Q&A with Alezandra Russell
Q: Where are you going, for how long, and what will you be doing?
A: I’m heading back to Chiang Mai, Thailand where I will be once again working with boys who are victims of sex-trafficking and child prostitution. Through the Urban Light Youth Center located in Chiang Mai’s Red Light District, I am able to reach a population of youth who have been entirely overlooked by their immediate community. This includes educational programming, hot meals, case management, vocational training, love and care.
Q: How did you get involved with this?
A: About a year ago while traveling to Thailand to learn more about human trafficking and the various types of exploitation, I experienced a moment that will forever be imprinted in my mind and heart. It was while in the boy bars of Chiang Mai’s Red Light District that I observed the most insidious type of exploitation. I remember standing in agony as I witnessed men leaving with teen boys whose eyes never met mine because they were shamefully looking at the ground as they walked passed me. It was a that moment that I called on God to give me the strength and vision to do something about this red-colored-cluster of bars where so many boys had their innocence stolen.
Q: What has God been teaching you about Himself through this work over the last 2 years?
A: Through various parables and versus within the Bible I have been on a journey of better understanding my faith and the life of Christ. Throughout Jesus’ life are stories and examples that I strive to replicate in my daily actions: love, patience, compassion, understanding. During a Frontline service given by Mike Kelsey, we were taught about the true character of Christ when he dined with tax-collectors, thieves and prostitutes–this truly demonstrated the love that Christ had for his brothers and sisters despite many vices the community placed upon them. Jesus was able to look beyond the ‘bad’, the ‘tainted’ and the ‘sinful’–he was able to forgive and refrain from judgement–something I want to mimic.
Q: What has God been teaching you about yourself over the last 2 years?
A: I try to be the Samaritan of the great parable in Luke 10: 25-37. Before realizing the needs of so many, I lived a life very much with me at the center. It was a daily focus on my needs, my wants and my desires. Metaphorically, I was beginning to pass more and more people on the street in need when I suddenly realized if I didn’t stop and help who would. I decided to take responsibility to love my neighbor, as Christ told us to. The greatest gift God would give me was when he broke my heart for the boys of Thailand. I would leave my job & my husband for 6 months out of the year to travel to a place where I did not speak the language, know the culture, or know a soul. It has been God’s work in me that has made me better understand myself and my Faith.
Q: How can the Frontline Silver Spring community pray for and encourage you over these next 3 months while you’re gone?
A: I ask that the Frontline community pray for my clarity, my strength, and my safety. I ask that you pray my heart always breaks for each of these boys and that they see how deeply and honestly God & I love them. With each trial and challenge that comes before me, I ask that you pray for my ability to see the good and know that to endure is to know God in a more personal way. Please pray that the Urban Light boys feel the strength of our prayers and realize how many people are thinking of & praying for them. I ask that you pray that waves of angels fall upon them and protect them from the harms of streetlife and that they find refuge in the Youth Center.
To contact Alezandra:
Email: alezandra@urban-light.org
Facebook: UrbanLight
Twitter: BethelightUL
Video: Leayne & Lowell’s Baptism
Frontline Silver Spring Baptisms – April 3, 2011 from Frontline on Vimeo.
Great Story of a Frontliner Stepping Out of “The Bubble”
I got this email from a friend at Frontline Silver Spring this morning. It’s always encouraging to see people applying the message…but obviously my sermon needed a little more practical guidance…
Mike,
Thought I’d share this with ya.
Monday morning as I walked into the Starbucks the words of your sermon were ringing in my ears. Do I live in that Christian bubble? Do the non-believers I know respect what I would have to say about my faith?
As I stepped up to the counter a familiar face looked at me and said “That will be $2.72 sir.”.
I come in this Starbucks all the time, so now was my moment. My response:
“You know what man? I see you almost on a daily basis and I don’t even know your name. I’m Paul.”
I reached across and shook his hand and he said “John, really nice to meet you.”
Feeling really good about myself as I headed over to wait for my drink and thinking about the sermon again and the Great Commission and Jesus “at table” with the tax collectors and sinners I hear a voice behind me softly say “Hey Paul”.
I slowly turned back. Here it is, here it comes. I’m fully expecting John to open up and tell me how much it meant that I introduced myself to him, maybe even he would open up and we would forge a friendship right then and there.
“Yes John.”
“Hey, ummm, well. See, it was really nice meeting you and all, but, ummm, you forgot to pay…”
I’m an idiot.
LOL! Can’t win ‘em all.
(The sermon on Sunday night was about stepping out of the “Christian Bubble” and rearranging our lives to have a greater spiritual impact on those around us. Click here to listen.)
Cindy Cha: On Wrestling with God and Moving to India
Cindy Cha, who is a part of our Frontline Silver Spring community, is moving to India next month! Read her story below. If you’d like to stay updated on how she’s doing and how you can be praying, email her at cindysyc79@gmail.com and she’ll add you to her listserve.
Where are you going, for how long, and what will you be doing there?
I am currently preparing to go to Mumbai India, to work with an organization called Oasis for one year. My background is in marketing and the passion that God has instilled in my heart is for girls who have been trafficked into sex slavery. I will be there as a Campaigns and Communications Officer for their Anti-Human Trafficking team. My work will mainly entail organizing prevention and awareness programs within at-risk communities and working with other NGOs and local churches for Stop-The-Traffick campaigns. I will also have the opportunity to work with trafficked survivors at the after-care facilities as well as everything else that God has in store for me there.
What has the process been like in getting ready to go? What has God been doing to prepare you to go?
Preparation period was very challenging. During the time of preparation, God has removed everything I held onto as my security in this world, but also gave me time of healing and rest. I saw that I am truly weak without Him and His power is made perfect in my weakness. He trained me to depend on Him for all my needs. He showed me that His sustaining grace is sufficient for my continued failures. He taught me to remain flexible to the leading of the Holy Sprit and to have faith in Him even when I don’t understand. He told me to arm myself with His truths to battle the lies of the enemy. I learned to recognize His voice in many ways that He speaks to me. I personally experienced the power of prayer lifted up in faith and boldness by the body of Christ. I am still learning even right now what it means to wait in His timing and to trust that His ways are always better, even when I don’t see it.
You’ve been a part of Frontline for a while. What’s the history behind arriving at Frontline all the way to moving to India? How did you get introduced to this issue/work?
My first visit to frontline happens to be the very first day Todd gave his sermon. I had been away from God for some time by then and have been looking for a church without much success. That night, Todd’s sermon felt like a stream of water flowing like river in the desert. Soon after, I got involved in a small group with an amazing group of women and being part of this small group has truly shaped and changed my life. At the end of year 2006, our small group leader Sarah, asked us to share our milestones. I told God that end of that year would represent the last page of the book I wrote for my life and asked Him to be the author of my life from that point on. That same year, I was asked to lead our small group to an IntenCity-trip where I was introduced to the issue of human trafficking and to Restoration Ministries where I have been serving for almost 4 years.
What did you have to overcome in your heart/thought process to be able to say “Ok God. Whatever you want”?
I am still, each day, struggling to overcome my stubbornness, pride and control. I am too stubborn to obey God’s commands, too prideful to depend on Him for anything, and for many years I held a very tight grip on my life wanting to take control of what I wanted for my life to be. I was afraid that if I gave God the control of my life, His plans will call for doing something I don’t wish to do, or that it’s not really going to be for my best interest. It took many years of making a huge mess of my life and then turning it over to God and seeing Him giving beauty for the ashes, and seeing His provisions for things I could not see, for me to slowly understand that His ways are always better because He is all-knowing and good. Now I am so glad my life is not in my hands who make mistakes all the time, but in hands of God who is perfect and sovereign who also loves me and desires only the best for me.
How do you see your life differently as a result of this process?
I see my life as no longer as my own but in God’s hands, living for His glory and there is no better place to be. God’s plans for my life are so much better than mine and His ways are better than what I can ever plan within scope of my little imagination. For me, surrendering my life all came down to trust - Do I trust God? Do I trust that His promises are true, do I trust in His sovereignty, goodness, faithfulness. I claimed to know it but I didn’t live it out when I refused to surrender what was most important to me. Trusting my life plan in His hands did not happen overnight. God patiently showed me and over and over again that He fulfills all His promises, that He is constant and unchanging, that God who did not spare His one and only son to save me is the same God who has only the best plans and purpose for my life. I am still repeatedly humbled by limitation of my faith, but I am so grateful that God’s grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in my weakness.
Pics from Baptism Service
Here’s some pics from the baptism service last Sunday!!
 Christine Parker |
 Diahna Husbands |
 Kyle Williams |
 Stephan Olbina |