I knew that one of these days I was going to have to talk about what we learned in Greece, but I really haven't wanted to. The reality is just too much to think about sometimes. But once you see and know, you are responsible for doing something. And we are now responsible. These young girls are waiting for someone to come find them.
A21 works through the local police department in each country they work in. The reason for this is that without prosecution of the ring leader, there is no purpose. We would rescue a girl and she would simply be replaced with another. That just creates more victims. There has to be an official "raid" and arrest. And then a trial; so that these men can't continue. Also, if the police are rescuing the girls, there isn't really a trail as to what happens to the girls afterwards. The police hand them over to A21 who then places them in a safe shelter. The police don't even know where this safe house is, for safety reasons. We weren't even allowed to go there. We saw pictures though, and met some of the girls. The  girls that are trapped in this sex slave industry average only 12 yeas old. They are either kidnapped, or lured under false pretense, or falsely offered a job in another city or country and are captured once they arrive. They are beaten, abused, and sometimes drugged into complying. They break them down emotionally and physically until they have no will left to fight their captors. They are sold to as many as 40 men per day. Locked in one room, usually, and never let out.
Once rescued these girls need extensive medical treatment and intense psychological help. Not to mention a safe place to recover. They are typically in a shelter for 6 months before either returning to their hometown or moving to a transition house and finding employment with a new skill they've learned. This is not just a problem overseas. It is worldwide. The numbers in America are skyrocketing.
  The I10 corridor (running from California to Florida) as well as I35 corridor running from Canada to our borders with Mexico are a huge factor. I10 corridor is said to be the most travelled highway in the United States for human traffickers. The third worst city in the United States for human trafficking is Austin, it is quickly becoming a hub for human trafficking in Texas because of its large events including ACL, SXSW, and Formula 1 US Grand Prix which draws both large crowds, as well as a demand for trafficked victims. Houston, TX is the largest port in the United States, making this a target location for traffickers bringing girls from overseas.
Lack of shelters is a big problem here in the US. We have spoken with the Austin division of human trafficking and they confirm that there is a need for more shelters. A21 only has 2 offices so far in the US, one on either coast. The organization is only 5 years old and rapidly growing, but Austin isn't on the radar quite yet.
We knew that our trip was for a purpose and we have discovered that purpose. We are starting a non profit here to help take care of these rescued girls. We have been meeting as a team since we got back and have finalized the name, the paperwork has started, our website is under construction, and we have begin to organize fundraisers. God is opening doors as fast as we can handle them. The name will be released as soon as we are ready to go public, and our websites are ready. We are all very excited about getting started and have plans to go visit the American A21 offices that have been open for a while, to learn even more. The plan is to hand all of this over to A21 when they do finally make it here. Our church is supporting us in this endeavor, and that means the world to us.
We would appreciate your prayers as we start on this journey. It's a big one, but even if one girl is saved, it will be worth all the effort.

Spring Formal Night

They're off to a fabulous evening of ballroom dancing and a gourmet dinner. She invited her friend Eamonn along as a "date". 

pt 6 City wall and ruins

these top photos are on top of the city, on the remnants of the city wall

random cute girl feeding the birds

our lunch spot overlooking the city and ocean

Everywhere you look there are ruins that have been dug up, right in the middle of the city. Loks like they built right around them or on top of them. 

old prison

the old amphitheater(forum)

forum toilets

they believe this is the market that Apostle Paul would have walked through on his visit to the Thessalonians

pt5

Zoe church.

They started this church less than a year ago. It is in English, translated to Greek, live. Most people in Thess are Greek Orthodox, like 95% of them, so finding members usually requires finding non Greeks or those open to hearing the gospel. It was a great service. they do the same songs that we do, just every other verse is sung in Greek. It was so beautiful. Our host Phil was also preaching on this particular Sunday (they rotate) and he was absolutely amazing. They meet in a movie theatre and 20 minutes after service is the first nightly movie showing, so everyone pitches in and quickly tears down the stage and curtains and stuff, and as we're leaving people are showing up with tickets in hand.

Cabinets

I'm going to interrupt this Greece thread with pictures of my cabinets. :)

before

after

 

Now we just need new appliances and counter tops to complete the remodel! One of these days...

Pt 4 Bulgaria

One day they took us across the border to Bulgaria. They wanted to show us some villages where alot of the girls are taken from. It's a very poor area and you can see why these girls would believe just about any lie just to get out of here and into the big cities of Greece. However, it's an absolutely beautiful landscape with snow capped mountains and rolling green hills.

This is a train station where some members of A21 waited all day for a girl who was supposed to  show up but never did, she was recaptured before she could make it there.

stork nest

schoolhouse - note that it's empty in the middle of the day

they use donkeys to pull carts for transportation

we saw lots of stray dogs during the week

We only spent a few hours here and had lunch in the nearest city, before heading back to Greece. 

pt 3

our hotel balcony

a boat in the Aegean Sea

Teri and I on top of the city

some group pics I stole from our host - Teri is eating meat off a sword

they put fries in their gyros

a typical street in Thessaloniki

a beautiful window outside our "Mexican" restaurant we went to one day for lunch. I'm positive their "salsa" was ketchup

it was very cool to be walking the streets of the Thessalonians

still to come.. Bulgaria day trip, Zoe church, city ruins, city wall and more group shots

pt 2 of... alot

The majority of this trip was educational. They wanted to fill us in on the trafficking problem and what they are doing to stop it. I will go into more detail about what we learned on another day. It's still hard to talk about. Especially after seeing the faces of some of the rescued girls and hearing the horrific stories. However on one day we did do an outreach to the cab drivers in the city. We broke up into about 15 groups of 4 and hit every major cab stand in the city. We handed out fliers and keychains with the hotline phone number on it. They were very receptive, for the most part, and confessed to seeing stuff that should be reported.

the whole group of volunteers

our interpreter talking to a cab driver

part of the group

Cindy and I. We had duct tape to represent the girls without a voice

I also got to plaster the city with as many bumper stickers as possible. That was fun

our shirts said - be her freedom, with the hotline number on the back