Jubilant JOY

We made a new friend in one of the brothels last night. I will call her Jubilant (jubilant = showing and expressing triumphant joy). I have named her this because as she was talking to us she truly came alive...with joy...but I can also 'see' her one day living a new life in a JOY she never knew possible.

We have seen Jubilant over the past few weeks...we have given her candy when we pass her door...and we always give smiles and get one back. Last week, however, I had a treat in my pocket. It was a special chocolate...called Goldschatz (click here to learn more).

So when we came up to her door last week I said, "This is for you. See, it says Goldschatz on it. I want you to know that to God, you are His Goldschatz. You are His Schatzi." She received the chocolate--and the words--with joy, and she was like wow, THANK you. She was stunned yet delighted at the words and gesture, and actually almost fell over in awe (it was fun to watch her reaction, I must admit). Her entire face lit up with bright eyes and a gorgeous smile...and she just came to life. This is not a common sight to see in these halls.

Last night we saw her again. And somehow in the midst of both of our German being not so great, we realized that we both speak English. Her English is really good, actually. So the 'door was open' for us to talk, and talk we did.

Remember that when we go into the brothels, we work in teams of 2...so it was my friend and I talking to Jubilant. We talked to her for about an hour--and by the end of it we had had such a great time together that she asked us if we would want to meet her sometime next week for coffee on one of her days off. This is huge. It can take months, years, to build up trust with the women to have them agree to want to meet us 'outside' of work--but there she was, asking us! So we have plans to meet next week.

But something she said made me get all teary. She said something like, "Every week I've watched you come in and out of our brothel. You always smile at us and you are so nice. And I have wondered why you come and why you are so nice. But now I know. And last week when you came and gave me that special chocolate, and said what you said, it meant so much to me. You know what we do here (and she pointed to her bed), and yet you still love us. Thank you."

I just stood there in tears. You are so welcome. You are His Schatz and He loves you so incredibly much.

We walked out of the brothel stunned by our time with Jubilant, and so humbled and grateful that God has given us favor with her.. This is just the beginning for her--and for her sake--we are filled with JOY. Jubilant JOY.

postscript: written October 29th, 2009...but I held off on publishing it for a while...we did meet with Jubilant the following week and it went great. she told us part of her story and we were honored that she would. she is now in her home country for a few months on holiday, which is very common for many of them at this time of year. we have her email address and will stay in touch with her until she returns.