Continue to follow Watermark Justice on Twitter at www.twitter.com/watermarklawyer. 

Russ Brown

Leah Boyd shared the following regarding their trip:

PCPC organized a trip to India from August 1 to August 7 to train IJM advocates, investigators, and aftercare workers in principled negotiating techniques.  The team, which included two attorneys from Watermark (Darren Harrington and Leah Boyd), spent two days with IJM personnel in Mumbai, where IJM focuses on helping women trapped in forced prostitution, and one and one-half days in Chennai, where IJM focuses on helping people trapped in bonded labor.  The training was well received, and the PCPC Justice group is working with IJM to develop some additional negotiation training material. 
 
Some of the highlights included God miraculously providing the necessary visas literally in the final hour before the trip was cancelled, a time of mutual sharing and encouragement with IJM staff (one woman shared that most people who come to help IJM never seem to need any help themselves), and getting to visit the site in Chennai where tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas was martyred.

Tuesday was a day of tough conditions and an adventure as well. We rode in the back of a metal container truck 1900 feet up into the mountains of the island. The ride took a couple hours and seemed rough to us until watched the Haitians who live in the mountains walking up or riding a mule up the mountains with all their goods from market. I was once again reminded of how much I love comfort. We sleep in a bunkhouse with fans, an indoor shower, and protection from storms while Haitians sleep in huts, houses, or temporary homes provided by aid pegs. We ride up mountains on dusty unpaved roads in trucks.My Haitian friends walk or ride mules 14 hours up and back to market to get basics. Oh how I love my comfort. Lord, help me love it less each day.

In the mountains we got to assist in feeding kids lunch, playing some soccer with them, and to watch Koons, JP, and a terrified little boy tell and act out the story of David and Goliath. Awesome job. We also got to see and get in one of the most maginificent waterfalls you could ever see. A great reminder of the beauty and majesty of God even in a chaotic place like Haiti. Below is pic of Brooke as she shares the gospel with Smith and Peter who helped us make it to the falls. They see us as God’s provision, but Brooke explained to them what they need is Chist eternal provision.

Finally, after an amazing evening worship service at Moh, we listened to our Haitian friend from Moh, Reuben, tell us his story of being trapped in a collapsed 4 story building for hours and hours after the earthquake. He was initially saved because another was on top of him and absorbed the impact of the building collapse. He was later located and rescued after 5 hours in a “tomb.” 300,000 Haitians died in that quake, many in tombs like Rueben was rescued from, and many died thinking they had earned their way to heaven, but in reality they did know the one who can rescue us all if we respond to the message the Brookes of the world deliver. Into Pap, Haiti today on a scouting trip with World Relief.

Greetings from Haiti,

We had a great trip down to Haiti. This is much easier traveling than 
to Africa. As we made our way from PAP to the Mission of Hope the 
devastation from the earthquake is unbelievable.  There are destroyed 
buildings and homes everywhere.

We arrived Mission of Hope around sunset and were reminded of God’s 
goodness that we see in His creation. Last night we got to hear 
stories from the Mission of Hope staff of the days and weeks after the quake. How 
incredible to meet 20 year olds who are serving sacrificially in 
really tough conditions because they have trusted God and answered the 
call.

Today we get to worship in the Haitian church and go see PAP up close 
this afternoon. Please continue your prayers for us and those we’ll be 
serving.

Rick Howard

Click here to view the embedded video.

ACT’s vision is for Dallas citizens to experience the transforming presence of Jesus Christ through collaborative efforts to establish stable, safe environments, free from injustice and oppression.  If you would like get involved, assist with much needed funding, or simply learn more, please contact Watermark Justice or ACT (www.actdallas.org).

The excerpts below were taken from an email from the Congo country director for ALARM, which later was shared with Watermark’s Shelter leadership.

We are proud of the Watermark team. Their . . . conference for counselors of victims of rape and women living with HIV/AIDS was a success. The conference that started with sobbing, crying and many tears, but it ended with singing, dancing and ululations.

. . .The telling of teachers own past ordeals helped the participants to understand that they were not the only victims in the world. [The] teachers’ victory over the[ir] problems gave hope to them that they too could overcome theirs.  . . . Their openness talking about the past and victory helped some women to disclose for the first time that they too had been victims of sexual abuse but kept it [secret] for many years. The quick response to emotional breakdown by either hug or pat on the back was very comforting.

The participants at the conference suggested that the teachers should extend their reach to other areas beyond Goma. They should also consider preparing lessons on other types of trauma, such as those caused by loss of relatives during the wars, or . . . land grabbing.  . . .The sufferers are the persons who do not know their parents. They would want to know the father, for example, but nobody tells them. They were [born] from either rape or incest and nobody wanted to tell them the embarrassing stories. Some married women who are living with . . . ruthless spouses do not share their story and cannot get any help. . . .

These encouraging words also serve as a renewed call to action and remind us that we must maintain focus on the injustice and suffering of the least of these (Matthew 25: 31-46).  Let us, Christian lawyers, continue building Christ-focused leadership by  sharing the good news and challenging Congolese pastors, lawyers, and judges to speak out against injustice, immorality, and untruth.  Pray that the Lord gives our Congolese friends the strength to speak out in the face of danger.  (See also Why go to Goma?) Pray that the Lord will reveal more ways to use our lawyers, ministries like Shelter from the Storm, and ALARM to “bring good news to the poor” and “bind up the brokenhearted” in the Congo.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” Isaiah 61: 1-3 (ESV)

ALARM operates in eight countries in east and central Africa, with offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.  Visit ALARM’s website to learn more: www.alarm-inc.org.

Well,  I’ve made it back from another trip to Congo.  This makes three in a row without significant illness or weight loss.  I am thankful for the former, but probably could use some of the latter.  Thanks to all of you who prayed for and encouraged the team over the past couple of weeks.  I know those prayers sustained us all, but especially the ladies on the trip as they taught 99 Congolese women (out of 100 invited..wow!!) how God and His word can help them heal from the pain and suffering caused by rape both in the recent past and many years ago.

On this trip, the heavy lifting and teaching of the Shelter from the Storm materials was performed the 6 amazing ladies from Watermark Church who spent the past year readying the materials for an African audience, the past three months praying and planning it, and then three days executing the plan as well as can be done in Africa.  It was exciting to see Congolese women break down in tears and for the first time tell the stories of sexual violence against them (some more than 15 years ago) on Monday and Tuesday.  Even more moving was on Wednesday to see many of those same women express forgiveness for the men who raped them in response to teaching from God’s word about forgiveness and an understanding of forgiveness in the process of healing their own hearts.

This transformation of the hearts in Goma happened because 4 of the women on this trip were willing to tell their own stories of past abuse at the outset of the conference.  Immediately barriers were broken down among the women from Congo as they realized they were not “terminally unique” and that other women, even in America, suffered as victims of sexual violence just as they have without any reason.  But, they also saw how Christ suffered horribly through no fault of His own, just like them, and because of the pain He endured, greater good was done.  For many of them an understanding of how the acts against them might be something God could redeem for His greater use flew in the face a lifetime of shame, guilt, and internal bondage.

I was blessed to have Russ Brown join me to carry bags for the gals on the team and spend some time with a group of Christian lawyers in Goma diving deep into scripture for the first time in many of their lives.  We examined parables and passages and had some “lively” discussions on the meaning and application of scripture.  In the end they were left with a practical model for examining, interpreting, and applying scripture.  It was another step in the process of equipping them to use scripture as the basis for how they confront the temptations of life in central Africa.  We are hopeful that the next step before we return in the fall is a weekly bible study for the lawyers led by a pastor in Goma who helped establish our relationship with the lawyers there.

We were also blessed to spend an extended time at the girls orphanage in Goma we visited last fall that specializes in taking in child sexual violence victims.  We gave the girls gifts of blankets and teddy bears (and even a kangaroo from one of the Howard boys) as small tokens to encourage and comfort them a little.  The director of the orphanage told us they have now 143 girls of which 67 have been raped and rescued.  They are between the ages of 5 and 19, so you can imagine the emotional state many are in.  But we found that many are joyful because they are safer in the city than out in the bush (areas outside the city of Goma) where most were raped by soldiers or militiamen while retrieving water or firewood for their family.  This orphanage has a network of churches in the bush that alerts them to girls who have been shunned from their village and they go and rescue groups of girls each month.

Unfortunately there is little money for clothes, shoes, beds, and food for that many little girls.  Most have one outfit and no shoes and the food they receive comes from NGO’s or churches in the area.  We are hopeful that we can develop a plan to send shoes and clothes from Dallas to this orphanage in Goma.  As we put plan together I will email out information for anyone interested in helping.

Finally, we once again spent time at Heal Africa hospital.  A great facility that ministers to the needs of children who are sick or have been injured in the ongoing war as well as adult victims of rape rescued from the bush.  The website is www.healafrica.org if you are interested in what they do.  Part of our time there was spent with founder Jo Lusi talking about the serious need for western doctors to come and perform medical mission trips including doing medical procedures and training for African doctors.  The needs in Goma are every bit as serious as those in places like Haiti.  Unfortunately, long before there was an earthquake in Haiti or a tsunami in Indonesia there was war, disease, and poverty in central Africa.  Lots of help is needed, it is just a little more inconvenient to get there.

Thank you to all who prayed for us as we prepared the trip and carried out the mission.  If you are interested in hearing more about what we did or about Watermark’s overall efforts in Africa, please email me or check out the website www.watermark.org or the blogs at http://watermarkblogs.org/Africa or http://watermarkblogs.org/Justice.

I recently came across the above title in a song by Jason Gray (I believe the quote is actually from Lord of the Rings). This is my prayer for the women of Congo — that the sadness of rape and its effects will slowly but surely become “untrue” and be replaced by hope and freedom.  I know this is actually possible because my God delights in “making all things new” (Rev. 21:5) and we can be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom. 12:2).

Along this same theme of transformation, I want these women of Congo to have joy! Robert Hotchkins (as quoted in The Ragamuffin Gospel) says :

“Christians ought to be celebrating constantly. We ought to be preoccupied with parties, banquets, feasts, and merriment… because we have been liberated from the fear of life and the fear of death. We ought to attract people to the church quite literally by the fun there is being a Christian.”

I fervently pray and hope that God will use us to shine JOY and ABUNDANT LIFE in Christ to those who are struggling to hope.  I want these women to truly see how God has so faithfully brought people who were once emotionally and spiritually dead ALIVE through Christ. I want them to grasp how the blood of Jesus covers the ugliest and most inhumane of sins and I want us to celebrate the fact that through Christ, sin and its effects can be overcome!

I know we will “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15) — I am ready and willing to do both – but I still pray our entire group will plant seeds of joy throughout this trip. How can those of who have experienced healing from sexual abuse not be the most joyful and grateful women on the planet?! May we bring contagious joy to Congo!

In a sense, the fact that we have a sexual abuse recovery ministry (Shelter from the Storm) at Watermark is a victory in itself. I think a trip like this must be Satan’s worst nightmare – God transforming the evil of sexual abuse into an opportunity to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). It reminds me of Joseph talking to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

When you pray for us — please pray for CONTAGIOUS JOY that will spread through Congo to the glory of God!