Immersion Experience News Story

Here is a news story I did for Grassroots News International on the Immersion Experience ( see the previous post)

Grassroots News International  –  http://grassrootsnews.tv/?p=582

The Immersion Experience

At the end of February, I had the opportunity to go through the Immersion Experience.

The Immersion Experience, put on by Catholic Charities Dignity Program, is a way to bring awareness to the people about what is going on in their community.  It is a real life walk through (which could be compared to a haunted house), with different rooms showing what life is like for young girls and women who are victims of domestic sex trafficking.

Groups are led through by a guide, taking them into various rooms with different scenarios dealing with issues such at internet predators, strip clubs, targeting grounds, grooming and being turned out, abuse, drugs, the demand,  sexting, death and the media.

The media is one of the main tools that desensitizes us to this issues,  in songs such as Big Pimpin, The Candy Shop, and many others.

This experience shows how pimps use the internet and ploys at the mall to trick girls into trusting them and leading them into the life of domestic human sex trafficking.

They get these women and young girls hooked on drugs, threaten to hurt them or their families if they try to leave and abuse them if they do not bring back enough money.  The women get stuck in the life, with seemingly, no hope of getting out.

Catholic Charities DIGNITY is one of the few programs in Phoenix helping  women off the streets.  Some of the biggest problems are awareness as to what is really happening and funding.   Most people do not realize it, but sex trafficking is happening – the buying and selling of women (and men) for purchase of sex.   This is not only in other countries, but in the United States.  Phoenix is in the top worst cities in America.

This is not to make you feel panicked and paranoid, but to be aware of what is going on.  If you have young girls,  be aware of who they are talking to online and what men they are trusting.  As you walk through the experience, you see it is not the glamorous and fun life that movies and music videos may depict, but an abusive, draining, degrading lifestyle.

This is the second year they have put on the Immersion Experience.  Their hope is to do a tour around the country by  summer 2012.

Please visit Immersion Experience to find out more about their program and where they will be next.

 

True Love

I love the words of this song…so true.  I was listening to it today and thought I would share it with you all.

With distractions around me, I so easily forget the awesomeness of what Christ did for us on the cross.  It is much more than just a story.  True love, sacrificing Himself for us even when we hated Him.

If you have 4 min, take a break from whatever you are doing and listen to these words.

God is good.

Help-Portrait

Check out my new blog post on my photography page!

http://sadiesuchphotography.blogspot.com/2011/01/help-portrait.html

Back To Mexico

In the middle of November, around 20 of us took the 4-5 hour drive to Puerto Penasco.  We partnered with a church there and worked with different ministries they are involved in for a few days – from building houses to working in food banks to medical clinics to feeding families in the barrios to leading VBS to soccer to eating delicious tacos!

Here are a few pictures.

 

Central America Video

I made it back to Phoenix safely!  It is great being back and seeing friends and family, but I miss everyone from our trip like crazy.  I am thankful for all the videos and pictures to look over to remember the past six months.  Here are a few of the videos to show you just a glimpse of our trip through Mexico and Central America.

Team, I hope you are all doing well back home/wherever you are!  I miss you and love you!

Again, I want to thank all our friends and family for your support and prayer during our journey.  It was truly an amazing experience, where God opened our eyes and taught us things we were not expecting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_rn2VV8JtM

Flying Back To HI

We are flying back to Kona, HI today!  What an amazing time these past couple months have been. I again, thank you for all of your prayers!  We will be in Hawaii for debrief then heading back to Phoenix at the end of the month.

Here are a few pictures from our time in Costa Rica…more to come from the trip soon!

We Made It!

We made it to Tijuana this afternoon!  It is hard to believe that our road trip through Central America is over.  Thank you everyone for all of your prayers!  We will be here in Tijuana for the next 6 days and fly back to Hawaii for a week of debrief with the other teams from India, Philippians and Haiti.

Team Central America

September 5th Update

I want to thank everyone again for your prayers and encouraging words…they mean so much to me and my team.  We are currently in a town in Mexico at an Internet cafe.  I wish I had my hard drive with me to upload pictures to show you all the beautiful landscapes we have seen on our drive.

Besides driving in the rain, with major potholes and speed bumps that have no warning…things are going smoothly.  We were stopped by military a few times at check points and as they looked through our trailer they saw the boxes of bibles we had…we offered them one and the officers accepted…a cool opportunity to share with people on our drive.  Please pray for Emily, as we had a few stops for her to throw up the other day…as well as the rest of the team whose stomachs are not doing so well.  Please continue praying for Jonathan for as he is our main driver.  Also for the team as a whole, that whereever we go, we will look for ways to glorify God in the way we live.

I cannot belive this outreach is almost over…it has been truly amazing.  I cannot wait to see everyone back in Kona in a few weeks!

Zurück in Mexico

We made it back to Mexico today! We have traveled through 7 countries in 2 months!

People told us the borders would be much more complicated on the way back towards north. However, the Lord has been so good and instead of taking 5-9 hours we have gone through them in 1 – 3 hours.  We still had complications, but God sent the right people to help us out. The border at Guatemala was the quickest so far.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. God has been so good to us and we know that He is with us.

We are down to 10 people left on our epic roadtrip. One had to leave for a meeting back in Kona about future ministries and the other decided to leave early. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue driving through Mexico, especially for Jonathan who is our main driver. We are heading back to the Tijuana/Ensenada area for further ministry and debrief time.  We head back to Kona on the 16th of September.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:28-31