As you read in my previous blog God gave me the name IRIS for one of the prostitutes in our hotel. God in his irony and orchestration also had Stephanie Fisk, our squad leader post a picture of an Iris on her blog as she wrote about the girls. For our “Fire in the Night: all night prayer” Stephanie and I teamed up to work on the room we rented in the downstairs hallway (Room #5). We were in charge of creating an environment that would provide information on sex-trafficking in Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City as well as posting scripture verses and specific things for the squad to pray for. When we went down to set up the room we opened the door to see a bouquet of purple Iris’s on the wall. We looked at each other in joyful astonishment and smiled at God’s promise and love for these girls. You see the word, “Iris” fittingly takes its name from the Greek word for “rainbow.” In the bible the “Rainbow” was a sign of God’s promise and many say that the “Rainbow” symbolizes the gateway to heaven, or a bridge between heaven and earth. Other meanings of the word Iris are, “HOPE, FAITH and WISDOM.” God spoke his promise through these flowers hanging on the wall, revealing to us his love for his daughters. These girls are his precious flowers and the night began as we prayed that salvation would spring up from the ground. 
The night was intense as we battled through the thick darkness by crying out to God on behalf of these beautiful girls. We were slaying the dragons that haunted this hotel as we walked in authority as the words that were proclaimed out of our mouth’s lit the room with life giving energy. We pressed in and as we prayed and worshiped our Abba Father the thick cloud started to dissipate and as people prayed for the girls beyond the walls the room we rented for the night. I loved that we were depriving of men from using that room even if it was for just one night and that the room was right in the middle of the hallway – “ENEMY TERRITORY.” We were claiming it for the Lord.
As the hours went by we continued to acclaim the Lord for his goodness and to break for these women. A group of us stood encircling the room, holding hands and crying out prayers to the Lord and singing praises loudly to our Abba, Father. We were a unified church, standing together in the gap on behalf of these men and girls. It was ground-breaking as a heavenly shaking was happening inside Room #5. It was glorious! The room was filled with heavenly light glowing from within each of us and seeping underneath the door frame. Light billowed and song echoed forth His holy name. God’s name resonated down the hallway and into those rooms and met those men and women in their tragic state.
And, the following Saturday we stood in the lobby handing out roses to the girls as they entered the hotel with a message communicating their value and beauty attached and written in Vietnamese. When we handed them the roses they had a look of surprise and bewilderment, but when they read the note attached their faces lit up and a huge grin blessed their face. The girls that night new that they were valued and maybe just for one night they actually believed that they are “the apple of God’s eye.” The girls would leave their rose at the desk before they entered one of the rooms and they all made sure to get their roses before they left. Stephanie, Ally and I walked down the street and saw one girl sitting on the sidewalk talking to a friend holding on to her rose. We gave all the other girls on that street corner roses as they waited to be picked up and taken to some empty hotel room. Smiles flooded the streets that night as girls believed they were worth something more than $1.25 and they held onto those roses.
