Brothel Ministry

Some of you may have read that I am now involved in a brothel ministry. Each week there are 4 of us who go into the brothels. I have done it now for a month and I absolutely LOVE it. When I am there I feel like I was made to do this. I was reminded of a famous quote from the runner Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire: "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." I, too, know that God made me for a purpose--and when I have the privilege of talking to these dear women and sharing the hope and love of Christ with them, I feel His pleasure...for them. It is an honor.

The past few weeks one of the other women and I have deepened our friendship with a woman I will call Beautiful One. Oh, what a treasure she is. I was overcome with love for her last night when we spoke with her. She is at a crossroads in her life--everywhere she turns life seems to be failing her. She is hurting and in the midst of it she has come to believe in Jesus. This is huge. She, her family, and all her friends are Buddhist, but she says that now she knows that it's Jesus, it's the Father who is her God. We have the privilege right now of talking through this with her and seeing tangibly the hand of God in her life. It is awe inspiring-like watching a butterfly break through its cocoon: hard work, having no clue what's on the other side--but one day Beautiful One will break forth in song and will fly in freedom. Glory!

I have said before that we know full well that we can't do what we're doing here in Hamburg 'alone.' We need prayer and support, and so I want to let you know how you can be part of this ministry with us if you so desire to come alongside us in it.

How You Can Be Part of the Brothel Ministry:

• PRAYER: Prayer is the backbone of any ministry. Prayer is where we can truly fight for these dear women. If any of you have it on your hearts to join us in prayer for this ministry and want to commit to praying for me and for the women on a weekly basis, please email directly at buddyandkrista@yahoo.com
  

• TANGIBLE GOODS: Each week we take the women chocolates, hot cocoa, and Christian literature in various languages (ie: Bibles, books, devotionals, magazines, pamphlets, tracts). If you would like to contribute to these items in any way, again, please contact me. This ministry does not have a big budget so we need all the help that we can get in order to supply these women with what they need. You are welcome to send any literature to us--we actually are in need of English literature--but it is pricey to ship.

• FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: First, I want to clarify that we (Buddy & Krista) are not asking for your money--any financial contributions would simply go to this ministry and for these women--I only give you this information as we have had many people ask how they can partner financially with us in what we are doing here.

Any financial contributions will go directly to the goods purchased for the women: the sweets, drinks, literature--or toward something special for them (ie: last week it was one of their birthdays so we bought her a box of chocolates...and the week before we bought Beautiful One a cross necklace--that she loved. When she opened it she was so excited and she took it and held it close to her heart, and then had me put it on her. It looked gorgeous! She said she hasn't been given a gift in 2 years). I have to include a picture of the wrapping of the necklace as it was so encouraging to me--we bought it at a jewelery store named Christ, and the wrapping was in red--like His blood (I have no idea if the store is actually Christian or not). You should have seen her face when she was opening it--she was so deeply touched.



If you are interested in contributing financially, you can even let us know for 'what'--like if you have a particular heart for something--like for special gifts...or for Bibles...etc. You can contribute to us directly via our missionary organization, Go Ye Fellowship--and they will send you a receipt for your taxes: http://goyefellowship.org/how_to_give_now

• CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Every year we give these women a little Christmas gift. This year I am in charge of it and I'm so excited. I want to bless each of these women with a gift that will let them know how beautiful they are to God and how loved they are by Him. I want to fill little drawstring bags with 3 items that will make them feel pretty: scented soap, lotion and lipgloss...then add a few pieces of special chocolate and a little note to them, handwritten, telling them how beautiful and how loved they are. We need about 100 of these--and if possible I'd love to have 200 of them so we can hand them out to the women working on the streets as well. If you'd like to be part of this in any way again, let me know.

Thank you for just being PART of this ministry by READING about it...by FOLLOWING ALONG with it...and by CARING about us and for these women. Your love and support mean so much.