Hosea's Wife

Lynda and I sat at a small table outside of a coffee shop in the center square of Plaza Foch.  Praying, listening, watching.  Incognito prayer warriors, scouting out the land, looking for God's heart beat in this place.

As we shared with each other what we were sensing, while sipping our coffee, we were approached by two beautiful little girls, tiny arms full of roses and candies.  No older than 7 or 8 years old, it is a common thing for children at this age to help their families by selling candy on the streets.  Normally it's necessary to say, "I'm sorry.  No thank you."  There are just too many to give money to every one.  But this night we just happened to have packages of chocolate cookies with us.  As they looked at us with those sad, brown eyes, I handed the younger one a package of cookies.  Hopefully they would experience the love of God through the simplicity of this gift.

This little girl took the cookies and then proceeded in her most pitiful voice to try to convince me to give the other girl a package as well.  I told her that the cookies were to share and that there were enough for the two of them.  But she continued to plead for more cookies.  Lynda reached into her purse and pulled out two art pieces; one for each girl.  We told them that we couldn't give them more cookies but we wanted them to have the art.  God had something very special to say about each one of them.  The other girl looked at her's and asked if she could switch for a different one.  I handed the first girl a beautiful drawing of a heart that said, "All the love of heaven is over you, dear one."  I looked straight into her eyes and told her how much God loves her.  "You are His daughter.  You are so beautiful to Him.  You are a princess."

She did not want to hear any of that.  She just wanted more cookies.  Finally, in frustration she started to huff off.  Before she left, she turned around, looked at the picture of the heart in her hand, ripped it down the middle and threw it back at us.

I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut.  I could hardly believe what had just played right before our eyes.  This tiny 7 year old had just rejected Love, wanting the pleasure of sweets instead.

In that moment, it was as if the Father lifted a veil from my eyes and showed me how He feels all the time.  With that picture of the ripped heart lying on the table right in front of me, staring back at me with the utter brokenness of the situation, I knew that we were guilty of having done the exact same thing over and over and over again.

How often do we come to God, wanting the cookies instead of the love?  We come for the benefits, the blessing, and He is so good to give us what we ask for.  Yet when He offers us the greatest treasure of all, when He extends the free gift of His love, we tear it up and throw it back in His face.

Hosea 4:12

For the spirit of harlotry has caused 

them to stray,

and they have played the harlot

against their God.

God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute.  This would be the hardest thing he ever did.  He would love her, give her beautiful things, woo her heart, marry her, have two children with her.  And yet.  And yet she would choose other lovers over his love for her.  She would throw everything back in his face and reject his heart.

The spirit of harlotry fills our streets, our homes, our churches.  It's the pervading theme of, "I want what you have, but I don't want you."  It chooses the benefits over intimacy.  It chooses profit over relationship.  It makes God a business instead of a love affair.  How have we fallen so far?

But after all that, after His very heart is abused, rejected and thrown back in His face, He continues to love us, He continue to pursue the on His heart desires.

Hosea 2:14, 16, 19, 20

Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

And in that day, declares the Lord,

you will call me "My Husband"

and no longer will you call me "My Master."

And I will betroth you to Me forever.

I will betroth you to Me

in righteousness and justice,

in steadfast love and mercy.

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

And you shall know the Lord.

The other day I was on a run, twisting through back neighborhood roads, passing by fruit stands, breathing in the fumes of buses going by.  Nothing new.  But then, as I ran down the pavement, something in the gutter caught my eye.  In the midst of the trash and filth that lined the road I saw a single red rose.  At first I thought to just continue on my run.  But then I saw person after person walking down the sidewalk, glance down at the lonely rose, and then pass on by.  And the Holy Spirit stopped me.

Ellie, I never pass on by.

No matter used up, broken, filthy, and valueless we see ourselves, He never passes by.  Again, I think of Hosea's wife.  She was the rose, selling herself for temporary love, value, and beauty.  But then she ended up in the gutter among the trash.  Yet there is never an ounce of I-told-you-so inside of God's heart.  Never does He say, "I offered you my love and you rejected it for another love.  You lost your chance."  Never!  He always picks her up out of her filth and rescues her back into His love.

As I ponder all of this, I find myself responding for myself as well as on behalf of all those around me.  Never do I want to reject the love of my Savior!  Let me never choose another love over His love.  And not only that, let me love like my God who says...

Hosea 11:8

How can I give you up...?

My heart churns within Me;

                                                                 My sympathy is stirred.

What is Behind Their Eyes?

“The Eyes are the window to your soul.” - William Shakespeare

This phrase ran through my mind over and over and over again as I walked through the crowds of lonely people 2 weeks ago, all having somewhere they were going, but really going nowhere.  So dark, so very dark.  Artificial light flashing in front of me, from every club and every street corner.  The pounding sound of music, echoing through the emptiness of countless searching souls.  The red light district of Quito.

What is it about eyes that captures a human being?  What is it about catching someone's glance that causes them to quickly look away?  Is it fear of letting someone look into the window of their souls?  Is it fear of being found out?

The Lord began to speak to me about the power of the eyes.

Matthew 6:22-23  

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

I have the great life calling of gazing into the eyes of my Maker.  And as I do, the fullness of His life is transferred into me.  It's as if our eye connection creates a highway for His Spirit to flow out of the great windows of God's heart and then in through the the windows of our hearts.

We are no different as human beings.  We are able to build connection with someone when we simply look into their eyes, see who they truly are and still choose to love them.  And in that place, the Light that is inside of us is able to flow into the one we behold.  What a powerful, unspoken transformation that takes place!  

2 weeks later, there was something even deeper, a greater loneliness behind the beautiful dark eyes of the people down on the streets.  Valentine's Day.  The Global day of Love.  The commercialized picture of red roses, chocolates, teddy bears and romantic, candle-lit dinners.  How is it that such a superficial, plastic image of "love" could entice so many people, as it feasts on their money and then throws their brokenness back in their faces?

And here in Latin America, the atmosphere was charged with a spiritual tension that was greater than I have ever experienced in the States on Valentine's Day.  It felt like there was almost a desperation that lay right underneath the surface of an entire city.  

Am I really loved?  What must I do in order to cling onto this sense of being wanted?  Will it be stripped away from me tomorrow?  Is there something wrong with me?

Isn't this the question that every human being is asking?  Am I lovable? 

We were split into groups of 3's and 4's, each with a couple of thermoses full of hot chocolate and art pieces that our team had been working on for the past couple of weeks.  Also, someone had donated 50 red and white roses for us to hand out to the women in the red light district.  Although these were still a material symbol of love, we knew that the Holy Spirit was going to redeem these simple, fragrant buds in order to minister to the hearts of those hungering for real love.

They were the women selling chocolate on the street corners.  They were the mother and children digging through the trash in search recyclable material.  They were the prostitutes with their backs against the wall, waiting for the next customer as if it were any other day.  They were the starving teenagers, completely high from sniffing glue in order to dull themselves from the bitter life of sleeping on the cold streets.  They were the women outside the bar, smoking together to avoid the loneliness that screamed in their faces.

As I looked into each set of eyes, I truly felt like I was peering into some place of their soul.  There was so much brokenness, but it was a broken beauty that just needed someone to love it back into wholeness.

With eyes fixed, we spoke the words of truth.  

You are so beautiful.  You are dearly loved by God.  Your heart is so pure, just like this rose.  You have a destiny.  You are never alone.

While they looked into our eyes, it was as if they were able to see the truth and the love that was inside of our souls, flowing out to touch theirs.  What beautiful worship unto the Lord as the windows of their eyes filled with light, wonder, hope and tears.

What a perfect way to waste our Valentine's day by extravagantly pouring out our fragrant perfume on the Lord by ministering to His Beloved!

"Your eyes look like coming home..."

The Indigenous Sound of the Amazon

Bumping and jostling over the uneven, dirt road that lead us deeper and deeper into the jungle.  Eyes plastered on the scene before me, just beyond the rain smeared pane of glass.  Untamed, uninhabited, uncivilized, uncontrolled, unrestrained.  What lies in the deep of this endless forest?  What sort of people establish their lives in this fierce land?  This, this is the Amazon.

We had a solid 8 hours in our tightly packed van to our final destination - a tribe of Waodoni people, who we are wanting to build connection with in order to bring teams to minister to them in the future.  During the ride, our "tour guide" (a gentleman who has been working with this tribe for 7 years) shared the rich history and lifestyle of this tribe...

The Waodonis are a distinct indigenous group of people in the Ecuadorian Amazon, who have their own language, customs, culture, etc...  Through history, these people lived somewhat nomadic lifestyles, moving from place to place, hunting wild animals, wearing little more than leaves, and practicing their own religion with the spirits of nature.  In the past, they were known as a hostile group of people, killing outsiders or each other with man-sized spears, often times for no apparent reason.

With the influence from "outsiders", specifically oil companies that have moved in over the past 20-40 years, the Waodonis have adopted much of the civilized culture: establishing permanent settlements, the use of electricity, having schools in the communities that teach Spanish, wearing clothes...

Even with all this information, my mind swirled with questions and anticipation.  This was the same group of people who Jim Elliot and his group had tried to reach with the Gospel 60 years previously.  This was the same group of people who had speared these missionaries on the bank of the river.  This was the same group of people that the wives and the children of these modern day martyrs spent much of their lives with, continuing to bring the love and forgiveness of the Father.  How much has changed?  How did the lives AND deaths of these missionaries affect this previously unreached people group?

Ellie, you will hear the indigenous sound of the Amazon.

This was all that the Lord spoke to me in preparation.  As we climbed out of the van and sank into the deep mud, I turned my ear to listen.  As we greeted the leaders of the community and their families, I listened.  As we were lead through the village by a 6 year old girl, I listened.  As one of the elders shared his life story with us, I listened.  As we took a 5 hour trek through the unmarked jungle, I listened.

What I heard was both beautiful and painful.

These people have developed so much over the years, abandoning many of their savage ways, no longer spearing each other in rage, moving away from alcoholism, living and making decisions as a community, giving their children education.  And at the same time, they are still fighting to maintain the beauty of their culture as they live in close family, continue to live off the land, have beautiful ceremonies with dancing and singing, and continue to speak their native tongue.

Yet I was left confused and grieved as I also heard the sound of a people still oppressed by a heavy darkness.  I heard the fear in our little friend, Cupe, who refused to take us down a certain road because of the dead man at the end who comes back to life to drag girls away.  I heard the emptiness in 17 year old Rosillo, who had been abducted at 6 by a family who would abuse her for the next 10 years until her brother came and rescued her and then had her marry him.  She was days away from having her first baby, which she will do basically on her own in her house, with little more than a rope to hold onto.  I heard the pain of abuse from the men who took many wives for themselves, girls as young as 13-14, or the pain of incest towards the most innocent children.  I hear the sound of spiritual bondage in a 70 year elder who had just lost his entire family because a spirit had told his wife to poison herself and all her children.

This is injustice.

How is it that someone can go as far as laying down his life for a people group, and yet the enemy continues to have a hold on them with his death grip?  Jim Elliot gave his life for the Waodonis, and so many are still lost in darkness.  Jesus Christ gave his life for mankind, and so many are still lost in darkness.  The price has been paid.  When will Jesus get his just reward?  When will the sound of sorrow be turned into the sound of rejoicing?  When will the song of pain be turned into the song of redemption?

My time in the Amazon was so brief.  Beautiful, surreal, inspiring, life changing, but very, very short.  Yet I feel as if I did hear the indigenous sound of the Amazon.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, 

in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

The sound is creation groaning for the sons and daughters of God to arise.  The sound is a longing for God's people to take back what the enemy has stolen, to claim Jesus' just reward.  The sound is the future day when every tribe and every tongue will worship the Lamb.  The sound is in the hearts of the Waodoni people, and it will soon be released!

Beautiful Wao people

Our team in the Jungle!

Canoe ride back to camp

Welcoming ceremony

Typical Wao house

Leaders in the community in front of a traditional Wao hut

Baby Diego!

Joining in the dancing, singing and laughing

Our team with one of the elders of the tribe

Fire and Fragrance

The language is prayer, the rhythm is worship, the passion is intercession, and the outflow is radical exploits of evangelism!

These words leapt off the pages and landed like an explosive missile in my spirit as I began to be completely drawn into the revelation of prayer and worship portrayed by Sean Feucht and Andy Byrd in their book - Fire & Fragrance.  Phrases like "heavenly vertical worship" and "extravagant sound of love, adoration, and praise" and how the "Gospel of the Kingdom is forcefully advancing and exploding across the darkest and hardest nations of the world," made my spirit scream "YES!  YES AND AMEN!"

The Lord has been clearly speaking to me about the importance of prayer and worship in this hour of the world's history.  If ever there was a time to get before the throne of God, to get into His face, it is NOW.  God is preparing His Bride for a Global harvest that is going to draw in literally billions of souls.  And they will be drawn in by the beauty and glory they see on the Bride, which is the mark of being fully saturated in His presence.  His presence is the answer!  It is only through His presence that we are made ready for what God is about to pour out.  We can not handle the coming move of His Spirit without His presence.

It is crazy to me the weight of this word for right now.  It feels as if everything has shifted.  Even from a week ago, when I was wondering what my purpose is right now here in Ecuador (my last blog post - "Waiting for the Storm"), I have felt the shift in the spirit.  It's as if the Holy Spirit is breathing Himself onto the hidden treasure of prayer and worship.  So much of the Church sees prayer and worship as an exercise to spiritually better yourself.  This is far from the truth.  It is pure and undiluted warfare!  It is the hidden weapon of the Spirit.

For me, it's like a call has gone out in the spirit and something inside of me is recognizing that call as the very one that I was born for.  I am hearing a drum beat that is in complete accordance with the drum beat that I carry in my heart.  There is a whole new excitement, urgency and pure life that is flowing from the place of prayer and worship right now.  This is why I am called to the Nations!  This is why I am in Ecuador for such a time as this!

Fire cannot burn without fragrance being released, and you cannot have the fragrance of smoke without first starting a fire.  The fire of passionate, zealous love for Jesus has always been the foundation of the fragrance of Christ impacting the spheres of society, nations, and the entire globe in truly Kingdom-building way...  The fragrance of a burning heart is the greatest evangelism scent the world has ever smelled.

There is so much opportunity for ministry here in Quito.  Sometimes it's overwhelming seeing the great need of even just one city in one nation in one continent of the world.  I hear the cries of the broken, the poor and needy, the sick and the dying, and the ones in bondage, and I wonder how one person or one organization could even begin to make an impact.  But that is the beauty of prayer and worship!  I am doing more in one hour spent before the throne of God than I could possibly do out of my own strength in an entire lifetime.

I want to be strategically placed in the place of darkness, the place of brokenness, the place of great need, and simply burn.  I know that God is going to set up crazy, divine opportunities and scenarios where He will use me to release His glory, but that will come from a place of adoration and worship.

May the knowledge of the glory of God cover the earth in our lifetime!

Waiting for the Storm

What to say?  I'm back in Ecuador, the Middle of the World, right on the equator with the brightest sun in the sky.  The season is still the same as when I left, seeing as there really are no defined seasons here.  And yet, hanging in the atmosphere is a thick knowing that the seasons have indeed changed.

What do I mean by that?

My time back at home for Christmas was relaxing, enjoyable, busy, fun, relational, refreshing, and much needed.  At the onset of the trip, I wondered if 4 weeks would feel too long.  Would I be constantly wishing I was back in Ecuador?  Would I be chomping at the bit to get back?  But those early questions came back to confuse me as I lay in my bed the night before my return journey.

Why am I not ecstatic about going back?  I love my life in Ecuador - I love my team, all the places we minister, the culture, etc...  So it would make sense that I would be over-the-top excited.  So why not?  This time spent at home, I have grown so much more passionate about our work and Casa Mis Sueños, so shouldn't I be ready to launch back in?

I wasn't dreading going back.  There was simply a lack of anticipation.  Where is the vision for 2013?  Where is the thrill of stepping into the "new thing"?  But as I talked with Jesus about all of this, all I kept hearing Him say was that things were going to be very different.

And different it most certainly has been!  Upon returning we have moved into a different house, registered for a 20 hr/wk spanish school, attended a training seminar for how to work with victims of sex-trafficking, and had our entire schedule from last year thrown out the window.

What's more, within the first few days I was slammed with spiritual warfare like a ton of bricks.  The second night I woke up with a fever and then spent the next 4 days at home in bed.  (I'm currently on antibiotics and am recovering.)  With this came an intense amount of fear.  I could sense the enemy suggesting the worst possible outcome to my heart.

Although I fought this with the Holy Spirit and was able to overcome, the next few days I battled so many other thoughts and feelings that were in direct opposition to my purpose.

WHAT AM I DOING HERE?  Do I even belong here?  Can I make it through 4 more months?

I shared this with my sister over Skype who was also feeling the exact same things.  Her roommate, who overheard our conversation, gave us a prophetic word that changed my perspective.  She told us that often times right before a tornado is about to hit, instead of raging wind and lightning, the air will go suddenly quiet and still.  She felt that that is where we are at right now.  Everything seems still and lifeless, like nothing is happening.  But we are in the very eve of this tornado that will come with a raging force.

Yes and Amen!  This word fully resounds with what I am now seeing is truth.  God IS doing something new in this season, but it is coming in a very different manner.  If all I know is to watch the sky for green clouds, hail, lightning or tornado sirens, I could very easily miss the tornado if it comes with stillness.  This is also true of how God speaks.  Often we grow accustomed to one way that He speaks to us.  But we must learn how to press into Him so that if He ever changes the way He speaks to us, we will not miss it.

With this revelation, I am growing more and more excited for this next season, no matter how different it may prove to be!

How do you start a movement?

When I emailed him a little over a month ago, I had no idea that God was going to use that message to begin a movement.

We started having meetings for Casa Mis Sueños in October (read about Casa Mis Sueños in last post).  It was all so exciting to be apart of, dreaming together, writing down lists of donations that we needed, starting a Facebook page, etc...  But sitting patiently in the back corner of our hearts, was this little frustration - Will this home ever really become a reality?  The hoped for date had been set for this past July... then this September... then this December...  The legal documents that we need have been in "process" for a year now.  The blueprints for the home are written up, but the numbers remain glaring us in the face.  The house parents we are praying for still do not have names.  It is so hard when there is something that you want to fully run after, but it seems like you have weights around your feet that only allow you to go a slow, dragging pace.

So it happened that in one of those meetings, while we were discussing budgets and what one girl would cost per month, that I brought up my friend Jeff Brodsky.  I told the girls that I have a friend back home in Colorado, who has an organization where he does actual rescues of girls out of brothels and has helped establish safe houses all over the world.  I knew the wealth of wisdom that he has and I knew it would be extremely beneficial for our team to have him as a resource.  So with the encouragement of my team, I emailed him with the basic intention of seeing if he could send us any insight he might have on how to successfully run a safe house.

His response - "I have a better idea. How would like a visit from me where we can sit down with the team and discuss everything in person? This way I can answer any questions, see the potential facilities and they can ask me any questions regarding the right way to run a successful Safe House. If the Safe House is not run properly, the statistics are pretty bad. Over 80% of the girls will leave the facility and go back into the sex trade. When run properly, the success rate is usually in the 90% to 100% success range. A huge difference. Plus, I would get to see your sweet, smiling face!"

To put it lightly, I was completely blown away!  Within the next week he had booked his flight to arrive within 3 weeks.  This completely took me off guard.  I was expecting a polite response with some valuable insight to help our team.  But a visit to Ecuador?!  Someone would do that for us?

Jeff and Me on the equator line!

As I began to prepare for Jeff's visit, I could sense that the Holy Spirit was going to use this trip in a way that would go far beyond our little team meetings.  I felt like him coming to Ecuador would be the needed push to get this dream rolling.  We have so many amazing open doors here and all the necessary pieces.  It's like having all the wood set out, gasoline poured, the match ready, etc...  We just needed that catalyst to spark the fire.  Before he arrived, I worked out a detailed itinerary for every day of Jeff's visit.  However, what God had in mind went far beyond what any of us had planned.

In order to even paint a partially accurate picture of what happened, I have to share a little bit about Dr. Jeff Brodsky.  His organization, Joy International, is devoted to the rescue of child sex slaves all over the world, which he has been directly involved in for the past 7 years.  In all of our meetings, Jeff started out by sharing his story of being barefoot.  As of today, he has gone completely without shoes for 866 days, for the sake of the girls that he rescues.  This in itself is just a small picture of how radically Jeff loves these girls.  They are not his daughters, but as he shares, they are God's daughters and he will do whatever it takes to rescue them.  Most of what he and his team does is extremely dangerous, but he readily shares with everyone that he is willing to die for these girls; they are worth it!

One of our meetings

It is phenomenal what happens when Jeff shares why he does what he does, when he shares his heart for these girls, when he shares his stories, etc...  It is as if that same love and passion in his heart is transferred through the atmosphere and ignites something wild within your heart.  It is so much more than just an inspirational message that gets people fired up for the moment, but then remains as just something you heard someone talk about once.  There are so many organizations that do exactly that, stir people up about the issues but fail to get them doing something about those issues.  Wherever Jeff spoke here in Ecuador, on the other hand, there was a completely different response.  People didn't walk away thinking about doing something.  People leapt off of their seats and asked where to sign their names, in a sense.

And I fully believe it is because what Jeff carries is a passion for the tragedy married with a heart brimming with hope.  He is moved to tears every time he talks about the tragedy of a girl who could be as young as 4 years old, forced to service 10-15 men a day; yet his words are always crowned with hope for these girls' futures.  He shares stories of girls who have been rescued out of brothels and have gone on to become successful owners of coffee shops, lawyers fighting human trafficking, beautiful brides, passionate lovers of Jesus, etc...  It is God's heart to FULLY restore these girls to a place where they have a hope for a future.

Jeff sharing about his work and Mela translating

Looking over the blueprints for Casa Mis Sueños

This message, this drumbeat, this movement became ignited in not only our team's heart, but in the hearts of countless people in all the meetings we had while Jeff was here.  It was and still is so exciting to see people catch the vision and see the doors fling open everywhere we go.  We saw everything from doors opening up with people in the government to business men wanting to get involved to people offering their services in all different areas - film, photography, writing up legal documents, etc...  We have gone from a slow, dragging pace to full out sprint.  Within a matter of 5 days, this dream went from being something that would hopefully happen one day, into something that is happening and happening right now!  And the incredible part about it all is that it is so apparently God.  None of this could possibly be happening within our own accord.  But praise the Lord that He would want to partner with us and back all of our dreams!

We all fully believe that the Lord has started something that cannot be stopped.  Our hearts are burning with a desire to see Casa Mis Sueños launch into something more than just a safe home, to see it become a movement among the people of Ecuador.  This is not just our dream; this is God's dream!  For me, it has been so exciting being part of something that is so much bigger than I am, having a role in something as explosive as what is happening right now.  It makes me want to dream bigger.  It makes me want to trust God for more.  I wake up in the morning with excitement, anticipation, and purpose.  What will happen next?  What is the next chapter in this unfolding story?

We are so thankful for Jeff and his time investing into our vision.  His life is a testimony of God's unrelenting pursuit of His lost children.  The urgency has been thrust into our hearts.  The time is now!

Casa Mis Sueños

The movement started with a dream.  And now that dream is developing into a house of dreams.

Two years ago, Mela and Sabri heard a cry.  It came from the girls in the prison who were starving for love and purpose.  It came from the street corners where the prostitutes stood enveloped in the shadows and lost in a darkness of their souls.  It came from the girls who had been kidnapped or sold from their families, brutally forced into a life inside the brothels, and know nothing but pain and brokenness.  Their silent cries begged for someone to stop and listen, to do something, anything, to offer hope, to fight for them.  And that cry reached the hearts of Mela and Sabri.  Casa Mis Sueños was born.  It was birthed with a desire to be a voice for the voiceless, to fight for a way out for these girls, and to stand in the gap against the incredible injustices that these girls face every day.

House of My Dreams - Created For Freedom

Ecuador is a huge hub for human trafficking within South America.  Thousands of underage girls are trafficked in and out of Ecuador for the single purpose of being sold for sex 10-15 times a day.  And within the entire nation, there are only two homes devoted to the restoration of the girls that are rescued out of this nightmare.  And what is worse, most of society is either ignorant of this inhumane crime or has simply turned a blind eye to what is going on right beneath the surface.  Speaking about sex is taboo in this country, so of course, anything related to prostitution or child sex trafficking gets pushed under the rug.  Even people within the government have no idea what is going on.  Recently, one of the two foundations that works with rescued girls met with some very high officials in the government.  When these politicians heard about the work, they displayed their complete ignorance by asking, "Is there really trafficking in Ecuador?"  How can the ones who are responsible for the peace and prosperity of a nation be completely unaware of the darkest, most evil crime that is taking place on their  very soil?

Casa Mis Sueños is simply a response to the incredible need in this country.  What is the answer to injustice in the world?  We are.  

The moment I sat down with Mela and Sabri and heard their vision of starting up a safe home for girls who have been rescued out of forced prostitution, I knew I had signed up for the right internship.  The vision - "Casa Mis Sueños is a ministry devoted to restoring value and identity to young single mothers at high risk, who come from human trafficking, prostitution and youth prisons, in order for them to live as daughters of God and to inherit the Kingdom."  In a nutshell, the vision is to open up a safe house that could be not just a rehab center, but a home for these girls.  Casa Mis Sueños literally means House of My Dreams.  This home would be an environment that would allow these girls to heal physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, and also be a green house for them to have dream for their future.

One year ago, Jesus signed this dream with His seal of "Yes and Amen."  Mela and Sabri were given a house where this dream could come true.  Located outside of the city, this facility is perfect for Casa Mis Sueños to be born.  Within one moment this dream became so much more than a dream, it became reality.  Since then, this beautiful story has continued to unfold with doors opening up everywhere, connections being made with people of influence and resources, miraculous donations coming in, etc...  God's favor is all over this ministry!

The home where dreams will come true for
countless girls.

Someone once told me, a dream is not a dream unless it is absolutely impossible if God does not come through.  Will we limit our dreams to what we can accomplish in our own ability?  Will our dreams reflect a small God or a big God?  How big do we believe God is?  How good do we believe God is?  How powerful do we believe God is?  Well where we are at this moment is in the very middle of a lake of impossibilities, 5 feet in over our head.  There is no way any of this can happen unless God miraculously shows up... as He has over and over and over again.

In order for our home to open up, we have a laundry list of things that need to be accomplished.  First of all, we are $300,000 dollars away from reconstructing our facilities.  We already have all the blueprints for what will be an absolutely beautiful home for these girls and their babies.  We have the architect and the man power.  We even have people who are donating material.  It's just a matter of putting all the pieces together, along with the missing finances, and this house will be reality.  Then we are praying for the right house parents to come to our back door.  These would be people who are willing to give their lives to create a family environment for these girls, to pour into their lives, and to oversee the restoration process so that they can eventually leave the home and enter society as capable and successful young women.  We also need everything it takes to make a house a home - furniture, appliances, kitchen utensils, lighting, etc...  So from where we stand, there would appear to be giants standing in the way.  But we believe our God is bigger!

So that's the home of Casa Mis Sueños.  But while we are waiting for all the pieces to line up, there is no way that we could wait to find the girls!  For the past 2 months, we have been working at one of the two rehab centers here in Ecuador.  We go once a week to simply love on these girls, help awaken their dreams and desires, bombard them over and over again with words about their value and identity, and be a friend to them.  I guess you could say that we are being Jesus to the least of these.  The facility they are at is by no means Christian, but we have been given liberty to share whatever we want with the girls.  It has been phenomenal watching the transformation that has taken place!  They are so hungry for love.  Each time we come, we are met with laughter, hugs and kisses.  Every time we leave, we are begged to stay and held onto with even bigger hugs.  These girls are opening up their hearts to us, sharing their dreams, asking for prayer, etc...

In the red light district

On top of that, my room mate Carly is starting to go down to the red light district on a weekly basis.  She wants to build relationships with the prostitutes, the ones shunned by society.  Her heart is to be able to buy girls out for the night in order to take them out to dinner and just show them their value and worth.  By Valentine's day, she wants to have a formal dinner for the girls that she has built relationship with, where they will be able to come, be catered to with the finest food, be given roses, etc...  All to demonstrate the extravagant love God has for them.

It is such an honor and privilege to be part of this incredible dream that is unfolding before our very eyes.  My heart is fully in this.  I want to see Casa Mis Sueños up and running while I'm here.  So please partner with me in prayer.  Those girls are out there and they are waiting for us to do something about it!

Check out our facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-Mis-Sueños-Created-For-Freedom/250430848412112

If you want to hear more or get involved, shoot me an email - le.stailey333@gmail.com

Also, check back within a couple of days when I will be blogging about the exciting things that have happened this past week as the dream continues.