I have some time so I figured I would reel you all what I'm heading into for life.
DTS has needless to say been life changing for me. During lecture phase I learned a lot about God but also learned a lot about myself. Saw problems that I need to hammer out and saw things in my life that I needed to change. I saw what was motivating me and driving me to be all that I wanted to be.
If you would have asked me before dts what I would do in life I would have told you that I'd be a wife and mom and probably a history teacher or missions coordinator for s church. I really wanted those things. Buy I don't think I was satisfied with that. I want to be in the mission field I wanted to make an impact in the world that lasted past these six months but u had no idea what that meant or how I would do it so I settled on being a mom and teacher.
God however has a much better plan for me and my life and I've learned it and seen it. One of the weeks during lecture phase we were talking about evangelism and our speaker was from a base on the east side of Australia. He was super chill and does weekly reaches out to surfers and backpackers in the area. This is something I've always wanted to do but again I didn't think it was possible.
You have to know that I've always joked around with friends about starting a coffee shop, buy never actually think I would start one. But one day our speaker started to talk about ways to evangelize and meet people where they were at and talked about how he wanted to start a coffee shop to reach out to surfers and the community.
My jaw literally dropped. It's something ive always wanted. At lunch that day I talked to him about it and as he talked his plans for this shop was everything I've wanted. It literally lined up with what I wanted. I was in total disbelief over this and wanted to jump for joy.
As that week went on I kept feeling prompted to talk to our speaker about joining his staff. At the end of the week after I had several people pray for me I realized that this is what I was supposed to do.
But that's just the start.
After talking with him about moving to Australia abs what that would mean and look like I started to prepare myself mentally for this move. I attitude with the idea of school. The only reason I was there was because I wanted to please others and in fact really don't like college. I gave up school. Let it into Gods hands to do what he wanted with it. I did not think I would be returning and only after I was completely okay with not finishing did I get the okay to finish my last semester and get my degree. I don't think it will help me but I will finish school.
While in Nepal I started to find a heart for the country and trying to think of something I could do because for me seven weeks wasn't enough. And I wanted to help not only Nepal but many places. But where I could start I had no idea.
I one day thought about my Toms shoes. They have become very holey over my time and I was thinking about new ones. I love the shoes. I live that I buy a pair and a child gets a pair. I think it's an amazing program. I realized I could do the same thing. But not shoes. Instead I would bring clean water, mosquito nets, awareness and training to deal with modern day slavery and the prevention of it. I would sell water bottles and that would bring clean water. I would have shirts that would then provide mosquito nets. And much more.
This made me so happy. I couldn't be in Nepal forever. I'm not called there, but I could make an impact there. I know that westerners want to help the need that is out there but they usually want something in return which my vision is going to fulfill.
While continuing on the trip I thought of more products that could be sold to fund projects. Not just Nepal but America too and Africa and Thailand and everywhere. The passion on me built.
By the time I got to Kathmandu I was ready to start this company at that moment when I went to the streets to meet and work with street kids and prostitutes. My first day slapped me in the face. I met children who were 16 and had been on the streets for over ten years. They had scars not arms. Cutting was a fad in middle school that kids around me did "to feel like they were alive". These kids cut because they have no other way to feel alive. The rats in the country are of more worth then these kids. Between sniffing glue and being drunk these kids are rarely in a sobered state of mind. The people I worked with brought these kids hope. Hope that they could change. Hope that the prostitute no longer had to raise her kids in the park and leave them there while she made the equivalent of two US dollars.
I went home that day and wept. Telling the kids that Jesus loved them wasn't enough. Telling a man dressed as a women selling himself to other men while he lives with HIV that times get better wasn't enough. I felt so helpless. That night I journaled to try and make sense of the day and my life and what these people I worked with did.
That's when it hit me that everyone I have worked with are fighting for hope. They were doing something much more then just telling them that Jesus loved them. They were working with them, showing them love, providing them with jobs so they could have hope. And that's what I want my coffee shops to do. I want to bring hope to people.
So I will be starting a line of shirts, bags, jewelry, water bottles, coffee mugs, and more under a new line called fighting for hope. The profits of the products will go to provide services to people to go out to bring others hope. I've met a lot of people and want to meet many more that are dedicated to seeing this happen.
So I'm going to own a coffee shop. One in Australia and more in the states. They will reach the people where they are at and meet others through the products I sell. I want you to fight with me. It's been clear what I'm going to do. I've seen the hurt, the pain, the poverty, the injustice and I'm not okay to just know it. I want to fight to bring a better life to people. Modern day slavery is real, children wearing nothing is real, prostitution is real, the movie "taken" is real, slums are real. And I cam bring them hope. You can bring them hope. We can bring them hope.
In Kathmandu on my last day of ministry and full day in the country I met with a girl who I had met before. She is sixteen and ran from home. After trying to go back her patents deny knowing her. She had just run away from prison where she was arrested for doing nothing wrong, she was beat and locked up with others for days with little food. She relies on a few older boys to protect her and even "married" one of them. For the protection that they provide she has to sleep with them and provide other sexual acts. She refuses to sniff glue like the others and wanted desperately to get off the street and go home. We sat and talked with her for over an hour. The pain in her eyes was much more than any 16 year old should have. I was sitting a couple inches above her rubbing her back. After a while she fell asleep hugging my knees as I rubbed her back. Her shirt had some kind of writing on it that with her elbow bent spelled out "coffee". I could no longer hold back the tears I had for her and silently cried as she got a half hour of protected sleep. Nothing could harm her while I was around. She could forget about the pain for a short while as I held her.
If I could I would have taken her and given her a new life I would have. She's the reason I'm fighting. She needs hope and I'm going to bring it to her. She needs hope.
Without hope, there's No reason to life. So let's bring the world a hope that they so desperately seek for.
