This week was Sydney and Josh’s birthdays.
On Sydney’s birthday we visited one of the safehouses. To celebrate her birthday, we brought all the women chocolate chip cookies. They were stoked out of their minds! They couldn’t get enough and kept asking us for the recipe. We sheepishly replied that we had bought the mix from the store.
When the women found out that it was Syd’s birthday, they immediately began singing and gave her a brand-new hairbrush as a gift. They also gave her stones that they had painted for a craft activity. Although they didn’t have much to give her, it was so cute as they all surrounded her, hugged and gave her what they had to offer.
As we were leaving, one of the women came up to me and said, “each one of us has so much love in our hearts for all of you.” If that is rewarding, I don’t know is.
My Challenge to All
We feel so fortunate to be doing what we are doing. Every day we become even more grateful for the circumstances we find ourselves in. Often it is difficult to really process people’s situations. Ignorance is bliss. However, ignorance is no way to change the world.
I wanted to challenge every single one of you to watch the O.U.R. film that is free on Amazon Prime. It’s called “Operation Toussaint”. It is about one of O.U.R.’s rescue missions in Haiti (our next-door neighbor). It is heavy and difficult to watch, but I promise that you will be filled with the spirit and with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and desire to do good. Please watch it and share it with two or more people.
I also just finished “Slave Stealers” by Tim Ballard; the founder of Operation Underground Railroad. It is an amazing book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read more about O.U.R (it is on Amazon as well as Audible).
Other recommendations:
-“The Abolitionists” (another O.U.R. movie
-“Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (a book about human trafficking and other issues around the world that most people don’t know about).