the good news with the bad...

Thank you so much for your prayers. This time God didn't intervene in the way we had hoped. Not being able to envision a way to manage a 9-month pregnancy without the $$ prostitution provides, Michelle found a doctor to do the sad deed last night. But I am trusting the Lord intervened in less obvious ways....hopefully the conversations, the kindness and love she experienced during the last few wks will serve as seeds of hope in her broken life.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer..." Ro 12:12

But let me cheer you with some good news. We had an escapee this wkend! My teammate, Dee, met her in a brothel between customers...she was cold to us....didn't want to chat. She wasn't interested in what Dee had to say.

But then Dee said, "Why do you believe all the lies they tell you?" That's all it took! 180 degree turn. Just like that. With those 10 words her frosty exterior melted, her heart softened and she had ears to hear options. Long story short - she ran away without any of her possessions, hid with us for 2 nights while her captors looked for her and finally our team delivered her to a shelter far from those that take advantage of her!

The good stories give us encouragement to fight another day! Thank you, again, for your prayers last week....please pray for this escaped girl to find meaning in her new life.

baby #21...

I spent yesterday with a visiting team of college kids from Indiana sticking stickers. We plastered them all up and down the street that we go to on Thursday nights. It's a thriving, bustling vegetable market by day and a popular place to find a prostitute by night. Hopefully girls will recognize our logo and be able to find our tele number if they need it. Please pray that they won't all get taken down and that God will make them visible to the right eyes.


We hope a girl like Michelle might see the stickers. We met Michelle in a brothel. She's 23. Her story is tragic....she was raped by her father at 12 then raised in a Romanian orphanage and only received some elementary education.

Now she's living with a man 20 yrs older that she calls her boyfriend. Her job in the brothel supports them. She's now 2 months pregnant and called us to get help with an abortion. She's had 20 other abortions with no anesthesia and wants to do it differently this time. (wow)

We're definitely not the 'abortion people' but it is an opportunity for us to be in her life...to have some conversations with her. So my co-worker, Vicki, has met with her a couple of times to discuss other options for her pregnancy but also for her whole life! As she listened she said she can't begin to even dream of the other life Vicki talked about. Where would she start? How would she pay for an apartment with no education and no other skills? Her boyfriend cleverly tells her that all the Eastern European men here want to sell her to someone else. So she is jumpy and constantly suspicious of everyone around....and the fear conveniently keeps her locked away from civilization. She didn't even know how to ride on the escalator because she never gets out in the city...she's either working or at home.

Vicki put her in contact with a doctor we know and trust but didn't go with her to the appointment. The doctor couldn't commit to what Michelle had hoped for because she is so far along in her pregnancy.

This is the latest email from Vicki, "We had many long phone conversations today during her breaks in the brothel. She has asked again and again for me to go to the doctor and help and I had to explain to her again how I feel and what I believe. To make the story short, she and her boyfriend want to meet with us and discuss the adoption solution. So please, please pray God will change their hearts and that they will make the right decision. Pray for us as well, for peace, wisdom and guidance from our Lord. We have a meeting on Friday to meet them both and talk things through."

We're on the cusp! Of a miracle for baby #21 or of yet another horrible decision in a life of 1,000,000 tragedies.
Please pray with us today!

blooper reel....

So I was supposed to bring the refreshments for an annual Nea Zoi meeting for Greek supporters. I went to the store to buy all my ingredients. Should be pretty straight forward, yea? Well, I made banana bread out of BISQUICK, tried to put INSTANT coffee through the filter coffee maker, and set out SALT and CONDENSED MILK for them to use in their coffee and tea!! Sheeeesh, I'm making culinary vocabulary flashcards RIGHT NOW! (and I've probably been dismissed from the refreshment committee....)

In other news....spent Saturday at Corinth with some of the kids from the Greek Bible College and their professor who happens to teach Corinthians. He was a great guide (obviously)...it was really fun to be there with someone who can explain the pile of old stones from a Biblical perspective. So much of the old city is still there...the main street, the shop walls, even a public latrine! Here's me strolling on main street...

Here's the college students on the ancient starting blocks. Paul used so many race references in his letters because athletics was a real part of the Greek life.

Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months and worked as a tent maker in one of these shops. (These are different NW shops than the shops I miss in the Pacific Northwest!)

This is the Bema judgement seat from Acts 18 where Paul was brought before Gallio, the Proconsul, accused of "persuading men to worship God"...

Just a few miles away is Cenchrea, where Paul had his hair cut before jumping on a boat to Ephesus. (Acts 18:18) This is me at the barbershop... (well, maybe...)

And finally, here's a more modern wonder. The Corinth Canal - built in 1881 to connect the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea.

wreaking havoc....

Athens had a bad day yesterday. As you probably saw on your TV, somehow this favorite Greek pastime....

turned to sheer madness! My roommate and I had been warned by the US Embassy to stay inside and away from the typical protest spots. We didn't know that would be up the block from our house!! We knew it had to be close when we could hear the crowds yelling and the tear gas "bombs" going off right down the street. We had to close our doors when we started coughing and had itchy eyes. Luckily my Dad delivered these handy masks all the way from Idaho just in case... here we are enjoying Greece from the balcony...

and here from inside ....trying to avoid the smoke from the bank & fire truck that were on fire just a couple blocks away....

This media van was totally destroyed....

Before...

After... poor dumpster...

All this expensive destruction because the EU bailout requires reductions in salaries. As wages are low here in comparison with other EU countries, the people are protesting these cuts. But I do feel bad for all "the little guys"...all the shop owners who now have to replace all their windows...

The chaos seems to have settled down today. I still hear some sirens but things have scaled down a bit. We have our late night Outreach tonight at midnight. I'd appreciate your prayers tonight for our safety. And that we could have some good conversations. Lately there have been so many police out that it's been hard to engage. It's nearly comical trying to have a meaningful conversation when they are running away with their shoes flying off! Also, I've been feeling convicted lately about not doing enough with the Nigerian girls. We're out there 2x a wk...they know us...they like our tea. One girl even called the office asking for a Bible this week. But why doesn't more happen??? Is it a cultural thing that we aren't picking up on?? Should we be reaching out to them in a different way? If I call them more during the day each wk, will they respond?? Please pray that the Lord will lend me/us wisdom and that He'll do some miracles in our surfacey relationships! I'm constantly reminded that my ideas and skills are contained in a mere, leaky "earthen vessel" and that any power is of God and not from me (2 Cor 4).