The Beginning

In the fall of 2008 I went to a women's conference in California. My friend suggested we go because she knew I loved Lisa Bevere who was a speaker at it. I went with the expectation to have a great time with my girlfriend, to learn more about leading women and to grow in God. I didn't expect God to put a passion in my heart for something I had never heard of before and a desire to do something about it so strong that I couldn't ignore it and go back to normal life.

Lisa Bevere told us that the year before, she was reading an article in a magazine about human trafficking and the sex-trade. She sat stunned, having not known any of these things went on in our world. Immediately she started crying for these people enslaved and told God that if she could do anything to help change this situation, she was His girl. A few weeks later a ministry called her and said, "Lisa, we want to reach out into the human trafficking crime and help change these people's lives and situations. We want to ask you to be the face of this mission; to go to Cambodia and see for yourself what's going on and come home to raise awareness."

Of course she went and has raised awareness - including mine.

Did you know that, although many people think that slavery was abolished years ago, today an estimated 27 million people are held in slavery worldwide? In reality, there are more slaves today than were taken from Africa during 300 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade … more slaves than at any other time in history. Most of them women and children, these slaves are trafficked illegally. They are resalable, and can exchange hands numerous times. The total market value of human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $42.5 billion.

About 70% of all victims of human trafficking are used in the sex trade. 80% are women and girls. 50% are minors, with the average age of girls in the sex slave trade being 12 years old.

Some children are sold by their parents, others are lured by false promises of legitimate jobs, and yet others are kidnapped. Ultimately children are sold to brothel owners and held against their will … then they are beaten and starved to force them to have sex with grown men. Virgin children are presented to a series of bidders such as high-ranking officers, politicians, businessmen and foreign tourists. These children are sex slaves in the most literal sense of the word; they receive food only, and are stopped by armed guards from running away. A UNICEF survey indicated that 35% of Cambodia’s 55,000 prostitutes are children under the age of sixteen. An estimate of 40% of Thailand’s prostitutes are children.

I sat in that conference and knew that this was something I needed to help in. I knew that the crime was too huge for me to change, but I also knew that I couldn't not do something. I had to find some way to rescue and restore these children caught in the sex-trade...

I'll post more later about the amazing journey that God has taken me on these last 3 1/2 years...stay tuned :)

xoxo J

I Think it's Wednesday... ;)

We arrived in Thailand last night and got all settled into what will be our home for the next two weeks. Our plane rides were great, everything went smoothly. We had a lay over in Hong Kong - our first time in China. Next time I'd like to see more than just the airport and Starbucks, but it was a start.

It was 23 degrees last night when the sun was down and it's hot this morning already. I don't know the exact temperature and we haven't been outside yet, but I am thankful for air conditioning.

I'm sitting in a class with 22 students listening to my man teach on leadership teams. The students are all in uniform, listening intently and responding to the teaching. I love seeing young people get trained for the ministry-love seeing the passion of people who give their time, brain space, heart space and lives to help others - in any capacity.

We are so looking forward to what God has planned for this trip and to the connections and relationships that we will make.

Thank you all for your prayers and for keeping tuned!

xoxo J

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It's just after 6 Monday morning. We will be travelling for the next 24.5 hours. We leave Calgary just after 10, fly to Hong Kong and arrive in Bangkok at 6 am Tuesday morning MST. We will lose 14 hours going there and will arrive at 8 pm Bangkok time...not sure what time zone that is.

Our children are all settled in their respective homes for the rest of March and I think we have packed everything we need. I can relax on the long flight overseas, and Kelly...well, Kelly can try to relax on said flight. He's not much for being forced to stay still for a whole day anywhere, let alone a big metal beast in which there's nowhere to go but to the bathroom and back. But I have no dishes or laundry to do on the plane, so I'm good :)

While in Thailand these next two weeks Kelly will be teaching at our Victory Bible College and I will be getting massages :) You can get a foot massage for about $4 and a full massage for about $10. For the very brave, there are Thai massages. Nothing like our relaxing massages, they bend and twist you until you walk out feeling like you have no spine and are, frankly, surprised that you walk out. The beautiful ladies of Thailand are tiny, but they are really, really strong.

Over the next few posts, I'd love to share with you how God brought the conception of Not4Sale to my heart and the journey it's taken to nurture that dream. But for now I have a day of airplanes and airports to prepare for.

Have a great day on the ground,

xoxo J

New Blog Address

Due to my poor spelling when I created our blog URL two years ago, I've created a new one where Asia is spelled correctly. If you are interested in keeping up with our coming trip, please follow this link and not the one I sent out earlier this week.

It is now 4 days until we leave for Asia and we are taking care of all the stuff a family of 7 needs to take care of when they are living in three different places, at least four different provinces, three different countries and two different continents for three weeks.

We are blessed to have our children taken care of by friends and family and that we can relax and know they are in good hands...perhaps having even more fun than they would at home :)

We are taking a suitcase of stuffies for the girls donated by many loving people who want to reach out and give some form of comfort to our girls in the safe home. Thank you all!

So, again, thank you for following us on our journey. One that has been more than three years in the making - full of joy and tears, amazing people giving their hearts to others, victories and learning curves and always the greatness of our God!

xoxo J

www.not4sale.ca