Hi friends and family!
Hope you have all been doing
well and enjoying the fresh new year of 2014! I am so excited to see
what God has ahead of me this year, and wanted to share with each of you
the new adventure I'm about to begin.
Several years ago,
my friend Gretchen introduced me to the issue of sex-trafficking. She
had heard about it at ICOM (International Conference on Missions) and
was deeply moved and determined to reach the victims of this horrific
crime. Gretchen gave me books, sent me articles, and showed me movies
and documentaries about this issue and I found myself sharing her
passion to help girls who lead these lives. However, at the time I was
in school to be a nurse and didn't really see a clear way that nursing
would connect to this. In the past year and a half, I've been searching
for an opportunity to work with this population in a capacity as a
missionary overseas, but nothing has been quite right, and most of the
organizations I found who were helping these girls didn't need a nurse.
So, I found a job in Springfield after graduation and have been working
as an RN on a women's health floor at the hospital here. It has been the
perfect "first nursing job" for me - great learning experience, great
co-workers, great patient population.
Then, about a month
ago, Gretchen posted on facebook a job opportunity with the non-profit
organization she works for, called The Covering House. Based in St.
Louis, TCH is a group dedicated to raising awareness and help for girls
in the St. Louis area who are victims of sex-trafficking. While it may
seem like a "foreign" problem, there are actually many, many victims in
the U.S., especially in larger cities, and St. Louis is no exception.
TCH is planning to open a residential home as soon as they are able and
one of the positions they posted was for an RN! I prayed about it for a
while and then applied - within a week I had interviewed, been offered
the job, and decided to accept!
So, in about 1 month I am
going to be moving to St. Louis to work full-time with The Covering
House! I will be managing the healthcare for the 10 girls who will be
living in the residential home and collaborating with the therapists,
psychiatrist, physician, education supervisor, and programming director
to find the best treatment plan for dealing with the physical and
psychological ramifications of the trauma these girls have experienced.
The home is brand new and there are very few places like this in the
U.S. - less than 100 beds in the whole country for an estimated 300,000
victims - so we will be starting from scratch and my job will be
evolving as we go. The director of this organization is incredibly
competent, well-informed, intelligent, and has a heart the size of Texas
(or at least, St. Louis). Everyone involved is so prepared and ready
for this new way of reaching girls and the ability to actually offer
them a safe home.
I'm simultaneously excited and terrified
about this opportunity! I am so excited to be reaching people who
desperately need help, love, support, comfort, and ultimately, Jesus.
I'm excited to be moving to St. Louis where I have many friends and will
remain pretty close to my family (especially when compared to the
option of moving to East Asia, where most organizations reaching these
victims are located!). I am excited that God has given me this amazing
opportunity to use nursing and my passion for helping these girls, and
at the perfect timing in my own life. And I'm terrified because this is
going to be an emotionally draining job, dealing daily with really heavy
topics - think typical teenage girls stuff magnified times 100. These
girls have lived in hell and I'm choosing to daily walk through that
with them, trying to show them the hope and light offered by Christ. I'm
terrified to have so much responsibility and to not have established
policies and procedures of a hospital already in place, like I do now.
I'm terrified to live on about half of my current income.
But,
while my mind goes crazy with excitement and anticipation, I find my
heart oddly at rest. Peace has found a place in my soul, and deep hope
for beautiful things has taken root. I know that I am not going to
change the world by taking this job. I know that I am nothing, really. I
won't be rescuing anyone, saving anyone, fixing anyone. But I will get
to partner with God in His incredible plan for the precious, valuable
lives of each of these girls I will work with. And that is pretty neat.
So.
The next several months will be busy! Thankfully, I have a friend from
college who has offered her parents' home as a place to live initially
while I look for an apartment that her and I can share. But, I may not
call or email or be in touch very often as I wrap up life here in
Springfield and start getting settled in St. Louis. I selfishly ask that
you pray for me nonetheless. :) For strength and perseverance and
continued peace and hope.
Thank you all for your love, support, prayers, etc. You are so special to me and I am blessed to have you!
Becky
http://thecoveringhouse.org/ This is the organization I will be working with! They have a lot of great information about the issue.
http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview The Polaris Project deals with all kinds of human-trafficking, but has great info about sex-trafficking specifically.
http://sharedhope.org/learn/policy-impact-2/ This link has more regarding policy issues in this fight against trafficking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/03/super-bowl-sex-trafficking_n_2607871.html Interesting article, especially with the Super Bowl just around the corner - something to think about!
http://sexandmoneyfilm.com/
Incredible documentary, very well done and looks at trafficking
specifically of American youth within the U.S. - which is the population
I will be working with.
