#shtn

So my goal right now is to save enough money to be able to go on a missions trip to east Asia (Thailand or Cambodia), to help where help is needed- volunteering to tutor and teach kids in the villages who otherwise don't have an opportunity to attend school (which significantly raises their chances of being trafficked- particularly by their own families), and also offer hope to the hopeless and basically just love on people that have been abused and rejected by their societies. I would see what is going on first-hand and get a raw picture of the real need out there. This is a copy of the letter I want to read to my church/ and any other possible sponsors. Now you may not be a Christian or even believe in God but that's not what this is about; its about caring for people who need caring and loving those in dire need of love- so putting all beliefs and differences aside, I wanted to show this to you guys to convey my passion for this issue and how earnestly I want to fight this Thanks for listening :)

"I want to thank you for allowing me to talk to you today, especially since it is about a topic most of us in all honesty would rather not think about, I think it scares and disarms us. This paralyzing truth is child rape and exploitation. It's brutal, harsh and real. And there is no way to overlook this.

We all know horrible things happen on this earth and I'm guessing we've all seen our share of suffering. But I'll be frank, this is a deeper evil that shatters the very innocence of this world. What has it come to when children no longer have hope. When these precious little ones, cherished by Jesus, have never felt His love in this world, they have never felt a helping hand. 

At this very moment, as your eyes glide over each and every word, a little girl, a little boy, young women, are all being abused- severely used and disregarded just as easily. As we are living our lives around the world, the unspeakable is happening to children- children whom should be protected, nurtured, loved and cherished. God created these children, the creator of the sun and the moon made these people- their bodies and their souls. 

It is our job, our duty, to help these forgotten people and little ones. This is a necessity!! This is a tragedy. How can we not respond? We all play a part in this. Show these people, these victims that not everyone in this world has forgotten them- that some people still fight and hope. 

And that is why being a missionary and doing this trip is so important to me. There is a restlessness within my soul. I see pictures of these children, I hear their stories, and they are burned into my memory. I go to sleep at night and these small faces enter my mind and I try to picture where they are, when they go to sleep at night. I wonder if they are cold and hungry and hurting. I wonder if they cry out in the dark- for love and affection, for protection. Or Have they stopped reaching and crying out. Have they already give up hope? And I pray and I cry, because honestly I feel so helpless- I cant fly across the planet barging into rooms, rescuing these kids, holding them, and fighting the bad guys. There is nothing I would like more, honestly,but there has to be a starting point and here it is. I can and will do everything God helps me to do for these kids and victims while I am breathing on this earth. - And in the end I finally fall asleep in my warm bed, with an ache in my stomach that never goes away.

A teeny tiny sliver of a part of me just for a millisecond almost wishes my mind and my heart hadn't been opened to  and made aware of what these victims face on a daily basis; once you know, really know, and let it sink in, and you let it hit home, once you see it- it honestly scars you. You cannot be told that a 4 year old little girl in Cambodia was sold in a brothel (prized for her purity and virgin state) , and continue on as if nothing has happened. But that's the problem, we are scared to feel, to really feel and to really care, scared that this huge global travesty will be impossible to fight, that this multi-billion dollar industry is too tough to beat. That greed and perversion run the world- and that may be true for the world, but it doesn't have to be true for me or for you. 

The injustice of it infuriates me. I boil and stew with anger and I ache for justice. And this fire God has placed inside me roars when I hear of another exploited child, the death of another prostitute, a young person infected and dying of aids, or when a little girl is sold into prostitution by her own grandfather to put food on his table. And we may look at that and be disgusted, unfathomable to us that someone would sell their own child- and it is, its cruel and impossible to swallow- but on the other side of that, how can we look at our own family and friends, and take comfort in the fact that we are not slaves. We are so relieved that this is not our life and the relief and fear of such a reality frightens us- we turn away and look at ourselves, only at ourselves, what we love, what we protect and hold dear. And that is cruelty.

Saving these children will not always mean what I'd like it to mean. I wish I could wipe their tears, speak to them with kind words, protect them physically and nurture them emotionally. I want to see them all safe, all free and the wrong-doers brought to justice. I also want to show them hope. Even for those still in the thick of it, daily fighting to open their eyes. They deserve hope. They deserve God's love. God's love is shown by us, being selfless, getting our hands dirty, fighting for the hopeless and sacrificing our needs and wants for the safety of another. Love alone will rescue these people. Love alone will be victorious, if we only share it.

 YOU can do something positive in this situation, YOU can make a difference. Anywhere from learning the facts and getting informed, to volunteering and using your talents to make a difference- there are so many options. Don't get discouraged by the enormity of the situation, take a deep breath and one step at a time, ask yourself what you can do to help. If you've read through to the end..thank you, thank you so much. You've read a large part of my heart.