We finally sent out an email about what we are going to get to be a part of in Nepal. It has all the information and in lieu of writing it all again, I posted it here :-). Thanks for taking the time to read it, and we'd love to tell you more! Let us know if you want to be involved.
Hello Family and Friends,
We are so excited to finally be writing this email to you all to tell you about what God is doing in Nepal and how we are going to be involved, and how you can too!
So let's get right to it. Almost 10 months ago, now, we sat on the front lawn of our friends' property in Nepal where we lived for 2 1/2 months, and God really impressed upon us an idea. Now at first, we thought this idea was a new concept that God specifically given to us, but it turns out that He had been planning this for quite some time now and was about to make us part of His plan.
Before we unveil the plan, let’s start at the beginning… and that is 15,000. What's the deal with 15,000? 15,000 is the number of Nepali girls that are sold into the sex-trade EVERY YEAR! That's 1,250 girls every month, 41 girls a day, and 3 girls every 2 hours that are uprooted from their homes in mountain villages and taken away from a life they will never know again, to be sold into the ever-increasing sex-trade across the border into India and beyond.
Now, as appalling and horrific as that "sounds," it was even more horrifying to see this issue in person. As we spent 10 weeks in Nepal, we visited the mountain villages where unsuspecting girls live their lives, we drove on the roads which the brokers use to transport them across the borders, and we met and spent time with young girls that have lived through this trauma.
Our friends in Nepal have already taken in four amazing girls that were at one point sold, or about to be sold, across the border into India. These four girls have been living with them for two years, experiencing what love is really like and beginning to heal with Jesus' touch. We were blessed to be able to get to know these girls and spend time with them and hear their traumatic and sad, yet redeeming stories.
We learned all about different groups and organizations that are going into India or patrolling the border to rescue girls. It is AMAZING that there are organizations that are slowly being able to do this, but for several very complicated reasons that are difficult to understand for us, the girls are not welcomed back into their own homes and families, and therefore, have very few places to go once they are rescued! Also, the age at which the girls are being "sold" is becoming younger and younger; there are 8 and 9 year old girls being trafficked across the border! When these young girls are rescued, there are very few organizations that have the capacity to sustain long-term care for these young girls.
That hit us hard! Harder than anything we saw as we traveled and we really felt this was what God wanted us to become involved in. We continuously prayed as we were overseas that God would show us what He wanted us to do. We were open to moving somewhere and living overseas if that seemed best and what He wanted, but this is what He placed on our hearts. This also became more real when our friend in Nepal got news that five more girls were rescued from brothels in India or from the border and needed a place to live now. With limited resources, our friend faithfully trusted God and took them in, but here is the issue......
There is no HOME for these girls. They are temporarily staying in a renovated piece of our friends' property that we were able to help build (with amazing support from you guys!), but this living situation is not sustainable and can only house up to 9 girls.
So, back to the idea! These girls need a home! Let’s help build them a home. After praying about it a lot we brought up this idea with our friends in Nepal and the EPI staff and to our amazement this was something they have been thinking and praying about as well! At this point our idea became a little more tangible and we became EPI staff with this as one of our first projects. With God's help, we are going to help our friends in Nepal build a HOME for girls that have been rescued from sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. We hope to use our God given gifts, Justin's project management skills and budgeting; and Krista's counseling skills and heart to help these young victims.
What will this look like?
1) We will be doing what we can to raise awareness and funds so that we can raise enough money to build the actual house and then keep it up and running for years to come, with the ability to house 16-20 girls.
2) Krista will be putting together and implementing a counseling training curriculum to use with the staff of the house as she works with them to figure out the best way to help the girls fully heal.
3) We will not be moving to Nepal. We feel very strongly that God wants us to do all of this from the States (at least for now) and therefore, we will be living here and periodically taking trips to Nepal throughout the year. In fact, we’ll be taking a team back to Nepal this March! Want to come? The EPI partners (our friends in Nepal) are absolutely incredible and are fully capable of managing the project from the ground.
4) MUHAN HOUSE - this is the name of the future home to 16-20 girls rescued from the sex-trade. "Muhan" in Nepali literally means "source." It usually refers to the source of a river, and implied in its meaning is a source that never runs dry. In conjunction with our Nepali partners we came up with this name because we believe that Jesus is the true source of life and healing. Like the source of a river, He never runs dry and is the living water (John. 4:14) that satisfies every need and truly brings life back into dead situations.
What can you do?
1) Ask us questions. We have so much more information, but this email is already long enough and in lieu of writing a novel, please ask us questions that you might have about this and we would be more than happy to try our best to answer you.
2) Pray!! Please cover this whole project in prayer. Satan would like nothing more than to sabotage a place where girls will come to know Jesus and heal from this unbelievable trauma.
3) Stay connected through our Facebook page and eventually our website. Click HERE to go to the Face Book page,
Make sure to click on LIKE once you get to the page, and you can stay posted on the latest and greatest and learn more about the issue of sex-trafficking in Nepal.
3) Come and See! Join us on a trip to Nepal! We have our first one in March and then we will be going on a yearly basis (maybe more). Stay connected and find out when we'll be going and come with us!! If your are interested in going this March, let us know!
4) Give. The estimated cost of the house at this point is $150,000. In Nepal, land and building supplies are very expensive, but we are trusting God will come up with this figure. In addition, we are trusting that He will provide the funds to keep the house running and the girls supported indefinitely. To give to this project, go on the EPI website (www.eagleprojects.com), click on donations and put Muhan House in the options line.
What a great way to make this Christmas different!!
We look forward to partnering with you on this project! And please feel free to come to us with questions, concerns, thoughts, or anything!
In Him,
Krista and Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment