Our Thoughts Are Stars : a New York (City) state of mind

It's a Monday.

I (Laura) am baack! This GIF is the only one I could find of JarPad that closely describes how excited I am to be posting again. Apparently this man doesn't get excited much...

I seriously missed reading all your posts while I was in Manhattan! When I got back on Friday (and I think I told Grace this) I went on this here blog and read all of last week's posts, starting with Mercy's on up. And I laughed and enjoyed all the fangirling (which probably would not have happened if one of my usually deepish posts had started off the week. I guess I really am the Boring and Serious One;). All week while we were exploring the vast and interesting New York City, I kept thinking "I'm going to add this to my OTAS post and this and that and the other" so, this post will probably be kind of long. But I took pictures, Mercy and Rose, so y'all won't get bored of my many words.
So, my missions trip. I don't think I ever really said what I would be doing, and that was majorly because I was not 100% sure what that would be until a couple of days before I left. The organization I went with is called Let My People Go, a faith-based movement that brings in college students to learn about human trafficking and how to fight it in a practical, God-centered way. I know, I'm not in college yet, but I went with my sister and her campus ministry- our team consisted of me, Mary-Kate, our bilingual team leader, and a Spanglish-speaking Puerto Rican girl with the cutest accent. We stayed in a hostel -a really cheap hotel for travelers where you share rooms with complete strangers. Originally I associated hostels with the adjective "hostile," but HI-New York was like a really clean dorm, where you have Finnish and Peruvian roommates, while the downstairs was like a neverending Starbucks (replete with cute French guys, by the way). I highly recommend staying in a hostel, because I got to experience a little taste of the independence that comes with college dorming, as well as meet a few fascinating (and very safe!) people from all over the world!

Mary-Kate (above), and Itamar our team leader. As soon as they got to our room in the hostel they had to try to fit in their giant lockers :)

There were two other college teams partnering with us, one from southern Florida and another from Mississippi (every stereotype about southern people? 500% true and surprisingly endearing). We were split up into three teams (I was with two Florida students and their campus minister and one girl from Mississippi) and every day we were sent out into the city with a different mission. Monday and Tuesday we were in Chinatown, identifying brothels -the guy who is the head of LMPG is also in the know as to where most of the prostitution occurs in NYC- and praying over them, as well as asking other store owners if we could put up signs to raise awareness for human trafficking. What shocked me the most was that these brothels were not hidden away in dark alleyways or abandoned buildings. They were right out in the open, between the Chinese fish marketers and street vendors, most disguised as spas or massage parlors. We actually saw one guy walking out of a basement brothel- talk about the most awkward eye contact ever. It's not like we could break down the doors and free the poor girls who had been dehumanized and sold into the grisly business of the sex trade. I learned the hard lesson, that you cannot save people, you can only love them. Love them and pray for them and not treat them as if they chose their so-called livelihood. Most slaves don't know they are enslaved, and can't take themselves out of it. No one grows up wanting to be a prostitute- most victims (young women, as well as men and even children) are seduced or threatened into servicing sometimes dozens of clients a night. It's a graphic and heartbreaking industry that most people are unaware even exists in postmodern America, and it's our job as informed Christians to unshackle those in bondage and love all victims as Jesus would.
Anyway. On Wednesday and Thursday we worked with people groups who are at the biggest risk of being exploited. We served free hot lunches to the homeless through a really cool ministry called the Relief Bus- a sort of food truck that also hands out clothes and offers help to anyone in need of a job or a lawyer or counselling. I seriously love homeless people. I had the most interesting conversations with these people, most of whom know what it's really like to be human. I found out that those who have the least usually give the most. Their life stories can be heartbreaking or poignant, but some of them have a faith in God deeper than mine has ever been. When asked what they need prayer for, these people, who I have perceived for my whole life as needy and marginalized, asked for shelter for their fellow homeless, protection for their family members, world peace- nothing for their own "desolate" selves. Something my youth pastor says a lot is that those who are poor materially are usually the richest spiritually, and I never quite realized the truth of his words until I actually spent time outside of myself with these inspirational people.
Our final service project was at an after-school program in Chinatown again! We helped children -pretty much all of whose parents were Chinese immigrants- with homework and reading, and got to play with them as well. The kids were crazy. That is the only way to describe them. Most of them have distant parents, who work two or three jobs and almost never see their kids. The kids were bouncing off the walls because they were so starved from attention and unconditional love, and it was great to be able to invest time in them and maybe even show them the love of Jesus.
Overall, Manhattan was an interesting and altering experience. I took in so much and met so many new and fascinating people- I was honestly more culture-shocked by the Mississippi students than all of New York City! I loved how diverse people from different parts of our vast nation are, and learned that you don't even have to step on an airplane to experience people from a completely different set of culture and customs. We bonded as teams and laughed too much and ate lots of fair trade food (food produced without the work of slaves). We also got some very practical training for fighting trafficking in our own communities. I wanted anyone reading this to know that if you ever suspect anyone of being trafficked, don't be afraid to take action. The National Human Trafficking hotline is 888-373-7888. You could save not only one life but many :)
Girls, New York is a beautiful city. I walked all over Manhattan. We stopped at so many quiet hipster coffee shops. Times Square is a bustling, overwhelming mess of people and lights and beauty. I walked through part of the gorgeous Juliard campus and immediately thought of Mercy. We trudged the crowded streets of Chinatown and Little Italy. We admired the brownstone communities of the Upper East Side. We pressed up against strangers in the crowded subways. We stopped in skinny shops of all kinds, ones selling scarves and jewelry and the world's best dumplings and powder-dusted cannolis. I grew some in my faith and quenched my gnawing wanderlust, but you know what? It's good to be home again. I am so thankful for what I have spiritually- my faith, my confidence in it, my decision to remain pure. I realized that the reason I've protected my purity pretty well so far should not be because my parents or the Bible says so. It's because I'm worth something. I have actual value in the eyes of God, and someday perhaps in the eyes of some man who respects me and what I believe in. Never in my life would I dream of being exploited like some of the girls my own age, and by the grace of God I am who I am, unscathed by sex slavery but aflame with a newfound desire to fight it.
Well, that's all I have. Here are a few pictures (because I figured this post wasn't long enough already) from around the city that I hope y'all enjoy. Mercy, we will hear from you tomorrow.