Freedom Home

We have given a new name to the Project Rescue home in Moldova.

We are now Freedom Home.

Why the new name? Moldova is a very small country, and there are already several Home of Hopes, Hope Houses and other ministries with names very close. We needed to set ourselves apart.

So we began to pray about it, asking God to give us something that was right for us in this place.

An issue begin to emerge (or had always been there, but was staring us in the face at this point). Women would come to the house and after about a month, they would begin to complain saying that life here was prison because they couldn't go where they wanted, with whomever they wanted, and do whatever they wanted.

They didn't understand true freedom.

We began to talk to them about the truth of Scripture, "So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." (John 8:36) Still the concept remained elusive.

What we want and envision in the lives of the women is so much more than hope. We want them to have hope, but more than this, we want them to have freedom.

Freedom that brings joy.
Freedom that brings peace.
Freedom that brings hope.
Freedom that brings rest.

We want them to understand that true freedom is not physical. It is not where they are and what they can do, but true freedom comes when Christ Jesus sets them free from the pain of the past.

So with the new name we have an opportunity to begin talking about freedom to them as soon as they enter. We can talk to them about freedom in Christ and help them to understand why we have rules in the home. We can talk to them that we exist not just for a home for a time for them, but so that they can find true freedom for life.

Will you pray that the women of Freedom Home will find true freedom in their lives?

I'm often asked how we find the women who are in our home. We have networked and built relationships with several different organizations that deal with the legal aspects of women who are trafficked. They are the agencies that the government calls when a trafficked woman needs to be repatriated or stand trial against a trafficker. These agencies know the women need further help. They then call us.

This week two different agencies called us. Two different women. Two different backgrounds. Both trafficked to Russia. Both needing healing in their lives. Both need to find a new path to new beginnings.

I've been especially moved in the last day concerning the girl that came into the home on Thursday. She's 21, and she's from a Christian home. The family is large, and she went to Russia looking for work. She went last fall and had legitimate work for three months. This time when she returned, she was forced into prostitution.

We've dealt with a lot of girls who have had baggage from the time they were born. Now we have a girl who was raised in a loving Christian home and her life also took a terrible turn.

Please pray for Naomi. I really don't know her background at this point. I do know that she came to the home with a beautiful 10 month old daughter. Pray that she finds peace, safety and healing.

Pray also for Emily. She comes in knowing who God is, but is most likely questioning God in her life at this point. Pray for God's healing and peace in her life.

Taking the Land

It has been more than a month since I last blogged. About the time of the last post, one of the girls in the home (the one who can read English and use a computer) went to an internet cafe', found our website and felt angry that I posted about the Home. So I decided to just stop posting for a time. This week I felt it time to start again.

This week all the woman and children of the home and a few workers are at a family camp sponsored by the church our Social Worker's church. Pray for God to speak to each of them in a special way this week.

Since I last wrote Leah* decided to give up her baby. A wonderful Christian family has taken the baby, and are moving toward adoption. Please pray for that process. It is not something people want to touch here--something I don't understand. It seems easier to leave a child at an orphanage than to legally adopt a baby. But we know God's hand is in this. I could not be more happy with the home the baby has gone to.

Leah* also decided to leave the home. Please pray that the truth of God would continue to speak into her life.

Our Social Worker did lose her pregnancy. Please pray for her at this time. I know it is a huge loss. She is going on, but she needs God's peace and grace for this time.

This week I am reading from the book of Joshua. The Israelites crossed the Jordan and began to take the land God had promised them. Why didn't God just give it to them? What was the deal with that? Couldn't He just have wiped out the nations before them?

Instead of making it easy, God starts by telling them to circumcise all the males who had not been circumcised in the time they wandered the dessert. Oh the pain and agony that went on those days!

Then they go to take Jericho and have to walk around the city day after day. Finally after seven days they shout and the walls come down and they go in and conquer the city. Then they go to battle Ai and are soundly defeated because one person sinned. The story goes on like this. Every new town, every city, every nation is a fight. Nothing is easy.

The same is true in our lives. I always want God to make things easy for once. I get tired of the struggles, tired of the battles of life. But somehow it is precisely those things that make me become the person that God wants me to be. I have to face the struggles, the battles, and God makes me into the person He can use.

Since the Home of Hope opened, it seems we fight one battle after another. I just want things to get easy. I want it to soar. I want everything in place. I want to see results and have fun. I want to see women who are victoriously delivered and radically changed, but it just doesn't happen that way.

The work continues to be a struggle. Something within me wants to believe that obedience in starting the work and opening the home is "taking the land". But that is only the beginning. In the process of taking this land, I see God making me into the person He wants me to be. I see him working in the lives of the staff, healing their wounds from the past, giving them joy and unconditional love, teaching them about forgiveness. None of it is easy. We have to commit ourselves to pressing on. And in that process of change God also begins to heal the women.

And it is all for His glory.

Thanks for continuing to pray.

I returned last night from Project Rescue meetings in India. Having time last week with others who are doing the same type of work felt so encouraging. We realize that many of our struggles are the same.

I came home to new struggles. A week and a half ago we welcomed a new baby into the home. Leah's* excitement at this new life was evident. Today she didn't want anything to do with the baby. Others are caring for this precious little girl now.

Please pray for us today. I do not simply want to pray that Leah* will change her mind. Last week she found joy in the child. This week she despises her. It could simply be post-partum depression, but it could also be issues from being a woman trafficked and re-trafficked. Leah needs healing from the deep scares of the past. Right now she is not ready to be a mother. Right now she may even be dangerous to the baby, but we also want the right decision to be made.

When I came in this morning, she told me that she wants us to find a Christian home, parents who can raise her child. She wants to sign away all rights to the baby. She may go back and forth on this. I don't know.

What we want most for this small child is that she can be raised and loved in a safe environment. Please pray for wisdom for the staff and that we can find the right legal advice in this situation.

Pray also for our Social Worker at the home. She is eleven weeks pregnant and the baby is not growing. The doctors have advised different things for her. Please pray that God would give her and her husband wisdom to know what to do. Please pray that God would give them peace in the midst of this storm in their lives.

A few weeks ago I decided I would become a true blogger, posting regularly. And then we had a week of guests and all that went out the window. Oh, well. I continue on.

The past few weeks have been full of ups and downs. We had a small group of women who came in and taught scrapbooking, card making and jewelry making. They ministered to the women in the home showing them amazing love. And everyone was exhausted after they left.

We've had several of the children and moms sick these past few weeks, so there have been visits to the doctors, some staying in the hospital and some staying home to get well. Please pray for complete health and healing for all.

Our newest member of the Home was born last night--little Imanuela. We rejoice in a safe delivery.

Please pray for healing for a new girl that has come to our home, Diane. I can't give details of her pain, but she needs God to heal her emotions.

An update on Amy is that she is staying in the home. Please continue to pray for her. She needs to understand that God will take care of her, be her father and her healer.

Amy's decision

A few weeks ago I wrote of the wonderful birthday party we had for Amy*. This past weekend Amy wanted to go visit an aunt in her home village and we allowed her. She was supposed to be back on Saturday evening, but returned on Tuesday by noon.

She came back wanting to get married.

Her cousin had convinced her that a certain man was right for her.

She met him for an hour on Saturday.

Yes, my mind screams "re-trafficking".

Amy was sold first by her mother for labor trafficking. She was forced to beg daily on the streets of Moscow. When she didn't bring enough rubles back in the evening, her holders raped her. She has a beautiful two year old daughter from one of those rapes.

Amy is attending cooking school and learning to cook, but she isn't the brightest girl in the home. It is obvious that years of physical abuse as a child took its toll on her learning capacity.

And so she is still vulnerable to the words of a cousin claiming to have her best interest in mind.

We know that God says, "I plan to prosper you, not to harm you. I plan to give you a hope and a future."

Please pray intently for Amy in the next few days and weeks. We know that she can learn to cook. We hope to place her with a church family in a village when she leaves the home. But right now, she doesn't see how life can be any better. She doesn't have hope. She isn't sure she wants to parent her daughter.

Please pray that the bondage would be broken in her life. Pray that God will heal her emotions. Pray that he will give her the love and ability to parent her sweet little girl.

Pray that the cousin would stop calling and that Amy will have the ability to refuse the offers.

And once again, pray for Andy & I and pray for our staff as we try to talk to her about hope and good decision making.

Team work

I just arrived home from a day at the Home of Hope. Tuesday is always staff meeting. What a great team of women God has blessed us with to work with the women who come into our home!

After staff meeting I learned the story of one of our women in the home. I don't often ask, but today I needed some details. The story that unfolded was still sketchy. Leah* worked at a cafe. The cafe is known to be a place the recruits girls to waitress here and then finds them "jobs" abroad. Leah was 17 and a good looking man brought her flowers, pledged his love and got her false documents. They went to Dubai.

Two months later she came back--deported.

A few months after that she was trafficked again, different man, same place.

And then again she was trafficked. This time to a different country. This time by a woman she knew.

And we wonder why would a woman go back knowing what had happened the first time? A simple answer is that there was nothing for her to live for here. A bigger answer has to do with pain and shame.

Leah* has severe psychological problems as do most of the women in our home. And it's no wonder.

The part of the story we have not yet truly heard is the abuse, the pain, the torture. We know it was there, but it remains buried deep inside. At times it comes out in explosive unexplained behavior. We wonder why they can't just be normal.

Until God heals them, they can't.

And this is why I'm so grateful for the team we have. They are wonderful. They live and work among the women, stopping fights, getting yelled at, continuing to show love. They teach lessons. They cook together. They help with their children. But it is never easy.

Almost weekly I tell them that this is God's work. We don't have it all figured out, but God is showing us bit by bit how to do this work. And right now we are God's hand extended to the women in our home, to help bring healing to their broken, shattered lives.

Please remember our staff in prayer--the director, the social worker, the night staff, the cook, the administrator, the psychologist. Pray that God fills them with wisdom and grace and peace and truth. Pray that God helps them to be His hands of healing.

Things that pull

Working with Victims of Trafficking creates a working culture where we feel like there are days we are changing lives and days when we are making no progress at all. It seems we make progress with a woman and then something pulls her back.

A boyfriend she has left calls again.
An aunt finds her someone to marry.
A grandma thinks she'd be better off at in her village, but she has no ability to withstand anything or anyone.
An untamed heart thinks freedom comes with no rules.

We deal with these issues almost daily. And we press on.

But there are days when everyone is discouraged. How can we work another day, bringing hope and life, but seeing little progress.

And we start a new day once again.

Today, please pray for our workers. Pray for our director. Pray that they all can see the hope and that they can see what God will do in the lives of these women, even when they cannot see.

Pray also for Amy*--her aunt is trying to convince her that she'd be better off married to some man from her village. This is not safe for her or her child.

Pray for Anika* who is underage and we are working still to legally bring her back to the home.

Pray for Ali* whose boyfriend that she ended with in December, is trying to call her back.

Pray for Leah* whose baby will soon be born. Her hormones and emotions are up and down daily. Pray for strength for her and a safe delivery for her small one.

Pray for Nelli* who is struggling daily with being in the home. Pray that her heart settles and she finds her hope in Christ.

Pray also for little Anastasia, who is in the hospital with pneumonia. She is 5 and in the hospital. Pray for a rapid healing for her.

Pray for our all women in the home that they would see that true freedom comes when it is Christ setting them free.

Celebrating the precious

We've been home from vacation not quite two days. We jumped right back into life, feeling fully refreshed. It is good to be home.

At the Home of Hope we value celebration. Most of our girls have never had a birthday party. Celebrating birthdays says, "You are special. We are glad you were born. We are glad for your life in our lives."

I love Moldovan birthday celebrations. It starts by everyone gathering and presenting their gift to the birthday girl. The gift isn't given alone. It is given with words of affirmation. Poems are read that mean something about that person. People write of the love and care and concern they feel to the one being celebrated. Then the gifts are put up, and food is served. Later cakes and candies are eaten. Finally the gifts are opened one by one.

Yesterday we celebrated Amy's* life. She is sweet and quiet and gentle. She smiled and she cried. We all cried. A life that was sold and broken, was told that she is valued abundantly.

There are always challenges at the Home. Girls get nervous and want to leave. They fight with one another. They fight with the staff. They don't like what they are feeling and they want to run from those feelings to the old things that satisfied.

But it is so good to have days to set aside all those issues and focus especially on one, and celebrate her life. I'm so very thankful for Amy.

Amy came to our home after being trafficked for forced begging on the streets of a major European city. Her holders regularly raped her and so a child was born to her.

I look at how God is redeeming her life. How her small daughter smiles and laughs and lives the life of a normal child.

Often as I'm driving in our city, I see those who beg on our streets, holding small children in their arms to elicit more sympathy. And I think that could be Amy and her sweet little daughter, but God rescued them and lifted them out from that life. They are precious to Him. They are precious to me.

This week, pray for Amy and her complete healing from the pain of brokenness. She is going to school to learn to cook. Pray that she learns well. Pray for God's hand of protection on her little daughter. Pray that God will continue to speak His life and word into their hearts and lives.

Sculpting

We are on vacation in Italy, staying with friends who live just out of Naples. It is an amazing break for our family. We've had such a great time with the girls touring Pompeii and Rome.

While in Rome we saw all the sites that tourists see. St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican has a statue call Pieta. It is a large carving of Mary holding Jesus after he has died. Michelangelo carved this sometime in his spare time between designing St. Peter's, painting the Sistine chapel ceiling and carving the statue of Moses that sits in another church. He was a busy man.

Somehow he chiseled this out of a piece of marble. The detail of the folds of Mary's garments are amazing. The size of this statue is amazing.

I'm not one to normally do such things, but I bought a small, cheap replica of this. I want it as a reminder and a picture of what God is doing in my life, in your life, and in the lives of the workers and residents at the Home of Hope. Especially the residents at the Home of Hope.

Our women come in like that big piece of marble. There is no form, no life to them at all. And then God begins to chip away at the marble of their lives. He doesn't take the chisel and expect the masterpiece to appear with one big "whack". Like Michelangelo and all his masterpieces, it comes with patience, gently chipping away a bit at a time. And then something amazing appears.

This is why our commitment to each woman who comes to us is long-term. They need time for God to do the work in their lives. They need time in the safety of our home to find God's healing for their souls.

They often can't what God is doing, that they are making any progress, that something beautiful is emerging. They can't see what they are becoming. They get discouraged and wonder if they should turn back. But somehow, as Michelangelo had the ability to see what could be in a hunk of rock or in the expanse of the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, God can see that the finished product in the hand of the Master will be beautiful.

On this Easter weekend, please pray for God's continued work in the lives of the women at the Home of Hope in Moldova. We know God is creating masterpieces in each of their lives. Pray that this Easter is amazing for them and that in it, they can see God's hand in their lives.

Today I sat with Ali* who has had some tough weeks. When she has tough weeks, everyone has tough weeks--staff, residents and her children. She struggles so badly with seeing who she is in Christ. She struggles with seeing the change in her life and believing that God really can renew and remake her.

Please pray specially for her this week. She's a tired, single mom. She is ashamed that her children have to grow up with a single mom, afraid of what they will think of her. There is so much going on within her. Please pray that God will minister His rest to her today.

Please pray also for Leah*. Her baby is not due until the first week of May, but wanting to come now. She is in the hospital on bed rest. Pray that the baby comes at the right time, strong and healthy.

God is making something beautiful of these women.

Fighters and Flighters

One thing we've come to realize with the ministry at the home is that people come into the home with two basic emotional reactions. These are known as fight or flight. Because of all the things that have happened in their lives, they have either learned to cope through fighting or by running away.

The fighters can be mean. They are mean to the staff, mean to other girls, mean to their children. It is tough to see, tough to live with. It effects us personally.

The fighters are easy to deal with--until they run away.

I've decided I'll take a fighter any day. Although she fights and gets angry and jealous, she stays. This allows us to slowly chip away at the rough exterior and get to the heart.

But the flighters are difficult. When the emotions come to a point they can't deal with them, they simply run from us. And then there is no way to help them.

Ginny*, Ina* and Anika* are all filled with flight. Ginny* packed her things and left this week. Ina* left us last fall for good. Anika* left last summer,and now wants to come back, but we have the legal issues worked out first (she is underage).

Please pray that God would show us how to break through early to those that want to run. They live with a lot of shame, fear, and despair. It is easy to recognize those emotions.

Pray that God would show us how to break through these emotions, help them to stay so that they can find a path to healing and freedom.

a Prodigal's Return

Today is International Women's Day, which I'm sure is celebrated in every country in the world except America! We had a great celebration, taking all the women out for pizza and salad. After pizza we went back to the home for ice cream and M&M cookies, which my daughter and I made last evening. (The cookies, not the ice cream).

I received tons of homemade presents. That's what is done on International Women's Day...you give presents to all the women you love. All the women worked to do something and give of themselves.

Andy is in the states. We put him on Skype, and he was able to wish everyone a happy celebration.

What a day! But the best of the day was holding our small one, Anika*, in my arms and crying with her. Last summer she chose to leave the home. She decided to walk away from all of it. The past Friday our Social Worker (bless Oxana!) took one of the other girls and they went to visit Anika in her village. They asked her if she'd want to come for the party today. Today they went to get her.

I'm not sure she said a word all day, but she took in the love. When I first saw her at the restaurant, I hugged her, but there was no response in the hug. It wasn't rejection, just inability to feel. Later at the home I again took her in my arms and told her how much I love her, how I've never stopped loving her. She hugged me back and together we cried.

We all sat for a bit and talked. The girls told Anika that every day, morning and night they have prayed for her return. They loved on her and welcomed her.

I love what God is doing there in all the hearts. It is so amazing to see.

Please continue to pray for Anika. She is the youngest girl we've had in the home. She so wants love. Pray that God really works in her life at this time. She hasn't said she will stay, but I'd be surprised if she doesn't.

Even when we chose to walk away, God never does. He has never left Anika.

In all the celebration and gifts today, seeing her again was by far the best thing.

The rewards

This morning I was in church, struggling to be there. Some days are like that. Some visitors (brothers) where there sharing. All of it was in Russian. I wondered why I continued to sit there. And then as church was ending....

Ali* got up and gave a testimony, complete with tears (she is always telling me not to cry!) She just shared how her life has been so changed. She said how she'd lived so many years in the unfinished basement of local block apartments. She shared about how God had just changed her. She thanked the pastor, the church and me. After the service finally ended I went to her and hugged her and said, "I love you so much". I do. I knew it was huge for her to get up in front of the church today and cry in front of them. She had lived so many years without showing anyone any weakness. She would see tears as weakness.

And then Nelly hugged me. She is a new girl that came to us 2 weeks ago. She had sat in a prison in Dubai for 2 years! She said, "Nancy, I don't know where I'd be without you. I don't know where I'd be." And then she went on to say how thankful she was and how she can see that her life will be different, her life will be changed. And we cried together.

I had sat in church and said, "Lord, what am I doing here? Why am I in this church this morning? I'm only here because I feel I have to be." And then the Lord gave me His kiss through these beautiful girls.

My life is incredibly blessed by loving these girls who the world threw away and gave up on.

Thanks to all of you who pray for them and for this ministry. Thank you for giving and caring.

To us, this ministry isn't about statistics. It isn't about the sad stories you see in movies or read in a magazine. It is about real women who are needy. It is about women who need their life changed.

Please continue to pray for Ginny*. A week ago she went to court to face her traffickers. They did not show up. New court dates have been set for this month. Please keep her in prayer. It is incredibly frightening for her to do this, but she is willing to testify.

Pray also for workers. Our cook quit and we need to find another.

Thanks for your prayers and for your part in this work. It is so important.

Change

At the New Year we always talk about the need for change. We make resolutions, try to lose weight and begin exercise programs. Often the change we need must be deeper. It must be a change of the heart, a change of ways and actions.

This type of change is difficult. It is scary. We see this so clearly for the women at the Home of Hope. They come and want a place of safety, but a changed life is foreign. They don't want to go to that place of change. The first months are especially difficult.

Please continue to pray for *Leah and *Ginny. There is so much that holds them in bondage. They want to leave or run from the home. They see freedom as life on their own, life in the bars, life in another country. After being held in captivity, they see freedom only as a place. As believers we know that true liberty is only in Christ. "He who the Son sets free is free indeed!"

Pray that God would set them free from the captivity of their own souls. Pray that they would submit their lives to Christ and grow in Him.

Pray for peace for Ginny. Her mother died shortly before she was trafficked. She still feels this loss and misses her mother greatly.

Pray also for one of our children. In the next few weeks she needs to get her tonsils out. Pray for safety in the operation and a quick healing for her body.

Pray also for our staff. The work is draining, and they need to see God as victorious in their lives too.

A New Year

I'm sitting this morning at the Home of Hope. We've passed through the holiday season. Last Thursday was Eastern Christmas so there were still services and celebrations throughout the weekend.

Thanks for your prayers over the holiday season. For some of the girls it was a great time. All celebrated in a new style--without alcohol and abuse. But for most of the girls, it still proved a difficult season. It brings to the surface so many tough emotions.

Today I'd like you to pray for the year ahead. Pray for the ministry here. It is still in such an infancy stage. Pray that God would put roots down deep in the hearts of the women. Pray that He would heal their deep inner hurts. Pray that He would become their Father and their comfort. Pray for those that have already committed their lives to the Lord--that they will grow in this new relationship. Pray for those that have not committed their lives to Him. That they would understand the full meaning of what Christ has done for them.

Pray for the other work we do in Moldova. There are churches to be built, pastors to be trained, help to be given. Early in February the annual pastor's conference will be held. Pray that a mighty move of God will fall upon the pastors, giving them new direction so that many will come to Him. Starting in the Spring we will have several teams coming to Moldova to help construct church buildings or help the ministry of a local church. Pray for God's blessings on these teams as they prepare.

Pray also for our family. The girls are doing well, but each is growing up in a very different cultural context than we understand. There are always challenges to home schooling, as there are challenges to public schooling. Pray for God's hand on their lives. Pray also for Andy and I. This Spring we'll celebrate 20 years of marriage. It is hard to believe that we've walked this road together now for nearly 20 years. What a great time we are having. Pray for continued vision and guidance for us also.

Blessings on your day! Thanks for your prayer.

Reflections

As I look back on the past year, I am amazed at what God has done in our first year of ministry at the Home of Hope in Moldova. And I realize that none of it could be possible without the prayers of so many. There is no doubt that finances are needed to run a work, but many people have finances and don't see lives changed. Without faithful prayer for the ministry and for the lives of the women, we would not see the great things we saw this past year.

Thanks for believing with us in prayer for a director. Elena is doing an amazing job. I often sit and listen to her lead and feel incredibly blessed to have her there.

Thanks for praying for Ali*--a month ago she learned from a few of the staff about baby dedication and this Sunday we will dedicate both her newborn son and her 3 year old daughter at our local church. She's made the complete break in an awful relationship and is moving forward. But best of all I see joy and peace in her life. Everything is not perfect, but she is a living miracle.

Thanks for praying for God's work and God's timing. This month we've taken in two new women. One is pregnant. The other is young. Both are so hurting and broken. Continue to pray for Leah* and Ginny*. They need God's touch. We see smiles on their faces some days. We want them to come to truly understand Christ in their lives. We now have five women and four children in the home and that is exciting.

Thanks for praying for work for the women. We've partnered with Salvation Army to give fair trade work to the women. Some are sewing. Another is crocheting. It is allowing them to earn money and hope for a better future. Two of the women are ready to begin a local cooking school.

Thanks for praying for our staff. I'm amazed at what God is doing in their lives. They are wonderful women who truly love what they are doing, how God is using them and how they can be involved in lives being changed.

Current prayer needs--

Ginny* needs complete physical healing in her body--the effects of her trauma.

Ali's baby is doing well, but the doctors were a bit concerned about his growth this past time. Pray for this little baby to grow.

Pray for a special blessing this Sunday. Ali is such a leader and she has lead the way in baby dedication. The others are following and all our children are being dedicated to the Lord this Sunday. How exciting that their lives are being changed! How exciting that they do not need to know the pain that their mothers's lives held. God is so good. So please pray with us for this Sunday.

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Leah

Leah* came to the Home of Hope two weeks ago. She is depressed and struggling with the upcoming Christmas holiday. She says that everything bad that happened in her life, happened at the Christmas season.

Please keep her in prayer this month. Every girl that comes into the home struggles with the lack of freedom, the rules, the structure, and wants to leave. They cannot see that life can be better and want to run. Leah is in this place at this time.

This past weekend she spent a lot of time saying she wanted to leave. Tuesday is our prayer and fasting day, and we prayed specifically that she would see God in her life and make the choice to stay. In the afternoon she went to visit a foundation that takes in pregnant women and mothers. They told her that they would not take her because she is not from the city. We see this as a miracle because we know they take any needy woman, no matter where she is from.

And while she was there, Leah noted how sad everyone looked. She saw the difference from those at the Home of Hope. So she has come back and said she will stay until after her baby is born. Please pray specifically for her this week and this month. Pray that she would settle and see what God will do in her life. There is a great battle for her life at this time. Pray that she will see God showing himself to her this Christmas season.

Additions

Today I met Leah*, a 21 year old victim of sex-trafficking. She's four months pregnant and has no where to go. A short-term shelter that we partner with called us, asking us to take her.

Leah's nervousness showed clearly. No smile showed on her face. She reminded me of Ala* when I first met her a year ago. Hopelessness filled her whole being.

"Would you like to come to our home?" asked Elena, our director.

A positive answer told me that she really didn't know what other option existed. She's spent her life shifted from one family member to another, in an out of orphanages, trafficked to one country and moved to another.

Please pray for Leah this week. Deciding to step into a new way of life is never easy. She will come to visit with her Social Worker on Wednesday. Most likely she'll bring the few possessions she owns with her and stay that night. We are asking Ala to be a helper to her as she settles into life in the home, as we see the incredible change in Ala's life.

It won't be easy. The first weeks never are. But we know that God has brought her to us, and we know that she can find newness of life in Christ and healing from the pain in the coming months.

Thanks for your prayers.

Praying for Ala

This week we are having a time of prayer and fasting for one of our women, Ala*. We ask you to join us in prayer for her.

Ala was one of the first women in our home. She came with her preschool daughter. A few months after she came, we found out she had a boyfriend, and at the New Year she became pregnant with his child. This is the pregnancy which you prayed for and we have a very healthy baby boy in the home now.

In this first year with Ala surrendered her life to Jesus. We see such an incredible change in her life, but she still has a hard time seeing a better future. She has a hard time dreaming that her life can be anything greater and the boyfriend is a safety net. Yet, in the past few weeks, she is seeing that the new life she is living does not fit with the life the boyfriend lives.

This past Friday she asked that we'd pray specifically for her this week. She wants the strength break free from the boyfriend and she wants to see that her life can be something. Interestingly, the boyfriend has begun to ask questions about her new faith. So we are praying either that she breaks free or that he comes to the Lord and is changed.

Thanks for your prayers.