human trafficking

I have been feeling the impression that God is directing me towards beginning to understand what my role is in the human trafficking problem all over the world. The sex trade industry has grown immensely here in Costa Rica. It is a very grave situation. I remember last year sitting in on a meeting by the “Not for Sale Campaign” in KC where for the first time I was actually hearing someone talk about what they are doing to combat this atrocity in the U.S. It was convicting, disheartening and yet encouraging to know someone cared enough to start the work and give their lives to end human trafficking. It is as if I have come full circle to this issue again here in our school. We are going to be attending a conference on trafficking and on prostitution here in San Jose during our school. We desire to expose our students more and more to this area of need here in Costa Rica and the world. We had them all watch a movie called Trade. It was intense and brought up some discomfort and issues in the lives of our students as well as our own. I highly recommend the movie but must warn that the graphic and true content is almost too overwhelming to take in, i.e. if you watch it prior to bed as we all did. Nonetheless it is very valid and eye-opening, even with the Hollywood (good guys win) ending.

I also have recently reviewed the website: http://causes.com/p/27/21774569?m=cc29ebc2 and am sending out the petition to my contacts on Facebook and encourage anyone who reads this blog to sign it and to read more about what is happening not only in third world countries, but at home in the U.S. This leads me to talk about where we have decided to send our students for their outreach/internship. We are first sending them to Bogota, Colombia where they will work in a ministry that works with street kids and is assisting them in rebulding their lives. The second phase of outreach will be here in Costa Rica in a beach town called Jaco. It is touristic and known for the sex trade industry. Please pray with us to know where and how and when God will use us to help end this horrific and tragic movement toward selling humans, i.e children. The dream is to start a community center there. Our leader Scott went with our base leader to Jaco a week ago to meet several high up officials, one being the mayor of the town. They are all backing us starting permanent work with the children in Jaco and want to purchase property and support us in the endeavor. Its all been amazing.
.... I have much more to say.... but will write again soon