Zoe International and excerpt - PINK by Marilynn Griffith

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.08.2006

PINK by Marilynn Griffith

High fashion meets romance in the Big Apple for a fresh, funky designer!

Raya Joseph wants to break free from the beige world around her and celebrate the color of the city. With a sassy pink style and a radical change of hair, she's off to conquer the design world. But it doesn't take long for Raya to meet her match--in style and flair. Flex Dunham, a personal trainer and one of Raya's clients, has got it going on.

As much as Raya would like to pursue a relationship with Flex, she has other matters on her mind--and on her heart. Then a blast from the past comes back to haunt her, and Raya can't help but wonder if she made the right decision in keeping her past a secret. Flex seems to be hiding something too. But what?

Woven with humor, heartache, and hip friendships, Raya's new life has a lot of colorful threads. But will the end result be a beautiful design? Or will it fall apart at the seams? Join Raya and her friends Lily Chau, Jean Guerra, and Chenille Rizzo as they untangle the threads in the Shades of Style series.

Read an excerpt here(.pdf).

Zoe International: On Sunday, missionaries Greg and Nancy Nakamura came to visit our church to talk about their work. Our church supports them through our missions fund.

They work for Zoe International Ministries, who work in Thailand to rescue at-risk children from human trafficking. As he spoke and showed the video clip, I felt incredibly convicted.

In seasons of my life, I’ve felt God convicting me about certain missions and organizations, and this is one of them. I heard Him impress on my heart that this is work I’d like to write about, these are organizations I’d like to give to. I don’t feel the pull to serve overseas—although I’d have to pray about that, but shhhhh don’t tell my husband, he doesn’t know (yet)—but I do feel a strong conviction to give. That’s where the tithe from my advance is going.

Human trafficking is a terrible evil, and God has caused it to cut me especially deeply. I’d only heard about it in Slavic countries, but seeing the horrifying reality of it in Thailand and the Golden Triangle has caused a burning in my heart.

There are other needs for the Gospel in other places, but for me, as of today, God has placed this area like a weight on my soul.

Zoe Children’s Homes:

Child prostitution is now a worldwide crisis.

Worldwide, it is estimated that up to 1,200,000 children per year are brought into the child prostitution and human slavery industries. (1) In the United States alone, it is estimated that 17,500 women and children per year are imported for this heinous work. (2)

Human trafficking is an industry so lucrative, that the U.S. intelligence community estimates it will surpass the business generated by the illicit trade in guns and narcotics within the decade. (3) Child trafficking is an epidemic that is growing exponentially. Unfortunately, response to this pandemic and awareness of this issue has not kept pace.

It has been said that “Evil prevails when good men do nothing.” Will you help fight for those who cannot fight for themselves?

ZOE Children’s Homes is a division of ZOE, an international Christian organization. The Children’s Homes were launched to proactively rescue children who are at risk of being sold into human slavery and/or child prostitution. Our first goal is to provide a loving and safe atmosphere. We then educate, motivate and model servant leader principles. With your help, a new generation of leaders can be raised up to help stop these crimes against humanity.

Myna’s story

Myna was rescued when we found out she was on her way to the sex traders to be sold – it was told to us by her guardians that her mother and father abandoned her five years earlier. The family she was staying with could no longer feed her. We still do not have and may never have the entire story of the harm that may have been done to her. Myna is reserved in her affection, yet with each day that passes she trusts us more and more. We are able to prove to her everyday that she is now in a loving and safe family. She is so precious and so much fun. As her new family and caretakers, we thank God for the privilege and honor of raising her and to help her to grow and recover spirit, soul and body...

Information on the fight and the solution.

(1) UNICEF www.unicef.org/protection/index_exploitation.html
(2) US Department of State www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005
(3) Pathbreaking Strategies in the Global Fight Against Sex Trafficking, February 23-26, 2003, Washington DC, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/rpt/20834.htm


The Agape Home:

The Agape Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand lovingly cares for abandoned babies and children who are HIV-positive and/or have AIDS.


NightLight:

Nightlight is a ministry in urban Bangkok which reaches out to women and children working in the bar areas of Nana/Sukhumvit. Through life-on-life ministry, NightLight’s goal is to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of women in prostitution, their children, and those children brought illegally in Thailand to financially support their families by selling items in the bars and often through sexual exploitation.