cyprus sojourn...

I just returned from a Cyprus excursion. I have to exit every 3 mos to keep the EU happy and Kelsey was doing a conference on trafficking so I decided to join her. We were encouraged by the 50-ish people that came each day to hear about human trafficking in general and about the happenings on Cyprus specifically. Although Cyprus is a very small country, it is a major destination for trafficking because of its location. The girls seem to be sourced from Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Philippines. Sophisticated maf. crime rings bring them in on artiste visas or bar-maid work permits.

Most of the 50 that came to our conference didn't know much about the problem on their island and were shocked to learn the gritty details. They just had no idea it was going on in their quiet backyard. But there is a grass-roots group of 4 ladies that hit the streets each Wednesday hoping to build meaningful relationships with girls. Please pray for them! And please pray for the others that networked and dreamed up new ideas during the wkend. Pray they'd get involved as the Lord leads.


Meanwhile, back in Athens the protests and strikes continue! This is what I walked through today...


Strike, Strike, Strike! The Greeks love to strike! They often close the airport and all public forms of transportation to STRIKE! Can't imagine these strikes are super helpful to the suffering economy....but they didn't ask my opinion....

I'm leaving in a few hours for our late night Thurs outreach. Thank you for your prayers for safety and for good conversations!! With the nicer weather we seem to be encountering more curious 'customers' and with the bad economy the girls are willing to do more dangerous things for $$. We'll be out from 11p.m. - 2a.m. (that's 1:00pm in Seattle, 2:00pm in Idaho! )