God brings those in need right to your backyard. That is what we experienced when we met Lizet. Behind our partner church in Honduras, there is a shack, with the planks barely boarded together, falling apart. There is no tile or nice wooden floor, only dirt caked together on old rotting wood, marked with years of bare feet walking along the one-room house. If you pass by that house, it would look like the many others nearby that have been struck with poverty and hopelessness. You would probably never know what went on in that house; but God did, and he heard the cries of pain from his little girl.
Lizet trusted her mom like any other daughter would. She gave birth to her and took care of her. Whatever her mom asked her to do, it was in Lizet's best interest-- so she thought.
Lizet's mother soon had a boyfriend. He seemed like a good man at first, but little did they know that he had other intentions to harm them. The boyfriend convinced Lizet's mother to sell herself to his friends and strangers for money. She was desperate for food and survival, so she turned to prostitution. Men would come into her house, she would tell Lizet to go behind the curtain that sectioned off her room, and the mother would entertain the men.
This happened often and soon became their way of life. But one day everything changed. The boyfriend asked for Lizet. She had no other choice.
Every night, men would visit the family and pay to have sex with Lizet. Lizet was under ten years old. The pain and sorrow that accumulated in her, along with the broken trust of her mother, tortured and scarred her. She lost all hope. She had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run.
One day one of our missionaries heard about Lizet. He asked questions and investigated the situation. We did everything we could to rescue Lizet. Through a lot of prayer and hard work, we rescued Lizet from the chains of human trafficking. We welcomed her into her new home, the Honduras Life Center.
When Lizet arrived to our front door, she was welcomed by loving parents. Her new siblings embraced her like a new sister. She slept that night in her own bed, safe from all the evil that her world had brought her.
Every day, Lizet learns what it was like to be in a healthy family. She knows that Jesus loves her and that he makes us new, white as snow. He is her heavenly father that cares for her no matter what she has been through. He heals her and strengthens her. Our Honduras family loves on her, helps her with her homework, teaches her responsibility, and pours hope into her, each rising day.
You are the reason why Lizet is with us today. God put you in our path so that you could pray, support, and make a difference with us around the world. These children were hopeless, most abused, and lost before we found them. But we gave them the hope, love, and message of Jesus Christ that was always for them the day they were born.