Dear friends,
“Namaste!” This time I am writing
our newsletter from India, and this is the greeting we hear every day. We are
here for a whole month in the huge city of Mumbai, with over 20 million people.
Preach through your actions
The first week we were
speakers in the conference of “Call2Compassion and Justice.” More than 400
people, including many pastors, had come from all over India. The conference was about the integral mission
of the church, or as a young Indian woman in a beautiful green and gold sari
said: “Preach the good news of God through your actions!”
20-30 clients per night
Halfway through the week,
everyone in the conference had the opportunity to visit a ministry of a local
mission organization. Some went to see the work in the red light district where
an estimated 150,000 girls and women work. They are forced to prostitute
themselves with 20 to 30 clients every night. Others from the conference went
to visit the aftercare programs for girls rescued from sexual exploitation.
Deeply shocked and tremendously encouraged
It is so important to see
personally the joy and the suffering mirrored in the huge brown eyes of those
children and teenagers. Everybody came back deeply shocked but also tremendously
encouraged by all the wonderful people who inspire so much hope working in the
different projects.
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| Wherever we visit, everywhere are lots of children! |
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| Teaching in the Children@Risk School in Mumbai, India |
During the remainder of the
month we are teaching in the Children at Risk (C@R) School. The students come
from various parts of India and have dedicated their lives to the Lord Jesus to
be used by Him to reach children in need. They plan to go back to their cities after
this school. We hope and pray that the classes we are teaching will be of great
value for their work and lives!
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| Just one of the beautiful kids in Mumbai. |
Needed: Places for 58,000 people to stay!
While we are in India, the
preparation for the World Cup 2014 continues. Some international organizations
had told us that they would like to bring 6,400 evangelism and compassion teams
of 10 to Brazil during the World Cup.
So the big question is: Do
we have room for 64,000 people?
Hmm… Yes, we think so.
Of course, if you divide them
up over the 12 host cities the numbers become a little more manageable. It
comes down to 500 teams per city. We believe there will be 500 churches in
every city that can host such a team. So we are hard at work to see this
happen. Some big churches have already guaranteed 6,000 beds, so we have “just”
58,000 to go!
Meeting
God in Brazil
During the last two football/soccer World Cup
competitions in Germany and South Africa, there have been very disturbing
reports of the growth of prostitution, human trafficking and sexual
exploitation. Will this happen in Brazil as well? When Brazil is already one of
the most popular countries for sex tourism?
We are asking local churches and international teams to
partner together during the World Cup to evangelize and to participate in the
battle against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, so that Brazil will
become famous internationally, not because of the children, teenagers and women
forced into prostitution, but because of the extraordinary beauty of its
nature, for it’s wonderful soccer, for its loving and hospitable people, but
above all for its churches and followers of Jesus, where they can meet the
love, the compassion and the justice of God.
Awareness
through documentaries
One of the best documentaries on human trafficking we
have ever seen is the movie “Nefarious.” It was made by Exodus Cry and IHOP (International
House of Prayer). One of their film crews visited us in Brazil the day before
we left for India and interviewed us for a new documentary about human
trafficking in Brazil.
Another film team from Operation Blessing, linked to CBN,
also came to do an interview. As soon as we have their material, we will post
the link so it can be used for spreading greater awareness and action.
Little
clips on mobiles
Besides the production of the bigger documentaries, we
have asked for the release of 2-3 minute videos for specific audiences, for example,
for taxi drivers. Here in Brazil there are associations for Christian taxi
drivers. We would like to offer them these short clips, which they can use on
their mobile phones. When asked for a
ride to a prostitution area or night club by a tourist, the taxi driver can
show the clips, making him aware of the terrible life of the girls, forced to
prostitute themselves to 20-30 different men each night. We hope lots of
tourists will change their minds after seeing those clips.
Highways
to hell
Another clip will be created to go viral on the mobile
phones of truck drivers. Alongside all major highways are many places where
children and teenagers sell their bodies. We would like to stop the lie, so
easily believed, that those kids chose this life themselves--a life of
humiliation, exploitation, abuse, violence and disease on roads that are
nicknamed “highways to hell.”
Help
through an App
Girls and women who clean hotel and motel rooms are
another group we need to reach with awareness. For them and the general public,
we hope to provide a free app to download, through which they can provide
information without endangering themselves, if they believe they are witnesses
of human trafficking.
24/7
prayer
All kinds of national and international organizations are
joining together to help, each in their own area of gifting and focus. One organization
wants to maintain a 24/7 house of prayer in the red light district in each of
the 12 host cities. In Belo Horizonte we have offered the Recanto House for
this purpose.
Bibles
and the Jesus film on all mobiles
Another organization offered us a fantastic new
technology for downloading the Bible and the Jesus film through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
on mobile phones. There is a choice of 6000 written languages, 700 languages for
spoken New Testaments, and the Jesus film in over 1100 languages. What a great
opportunity to be able to bless every tourist with the word of God in his or
her own language!
In Brazil there are approximately 30 million evangelical
Christians. Can you imagine the tremendous impact it will have if all of them
know how to download the Bible on their own mobile phones, and also know how to
share the Bible in various languages to the smart and feature phones of the
tourists?
With
God’s blessing
These are big plans. Johan and I will still have numerous
meetings with YWAM coordinators and their teams in all of the twelve World Cup
cities, as well as with pastors and leaders of partner organizations. Without the blessing of God, a project like this
is impossible. But we want to obey God and ask Him to increase our faith, in
order that many lives will be transformed, injustice will be reported and
exploiters punished. Salvation, freedom and healing will take place. With God’s
help, local churches and international organizations will join together in
unity for the glory of God. Please pray with us until we see the fulfillment of
this dream!
Thank you so much, all of our friends who have upheld us
in your prayers and supported us with your messages, emails and donations; you
are such an important part of our lives. Without you it would not be possible
to be the missionaries we are and to do the things we do. We want to thank you
all, wish you a Christmastime focused on our Lord Jesus, and lots of blessings
for the coming New Year!
