R's Restoring Joy

R's story was one that broke my heart because she had such a sweet spirit. She loves people so intently and it was hard for me to understand how anyone could hurt this beautiful girl.

R grew up in a very poor family. She said as a child she was very disobedient and would just roam the streets. She started drinking when she was eight and hung out with very bad crowd.

Her parents sent her to her aunt and uncle's house to try and settle her down. While there her uncle and cousins raped her. She said she was so angry and confused at how her own family could do something like that. Her uncle and cousins would tell her she was worthless and dirty now. Her sister worked the Red Light District in Mumbai, but she was unaware of her line of work. Her uncle would tell her that she was just like her sister.

She ended up going to be with her sister in Mumbai in the Red Light District. While there she came in contact with Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC). She had always wanted to go to school. She was able to join BTC. She had a lot of anger to get over and could not understand for a long time why the staff was so loving. After awhile she fell in love with God and realized she needed to have a relationship with her Heavenly Father.

R is now on leadership at BTC to help other girls who are hurting. She does correspondence schooling while learning sewing vocation. R has such a beautiful heart and spirit. She desires to help other girls and woman not have the same thing happen to them. She loves the Lord with her whole heart. It was very convicting for me to see how passionately she loved the Lord.

Only 9 more days until we leave for India. It is incredible to think all that God has done to prepare me for this trip. I am so looking forward to seeing the girls we traveled with last year, but also seeing the ministry as a whole. God has done some incredible things through BTC. This is going to be a hard trip because of the nature of what we will see, but our God is so amazing that He has restored many hearts and lives.

We definitely need your prayers. There are 5 of us going on the trip. Please pray for travel and health. Also, I still need about $800 for the trip. If you would like to be a part of this trip and these amazing stories of restoration you click here.

THANK YOU to all of those who are praying and partnering with this trip. I look forward to telling you what God did.

N's Restoration

This beautiful, young lady was one of the 8 ladies I traveled with last summer. As I said before, they all have stories that would break your heart and would bring you joy to hear how God has brought restoration to their lives. For now I am going to highlight this young ladies story. She was born having her mom tell her she was worthless and all she was born to do is work for the family. She was abused and treated very badly all of her childhood. She had much anger inside of her. Her mom would not even let her go to school.

She began drinking and taking drugs at the age of 8. She tried to commit suicide three different times and each time God saved her life. Her mom and her became so angry with each other that they came at each other with knives trying to kill each other. Finally the other family members took some action and sent her to an aunt's home in Mumbai, where she was exposed to the Red Light district. Luckily no long after coming to Mumbai she learned about Bombay Teen Challenge. A place where she would have a safe place to live, food every day, and an opportunity to go to school. The thing she did not know was that she would also learn about God. She told us it took her awhile because she was so angry and would fight everyone. After being told she was worthless all her life she did not know how anyone could love her. But the staff at Bombay Teen Challenge surrounded her with Christ's love and she fell into her Heavenly Father's arms. She is living at the Ashagram House where she is doing correspondence school and is making leather items to sell. She has also become a leader within the ministry. Her life is truly one where she was at the bottom but God had much greater plans for her. I am looking forward to seeing how God is continually working in her life and how He will use her for His glory.

This is just one of the beautiful lives of restoration I will be visiting while in Mumbai this summer. Would you like to get involved to see more women and children's lives transformed?

You can make a difference!

Below are ways you can be a part.

1. Please pray for us. There are 5 of us going to visit the ministry. Pray for safety traveling, physical health, and that we will know how to better advocate for the work they are doing.

2. I also need to raise $2,800 to be able to go on the trip. From those that have already gotten involved I still need $2000. If you would like to partner with me for this trip, click here.

Thank you to those that have already given. I am so excited to have you a part of this awesome opportunity!