Joy & Thanksgiving

Last week I had the opportunity to go to a drinks reception for IJM UK at a law firm in London.  (Wait, did I just say that? Posh law firm event + London + IJM + ME? I still can't get over what a blessing this adventure has been!)  The event was hosted by a gentleman who had just joined the law firm and had previously been a legal fellow with IJM Cebu.  He shared with a group of his friends and colleagues about IJM's casework, Project Lantern, and his personal experiences with the Cebu team.  He said what impacted him the most while serving with IJM was the team's incredible joy.  In the midst of horrendous exploitation and abuse, IJM is truly motivated by joy.

I have found this true with everyone I have encountered at IJM.  These people confront overwhelming darkness with incorruptible joy. In earthly terms, the odds are always against them, the job is always impossible, and the onslaught of evil ever relentless; but they are set aglow in the knowledge that Jesus has already won the battle and has sent them in His power to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives.  On one particularly stressful morning at work, the IJM UK director came into the office with a smile on his face and asked us, "Who's ready to free slaves today?" And the worry and stress I felt instantly vanished.  I am so thankful to take part (small as it is) in this incredible work.

Speaking of thankfulness, we had an amazing Thanksgiving celebration last night at church!  Loaded with traditional dishes, Psalms of thanksgiving, and fellowship with lovely people, last night was a blessing indeed.  I am deeply thankful for this church community and the way they have embraced me, encouraged me, inspired me, and enlightened me.  They certainly went all out to make us Americans feel at home!  

The Americans, the beautiful dinner table, and -of course- the scrumptious turkey! Unfortunately my camera died before everyone else arrived.

And now we look to the future... Christmas in Ukraine!  I am thrilled to say I am officially going back to Ukraine to serve with Hope for Orphans during two orphan camps from Dec. 22nd to Jan. 12th.  It is largely due to your generous support that I am able to so this.  Thank you!!  As many of you know, this country and ministry has captured my heart and it is a joy and privilege for me to return to a place and people I consider my second home and family.

My church here in the UK invited me to share about HfO during an evening service, and now someone from the church will be going with me to the first camp!  I am astounded at the response of this community to the needs of Ukrainian orphans.  Many people are now praying for these kids and want to help.  Someone even paid for my return flight from Ukraine.  I'm humbled and astounded that I got to take part in connecting this community here in the UK with HfO.  God really does have plans beyond what we could ask or even imagine.

May the Lord bless each one of you, and may He fill you with His joy!

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15:13

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

Can we just take a moment to glory in the loveliness of this season? It is gorgeous in Colchester, and this FL girl is enjoying a proper Autumn in October! Not only is it already October, IT IS NEARLY NOVEMBER!  The month has whizzed by, but I will try to recap as many important bits as possible.

The season isn't the only thing to be excited about, there are tons of exciting things going on at IJM!

IJM has just established a new field office in the Dominican Republic.  Tragically, the DR has become a hot spot for sex tourism, and when IJM started investigating the depth of sexual exploitation in the DR early this year, they found girls as young as 10 being sold for sex.  Please pray for this new office and team as they break ground and begin rescuing young girls from brothels, placing them in healthy aftercare centers, prosecuting perpetrators, and training local law enforcement to protect vulnerable children in this country.  Please pray that the government and IJM will work together in unity, and that talented and dedicated locals fill needed positions in this new field office.

In Kenya, we are celebrating another step toward freedom for Michael, an 83 yr old grandfather who was wrongly convicted of violent robbery three years ago.  IJM Kenya was able to help Michael receive release from prison, and then early this month, Michael's appeal trial finally took place.  An IJM Kenya lawyer was able to explain why Michael's conviction should be overturned, and the court will make its ruling on December 10th.  Please pray the court recognizes Michael's innocence and clears his name!

Earlier this month, IJM Kolkata teamed with local police to rescue a young woman who was being sold for sex. After she was rescued, this incredible young woman told IJM she wanted to help other women find freedom as well.  Click here for the details of her journey from rescued to rescuer.

There are many, many more individual stories of rescue and justice that I could share with you, so if you are interested, sign up for IJM UK's monthly prayer updates!  Email prayer@ijmuk.org indicating you would like to become a prayer partner, and we will start emailing stories your way!

In the UK office, we just launched the Stop It Together Campaign in Parliament!  The UK has excellent laws against the sexual exploitation of children in other countries by British citizens, but these laws are not enforced as often as they are disobeyed.  IJM UK is therefore petitioning the government to make sure these laws are carried out and that children all over the world are protected. Please pray loads of people sign the petition, and that Parliament takes action in response.

As we move into November, we will be using a new database in the UK office that will be a useful tool for organizing, reporting, and communicating more efficiently.  This is very exciting, but also daunting.  Please pray all of us in the office, especially those building the database, are able to make the transition smoothly and learn quickly how best to utilize this new system.  Most of my responsibilities relate to this database, so I would be especially grateful for your prayers as I have many new things to learn.

On a personal note, here are some things the Lord has been teaching me over the past month:

Weakness is beautiful.  God does indeed use the weak things of this world to shame the strong -- so no one can boast in His presence.  In knowing my weakness, and owning it, I experience God's "immeasurably more;" I get closer to His heart.

I've been reading Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton, and spending time in silence with Jesus every morning before work.  In the book, Ruth writes, "in silence there is the potential for each of us to "know that I am God" with such certainty that the competing powers of evil and sin and the ego-self can no longer hold us in their grip." And I am finding that to be absolutely true. As I consciously enter into silence before God, I'm first struck with the uncomfortable truth that I am helpless. I can offer nothing to Him that could entice Him into communion with me. Met with my own vulnerability in this way, I am positioned to see God as clearly as possible- and He is most beautiful. I lose sight of myself in light of the richness of His love and mercy and righteousness and power and steadfastness. Those moments have everything to do with Him and nothing to do with me, and I find the strongholds in my life weaken and give way.

In other news, I found a church home at All Saints Fordham.  I am so thankful for this warm, honest, and Truth hungry community, and I look forward to settling in with them for this year.
(Funny story, the first night we visited Fordham, someone asked how long the church had been meeting, and the reply was, "over 400 years!"  Obviously, the church has changed a bit over the years, but it was amazing to be in a church service that has been gathering together for more years than our country has existed!

Socially, I've been out and about far more than I expected, which has been a great blessing.  Two weeks ago I went to a literary festival in Wivenhoe, last week I went apple-picking and hung out with some new friends for an evening of homemade Mexican food, and yesterday I spent the day in London!

Well, hopefully this long post makes up for the lack of updates I've been sending :).
Thank you all for your incredible support.  I am stunned with gratefulness that I get to be here and take part of restoration so vividly.  You have given me an opportunity that will change my life forever.

P.S. If you're a pictures person, you can follow my year in the UK on Instagram!  Find me at wildwall_flower

Travel Mercies

I've never cared for the phrase "travel mercies."  It made me think God has a jar of mercies and He would plop them down on us like globs of honey, or something.  But let me tell you, after these last two weeks, I am singing the "Hallelujah for Travel Mercies" chorus!

If you know me, you've probably figured out I was born without an internal navigation system.  Seriously.  You could spin me in a circle and I would be utterly lost.  So you can imagine how terrified I was at the imposing future of metros and buses and planes (oh my!) I would be forced to confront in my journey across the pond.

Well, God does indeed give generously in the travel mercies department, because there is no other way to explain the incredibly smooth (and dare I almost say, delightful?) journey I have had to the UK!  God has worked out every tiny detail, and I am immensely grateful!

Praise the Lord with me, for:
     1) All my flights were on time, easy to find, and didn't lose my luggage.
     2) I shared a flight to D.C. with a fellow intern.
     3) A very gracious IJM staff member picked me up from the airport, helped with my massive luggage, and drove me to where I lived while in D.C.
     4) I rarely had to figure out the metro alone because I lived with a fellow intern.
     5) When I did have to figure out the metro alone and find a random FedX office, it was a breeze!  Bonus points: I even gave metro directions to tourists!
     6) I happened to run into friends I was looking for at the Smithsonian (none of us had phones, so it was pretty much impossible to figure out how to find each other).
     7) Another very nice IJM staff member gave me a ride to the airport after training week.
     8) I happened to be on a flight with another intern!
     9) Who then offered to drive me to my UK residence (almost 2 hours away) so that I didn't have to take the bus!
    10) I now have a year long bus pass and am starting to navigate this new town.

And those, my friends, are traveling mercies!  I write jokingly, but I truly am so very grateful!  God is directing my every step.  He hems me in, before and behind.

How did this all start?

Here's a message about my journey towards IJM and an understanding of social justice, which I shared yesterday at The Vine of Greater Orlando:

My journey with International Justice Mission actually begins in Sri Lanka of all places.  I went to Sri Lanka in 2009 on a mission trip with Northland to serve at a summer camp for orphans.  Honestly, I went to Sri Lanka to escape more so than to serve.  I was into my second year of college and tired of trying to figure out who I was and what I was supposed to do with my life, and I really just wanted to get away and experience something new and take my focus off myself for a while.  Well, in Sri Lanka, I met a team from Ukraine who leads an orphan ministry in Ukraine called Hope for Orphans.  I completely fell in love with the Ukrainian team and so every summer since then, I have spent quite a bit of time serving with Hope for Orphans, and it was through these experiences that I began to understand the horror and reality of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is a deeply rooted problem in Ukraine, especially for Ukrainian orphans because they are vulnerable and unprotected.  There are approximately 200,000 children residing in orphanages in Ukraine, and they are viewed as a burden on society.  Sometimes orphanage directors actually inform traffickers when children are going to age out of the orphanage, (orphans are usually forced out of their orphanage at age 16) and the traffickers pick up girls directly from the orphanage.  This is easily done because few people know or care about what happens to these children.

In Ukraine last summer, this reality hit me in a very personal way.  At an orphan camp in the Carpathian mountains, I met a 13yr old girl named Sveta.  We met on the very first day of camp.  I was attempting to practice speaking Russian, and she was doing a much better job practicing speaking English.  We soon became good friends.  One day, she showed me a few small things she owned that were very valuable to her.  One of these things was a photograph of a little girl about 7 years old with short, straight brown hair.  Sveta told me the little girl in the picture was her best friend, Masha.  Sveta explained to me that a few years ago, a man came to the orphanage and told Masha she was beautiful.  Masha was afraid of the man and said he was crazy.  The man took Masha, four other girls, and one boy, and Sveta hasn’t seen Masha since.

Now, I don’t know what happened to Masha, and I don’t want to assume she was picked up by a trafficker, because I don't know that.  But, being face-to-face with the mere possibility of that and knowing that is the reality for so many little girls completely wrecked my heart.  I had to do something about it.  God gave me the great privilege of meeting Sveta and dozens of other children who He cherishes and grieves for and wants to use us to save and restore.

But it’s not just in Ukraine that people are exploited, this happens all over the world and even in our own back yards.  As God motivated me to seek out ways I could defend the orphan, He opened my heart to injustice all over the world and led me to International Justice Mission.  This summer, a friend of mine who went to Sri Lanka and Ukraine with me told me her sister works with IJM UK and they were looking for interns, so I applied and was accepted at the end of July.

IJM seeks to rescue thousands, protect millions, and prove that justice for the poor is possible.  They do this through a four-fold purpose of: victim relief, perpetrator accountability, victim aftercare, and structural transformation/abuse prevention. This is all accomplished through casework, education, and mobilization.

As a business operations intern in the London office, my focus will be education and mobilization- educating communities in the UK and abroad about oppression, and mobilizing churches to seek justice.  I will maintain donor correspondence- write thank you letters and updates from the field offices, conduct research, collect and organize data, organize awareness and training events, represent IJM at conferences, and anything else that is needed in the office.  It’s a small office- there are only 4 interns and 12 staff- so I will keep very busy and involved.

Since IJM is a nonprofit organization, my internship is a voluntary position. The Lord has shown me a need, given me a passion, and through this internship with International Justice Mission, He has provided a specific way He can use us to do something about it.

Social justice is a very popular movement in society today, and that’s a good thing, but, as I’ve learned the hard way, it can also be a very dangerous thing if our motivation isn’t the Lord.  Scripture is flooded with verses that speak of God’s passion for justice, the whole book of Isaiah speaks of the justice and righteousness of the Lord, but I want to bring to the surface Isaiah 26:10 which says, “If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.”  Justice ultimately matters because through it we see the majesty of the Lord.  People matter and deserve dignity because they bear the image of God.  God is just.  We are not.  Our understanding and pursuit of justice must be rooted in Him. 

Last summer in Ukraine, I met many orphans with horrific stories, and I began to doubt God’s goodness.  I could not understand how God could be sovereign and loving and yet let these children continue to suffer.  God was breaking my heart for what breaks His, but instead of leaning into Him and recognizing that, I became bitter and angry.  I allowed my weak understanding of justice to overshadow my knowledge of the Lord.  Gradually, God showed me that any empathy or love I had for these kids came from Him, and any small sense of justice I had gained was a gift from Him.  When we engage the deep suffering of the world, we must engage an even deeper knowledge of God’s goodness.

It is a good thing for us to pursue justice.  The Lord spoke through the prophet Micah that we are to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”  But I’ve realized we cannot do justice unless we love mercy- because who are we to judge?  We are not blameless, and it is only by the grace of God that we have any love or understanding of justice- and we cannot do justice or love mercy if we are not walking humbly with the God of justice and mercy.  It all comes down to Him.

The last thing I would like to say is this – There are nearly 30 million men, women, and children trapped in slavery right now, more than any other time in history.  That is a deep, deep tragedy, and we are sent by Jesus as He was sent to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim liberty to the captive.  But an even deeper tragedy is that every single person who does not know Christ is a slave to sin, and that number far exceeds 30 million.  Jesus sent us not only to bring freedom to the physical captive, but to every captive. And that starts right here – with the captive driving the car behind you on the way home, the captive serving you lunch, the captive in the cubicle next to you or the house next to you.  We hear of horrific injustice in the world and we desire to do something about it, and we should do something about it, but justice must start in our own hearts, our own homes, our own communities.  So let us press into the Lord, and proclaim His mercy and justice to the world.  And may we see “justice flow like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream” (Amos 5:24).

Jewelry for Justice!

All proceeds from my handmade jewelry will help support my internship with IJM UK!

First come first serve; no one set is exactly the same.
Message me for shipping/delivery details.

Amber $20

Aqua  $10

Atlantis  $10

Classic  $10

Eire  $10

Enchanted  $10

Fire & Ice  $10

Fire  $10

Midnight  $20

Summer $20

Tropical $20

If you have any questions about the jewelry or about shipping/delivery, do email me at abigail.d.mills@gmail.com

The Journey Begins!

“O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; 

You will strengthen their heart; 

You will incline Your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, 

so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”

 –Psalm 10:17-18

I cannot fully express to you how beautiful this verse has become to me.  God is breaking my heart for what breaks His through the mission trips to Ukraine I’ve taken part in, and I hope I never recover from the wound until the day the Lord completes His story of restoration and indeed makes all things new (Rev. 21).

In Ukraine I fell in love with children who, because of their orphan status, are highly susceptible to exploitation.  They are not alone.  Literally millions of men, women, and children in every nation of the world are victims of slavery, exploitation, oppression, and violent abuse.  God’s heart breaks for each one of them; He hates to see His image bearers stripped of dignity and justice.  I got a glimpse of this through serving orphans in Ukraine, but God is widening my view.

As you may know, I had planned on extending orphan ministry in Ukraine to Siberia this summer with the Ukrainian organization Hope for Orphans.  Unfortunately, due to our visas being denied by the Russian government, we had to cancel the mission.  The news devastated me at first.  I didn’t understand what the Lord had planned, and I spent most of the summer struggling to trust His greater purposes.  Much as I wanted to serve again with Hope for Orphans, I felt God clearly speaking to me to be patient, cultivate faithfulness in the little things, love and serve the people around me, and wait on Him.  God’s plan proved to be much bigger than I could imagine!  I have just been offered (and accepted) a year-long internship with the International Justice Mission in Colchester, England.  This September I will travel to Washington D.C. for a week of training, and then I will move to Colchester and serve IJM UK as the Business Operations intern. 

International Justice Mission is a Christian nonprofit organization that partners with official justice systems in four regions of the world. Composed of Christian attorneys, social workers, criminal investigators, and support staff, IJM effectively works to relieve victims of abuse, bring lawful accountability to perpetrators, create structural prevention by reducing the vulnerability of at-risk populations and empowering local authorities, and provide aftercare to victims which encourages long-term success.  I don’t have enough room in this letter to fully explain the phenomenal work IJM accomplishes, so I hope you read the fliers and story from IJM’s field office in the Philippines that I’ve included!  You may also consult IJM’s website, www.ijmuk.org.

This internship is a voluntary position.  I will need to raise support in place of a salary to sustain myself in the UK for one year, which would be an estimated grand total of $15,000.  Because IJM UK is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and not in the U.S., donations must go to my personal fundraising account.  Checks may be sent to me at 960 Blackwood St. Altamonte Springs, FL 32701, or you can donate online through PayPal (click the “Donate” button at the top of this blog).  If you have any questions at all regarding my fundraising needs or process, do ask!  I wish to be completely transparent.  God knows His plan to provide for me.  My trust is in that plan.  Please give as He leads, not out of obligation.  You are receiving this letter because I value our relationship and want to share this experience with you.  Aside from donations, I will also sell my handmade crocheted jewelry on Facebook and this blog.   All proceeds will go toward my internship.  

Outside of financial support, you can partner with me to fight injustice through prayer.  I would deeply appreciate your prayers for me, the IJM UK team, and the victims we will defend.  I am committing to pray specifically for this internship during my drive to work each morning – it would be wonderful if you could commit to doing the same!  If you would like to receive prayer requests from me, please email me at abigail.d.mills@gmail.com requesting updates.  I would be honored to share this journey with you!

What is the International Justice Mission?

Check out this blog post from International Justice Mission UK's Executive Director, Terry Tennens, for a brief but pointed explaination of IJM's mission and purpose: International Justice Mission UK: Terry Tennens