How was I called to missions and the world race? A question with a lengthy
answer that I’ll try and sum up in a few paragraphs 🙂
Before my sophomore year of college, I was never really interested in
missions. I thought I knew exactly how my life would look ten years in
the future and it didn’t include being in a different country. But
shortly into my second year at Johnson, I felt the Lord calling me to do
missions for the summer. I researched lots of different missions
programs, prayed He would open and close doors, and ended up in the Dominican
Republic serving with Orphanage Outreach (check them out!) for two months at an orphanage. That summer changed my life. I
fell in love with God and His heart for other cultures. I went home a
different person and left half of my heart in the Dominican. I had two
years left of school, but I knew the Lord wasn’t done with me in the DR.
That winter I went back for a week and the next summer I spent a month
there. When I came back to Johnson for my senior year of college, I knew
without a doubt that God was going to take me back for an extended period of
time. Though I wrestled and fought about going back by myself for such a
long time, I knew that I couldn’t turn my back on plans that God had so clearly
laid in front of me. So I graduated in May of 2009 and moved back to the
Dominican 2 weeks later. The year and a half that I spent there was the
biggest blessing in my life. I loved every second of it and God taught me
more than I could have imagined. Each day I seemed to fall more in love
with the people, their culture, their language, their needs, and their hearts.
The more I was there, the more I could never imagine leaving.
This is Manuel, ratoncito, mi hijo… one of the loves of my life in Jaibon.
Around Christmas of ’09, God began placing human trafficking on my
heart after I met some incredible Dominican women that changed my perspective
on everything. These women opened up their lives to me, shared stories,
and treated me as though I’d been a part of their family my whole life.
We laughed together and cried together and it was through them and their
stories about their families and friends that opened my eyes to the issues of
prostitution and sex trafficking in the Dominican. After a lot of
research and having a new perspective on what was happening right in front of
my face, I realized that I couldn’t not do anything about this issue that
enchained so many people. God broke my heart for Dominican women and it
was then that I knew I would spend the rest of my years attempting to bring
hope and restoration to their lives. I began praying over this dream of
hope and a way out for these women and God began doing crazy things. It
seemed like everyday He would place something in my lap that acted as a resource
for me in some way shape or form. Throughout the spring and summer I
began to dream about what it would look like to have a safe-home in the
Dominican for women coming out of prostitution, sex tourism, and sex
trafficking. A place where they could receive the love of Christ, be
counseled, be mentored, learn job skills, and eventually be helped back on
their feet in a new line of work with the hope of Christ embedded deeply in
their souls. I prayed and dreamt and planned and knew this was something
so much bigger than I could even imagine.
This is Nena… one of the smartest and sassiest 7 year-olds I know.
At the end of the summer, I still wasn’t sure how everything was going
to play out. I only knew that I felt called to devote my life to this
dream. In early September, I came across The World Race Human Trafficking
Edition and my mouth dropped open. I had originally heard about the world
race over three years ago and had wanted to go so bad, but I knew it wasn’t the
right timing. When I saw that there was a version of the world race
devoted to exactly what my passion is, I knew that it was a sweet, little gift
from the Lord. My first reaction was to say “No.” I
didn’t want to be away from the Dominican for almost a year which is what this
would mean. But the peace and excitement and certainty I felt about the
trip from the moment I read about it assured me that the world race was exactly
what God had planned next for me. I had always talked about how I wanted
to go to Thailand or Cambodia for a couple of months and learn from
organizations who are already doing what I want to do in the Dominican and this
trip is going to BOTH of those places AND India AND a month in the States!
I could not have thought up a better opportunity for myself if I had
spent days doing so.
So
I am beyond excited for the next couple of seasons in my life… spending some
time visiting with family and friends while fundraising like crazy and mapping
out things for the eventual non-profit that will be started in the Dominican
Republic… heading out for the world race in January and gaining so much
wisdom about ministry in human trafficking… and moving back home to the
Dominican sometime around next summer to begin the journey of opening a
safe-home for women in a place that so desperately needs it. That’s my
dream… to see Esperanza (hope in Spanish) being brought to the Dominican
Republic. Y por eso, Esperanza will be the name of the home when it one
day opens its doors 🙂 If you would like to read more about the journey of
this past year and about my dreams for Esperanza, check out my other
blog… http://heathercolbert.blogspot.com.
