Missing Peru

This was 2 of the school girls that walked with us from the school we performed one of our dramas at in Cieneguilla. They belong to the after school tutoring/nutrition program provided by the Hearts in Action church.


This is a shot of the mountain villages in Cieneguilla right across the street from the church. Hundreds of little houses built on the government's mountain land. This area has a history of tragedy and violence. These kids have witnessed so much death and destruction around them. School and the church are their little bits of freedom.


This is the beach right across from our hostel in San Bartolo. We took this path just about everyday we were in San Bartolo visiting with the kids of Generacion. Our hostel and their house are literally feet from the ocean. The yellow house belongs to Lucy Borja, founder of Generacion.


This is Carla. She was our guide at Casa Veronika which is a rescue home for girls that leave the sex trafficking industry. At Casa Veronika, they teach sewing as a trade. The girls learn to make clothes for their children and sell shirts to help bring money into the house. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funding, they have not been able to complete the construction on their additional classrooms or take care of very many girls once they are off the streets.


This was one of the little girls I met at one of the schools we visited in Cieneguilla. It was so weird but all the kids treated us like rock stars. They wanted our autographs and to touch our hair and asked millions of questions about the US. Everyone girl wanted to know if we knew Justin Beiber. Go figure.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Lupe. She is such a beautiful girl, its crazy. She is a bit of a tomboy, surfer girl but has a smile and sparkle in her eye that will melt any guy's heart. She is one of the older kids at Generacion and does her best to watch out for the younger girls. In this picture, it was our last day with them so the kids took us to the rock cliffs at the beach. It's kinda like their special place but they always take our missions teams there.


This is one of only 2 pictures I captured with Sandy (in purple) smiling. The girls on my team had just presented Sandy and Rosemary (in blue) with matching necklaces and we prayed over them. She is such an affectionate girl who loves hugs. She shared part of her story about how she ended up at Generacion and instantly captured my heart. She still sends me IMs on Facebook even though I don't know Spanish. She is patient while I use the Google translator app to talk with her.



This was our last day with the Generacion kids in San Bartolo. We had spent 3 days with them laughing, dancing, singing, eating, and praying over them. They get visitors from other organizations that come through out the year but they look forward to seeing our Fusion mission team. To them, we are their American friends, not just missionaries. Even though to an outsider, it may seem like we did a lot of just hanging out, but for us, it was so much more. We bonded with these kids who are former street kids with some of the most heart breaking stories you could ever hear. You never know what lives you can touch, just being being the light of Jesus.

Saving One Girl At A Time

It's funny how God works. I have been feeling a bit helpless after being back in the States from my trip. So much work to do in Peru and I come back to my comfortable home, bed, hot, clean water, food, job, cable, cellphone, and other random luxuries I take for granted. I have been feeling a bit disconnected, like I don't fit here because I would rather be doing something instead of being here among a culture of people who turn a blind eye to the rest of the world. Being in a foreign country where water is rationed and children are as dispensable as garbage, you get a new outlook on the world.

I have been in a funk all day. Went to lunch alone just to get out of the office and on my drive back, I knew I needed to have a conversation with God about my mental state. I tearfully pleaded with God to show me what I was supposed to do at this point. What am I supposed to do with my life now that I have these new eyes in which to see the world? I needed an answer.

And there she was. Christine Caine...my favorite anti-sex trafficking advocate.

While at lunch, I read a few pages of her book "Can I have it all, please?" and had intended on blogging about some of the passages I had read. But after taking a quick detour to CNN.com...there she was again. The Freedom Project section of the site featured an article about her efforts to end modern day slavery with The A21 Campaign...one girl at a time. I heard her speak a couple of months ago at my church and her passion to end this atrocity still resonates in me. Seeing that article gave me that familiar ping of fire in my spirit.

End modern day slavery one girl at a time.

I feel like the human trafficking area is where I am supposed to be. That is one thing that I can talk about for hours and never get tired of. That is the one injustice that blows my mind that people are clueless about when I mention. That is the one injustice that breaks my heart to know that even after knowing the facts, people are still indifferent.

Saving one girl at a time. 27 millions people in slavery right now. Christine always says that 27 million is an overwhelming number so if we can just put a name and a face to one victim and save her, it is all worth it. I put a name and a face on one victim this time last year and her name is Sabrina. One girl at a time. God sent me to Peru to get a global perspective on how bad things really are. Before, all I knew was how bad sex trafficking is here in Atlanta. Not discounting what the girls here go through but it does pale in comparison to the stories about trafficking internationally.

Be her freedom...join the fight...save a life. Check out Christine's article here.

Back to Reality

I'm home now but the last 10 days are fresh in my mind. I'm still processing all of my thoughts and feelings as I look back through the 472 pictures I took. This one is by far my favorite. This little boy lived with his mom and grandmother right next door to the Hearts in Action, International church in the mountains of Cieneguilla, Peru. The mom cooks for the after school tutoring and nutrition program for the local kids who live in the tin shacks in the mountains right across the highway from the church. I saw this little bright eyed boy every day we went to the church to help out and he is the cutest little thing. He always stayed close to the kitchen door so he could keep an eye on his mom but would peek his head out every now and then to make sure we were still near by. I took this photo as he fell asleep in the doorway waiting for his mom to finish cleaning the kitchen and making sure he could see our team leaving for the evening so he could wave bye. We must have taken too long because he fell asleep right where he sat in the doorway, watching his mom and watching our team of missionaries.

My heart is still in Peru and I can never look at life the same. So much work to be done to bring the name of Jesus to the ends of the Earth.

More to come...

Children Are Not For Sex

As the days wind down and it gets closer and closer to my departure to Peru, my heart is still unsettled at the thought of the reason I am going. I am going to of course spread the gospel to street kids on the streets of Lima who fight daily to just stay alive. These children are treated worse than animals. It's funny that the city officials will randomly vaccinate stray dogs but will try to burn street kids alive. These kids are literally fighting to survive. Those that do also have to fight to not be trafficked for sex. It's a lose lose situation. You either get killed or are picked up and forced into prostitution...girls and boys. Children. Heart breaking.

I found this clip on Facebook from a local pastor who is stepping up to speak out for the children of Atlanta who are bought and sold like property on the streets daily. I am thrilled that celebrities are getting wind of these atrocities going on and are using their voice to speak out. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have a non profit that is geared to educate and bring awareness to human trafficking. But it was this clip by Ashley Judd that touched my heart and brought me to tears. Her words aren't the words of someone who heard about the problem and felt compelled to help. Her words are the words of someone that has seen first hand the devastation that comes along with knowing a child has been a victim of sexual exploitation right here in Atlanta.

Please keep my Peru missions team in your prayers as we prepare to bring some light and hope to a generation of children who need it the most.

Watch "Ashley Judd: Children Are Not for Sex" on YouTube

Not For Sale

It's been a while since I have posted an entry. Life has gone into crazy over drive. I realize my days and free time a very limited but I am enjoying the chaos. I have a financial class that I take on Monday nights for the next 13 weeks to help me be a better steward of my money. I have Fusion services on Wednesdays, either small group or small group planning meetings on Thursdays, I am usually hanging out with kids or friends, Saturdays at 7AM I have my Beth Moore bible study group until 9AM. In the afternoons, I usally am hanging with friends or the kids. Sundays is church. At some point in the week, I manage to cook, clean, do laundry, do homework, make it to work and a host of other things. Sleep falls in there at some point!

Back to the task at hand. I was browsing on the Not For Sale website, when I ran across the Peru section that talked about Lucy Borja and the Generacion organization that we will be working with. They posted a video clip of some of the street children of Peru and it broke my heart. Just to hear the story of how life for these children are is enough to make anyone want to take the world on just so they can know peace and happiness. These are the children that are in a fight everyday to keep from being bought and sold for sex and labor. Thank God for hearts like Lucy. Even though she is not a Christian, she still has a heart like Christ.

Not For Sale | Latin America from Not For Sale Campaign on Vimeo.

Help Send Me to Peru in June

Dear Supporter,

I hope this letter finds you well. I would like to share with you a trip that I am going to take this summer that will hopefully be a life changing experience for the people I come in contact with, as well as myself.

God has done some amazing things in my life over the past year and one of those areas has been igniting a passion in my heart for victims of the sex trafficking industry. Like many other people that I know, I was blind to the fact that each night on the streets of Atlanta and many cities across our nation, young girls are forced into the prostitution. In Atlanta, GA alone, over 300 children, many as young as 9 or 10, are forced to have sex with strangers for money. They are trapped in a form of modern day slavery right here in the United States of America, the land of freedom and opportunity. Many of these girls have run away from broken and abusive homes, only to be promised safety and love by a man who instead preys on their vulnerable emotional state. These girls are physically, verbally and emotionally abused, drugged, brainwashed and stripped of any hope of returning to a normal life.

It was hard for me to fathom that this type of injustice happened right in my own backyard, until I saw it for myself. Last June, a group of dedicated followers of Christ traveled to Fulton Industrial Blvd to minister to the women who engaged in prostitution nightly. On that night, I had the pleasure of meeting 19 year old young Sabrina, a young girl that had been forced to sell herself every night on the streets for the past 3 years. She was a run away from Ohio whose pimp picked her up from a bus stop just 2 hours after arriving in Georgia. He promised to love and care for her and before nights end, she was sleeping with strangers for money. She was not allowed to use a phone, go out alone, talk to anyone, pick out her own clothes or even think for herself ever again. The night I met her, she desperately wanted to escape the life that she was trapped in but feared for her life.

By the grace of God, Sabrina mustered up the nerve to make the desperate phone call to a group member that was out with us that night. We were able to rescue Sabrina from a life of sexual slavery and that experience forever changed my life. But that joy was short lived. Unfortunately, Sabrina went back to her pimp, the abuse and her life of sex for money. She desperately wanted a normal life but felt that her life was so worthless and beyond repair, that life on the street was the only place she belonged. Those were the words that had been engrained in her mind by her pimp everyday for 3 years and she eventually bought into the lie and settled for the life that she was trapped in.

My eyes were opened to a lifestyle that many could never imagine. My heart has been broken for Sabrina and for every Sabrina that is still stuck on the streets of Atlanta and even abroad. This is not the life that God intends for any of His children to live and He has called His believers to go out into the world and help rescue those who have lost their way. It was God's plan for me to meet Sabrina, hear her story, see her struggle and to have my heart broken when she left. This experience has forever changed my life and ignited a desire to do my part to help other victims like Sabrina. Since meeting Sabrina, I have been active in advocating for the victims who have no voice. I have written about the plight of the sex trafficking issue in Atlanta with the non profit organization Sunday to Sunday, Inc . In December, I organized a donation supply drive with Wellspring Living, Inc., a non profit organization that provides vital short and long term aftercare for victims of sex trafficking. On February 2, 2011, I participated in Lobby Day sponsored by StreetGRACE and Wellspring Living to bring the issues of sex trafficking to the steps of Georgia's capital and push for more legislature to ensure the safety of our children and harsher punishment for pimps and men who seek out these children for sex.

Recently, God placed on my heart the desire to reach further out to help those stuck in sexual slavery, even beyond our borders. There are so many places on this Earth who have never even heard the name of Jesus before and surely do not have any hope of a life better than the abuse and turmoil they currently live in. On June 2-12, 2011, I will be traveling to Lima, Peru with Victory World Church's Fusion Young Adult Ministry. For several years now, Fusion Young Adult Ministry has sent a mission team to Peru to see first hand the plight of the children of Peru who call the streets home. Fusion has partnered with Lucy Borja's Generacion organization who work tirelessly to help rescue children from the streets of Peru. Fusion also works with Veronica's House, a home that serves as an emergency shelter for young girls rescued from forced prostitution in Lima, Peru. I sincerely believe that God's plan for me on this trip is to truly see the world through His eyes and not just through my limited knowledge of what I see happening in my own city. The issue of sex trafficking is world wide and in order to make a difference in the world, I need to be able to see the world.

I would ask that you keep me and my team in your prayers so that we many have a safe and successful trip. Also, since we are responsible to raise our entire trip cost of $1,700, I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider if He would have you be a part of this wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with the children of Peru. Please consider making a financial contribution to help with the $1,700 cost of traveling to Peru. Contact me at fcrusoe@hotmail.com for more information about how to make a tax deductible donation.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and please consider supporting my efforts to travel to Peru this June.

Thank you,

Frances

Who Will Save The Children?

A short but sweet blog post.

I just had a thought. Taina mentioned to us at the Peru missions meeting that one of the key pieces of content to add to our missions support letter is why me want to go to Peru. Not the teams' vision or our church's vision for the trip but why do we personally want to go on the trip.

My answer is simple. If I don't fight for the victims that have no voice, who will? The Bible says that the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. There are so few people that fight for the innocent children who are forced in to sex trafficking or other forms of human trafficking. Atlanta has been one of the top cities in the country for commercial sexual exploitation of children for years. In Peru, government officials don't even acknowledge that sex trafficking and slavery is even happening there. If no one talks about it, the problem doesn't exist right? Tell that to the children that are bought and sold each and every day.

Princess, Purpose and Peru

Some how, God saw fit to give me a heart for people and a heart for the mission field. It's weird because I have never been on an international mission trip but just the mere idea of being used as a messenger to spread the gospel sends tingles up my spine. My first visit to Victory World Church showed me that underneath the surface, I was a missionary at heart. Hearing Pastor Dennis update the church on the wells that had been dug in Africa thanks to their faithful tithing and offerings melted my heart because I was in a church that understood God's heart for His people outside of our little comfy suburb.

Tonight we had a meeting with everyone that is going on the Peru missions trip in June. I was feeling a bit discouraged about Peru lately mainly because of the $1,700 price tag. With me trying to create a budget, pay off some debt and start saving, coming up with $1,700 started to seem like such a daunting task. Peru started to become less of a priority and my heart started to ache about it. I was feeling a bit bummed about going to the meeting tonight, knowing I hadn't even begun to write my support letter or even began to start raising money for the trip.

But something amazing and so timely happened today. A princess appeared. My princess appeared. Sabrina appeared. God totally rocked my world with that surprise! I had prayed for Sabrina for so many nights and in all honesty, I thought I would never hear from her again. Her life, her story, her rescue, her struggle, her return to a life of prostitution absolutely changed my life.

When I look back at last summer, God divinely orchestrated a series of events that changed my life and ignited my life's purpose. God had me at that Fusion service when the Sunday to Sunday in town mission trips for Summer 2010 were announced. Though I didn't have the money to pay the fee before all the spots filled up, God knew my desire and He already had granted me favor. It was His planning that had me and Heather engaged in a conversation about S2S, my inability to pay but desire to go, that had her tell me to contact Dede directly and explain my situation. Dede so graciously extended my time to pay until July even though the trip I would take would be in June. God favored me. It was His divine plan that because of the threat of rain we had Princess Night on Thursday instead of Friday. It was on that day, in the dark of the night, out the corner of my eye, I saw a girl in a dress and flip flops walking with her pimp, folding her hands over and over again because of nerves and fear. It was God's plan for my life to be forever changed in that one night.

I believe that God is at work yet again, divinely putting together a series of events so that I am apart of the Peru mission team. I believe His plan for me is to see how the commercial exploitation of children is so much bigger than what my natural mind can grasp. He wants me to have my heart broken for the street children of Peru and for the girls far younger than Sabrina that are forced to sell their bodies to survive. He wants me to see His bigger picture and to know that these are the people that need His love and that I am the messenger that needs to deliver the Good News. He needs me to have my life changed. He needs me to plant seeds of hope and faith into the children who may one day change their country for His good. He needs me to capture that passion that He has placed in my heart and use it to fuel my purpose. He needs me to see the problem first hand so that I can be apart of the solution. We can rescue every street kid and child prostitute from Atlanta to Peru but someone has to help rehabilitate them, counsel them and show them God's love in action. That seems to be God's plan for my future.

Sabrina, my Princess, has marked me forever. She has left her impression on me in a way that words cannot even begin to describe. Knowing that Sabrina is still alive and well reminded me that even though she is still in that life, those seeds of compassion and hope are still planted deeply in her spirit. God needed me to know that He hears my prayers for her. He also wants me to know that He works in the supernatural and that nothing is impossible when it is His will for my life. I am supposed to go to Peru and Sabrina is my reason why. I couldn't save her but there are so many more Sabrinas that need to be helped. This is my Gideon moment. Though I feel weak and ill equipped, God is preparing to do some amazing things with my life.