Cabin restaurants (brothels) is a ministry that a lot of people on our teams are passionate about and want to be able to minister and get to know these women who are caught in such a terrible situation. this past month in Nepal, that was one of our outreach ministry opportunities. Not everyone got to go to this one but God really used everyone where they placed us. I actually did get to go to the cabin restaurant, and got to meet an amazing woman named Sivani (may not be the correct way to spell that).
when the group of about 9 of us got there, we split up into groups of 3 and each talked with a different girl. When we, Lindsey Westerfield, Kelsie Biven and I, first met Sivani she seemed very distant and unengaged in the conversation. Although, we did start out by just asking basic questions like: “how old are you?” and “what are your interests?”. Our amazing translator, Sushila, was encouraging us to ask some deeper questions, so we asked her about her religious beliefs. She told us that she did not believe in any God at all. We started to tell her about our beliefs in Christ and the relationship He has to offer. She asked us, “if God is real and shows provision, then why am I working here?”. At first we didn’t know how to respond to that, because God does work in strange ways and a lot of times we just don’t know the answer. Lindsey had a very good response though. When we first got there we offered to buy her a meal or something to drink and she declined, so Lindsey explained that God can also use other people to provide for you. It may have been something as small as one meal but none the less, it was still provision. I think that is what got her to open her ears a little to what we had to say.
We all started sharing our miniature testimonies and what a relationship with Christ looks like to us, and about half way through you could just see her demeanor change. she looked like she had tears in her eyes but she was smiling the whole time. At one point she told us that she felt like Jesus was there with her! We talked a little more and when we were done, Sushila translated the question she asked: “what do I do now?” She was saying that she wanted to get baptized and have a relationship with God!!! Since we didn’t have a body of water readily available for a baptism, we did the best thing we could and prayed with her. We explained to her that baptism is a great way to publicly show your devotion to God, but it is more a matter of the heart and wether or not you truly believe that Christ died on the cross for YOU, and that we are promised everlasting life in heaven if we just truly believe. We prayed with her and then sadly had to leave. The worst part is, that was our last day of outreach so we were unable to go back and continue growing with her, but we lie in the comfort that Sushila will follow up with her and give her the Bible we got her. Sushila is an amazing woman of God and we could not have done that without her. The most comforting thought though is that we left her, the cabin restaurant, and Nepal under God’s provision. Please pray for Sivani and her son. That she grows in her relationship with Christ and can escape that wicked place he is stuck in.
