I can't not say.

With every fiber of my being I wish I didn't have to write this. I wish it weren't true. I wish I didn't see and experience it. But it is true. It did happen. And so I must say something.

God has been breaking my heart for these girls caught in the sex trade in Cambodia for a while now. The more I learn the more my heart weeps. Yesterday on facebook I shared a statistic that Don Brewster, the founder of Agape Restoration Center, shared with us:

In the Karaoke bars in Siam Reap, Cambodia you will literally find thousands of girls that can be purchased. Of course it comes with a cost. A beer - about $5. A bunch of grapes - about $4. An hour molesting a girl (anything but sex- petting, groping, kissing, exposing yourself, and a number of other forms of sexual abuse) costs a mere $3 USD.

These girls (90% under 16, some as young as 6 or 7) are encouraged by their security guards to be more forceful so they will get the men to actually by sex. That's where the money comes from.

Latest estimates of the sex trafficking say that it brings a revenue of $32 million dollars annually. Which is more than the revenues of Google and Starbucks combined.

And up until yesterday, these had all been very sad statistics. I started crying when I heard an hour with a girl was less than a beer. I knew I had to act when I heard that there were more slaves in the world today than when slavery was legal. But up until yesterday afternoon they were only stats.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw the face of the sex trade. I looked into the eyes of a depraved man caught with a young girl. These things are no longer just statistics to me. But I have seen the face of a young girl who in one way or another was enslaved. Trapped, either by a pimp or her family and forced to have sex. We saw the injustice happening right in front of our very eyes and had to confront it. So we did. My heart was racing, I was physically shaking and nearly in tears. Unfortunately there was nothing we could have done to rescue that girl that very moment. So the second the elevator doors closed to take us to meet our team I just started weeping.

This is a sad story, but I can't NOT share it.

 God's heart breaks for those girls and even that man more than mine ever could. Seeing just a glimpse of the character of God makes every tear worth it..

HERE!!

So we made it!! All 13 of us and our luggage made it safe and sound to Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

Source

But the one thing that people kept asking us on the plane was "Are you excited?"

Well... no. Not really.

Maybe people are at a loss for words when you tell them you're working with women rescued from the sex trade. Or maybe it's like "how are you?" an expected question when you tell someone  you're going out of the country.

But the truth is, I'm not really excited about what I'm going to see. I'm not really all that excited about looking into the eyes of a twelve year old girl who has had her childhood and innocence ripped away. I'm not excited about facing the reality that most of the people I talk to in Phnom Penh are affected by sex trafficking.

But the thing I am excited for? God.

Seeing Him work in the lives of people. Seeing Him reveal His heart to us. Seeing God restore and redeem all the hurt and pain and suffering.

A passage we read as a group yesterday was Jeremiah 32-33:16. It's uncanny how similar it is to what is happening here in Cambodia. The one thing that encouraged me the most and that I can cling to is the entirety of God's redemption. God's promise to Jerusalem in Jer 33:6-9:

'Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.

 The hope that God gave Israel is the same hope that He gave you and I. And the same hope that we want to bring to the people of Cambodia. Hope of healing and peace. Hope of forgiveness and restoration.

The hope of Jesus Christ.