Before we left, we prayed about which cabin restaurant to go to. The one God chose was one this ministry had never been able to infiltrate. If we were denied entrance, we planned to walk around it and pray like Joshua at Jericho. Today, we walked up and the man said to Maya, our host, “Why do you want to come in here? You know what kind of place this is. It’s going to be expensive.” She explained that her friends are tired and would like to sit down and have something to drink, and we have money.
We got in.
Four of us squeezed into a tiny stall. We ordered sodas for about $40. There were little roaches crawling around everywhere. “Grace” (I’ve changed her name) came and sat with us. She’s a pretty Nepali girl with an auburn red pony tail and her face done up. Talking to her was a little difficult, because of the language barrier. We could tell that she was very apprehensive. We were asking her questions trying to get to know her. She seemed to get a little perturbed and walked off.
We had to pray that Jesus would step in and fix it. We asked her to come back. She came and plopped down on the bench. Our hearts sank. She’s used to being handled and told to come even when she doesn’t want to.
When she sat back down with us, my teammate Alex was clutch and offered to paint her nails. That’s what really broke the ice. After that, we found the common ground:
Justin Beiber, Taking selfies, and Doing make-up.
Throughout this time, she would go on YouTube, and watch videos. As it turns out, they were clips from Tangled.
A Disney movie.
My heart sank. Of course this is what she would want to watch during her free time. She’s only 16. She’s a child.
We all sat and watched with her.
When we left, most of us were on the verge of tears. Some of us felt like we wanted to throw up. Before we got on the bus, Maya made sure we prayed all the heaviness off us. She said to leave it where we are. I was so glad she was aware of the spiritual warfare we were going through, and taught us not to hold onto it.
The goal of this ministry is to rescue the girls from the sex trade. They do this by building friendships with the girls and gaining their trust and then offering them a way out of this lifestyle. They work with other organizations that provide different job opportunities and offer them a community of believers that love on them and support them. It was an honor to be a part of something like this.
After this difficult day, we actually got to meet up with two of the girls we met at the restaurant. We went to one of the girls’ house where we met her husband and baby. They live in a crumbling, cement building in one room with a bed, two burners, and some pots and pans stacked in the corners. We found out that her husband got hurt at work, paralyzing him for a few months, and her one year old fell from the stairs and broke his back. He needs surgery, but must wait until he’s older. She was a housewife at first, and they felt that this was the only option for her to provide for the family. She had a Nepali bible, so Maya and I went through it and highlighted verses that would help her understand who God is, and how He can move in her situation. I want her to build her relationship in Jesus Christ, and that way she can see herself the way The Lord sees her, build her faith and trust in God, and hold on to the fact that Jesus will provide if she relies on Him. We came together and bought her family a few groceries: enough rice for two months, some fruits, and juice for the baby.
We later found out that she took one of the jobs that Maya had for her, and Maya is going to follow through with the other girl, “Hope” we met with. She is also married, but she found out that she is the second wife, and she hasn’t seen her husband in six months; he is in another country with his other wife. She doesn’t know when she will see him and doesn’t know another way to provide for her and her baby. You never know what brings them into a situation like this.
With the insight we’ve gotten into their lives, we learn that they are more than their label: prostitutes or cabin girls. They are beautiful, young women with dreams and desires to be successful and do good things, just like us. My hope is for them to come to Jesus, where He takes away all pain and shame is undone. My prayer is that they realize who they in are Christ Jesus. That they are daughters of the Most High God and they are of noble blood. It was amazing getting to know them, and they are forever in my heart.
