Nea Zoi.

Last week was full of Nea Zoi. They have been in the process of moving and so on Tuesday we cleaned the carpets at the new office. The carpets were covered with dust and bits of plaster from construction. The vacuum cleaner broke just as we arrived. Martha, the director of Nea Zoi was on her hands and knees sweeping up the debris with a dust broom. Even though they were going to bring a vacuum the next day and someone was coming to clean the carpet, that’s where she was. So that’s what we did, because it was what needed doing. God graciously gave me a servant’s heart, and I was surprised at the end, looking back, that I didn’t question the job we were given. Yes, someone was going to bring a vacuum cleaner the next day. Yes, it was incredibly slow sweeping the carpets. Yes, it was hot. But that’s what needed doing and it was just as important to the ministry at Nea Zoi than if we were going on an outreach.

The next day, Wednesday, we went out on outreach. It was very different than the first time. The first time, all I could see was the pain, the brokenness, and the oppression. It was good for me to see and it broke my heart and made me ache for the healing and restoration that only Jesus can bring. But that was all I saw. I just saw the ugliness of it all. I hated that they had perverted the symbol of light into something that signalize an open brothel. But Wednesday was different. I went and I saw everything that I saw the first time but I saw it through the eyes of hope. I was so confident in the power of the Gospel, and so confident in the healing and restoration that God is doing that instead of my heart aching, I had peace. I was able to have peace, even standing outside a brothel, because I knew that God was working and using the conversations that the teams were having to further the work of Christ in the girl’s lives. That day the teams of two that went into the brothels were able to have long conversations, and many of the girls or madams asked for Bibles. Also, instead of feeling sick and being filled with hatred as I watched the men go in and out, I prayed for them. 

Praying changes everything. 

After the outreach when we were having a debrief, someone mentioned a man named Yanis. He owns more than 5 brothels and is also involved in trafficking. At first I didn’t think much about it, just another brothel owner. But then I started thinking about how much of a difference it would make if he came to know Christ. It would dramatically affect not only the girls, but also that area. I started thinking about Paul’s conversion and the testament to the power of the Gospel that it changes hearts and lives of people that are in complete opposition to it. 

So I’m praying for Yanis, the brothel owner. I’m praying that God will melt his stony heart, just like He melted Paul’s. Just like He melted mine.

Thursday after a long day of moving the Nea Zoi office, which meant carrying boxes up and down four flights of stairs, we decided to go on the Friday morning outreach to Nigerian girls. Most of these girls have been trafficked and they don’t have papers, so they can’t work in the brothels. Instead they work on the street. For years they had all been working on a street named Scratous, 30-60 girls all along one street. The outreach team had been praying for years for God to do something on Scatous. We walked down the street at 4:30am on Friday morning, and it was completely empty. No one was there, and the hotels that they would use were locked up because they had closed down. The police have started to crack down on prostitution on the street which meant that the girls have scattered throughout the city. It is much harder to find them now to do outreach but God answers prayer, and He did something on Scratous. We drove around and were able to meet and talk with a few girls. Some of them had never heard of Nea Zoi and one girl wanted to talk with Rosie about getting a job because she wanted to leave, and several of the girls asked for Bibles. Now I have names and faces to pray for, it makes it real to meet these girls and talk with them, even if it’s just to offer them ice cream or water. We got back around 6am and before I went back to sleep, I sat out on the roof of the church and watched the sun come up over Hadrian’s Arch. It was slow and gradual and then all of a sudden, the sky was radiant and bursting with light. It was healing to have the light wash over me after experiencing the darkness. God is light and He cannot be kept back. He comes out with force, with power, with radiance and beauty.

 “God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all”- 1 John 1:5

God’s resurrection power cannot be held back by the darkness, the darkness does not have any power. God is working, healing, restoring, and bringing His people to Himself. Even though the girls have scattered, God’s love and mercy shall pursue those that are His to the ends of the earth.