Because of You

As I finish out another normal American day, Cambodia is on my heart. I spent time in prayer for each of my little sisters tonight...all twenty-three of them. I miss them dearly.
Although it's no secret that my time in Cambodia was a challenge in every way, there are still those little moments that made everything worth it!
Pirate sword fights in the rain.
Dancing in the front yard.
Family worship sessions.
Bike rides with a little Khmer girl on the back of my bike.
Putting faces with a cause I have fought for three years now.
One moment, however, has stuck in my brain and come to my mind often today.
It was my last day in the She home. After a time of worship and a bike ride, it was time to say goodbye. I used one of the older girls as a translator and thanked my sisters for allowing me into their home. Hugs were given and received. I choked back tears as I struggled to keep a smile on my face as I left.
My Cambodian journey was over. I was at peace with where I was and ready to take the next step, but that doesn't mean that goodbyes were easy.
One young girl, aged 13, frantically searched for an older girl to translate for her so she could talk to me.
This young girl had become especially close to my heart over the last two weeks of my trip. I still get choked up when I talk about her, because we had a soul tie. In my last days with her, I asked the Lord why He didn't allow us to connect on a deep level earlier on in my trip. I firmly believe that it's because it would have been too painful for me to leave her. Just the two weeks of closeness I had with her made a world of impact on my heart.
My sweet sister held back tears once she found a translator and began talking to me through her. She and I never needed to use words to communicate before. Presence was always enough. With her arms encircling my waist, she told me that she thought of me like her big sister. She thanked me for coming and wished me safe travels home. She asked to come home with me, and it was everything my heart could do to tell her no. I hugged her and began to leave, but she stopped me. I couldn't believe what came out of her mouth next (or...out of the translator's mouth).
"Sister, I want you to know that I am going to be praying for you to stay close to Jesus. Because of you, I'm going to stay close to Jesus, too. I already know you'll be praying for me, and I know I will see you again."
We both knew that the next time we will see each other is when we are united together with our King. I hugged her tightly and walked through the gates of the home. The girls yelled goodbye as I left. As soon as I left the house, I hit the ground on my knees.
Thank you, Jesus, for letting this little girl see Your love in me. I am so blessed.
Because it isn't because of me, it's because of Him.

Five Minutes in Cambodia

I'm sitting in the same exact spot where I wrote my very first post only hours before I hopped on a plane and flew to the other side of the world. I have been so blessed by the Khmer people and my experience in Cambodia! I am so thankful for the two months I had there!
The Lord has done such a work in my heart!
Please enjoy this video that wraps up my trip!

ព្រះ​បាន​ប្រទាន​ពរ​អ្នក​!

God bless you!

Outside the Lens

Many of you have been following my adventure in Cambodia since the very beginning.
In my first post, I explained that I did not want my readers to have the expectation that they were going to see pictures of the work I am doing.
Here at She Rescue, we are very careful not to take any pictures of the home or of the girls we care for. We are not even able to take our cameras or phones inside the home. This is for two reasons.
1) In Cambodia, it is illegal to post the face of a girl that has been trafficked to the internet.
2) We are protecting the identities of our girls. We do not want to risk any former pimps or customers trying to find our girls. This is because we are trying to keep them physically safe, and we want to ensure a safe environment for them to heal and have a hope in Christ for the future.
I knew coming into this that I would not get to share pictures of the 23 precious faces I have been working with, so this didn't come as a shock or disappointment to me.
The difficult part about this is not being able to share their faces with you. I want to be able to come home and show my friends and family the faces of my new little sisters, but the only thing that I have is my words. I want to be able to remember the faces of these little ones when I leave, but I won't have that picture to hang on my wall in my dorm room and remember. When I come home, I'll have pictures of places I've been, things I've seen, and people I've never met...but I won't be able to show people the very reason I came to Cambodia.
Even though these things are a little bit of a downside, I have learned a valuable lesson from these rules. I have learned to see experiences in life in a new light.
Most people are so excited to go to a third world country on a missions trip, take a picture with a cute foreign kid, come back home, make it their profile picture, and then continue to live life. People live life to take a picture, post it on Facebook, see how many "likes" they can get, and then move onto the next picture-taking opportunity.
Don't get me wrong; I love pictures! I love being able to capture memories, but the mindset of today's technology filled world is that the picture IS the memory!
At She Rescue, I have learned that the moment is precious in and of itself! I look at things now with the intention of storing it away in my memory forever...because the moment itself is the memory--not the picture. I've learned to live life outside the lens...to take advantage of the moment before I reach for my camera and miss it.

More Than Just a Cause

Before Cambodia I called myself an abolitionist because I raised awareness for human trafficking. I wrote letters in protest to companies that used child labor. I bought merchandise made by former sex slaves, and I spread statistics in my blog posts and on my Facebook statuses.
Don't get me wrong...these are all good things. All of these things are much needed, and I'll continue to do most of them when I return home in just under two weeks.
But this week I had a revelation. As I stood worshipping God in a circle of 23 girls that have been trafficked or raped, I realized the biggest thing this trip has changed for me.
I sang my heart out to "You Won't Relent" and "Hosanna" that afternoon. A six year old girl stood directly in front of me with my arm wrapped around her little frame. Another nine year old girl was snuggled in by my side. I almost lost my voice in a moment that seemed to last forever. As I looked around our little family worship circle, I realized that I'm not allowed to stand by anymore.
Human trafficking isn't just a cause anymore. My motivation doesn't come and go like some fleeting college-aged passion.
This all changed for me when I looked around the circle that afternoon, and 23 little Khmer faces looked back.
I don't know what I'm going to do to work against human trafficking in the future, but I do know that these 23 little faces are going to push me onto the finish line.

She has a name.

That Thing No One Wants to Talk About...

All over the world, people are raising awareness for the global catastrophe of sex trafficking. This atrocity has been under wraps for a long time, but people everywhere are starting to shed light on the matter. There have been documentaries made and conferences attended. Many people are focused on funding aftercare and taking care of the girls that have been rescued.
But there is something we can do to stop trafficking before it even happens: we can fight against pornography.
College students are much more likely to fight sex trafficking than porn because many students don’t see the connection between the two. A study says: “It's easier to attack trafficking than porn because so many students are using it, they have to confront the issue that being an activist, they may be hypocritical.” It has been found that men who went to prostitutes were twice as likely to watch porn than other men. Pornography fuels the sex industry and puts girls at a greater risk of being trafficked. To read more about this, click here.

Trafficking in Cambodia

Every year, the US Department of State puts out a report on human trafficking. In June of this year, a new report was put out. This disturbing report shows us that Phnom Penh’s effort to fight trafficking has slowed down from last year. The US Department of State moved Cambodia down on the watch list. If Cambodia declines any more, they will be put on a list that is for countries that do not meet the minimum standards and are not even trying to meet those standards. There was an outburst of Cambodia’s opinions on the matter once the report was released. Cambodians claim that the main customers of trafficking are Western men. To read more about this, click here.

Re

REDEEMED.
REJUVENATED.
RESTORED.

God had some serious lessons in store for me. In fact, I'm sure He still does in the three weeks I have left on this Cambodian journey! I had no idea how hard missionary life would be. I had no idea how hard being on the other side of the world from familiar people would be, but God brought me all the way over here to show me things about who He is and who I am.

First of all, it is so hard to be myself overseas. The culture shock and the stresses of overseas life brought out sides of me that I didn't know existed. Sometimes I don't like what I see. I think I'm too cowardly and not good enough...but God has shown me that even at my lowest point, He loves me. He loves me despite my filth and sin. That elementary truth has come to absolutely BLOW my mind since I have been here. I am so thankful that I have been able to more fully grasp how wide His love is for me.
My God REDEEMS.

Secondly, I have been able to see that I don't need anyone but Jesus. Although familiar faces are nice (and I miss them dearly!), I don't need them as much as I need Jesus. I don't need bathrooms that don't smell like sewage and showers that don't require you to straddle a toilet whilst you attempt to get clean... I have Jesus, and that is enough. I might be in a place full of unfamiliar people and things, but my God is faithful and He remains the same. I can count on Him, and He really is all I need.
My God REJUVENATES.

Thirdly, I have allowed God to restore me. It a trip to the other side of the world, but seeing young girls come to an understanding that God has given them a second chance after being enslaved to sex tourism has opened my eyes to the fact that God can take what has been broken and make it whole again. I have in no way been through anything anywhere close to what my girls have been through, but He has shown over and over to me that He is faithful and that He will complete the work He has started in me...just as He is still working on the work He has started in the lives of these girls that have been rescued.
My God RESTORES.



That's just a glimpse of what God has done in my heart lately!