The choice, some of the women in Nepal were not given a choice when it came to there up bringing in the brothels. They were raised in the brothels and when they weren’t even to a very old age they were expected to start helping provide for their “family”. Family to them is the “mom” figure who’s in charge of the women who live in the brothels, as well as the women and children who live there. Though it’s very sad, for many women they don’t know any different. They were raised up in the isolated environment where that was their “normal”. The ministry in Nepal I worked with was a ministry that focused on giving women the choice to leave the brothels and dance bars and choice to start a new life. We were given the opportunity to ask some of the women personally if they wanted to leave and live in all that God was asking them to live. The ministry is dedicated to providing the women teachers to teach them skills as well as provide housing for the women. At the house that would teach them to sew and knit from anything to hats, gloves, scarfs, robes, oven mitts, etc. They would sell them and that would go to pay for housing and then for their salary. This gives the women an opportunity to be as successful as they wanted to be. Though they would get payed much less than a “Dance Bar” the salary is still over the normal rate of the average Nepalese person.
When we were stay in Nepal we were going to visit a brothel. One of the days we went out to visit the women in the brothels we found out it was holiday so they were all closed. Instead we visited one of my now friends. For her protection, I’m going to use a fake name, “Jane”. Jane had made the choice to go back to a “dance bar” after leaving the first time. We went to her house and prayed for her and she was hesitant to talk to us or even speak in English because she didn’t trust us. As we asked her questions Jane started to loosen up. To her surprise she didn’t want us to leave. She talked about the money being good in the dance bars, so good that she could afford her own apartment. Though along with that came a price, she didn’t have people to rely on and was extremely lonely. The other women at the dance bars were willing to do things in her job she was no longer willing to do and because of that the girls didn’t like her. The women she worked with were almost always drinking, I’m sure to numb the hardship of their life’s. When I asked about her family she barely said a word. Come to find out later her family had disowned her. She’s only nineteen years old and I knew she has lived through way more than I could imagine especially at such a young age. While we were there our translator got a call from the next person we were going to pray for.
The translator picked up the phone and with a loud screech the women on the other line was balling. Through the jumbled words our translator could make out, the women’s uncle had committed suicide the day before and the woman had a mental illness. She called us several more times over and over but our translator told her we would be there in a little to come pray. We finished talking with Jane and she decided to come with us before heading to work. With that we made our way to the woman’s house. As we approached the house it was silent, not like I would have expected it to sound like after the phone call. Outside of her house was a little girl who sat unbothered playing with a balloon that hadn’t been blown up. Not thinking to much about the girl I began to pray as the to silence was thick and I could tell something was wrong as I got a little closer to the house. Once we were at the door we knock, and there was no reply. My translator looked at us and then at the door and pushed it open. Inside the women laid in her bed in the dark room which was her whole house. It was a single room with a bed and the place look as if it had been ransacked. Our translator made the call to go in and check on her. She called out her name and the woman didn’t make a move. She made it up to the woman and tapped her. After a few tries and called her name we took her pulse. She had a pulse but was not responsive. The translator removed the blanket because the woman had a fever. Once the blanket was removed the we got a better picture of what had happened between the call and our arrival. Sadly, she had been raped and just left there, the smell of alcohol covered her body.
My first reaction was wondering if she was even alive. Being outside the door my translator didn’t directly say she had a pulse till a little later. As my team and I looked at one another we wondering what to do. We all immediately started to pray. Our translator, walked over to the little girl sitting on the steps and asked if she had seen anything. The little girl being only 6 or 7 years old, began to tell what she had witnessed. There was a man who had come to the house and her mother had been upset and screaming. The man had entered the home and began the come on to her. The little girl went to the door and stood at the doorway looking in at her mother and the man. The man immediately stopped and went to the door and closed it so she could no longer see anything. My translator asked if she had known the man or if she remembered what he had looked like. Long story short we called the police and we found the man, he went to jail and she was taken to the hospital with three of my teams. The little girl was actually her daughter so one of my teammates and translators brought her back to where we lived to babysit her till they returned from the hospital. The son the Nepalese housekeeper, James who was around my age showed up and took me and a suitcase of the woman and her daughter’s stuff to the guesthouse on the motorcycle.
Only a few short minutes and I was back at the guesthouse. Once I was off the motor bike with the suitcase, James left for the hospital. It wasn’t until late that the woman arrived back at the guesthouse with the rest of my team. She would live on the property to regain her strength. She was still disoriented and confused. She was broken, everything about the women was broken. She had been beaten down by the world in every sense. Even her own daughter at six years old openly said she didn’t love her mother. I continued to pray for her as well as my teammates who had been involved. The next night we went up to the prayer room to worship. My translator (Tara) who has a kid of her own got someone to watch him so she could take care of the women 24/7. The woman still so weak and broken could barely even feed herself. As we were all praying and singing I looked over and what I saw was amazing. She had brought the woman food, and as Tara feed the woman, I saw God. As I watched, God showed me this beautiful picture of what we were all like before making the choice to follow Him. The woman smelled of vomit and couldn’t even feed herself. Tara looked at her with only love in her eyes and she saw who she really was deep down, who God made her to be. This woman was a child of God.
I have heard people say they can’t come to God until they get there life together, or they have done too many bad things for God to take them. In that moment, it was so evident God doesn’t care if your vomit covered or a complete mess. If there’s a sin your stuck in and you feel like you can’t come to God till you stop, I can tell you God is to one who can free you from it. Being a Christian isn’t about trying to be perfect or trying to earn God’s love. We were saved by grace and through simply believing through faith that Jesus is the son of God and is the savior of the world. Good has loved you even went you were doing that one sin you just can’t seem to get past.
The next night we met in the prayer room at the normal time. The woman came in and this time was no longer being assisted by anyone, she took a seat on the floor in the middle of the room. The music began that night and she worshipping. Something happened about half way through, the woman began to weep. She started speaking in tongues. She had had an encounter with the Lord. That night she was healing from her mental illness, her fits of rage, and from that, everyday her strength got stronger and stronger. Now, because of this woman they opened up a whole other safe house. All in the span of the month we were in Nepal.
In conclusion, I know this was super long, so sorry not sorry. I did a lot of prayer and processing of how in the world to put this event in words and this is what I ended up with. I saw so many miracles but God taught me a lot through this one. I’m sure it made a major percent of you all sad that the first part of this story even happened. Truthfully this happens everyday and to some of these women it there normal. Please pray for these women in Nepal. I want to see chains of the bondage broken in the name of Jesus. God can use the bad things that happen in your life and use them for good. Now she is a walking testimony of God’s love and power.
I’m currently at launch right now. I’ve been living in Georgia sense the 1st of this year. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to the airport to spend the night before my squad head off to Haiti. Please pray for my team and I as we travel. I’m still about $1,200 short of being fully funded. Please prayerfully consider donating and being a part of this journey God wants to take you on. Any amount helps so much!! I’m excited to see all God does with this new year!
