allender. 

"Help them (the survivor) find their dream." R.B.   "Help them learn what they have been made to love." D.A.

As we journey towards the vision to see lives restored, we recognize that this is a key piece for not only ourselves but the people we love. 

Currently we are in a season of transition as we move. This opportunity came as a direct invitation from some friends of ours who are launching a church. One of the core values for their church is restoration, we love that. As we look for a place to live, raise support, continue the work that has been started in our current city, we are on a journey of pursuing the dreams God has placed on our hearts. 

We have been dreaming of a partnership with international missions. We have been dreaming of a place where women and children who have been rescued from sexual exploitation can find safety and healing. We dream of not only being able to outreach into places of darkness but cultivate real authentic relationships with the people there. We dream of empowering those who have been affected by sexual exploitation, to heal through the creative arts, movement, prayer, and to explore their own dreams. We dream of building a team of people who will partner with us to address not only the exploited but the exploiter, who is severely broken as well. We dream of a community that honors and protects the vulnerable. We dream of helping people find and do what they love. This is what fuels us. 

This past month we took time away to road trip out to California and back. This trip spanned nearly 6,000 miles. We returned exhausted yet inspired. Beauty inspires us. Did you know that it is easy to begin to fight for the hearts of others while missing the own fight for our own heart? Those of us who feel compelled to help others, are we letting our own hearts be cared for? Are we pursuing the things that we love? We had just come out of a very intense season. We were exhausted and made an intentional decision to get away. One of our favorite places we visited was Crater Lake National Park. Boasting as the deepest lake in the US, Crater Lake was breathtaking! With sheer cliffs down to it's edge, crystal blue water, and towering pines, our hearts were in awe.

Even in all this beauty, we had to take the time to sit, and just take it in. Sometimes, in all this transition, it is easy to think about what is next, to anticipate the next thing. I am personally being challenged to just "be" in these moments. To quiet down and listen to my heart and what it is saying. It is hard. It is a fight. Today as I take a moment to sit and reflect on the things I love, and the things that make me come alive, I must remember a few things:

Be willing to say "No"

Don't compare
Embrace your uniqueness
Position yourself
Start small
Be patient
Be courageous
Often what you love will seem "fun" and not "work". Don't overthink it. Go with your gut. Sit in God's presence and let Him uncover your desires. 

To love is to come alive. 

Where Dreams Begin

The last time I visited home in California, I hunted high and low for a drawing I did as a teenager. Elated to find it, I filed it in a blue folder and took it home to show Eric. There is something about this drawing that speaks of my dreams as a child and the longings I still carry to this day. One of the things that I love about the dreams of our youth is they are limitless, free from fear. They are not restricted by the size of a bank account or social status. Often, these dreams speak to the unique personality and God given identity we each carry. 

So back to the drawing...

I have two favorite sketches, they are both “architectural” drawings of a home. Both have lots of space and each is filled with rooms, rooms with bunk beds, a room with a crib, rooms for children. I envisioned this home filled with those who needed a safe place, needed love, a fresh start. 

When Eric came to visit me in Thailand after I had been living there for nearly a year, he posed a question to me as we sat outside a coffee shop near the red light district. Something I love about this man is that he is eager to hear my heart, to know what I envision, and how together, these dreams can become a reality. “What does a home look like to you?” he inquired. It took me a moment to respond. “A place of peace, of rest, somewhere I can be free to be me.” Living in the red light district for several months, rest was something that I highly valued. It is so easy to give to the point of exhaustion, but I didn’t want to burn out.

Exploring and dreaming in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2010.

This past September we celebrated our 4 year anniversary. This also means that we have lived in Kansas for 4 years now. Somehow that sounds like a short amount of time, but it has felt SO LONG. When people hear that I am from California, often they respond with, “Why are you here?!” When I remember what first led us to this place, it is interesting that it involved a dream of a home, a home where people whose lives felt shattered, who had been wounded, who felt tormented by demons, beaten down, could come, would be welcomed, prayed for, loved and made whole. It was a vision for a home of healing and deliverance.

The house on Front Street…

About 2 ½ years ago, there was a two story white house for sale a couple blocks from where we were renting. Completely on a whim, we decided to walk through during open house. A close friend was over that Sunday and accompanied us. As we toured the home, our hearts and minds and dreams began to explode! We saw the large kitchen and living area, the bedroom downstairs, the 4 rooms upstairs, and already modeled kitchenette, as if someone had rented out one of the spaces before. One of our favorite spots was the glass enclosed sunroom in the back and immediately we saw it as a place people could come to, a house of prayer. Not only could this be suitable for our family but also to house others, to equip them for missions as well as a place of refuge. Against all odds, we set up an appointment with a mortgage agency. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify for a loan at that time. It was a disappointment to say the least. Every time I drove by there, I told the Lord I wanted a house like that, or similar…out in the country!

The overwhelming need…

In our conversations with agencies and as we talk with others who serve survivors of trauma and trafficking, the overwhelming need they share is for housing. So many of these women and children are often brought into the care of an emergency facility but then where do they go from there? Who will provide a safe place for them to be restored? Where will they find rest? That is where the vision for a safe home has immerged. The core of the home will be…family. We realize that this is a risk and we have talked many times about what it will look like to maintain boundaries for our own health, while at the same time embracing those whose definition of family has been marked by deception, abuse, betrayal and rejection. Healing for a wounded heart often comes through redemptive relationships; replacing what one has formerly known as abusive or lacking with needs met in love and safety. It is creating a new normal, and that takes time.

This is God’s redemptive plan…

I love researching trauma and the brain. It is fascinating to me to learn how God has created the human body to survive in the midst of pain and suffering, simply amazing. He is not distant from those who have walked through horror. And if we are patient and willing, He will allow us to help those who are broken create new pathways in their brain, to turn those triggers and ways of escape into opportunities to discover that they are loved and carry a purpose. God does set the lonely in families and gives them joy!

So this dream for a home, a safe place, I’m trusting that it IS a tangible dream. And, I want to invite you into it too. I think sometimes our dreams are so big and God knows that. He wants it to be done in community with others. I don’t know how this will all take place, but I’m believing that perhaps that sketch I drew as a girl is actually a blueprint God has on his drafting table in heaven, just waiting to be realized in time and space today. This is often how He builds His Kingdom. His plans become our dreams. Our hearts are His drafting table. What will it take for us to take hold of those dreams and run?

Trafficking Across the Plains

Exactly one year ago, we sat with a group of potential missionary candidates in the basement of a beautiful home off Sunset Blvd in LA. It was a time of equipping, exploring, and encouraging each other. Our home church had sent us out for the training through Foursquare Missions International. We met some incredible people, those who were willing to lay aside everything, to follow God's call. It was truly inspiring. 

While we were there, we were asked to share about our vision for missions. Human trafficking, the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, was the overwhelming problem that weighed on our hearts. The fact that there are more slaves now than at any other time in human history, calls for action. We shared how God had put a burden on our heart for the men, women and children in Thailand, and specifically how we envisioned God redeeming their lives through prayer, the arts, and true community through family. Each time we refined and shared it, there was something that begged to be heard. At night we would lay in bed wrestling with what this Voice was saying to us. Somehow, although Thailand was so heavy on our hearts, there was a greater call, inviting us to look in our own backyard. Really, Kansas, God?! 

Kansas, and Wichita, Kansas specifically, has been identified as the 5th largest originating city. What this means is that pimps and traffickers come looking here, to lure boys and girls who are the average age of 12-14 years, making promises only to turn and sexually exploit them. Often, when we hear the word trafficking, we have pictures in our minds of internationals, bound and drug across borders. This is true. However, the misconception that we are exempt from this lucrative business is deceptive. When you place words like runaway, escort services, strip clubs, pornography, and the like, it brings it closer to home. Prostitutes are trafficked because trafficking includes force, fraud, or coercion. In a city where there are  drugs there is money and often the sale of sexual services so the demand can be satisfied. Some would argue that those who prostitute wants this, that somehow it is to satisfy her own "needs". But how much was this a "choice"? Where abuse and fraud have been all they have known, this "choice" may appear to be the best option in sight. Let's ask this, "What has led them to this point, to this decision?" The answer often less about "choice" and more often about "survival". Trafficking has never been simply an international issue. Today we need to look in our own backyards, our own streets and schools. Who may be at risk today? 

One Night

It is nights like tonight that stir a passionate fire inside of me. I want people in the western world to see, to see what happens here on the streets of Bangkok. Do you want to join me? Do you want to see?

Outreach evenings always start with prayer. Our team meets at our offices to share about the current events our organization is facing, to talk about, strategize but most importantly pray. We realize that going out into the red light district is no easy assignment. The darkness is prowling all around so we, not out of fear, but out of discernment, call out to God for His protection. We pray that God would thwart the plans of the enemy, that He would open our eyes, make us aware of situations; that He would lead us to the women and children who are most desperate, who need that touch, a kind word, hope, freedom. After prayer we go to a local hotel and eat. This is a time to just enjoy each other's company, tell stories from our past week, laugh together, get our tummies filled and watch. We notice the women sitting just a few feet away, putting on more makeup, eating, engaging with a passing man who shows an interest in them. We watch the men come in and comment as they often pass our table, seeing who he wants to take out for the night.

Leaving the hotel restaurant, we make our way toward the red light district. Passing some beggers on the way we enter the plaza where all the Thai Go-Go, Beer and Show bars are. The bar we went into was filled with women...wait, actually it took me a little while but then I realized that most of them were lady-boys. Seeing this made my heart very sad as I thought about how Thailand is loosing it's men. They see becoming a woman as more attractive, more fulfilling, safer and are exchanging their identity by the hundreds.

Then I noticed this girl among the lady-boys who was dancing...after she got down from the stage I motioned for her to come over. As soon as she sat down I noticed the tattoo of her name on her right shoulder. "I haven't seen you in a long time!" she said. "I recognized you." Sure enough, we had met before! We exchanged small talk. I found out she has been working there off and on for 2 years. She is going home next month, hopefully to stay there and help her family by selling things. She has three younger siblings, one married, the rest in school. At the end, before she went back to dance, I gave her my phone number and offered, if she wanted, that we could meet up for dinner before she works some night. I am praying she calls.

After leaving the bar, our team went down to speak to some of the street walkers. Women from Central Asia, Africa. They are so beautiful and yet so controlled by the dream of making money or the manipulation of those who brought them here. Rarely do they not know what they have come to Bangkok to do. However, the reality of it once they get here, begins to take a toll on some, throwing them into silent desperation or hardening their hearts as they accustom themselves to the life they live.

And then there are the children from Thailand's surrounding countries, who run down the streets carrying roses, or baskets of gum to sell for near 75 cents. And then there are the mothers, with their babies wrapped up on their laps, begging for money, the men who stand and watch, we are not sure if they are just observing or keeping an eye out. So many relationships, so much need.

As I come home tonight there is a burden on my heart. A burden for the western world to see, to see that there is a world of people who are desperate to be loved. These women, men, and children are living lives that are ruining their hearts and future. But who is going to come and help them, give them a loving touch, continue to visit them, show them a way out? This is what is burning on my heart. I want to see a movement of love that reaches here to Asia. To see more people who will follow the call to go. Who will get involved? Who will pray? How about you? What will you do?

These children know freedom