Cool Story?

As I told you guys in my last blog, we finally got our tickets to Lima purchased, but I didn't really share the awesome story behind it.

Once upon a time, we (me and Scott) were feeling extremely pressured to purchase tickets from a few different people. Our contacts in both Lima and Iquitos were getting kind of antsy and impatient since we didn't have any set in stone dates of arriving which meant no set in stone plans for any of our Outreach. Our school leaders -Deb and Jeff- needed to know our dates and plans which we didn't have. Students needed to know when we're flying and how much airfare was going to cost, but the cost depended on the day we bought tickets, but we couldn't buy tickets without all the students having their money in. The accounting department was trying to help us work on our budget, but we couldn't do that without knowing the exact amount of days we were going to be there and the exact amount of the airline tickets. So as leaders, me and Scott (well I guess I should speak more for myself but I feel like he would say the same thing) were getting kind of overwhelmed.

It came down to our biggest factor, students having money available to purchase tickets. As we kept waiting for students to get their money in, ticket prices kept going up. So 2 weeks ago, prices were $1345 from Mpls to Lima, then at the beginning of last week, they had gone up to $1473. When it was already a struggle for finances to come in, having them jump that high in a matter of days was pretty disheartening. Basically the only people that had money to purchase tickets on Monday of last week were me, Scott, and one other team member. Even though that was the case, we knew tickets needed to be bought or we were going to run into more problems and higher prices, so me and Scott took some time to pray. We decided to take a huge step of faith. We asked God which day would be best to buy tickets, and we really felt like He was saying Thursday. So we decided to go for it, and trust that He knew this was the best day to do it.

We told the team on Monday -the 21st- that they needed to have their money for airfare in their accounts by Wednesday so we could book the tickets and have them purchased by Thursday. Like I said, most of the team really needed to see a lot of money come in before that was possible, and only having two days to do it seemed kind of intimidating. Especially for one team member, Brian who needed basically every dollar of that price to appear in a matter of two days. I explained that we trusted that God was going to provide funds for every person to be on that Outreach, but if we needed to book separate flights for people who didn't have their money in by Wednesday, that they would just have to come to Peru later. Honestly, it's a scary thought, having one or two students fly separately from the team, but it's been done a lot before so we knew it might happen, especially if Brian didn't have ANY of his Outreach money at that point.

But of course, God provided! Not just for the whole team, but especially for Brian. He made some phone calls that afternoon, and the next day someone came and gave him $3500!! Not just to cover the plane ticket we needed to buy ASAP, but his whole Outreach!! I was completely blown away. I mean I've been telling the team this whole time that if we do the possible, God will do the impossible. It's a YWAM phrase we use all the time, saying basically if we do what we can, make phone calls, send out support letters and such, that God will do what seems to be the impossible and provide everything we need. But to see it take place in such a huge way was such an encouragement! I really felt like God was not just giving a huge blessing to Brian, but for our whole Outreach. I'm still excited about it!

Oh and that's not it. Ticket prices stayed the same steep price up until I emailed our travel agent on Wednesday. Coincidentally, when she booked the tickets after all of our money was provided, the prices went down to $1380. Which meant when our tickets were actually purchased on Thursday (because the airlines have a 24 hour booking period, they have to be booked a day before they're bought), they were about a hundred bucks cheaper than the week before. Uhhh thank you Jesus??? And thank you also for telling us which day would be best and cheapest to buy the tickets?? Yeah, I was pretty pumped. God is so good and even though I thought it was more convenient to give the students a couple days notice and buy the tickets at the end of the week, God knew the prices were going to come back down and because we chose to trust Him, we saved a good amount!

Hooray Ashna!
So the whole team was pretty excited, it was a really awesome way we got to see God provide. Thought I'd share it with you guys. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, it obviously helped! And please continue to pray for us as Outreach is getting closer and closer! We leave for Peru in 18 days!!

The SOMD Has Graduated!

Weird! My School Of Ministry Development class graduated last night. Well everyone except for us 5 interns. So their outreaches are officially over, and mine is soon to begin!

Speaking of which, the Peru team got our tickets finally purchased yesterday! We'll be flying down to Lima the 13th of December and staying there for about a week. We'll be working with a church in the city there and it sounds like this pastor is more than thrilled we will be there. He's actually requesting that we stay longer than we're planning to, which might end up happening.
After that week (or more?) we will be flying into Iquitos, a city completely surrounded by the Amazon jungle/river. We'll be working with a friend of mine and her women's ministry for the first week, doing CPR training and anything else she needs help with. The next week we will be putting on a youth camp in the city with worship, teachings, games, and building relationships with whoever shows up. "Youth" in latino cultures means anyone from age 8-28, so we're not really sure what range of people to expect, but I am really looking forward to youth camps on this Outreach because they were my favorite part of my Outreach last year. For the rest of our beginning weeks in Iquitos, we will be doing random service projects around the YWAM Iquitos base and working with local churches.

Around January 9th, we will head out on our first river trip. We'll spend about 10 days in the Amazon villages doing another youth camp, we'll have some sort of children's ministries, evangelism, handing out de-parasite medicine, and we will be digging one well. After that trip, we'll go back to the YWAM base in Iquitos for about a week to rest after the strain of living in the jungle, and then we'll travel back to more villages on the river. We'll be doing the same ministries in these communities, and digging one more well if we get the funds to do it. One well costs $1,173 so it's not really money we have in our back pockets but we're hoping to hear back from an organization that has sponsored wells in the past. Be praying for that money to be donated please!

After the second river trip, we will return to Iquitos again and do some ministry in the city for another week or so. We're hoping to do some open-air worship, maybe some dramas, and hanging out with people in the plazas. You never know what you're going to find in the heart of the city there. I'm personally excited to see my hippie friends again that I met last year and I'm hoping to spend good amounts of time with them.

We'll spend our last few days back in Lima doing some debriefing from the trip and hopefully fun outings. We'll come back to Minnesota on February 17th and have a week of debriefing with the DTS staff and the South Africa team as well.


Soooo that sums up what I know about our Outreach so far. I'll keep you guys updated while I'm there as well in their super shady internet cafes. But please please please keep my team in your prayers the next couple months! Me and Scott -leaders- still have lots of planning and preparation to do, so please pray for clarity in decision making, patience, productivity, and restful sleep for us. For the rest of the team, we still need a good chunk of finances to come in to make sure they will all go, and also peace instead of nerves, flexibility as plans change often, rest, and good attitudes for everyone!

Thank you guys so much for your prayers. I really need them and appreciate them :)

Oh and... here's my SOMD class and staff!

Back row: Chris and Jeanne (staff), Jasmine, Jo, Brenden, Scott, Dain (staff), Jenesa, Rachel (staff)

Front then middle: Ahnna, Kallie, Me, Ivan, Caitlin, Becca

10 Things YOU Should Know About Human Trafficking!

This list is from an organization called Not For Sale, an organization focused on the abolition of human trafficking. They have locations globally, including programs in Peru. Dick Wexler, retired father of the co-founder of NFS, came and spoke for a couple hours last week in the DTS I'm staffing. As some of you know, working towards the abolition of human trafficking is my biggest passion and what I plan to do someday in the future. 

This is NFS's list of things they feel North Americans should know about human trafficking. Please note that these are not necessarily the top 10 things I would want someone to know, but I liked the list enough to paraphrase and share with all of you :)

**I starred things when I added my own clarification or examples**

Top 10 Things To Know About Modern-Day Slavery

10. Human Trafficking:
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, enticement, provision, obtaining or receipt of any person by any means for the purpose of facilitation of sexual or economic exploitation.

-definition by the Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force

9. Traffickers use force, fraud, and/or coercion to control victims.

-Ways of force: beatings, confinement, rape (*ie. Beating victim until the victim agrees to do what they ask*)

-Deception/fraud: false offers of employment, marriage, education, etc.

-Coercion: threats to victim or victims’ family, debt bondange, manipulation *(A trafficker can say: “If you escape, I’ll replace you with your sister/best friend/daughter.” A trafficker doesn’t care about your life in particular, they just need a body to use.)

8. The word 'trafficking' is a misnomer!

A victim does not have to be moved to another location for the crime to be considered "trafficking in persons". *If the situation qualifies as modern-day slavery or slave-like conditions, you could be trafficked out of your own home.

7. TIP (Trafficking In Persons) is the fastest growing criminal business activity.

-Over 30 million victims worldwide

-TIP generates about $32 billion per year

-*TIP is estimated to pass up drug trafficking by 2020 as the world’s biggest criminal money-making industry – you can sell drugs once, but humans you can sell over and over again.

-so many more facts at http://love146.org/slavery. Click on the bottom right side of the picture. Love146 is one of my favorite organizations. Or http://www.stopthetraffik.org/uk/page/the-scale-of-human-trafficking

6. Traffickers prey on the powerless:

- 1/2 of the people trafficked are children

- 80% are female

- many live in extreme poverty

- persons trafficked in the USA are usually runaways, homeless, mentally ill, handicapped, immigrants, or refugees.

5. 2 major categories of TIP

Sex Trafficking  (up to 26 different ways such as...)

·                     phone sex

·                     live sex shows and peep shows

·                     stripping

·                     prostitution

·                     pornography

Labor Trafficking

·                     agricultural work

·                     criminal activity

·                     restaurant work

·                     construction

·                     domestic servitude

·                     hotels

·                     mines

·                     street workers (kids selling gum, beggars, etc.)

*These are just some examples, there are plenty more.

4. Average age that girls start to be prostituted in the US *as well as globally* is 13.

3. Countries of origin for trafficked (over borders) victims (as in, trafficked from these countries to other locations):

very high in Asia, India, Eastern Europe. There are lower numbers of trafficked victims coming out of the Americas.

-people are most often (once trafficked) brought to: Europe, the US, some places in southern Asia.

2. The FBI has identified the Twin Cities (Minnesota) as one of the nation’s 13 largest centers for child prostitution.

1. EVERYONE can do something to fight trafficking!

---> pray, become informed, raise awareness, shop wisely, support organizations financially, and come up with your own ideas!

*More ideas/info at websites such as:

notforsalecampaign.org

love146.org

mngirlsnotforsale.org

free2work.org

productsofslavery.org

stopthetraffik.org

callandresponse.com

ijm.org

or just google modern-day slavery or human trafficking!

Hopefully this was helpful to some or all of you. I know I learned new things when I heard all of this and I've been researching this stuff for years, so be informed and share with everyone you can! :)