2121 Celebration Dr NE,
GR 49525
June 28, 2016
Ticket Price: $20
Doors open at 5:45 p.m.
Join WAR, Int’l for an interactive screening of the new movie, SOLD. We will hear from Becky McDonald, our President and Founder, and a Nepali safehouse partner prior to the event at 6:00p.m. on the breadth of human trafficking. There will be hor d’oeuvres and shopping for guests, as well.
The deadliest quake in South America since 1999 recently shook Ecuador. Authorities continue to count the dead, and that number has now surpassed 654. Another 58 people have been confirmed missing. Ecuador’s government stated that 113 people were rescued alive immediately following the earthquake on April 16, and currently more than 25,000 people remain in shelters. A partner of WAR, Int’l informed us there was a second earthquake, a 6.2-magnitude quake, in the same area after the initial blow.
Estimates place the damage caused by the earthquake to be nearly $3 billion for the already economically unstable country. Authorities say the reconstruction effort will take years. This week, survivors of the quake have begun to bury their dead as the world watches in horror. The news broke our hearts at WAR, Int’l as we received word that some of the girls in one of our partner’s programs have family and friends on the coast where the quake took place. Many of these girls still wait to hear whether or not their relatives have found adequate shelter.
In the wake of this disaster, we hope you’ll join us in prayer for the nation of Ecuador. Pray for their reco
very – a long road they will walk in the years to come. Pray for the girls in programs so dear to us, that they would hear from relatives and find courage and strength during this time. Our heart aches for the hurting, and it is our desire to come alongside them in their desperate time of need. Right now, we can do that by getting on our knees in prayer for them, and we hope you’ll join us as we pray for the people of Ecuador.
As believers in Christ, we believe in the power of prayer. We believe that prayer breaks strongholds and can set the captives free. On Thursday, May 5, 2016, our country will participate in the 65 th Annual National Day of Prayer. This year, the event will be in conjunction with nearly 45,000 other groups from across the nation. Whether you participate in the day of prayer each year, or this is the first time you’ve heard about it, the National Day of Prayer is a phenomenal opportunity to humbly bring our requests to the Lord with thousands of other people in the United States.
The goal of this day is to pray collectively for our nation. At this time in our country’s history, there is much prayer needed, but there is also much to be thankful for. When it comes to human trafficking, our country has made great strides to see justice brought to women and men engulfed in the chains of slavery. But, we have a long way to go.
As you find yourself praying for our country, whether during your morning prayer routine or specifically on May 5, we encourage you to lift up the least of these within our borders. Pray for the women coerced into prostitution, the pimps, the “johns,” and the traffickers. Pray for law enforcement officials – that they would be attentive to the needs of trafficking victims within their individual precincts. Pray for policy makers and senators who work tirelessly to see freedom brought to the oppressed. Pray for medical professionals who are sometimes the first line of defense in the fight against trafficking. Pray for moms and dads, working hard to provide for their children in safe, loving environments. Pray for the Church, that women and men would begin to sound a battle cry for trafficking victims.
As we head into an election year, we also encourage you to pray for a leader who cares about human rights issues, like human trafficking. The National Day of Prayer is an opportunity for us, as believers, to lay our requests at the cross, knowing that our hope is in the Lord, and not in man.
We will be on our knees for those who deserve justice this National Day of Prayer, and every day before and after May 5. We invite you to join us in lifting men and women to lives of dignity and hope this month.
For more information about the National Day of Prayer, please click here.
In light of some new information that has recently come our way, we have made corrections and updates to this story.
From the Heart of Our President:
Several years ago in India, I met a Nepali girl named Lakshmi. I was speaking to the leaders of her safehouse, reinforcing their brilliant and powerful dream of lifting tiny lives to dignity and wholeness, urging them to persist against incredible odds. They dreamed big for their land. Lakshmi was their first rescue from sexual slavery. She cowered in the corner, twitching and acting out bizarre behavior while I spoke. Having grown up in that culture, I knew their world, and I watched her from the corner of my eye. When I looked away from her, she stopped twitching and acted normal and attentive, shaking her head at the appropriate times—obviously understanding even the English—and acting “smart.” When I’d look at her, she’d twitch again. Smart girl! She’d learned that acting weird made customers leave her alone and helped her avoid abuse. When I saw her body language go from dead to alive and alert, I knew there was a thriver hiding in the wreckage. Beneath the brokenness was a very alert mind and a survival instinct.
Sold by a family member, she had been taken from her homeland and trafficked to India. Abused repeatedly in a particularly vicious ceremony, she had a vehement fear of blood. We learned not to speak of “the blood of Christ.” Instead, we talked about the Lamb of God. She was fascinated with a God who loved her, stood in her stead and protected her from wrath. She had only ever known wrath. As she came alive, her relentless drive to share this God of love with others also came alive.
Yet I also saw in her a grieving mommy. Soon after coming to India she had given birth to a son, then was sold to a faraway brothel while he was still quite young and had never seen him again. Though now flourishing, she was desperately lonely for her baby. The day I met her and saw her hollow eyes and broken mommy heart, I took Lakshmi on in my own heart. She knew I saw the mommy in her—something no one else in her life had seen. I bought her all the beads the market held, and we paid her to make baby bracelets in her son’s memory. Though she longed to find him and prayed for him daily, she eventually found peace in knowing that God was taking care of him.
Her longing for her son grew into a deep desire that others come to know the SON. She used to go back to the red light districts to share her testimony of the God Who Changes Lives. After a few years, she decided to visit her family in Nepal to reconnect with them, forgive them, and share the gospel. Her sister chose to believe!
On the day she was to return to India, she did not show up. Her family said she had died in her sleep. We sent a local non-profit to investigate and discovered that the police were also investigating. Her death was fraught with shadows and lies. All we know is this: she arrived in the village, professed that she no longer served a god that dripped blood, and declared the Lamb of God. She ended up dead. My partners grieved and held a memorial service, planting a tree in her memory in their garden.
We later found out that Lakshmi had shared the gospel to the very end of her life. She chose to live the last days of her life sharing Jesus with those who sold her: her own family, whom she chose to forgive. When she knew she was about to die, she sold all her jewelry and used the money to buy samosas and sweets for the village children. The next day, in unspeakable pain, she lay down on her bed and, with her Bible on her chest, passed away into glory.
I carry in my Bible a picture Lakshmi gave me of her dressed as a bride on the day she declared she was now a Daughter of the True and Living God. Safehouse staff had given her a brilliant red wedding sari, wedding makeup, jewelry, and a full party. She was so proud of her status as a Daughter of this God of Refuge. The village spoke of the fact that she would not back down on this God! It makes me wonder what really happened. God knows. Whatever happened, her death was not in vain. Those in her village saw how Lakshmi lived out her life and they, too, wanted to know the One who helped her to forgive. In a neighboring village, known for its traffickers, there had been a dormant church. Because of Lakshmi’s choice to live her last days sharing the gospel, this church is now growing in number, with members actively sharing their faith.
I want a portion of the memorial garden slated for the front and side of our headquarters to be named the Lakshmi Memorial. We have 2000 patio tiles that make up the garden. We will raise $100 dollars per tile to finish the memorial garden in her name: a forever reminder of a Daughter of the King who died trying to tell others of the Lamb of God and the greatest rescue of all.
The Memorial Garden will have a dozen stations where you can stop, meditate, pray, and reflect on the sorrow and JOY we address as the Family of WAR, Int’l. In honor of Lakshmi’s beloved son, there will be one stop in memory of children ripped from their moms, the Sweeties of life. Your gift will help make this place of healing, reflection, and memory a reality. On a wall at Headquarters, there will be a Tree of Life with the donors’ names on leaves. It is fitting that Lakshmi in Indian lore is always connected to the Lotus flower that grows in muddy water rising to bloom above the darkness. Life began in a Garden (Eden), was restored in a Garden (Gethsemane), and will be returned to a Garden (the Garden City of Heaven).
On March 2, legislation was approved by the Michigan House, forcing many public places to begin posting human trafficking notices. This effort is designed to help fight the 32 billion dollar industry currently flourishing here in the United States. The legislation was passed 95 to eight, proving that this bipartisan bill was widely accepted by legislators and advocates alike.
This new law will require notices in places like state rest stops, public transportation venues, strip clubs, and airports, among many other places. Businesses that refuse to comply with this new standard will be fined 250 dollars a year after their first notice. The fine could reach up to 500 dollars after the third notice.
The proposed legislation comes shortly after Shared Hope International released their Protected Innocence Challenge results from 2015 stating that Michigan as a whole went from an F to a B grade in how trafficking cases are handled.
Advocates of the legislation have argued this could lead to more arrests in the long run, while helping victims feel more comfortable to speak out about their abuse. Ultimately, the hope is that this will be a low-cost way to educate the community on the issue of human trafficking, provide the help victims require, and prevent the start of other trafficking cases in the state. This bill encourages Civilian First Responders to keep an eye out for trafficking situations in their own backyards.
A volunteer at WAR, Int’l has also worked hard to make it easier for victims to receive help. Creating what she calls the “Unbound Project,” she is in the process of sending tear-off cards with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number on them into local businesses – right here in West Michigan. We get so excited to see volunteers finding creative and unique ways to reach out to those in need in our community!
We are very thankful for the advocates and legislators who made this bill a reality, forcing others to join the fight against human trafficking for the betterment of our communities. We pray this would be an opportunity to raise awareness, while providing the resources victims need to get back on their feet after abuse. Our goal at WAR, Int’l is to see lives restored with dignity and hope. We believe this legislation is one more step in the right direction to do just that.
