I recently read Red Letters, by author Tom Davis. Now I wouldn't give all the credit to Tom's book... the reality is that it started way before then, but perhaps Red Letters was the push I needed to get me going.

I hadn't even closed the book after reading the final pages when I just had to open up my computer; I had to get online…

I had this almost uncontrollable desire to do some research. It sounds strange, I know. But that's really what happened. You see when I was home in Washington I went to a class where they talked about leading a church mission trip, one of the things that was mentioned was that there aren't really any organizations working in Delhi, India. There are hundreds perhaps thousands of women and children who are forced into the sex trade in Delhi alone, yet there are few to no groups who's goal is to see them set free. This statement never got out of my head.

We are hoping to send some of our World Race teams to India. We've been in Thailand, and helped with several ministries that work with girls who have wanted to get out of the prostitution business. I was wondering… would it be possible for us to send a team and work with the women in India? There has to be women who want out of the business in India too. So I started doing some research…

*˜ in rural villages children are known to be sold by their parents to pimps for as little as $40

*˜ 25% of sex tourists in Asia are Americans

*˜ a typical prostitute can make as little as $2.50, while a virgin can make more than $500 in India

*˜ as many as 200,000 Nepali girls, many under 14 years old, have been sold into the sex industry in India.

From what I read, from multiple sources and multiple countries, the sex trade is quite large in India. Because lighter skin is preferred by many of the ‘customers', many refugees and people who come looking for jobs from nearby countries are sometimes forced or tricked into the sex trade. HIV/AIDS is quite widespread, and because customers are not required to use any form of ‘protection' many of the girls have contracted the disease.

I was able to find a small handful of organizations that are trying to help stop women and children from being forced into the sex trade. However each organization also had testimonies of having pimps and even community members try to stone them. There are stories of them being attacked because they are taking away the livelihood of the pimps, and these women are now considered the lowest of the low. (Remember India still has a cast system, and they take it seriously.)

Will the World Race be able to go and help the women and children in India? I don't know. Although I could sit here and mope and ask the Lord why it is that He has put this passion on my heart for the people in India involved in the sex trade, instead I am going to thank Him. I am going to continue to research and read… and maybe one day the Lord will tell me why it is that these people that I've never met are so burned onto my heart that the only prayers I can pray are tears. (Don't worry mom, I'm definitely not looking into plane tickets to India!)