Our New Club!
Walking into an unfamiliar place. Not knowing what to expect we anxiously awaited to see what the owners would say. God has been preparing the hearts of our team for quite some time to step out and take on another club or two. The only way to be able to start serving in a new club is to GO into the club and ask.
So Sarah, Hannah and myself decided to take Friday evening to visit some clubs. Just simply praying for God to open doors is one thing, but believing God will open doors is a completely different story! Then watching God open the doors is literally the most humbling moment I personally have been able to experience.
We visited one after another and realized very quickly we needed to have male escorts in all of them. We were immediately turned away if we did not have them.
We kept trying different clubs until like I stated before God literally opened that door for us. We walked up to the front door of one particular club and a man walked out right as we walked in. We walked in and up to the bar. The first thing out of the bartenders mouth was “since you ladies don’t have escorts, I’m going to need to ask you to not talk to the customers while you’re in here” enough said, I thought. We ordered some cokes and sat down at a table. It wasn’t terribly busy, a few of the girls came over and talked with us and the first things out of their mouths were “what are you all doing in a place like this?” I guess we had big signs on our heads that clearly stated this wasn’t our typical hang out.
One girl, J came up to us and wanted to know each of our names. She was a really sweet young girl. We told her our names, and she quickly told us that HER mother was the OWNER of this club. My mouth almost dropped to the ground, I thought wow Lord, you couldn’t of been more clear with this one. We told her we would like to talk to her mom. Her mother is not only the owner of this club, but a bartender/dancer. It was heartbreaking to know and see a mother and daughter doing this for a living. So we talked to the owner, J’s mom – PH about coming in and serving in that club.
PH is going to be thinking about it and told us she needed a day or two to think about it, she almost lost her bar last week because of the economy she stated. So PLEASE keep this in your prayers. We are heading back into that club to hear her decision on Sunday night. Prayers are very much appreciated!!
Now you may be wondering, so then what happened with the one you did get?
Let’s just say God has a sense of humor that’s a lot funnier than I am and HE has led us to the largest club in Louisville. It was quite intimidating when we pulled in the parking lot. We didn’t know what to expect, or where to even go.
When we approached the front doors there were legit, microphones and everything, bouncers outside the club. Sarah and I immediately recognized the bouncer. C, the bouncer was the original bouncer at our very first club we ever went to. He got to know us and truly became very respectful to us. C, told us we had to have an escort and once again we did not have that. So i just told C that we wanted to actually just talk to the general manager if we could and ask if we could do the same thing we did at his old club, in this club.
He said ”yeah for sure, come with me!” My mind was racing with just how incredible awesome God is, at this point. The actual owner of this club came and got us and we went to his office, where we told him what we were wanting to do. We noticed that they have food there, so we knew that was probably not an option. He quickly agreed.
So we presented to him that we’d like to come in once a week and have a pampering night for the girls! He thought we were crazy! After some intense back and forth, he agreed to let us come in next Friday! But said he wanted to know what the dancers response was before allowing us to come back after Friday. I could hardly believe my ears!!! You will!!!! Oh my goodness, I wanted to scream, drop to my knees and praise God, right at that moment! But then I knew he would definitly think I was crazy!
So we asked if we could see where we would set up. He took us to the dressing room and told dancer A to show us around. There were probably a dozen girls in the dressing room. We went in, introduced ourselves told them what we were going to do! EVERY SINGLE dancer was beyond EXCITED!!! I would have to say that was also a God moment, because it already let’s us know how they are going to respond! They are very excited to have us.
So many many things to pray for!
We know the Lord will provide all of our needs. Since this not a cooking/serving food club. We are in some quick need of getting some supplies for these women.
Please see what our needs are and if you can help contact me asap:
New Makeup (clean out your closet, drawers, if you have never worn makeup)
Makeup sponges
Makeup brushes
Curling Irons
Brushes
Hairspray
Nail polish
Lotions
Flat Irons
Bobby Pens
We get to have the dancers undivided attention during this time. It will be a much more intimate approach to loving on these women. We are so excited to get to share what God’s beauty is truly like.
God made each of them beautiful and we are thankful for the opportunity to let them know of their beauty both inside and out.
Serving an amazing Father,
Rachelle Starr & The Scarlet Hope Team
We’ve asked a few of our friends who spent time this summer in Kisumu to share their thoughts and reflections on the experience.
I have been asked many times to share my experience and I seem to only be able to say the same few sentences. The world I know is forever a different place. It’s next to impossible to describe my experience in Africa. I’m sorry but my response is the same; you have to go there and see it for yourself to truly understand what is happening. I’m embarrassed to say that it took this long but about two thirds of the way through the trip something inside of me changed. My passion in pursuing myself and earthly things became kind of a joke. To think that I had control of what I could achieve if I just put my mind to it seemed frivolous, yet it is a line I’ve been taught and repeated to myself countless times. If anyone witnesses what we did, returned home and didn’t pick up the cause of local, national and international compassion for those in need and those who cannot provide and defend for themselves they have completely missed the point of why God had them on this trip. I have found that Matthew 25:31-46 still holds true today here in Louisville and around the world.
In the days leading up to this trip, I was thinking this would be an amazing experience where I would share the gospel, make new friends and have a good time. I couldn’t have been more wrong. What I learned from 250 orphans and 50 street children was their amazing joy and simple love for God; A love that I have complicated and made hard to attain. I was recently baptized by my roommate and pastor. I had been putting off this act of obedience to God for selfish reasons. I thought I needed to know everything about baptism before I would do it. It was my roommate who reminded me that the first Christians were baptized as infants in their faith in obedience to God and then grew in their knowledge of Christ. I still remember the water covering my face, it was as if it was happening in slow motion and the whole time I was recalling the sentence that was just said to the crowd that baptism is the emblem of burial and cleansing, signifying death to the old life of unbelief, and purification from the pollution of sin.
I have a family back in Kenya and the mission field is not only here in Louisville, but all around us. Don’t be afraid! It’s time to stop thinking “Oh some day I’ll…” and make that some day and some time here and now. I am constantly amazed by how people of my generation have stood up and said “I’m not what the world is making me out to be” and are showing their love for God by giving of themselves in so many ways. Please pray and seek that you’ll do the same. For things we crave of this earth will soon loose their shine and eerily fade away. Pursue which is eternally yours. Pursue God.
In His name,
Jason
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