16 — Good News, etc. — February 2012 nc/sd missions


By JUDY ERICKSON In November, Penny Williams’ Hands


Up High: Seeds of Hope ministry that reaches local young adults, teens and children took a gigantic leap forward and outward, planting seeds of hope for victims of human trafficking in Costa Rica. Williams was leading a multi-church


team of youth to follow up on work they started on the island in July. San Marcos resident Melinda Day, 20, and Jonell Fuerst, 23, of Escondido, had gone with Williams to renovate the pediatrics ward of a hospital. A doctor stopped by to ask why they were painting Scripture verses on the hospital corridors. Seizing the opportunity, the team led the doctor to faith in Christ and left them with a sense that their mission was accomplished. “But, it was just the beginning,” said


Fuerst. Returning in November, the women


“Go, ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing


them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”


– Matthew 28:19 (KJ)


OPEN THE GATES Pray for Muslims every Friday, noon-12:30 Ephesians 2:14


www.openthegates.org San Diegans rescuing Costa Rican victims of human trafficking


learned that the doctor had led about 25 hospital employees as well as many patients to the Lord, and started a weekly meeting to pray over patients. “We were awestruck at all the things that


God had done,” Fuerst said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. To watch God work 24/7 day in and day out for that week — it was kind of an urgent feeling.” Right away in November the team en- countered human trafficking. Within six days they were given a house in the little town of Quepos, to use to rescue girls trapped in the vile web of the “sex vaca- tion” industry. “It was God, it was so miraculous what happened,” said Williams, who met with doctors, homeowners, business owners and social service employees, all very open to her team’s plans. Day and Fuerst will return to Costa Rica


on July 1 to begin immersion in a Costa Rican family home to enable them to serve in the Seeds of Hope safe house opening


by. After all, she had dented his bus. Curtis Sergeant, a strategy coordinator for the In- ternational Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, witnessed the tragedy with horror from the back of the bus. No one on the bus moved to help. The year was 1991. Sergeant had just


T


moved to this Asian province of 8 million people. He questioned God’s wisdom in sending him to a place filled with such heartless, evil people. God wasted little time in showing him why. Beginning with only three house church-


es in this province of more than 8 million people, the island had 8,000 followers of Jesus five years later. Sergeant left in 1996, and the rest of his team left by 1998. By 2001, it is estimated that there were 900 churches with nearly 100,000 believers worshipping. Today, there is hardly an area that


does not have a church within walking distance. Sergeant listed several factors in the rapid church planting movement: • Short term volunteers. Because the


province and its people groups included so few Christians, an important church planting tactic was to use short-term mis- sionaries recruited from other countries. “After all, Paul was essentially a short- term missionary,” Sergeant reminded us. “Except for longer stays in Corinth and Ephesus, he was not ministering anywhere very long.” • Person of peace. First, as Jesus com- manded, they would seek out a person of peace in each new community. That person may not have been a believer, but could help facilitate a house church. • Training the trainers: Sergeant led the short-termers to spend much of their time training nationals who would in turn train others. How quickly were new believers expected to share their faith and even plant churches? Immediately! As soon as some- one came to Christ, Sergeant or one of his


Yes, reaching 8 million people YOUR


he elderly woman bounced off the front of the bus. The bus driver cursed and spit on her as he drove


MISSION BILL SMITH


team members would say the following: “It is a great blessing to lead someone else to Christ. It is an even greater blessing to start a church. It is the greatest blessing to train others to start churches. I want you to have the greatest blessing, but let’s start with great blessing.” • Accountability. New believers have


dual accountability. Every time the mem- bers get together they are asked, “Did you apply what you learned?” and “To whom have you passed this teaching, and how have they applied it?” According to Sergeant, this keeps them tied to the Lord and accountable. Scripture is the authority, and there is a twin focus on right belief and right behavior in daily life. In 2010, Sergeant, now vice president


for Global Strategies with e3 Partners, was visiting his friend Thom in India. It had been 19 years since the bus incident, and 14 years since Sergeant left that Asian country. A Christian woman came to Thom’s


door, very excited. “I’ve got to tell you about this place


I visited,” she said. “It was amazing! Every village has churches. The worship is phenomenal. They’re sending out mis- sionaries! The government formerly per- secuted the Christians, and now they are encouraging churches because the crime rate is down.” “Where is this place?” Thom asked. Sergeant smiled when she named the


same province which, less than one genera- tion before, had been a place of “heartless,


evil people” with no hope in their hearts. o


Bill Smith attends Emmanuel Faith Com-


munity Church in Escondido. Excerpt from Mission Frontiers, January-February 2012.


Aug. 1. The two also will be trained by Christian Peace Corps members in how to help people suffering from trauma and violence, including human trafficking. Williams is working with Costa Rica


law enforcement and PANI, similar to our Child Protective Services, to open the first licensed foster home with a full-time psychologist for human trafficking in Costa Rica. The donated property includes a school


for government-sponsored independent study, with tutors and life and vocational courses such as sewing, cooking, physical education, and self-defense. Girls, brought in through the government foster program, also will get Bible and English classes. “We’ll provide that new hope for them


so they can go out there again and not feel like the only thing they have to do is to be prostitutes,” Day said. “We’ll train them to be built up in God and to feel love again. We’ll light a passion for their lives and their callings and teach them what God wants to do with them.” “It’s amazing how fast God moved,”


Day added. “He’s giving us people to be involved in this mission who are huge in Costa Rica — Christian psychologists and churches.” Williams, Fuerst and Day are seeking


prayer partners, funding ($500 per month to support a girl, and the first home will have room for 12 girls) and legal docu- ments. They also are seeking a native house mom to stay at the home at least eight hours a day and cook authentic Costa Rican food to provide comfort to the girls. “We want peo-


Jonell Fuerst, left, and Melinda Day in front of safe house in Costa Rica.


invite Quepos townspeople to a street revival with free concerts. Williams said Quepos churches are prepared to take in the hundreds of converts they expect. Priscilla, a newly converted prostitute,


has volunteered to be the ministry’s insider in that dark world where she has located the home’s first resident. Lolla, a 14-year- old girl, already waits with her 2-year-old baby in a drug rehab center for the home to open. “God is doing things faster than we can


“Love God, Love People, Change the World!”


ple who donate to have a heart for this and take it personally. These could be their sisters, their daughters,” said Fuerst, who volunteers in the junior high program at Mission Hills Church in San Marcos. “We want prayer partners to pray with us, even six months out, to pray for these girls. It will take a long time for these girls to get through what they’re dealing with.” “The country is so sin stricken,” Fuerst continued. “You can tell the enemy has taken ahold of this country. It’s filled with a lot of incest, with a lot of human traffick- ing. To watch God continue to give these people hope and plant that seed is amazing. Consistently… when Penny asked if we were interested, it wasn’t a choice, it was just the next step. We have to go to Costa Rica. It was so encouraging, it makes you not want to live this everyday life.” Although team members decided to do six-month shifts, Fuerst wants to stay a year at first to work with other people who want to open homes as part of Williams’ plans for eight homes. “I’d love to stay down there and see it develop and see it grow,” Fuerst said. Williams is leading a team in March to


install a commercial kitchen and security measures in Seeds of Hope Home. The team from Summit Church returns to Costa Rica in July to put homey finishing touches on the safe house, and to start filling it with 12 girls rescued from human trafficking. The team also will go door-to-door to


think of them!” Williams recently wrote. “I think many of you also feel that He has a sense of urgency for us to go into the world and do His work like never before! (My hus- band) Chris and I have a goal in 2012 of just being ready to do whatever He calls us to do....We


are really excited!” “It is an amazing story of how God has


made this happen,” Williams continued. “The numbers of girls that are being forced into slavery in the sex tourism business in Costa Rica would shock you. We have a great program set up and we believe that many girls’ lives will be saved, emotionally, psychologically, physically and spiritually. Please start praying for our girls now.” Jagger Hansen, a 24-year-old San Marcos


resident, also plans to go to Costa Rica along with Theresa Jones, wife of Summit Church Pastor Daniel Jones, to finish preparations for the safe home. Penny Williams’ nonprofit ministry,


Hands Up High, whose motto is “Love God, Love People, Change the World!” equips young adults to achieve their dreams to help others in America through Hands Up High and abroad through Seeds of Hope. The ministry meets at 5 p.m. Thursdays


at the Old California Coffee House in San Marcos to brainstorm ideas for ministry. “If you are a young person who wants to share your ideas or jump on board with ours, you are welcome!” Williams said. Williams desires speaking engagements


to local groups interested in rescuing girls. She offers confidential updates and photos to individuals or groups that sponsor the homes’ girls. The website at www.scat- teringseedsofhope.org shows what the ministry is doing here and in Costa Rica.


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