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The Shepherd Bringing Back the Lost Lamb

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2014

 Neustart, my ministry assignment here in Berlin, is now opening regularly on Friday nights!  Before, we were open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons and Monday nights.  Alabaster Jar, another prostitution ministry with a similar outreach, rents the same Cafe space and opens on Wednesday nights and Thursday afternoons.  This is a story from a couple Friday nights ago, where God did something incredible.

Friday, May 30th

We had two new volunteers working in the Cafe that night, along with Prisca, the Cafe leader, Gerhard, one of the founders of Neustart, and I.  All the volunteers were there an hour early to prepare the food, complete any further cleaning, and to pray before the opening of the Cafe.

After our usual time together, we opened the Cafe at 9pm.  It was oddly quiet for the first 30 minutes….only one or two women came in.  After some time of quietness, Prisca stepped outside the Cafe onto the street.  As she stepped out, a group of friends, who were walking past, asked her for help with directions.  Prisca gladly helped direct them to where they needed to go.  A few minutes later, God prompted Prisca to go back out again.  This time, it changed the life of a young girl named "L"….(her name is disclosed for safety reasons)

Prisca saw this young girl walking around, appearing bewildered and lost.  Prisca asked her if she needed any help.  After talking with her briefly, Prisca invited her inside to talk over some coffee.  She stepped in, taking in her surroundings, and timidly took a seat to the right of where I was sitting.

This young girl was clearly in process-overload.  She had no clue who we really were and asked me and the other girl Cafe volunteers if we were prostitutes.  We lightly, joyfully laughed and said no, and explained that we are workers with Neustart and that we are there to help her and other women in any way we can.Moments later, seeing that the young girl was overwhelmed, Prisca invited her to the second floor of the cafe to talk one-on-one.   This is what Prisca found out (she wrote the following to me in English in an e-mail the next day….as I didn’t fully understand what all had happened).

Prisca’s E-Mail

“Hey dear,

"L" is only 15 years old. She has many problems, has been sexually abused, bullied at school and therefore skipping school a lot and injured herself by cutting her arms. That’s why her parents decided to get her into stationary psychatric care and she was willing to go, too.

Yesterday she was allowed to be out with another patient for the first time and took her chance to escape. Although her family is very caring and the people at the hospital are nice to her, she didn’t want to go back. She told me, she had heard about Kurfürstenstraße and that you can make money in a short time by prostitution and wanted to try it out, see the world, live her life,…She had no idea what it really means to be a prostitute, how much violence there is, how much the women suffer, etc. She is very naive and also a bit disturbed I think.

I asked her if she even had a place to sleep or a plan where to go and what to do and recommended warmly to her NOT to decide to prostitute herself and asked her about the clinic and her parents and if they know of her whereabouts.  I could convince her to let me take her to Mädchennotdienst (Emergency Service for Young Girls) of Berliner Notdienst Kinderschutz (Emergency Service for Child Protection), so that she would have a place to stay and be off the streets.

I took her there and on the way we talked a lot about her family, her dreams, she asked about Kurfürstenstraße a lot and about my job as a social worker.

Once we arrived there, she answered reluctantly to the social worker and when she was supposed to give her parents’ number, she shut down completely and didn’t want to stay anymore, said she would find some place to stay, etc. It took a looong time convincing her and praying silently in my mind until she finally accepted to at least stay the night and see what the morning brings.

She has my number just in case.

Please pray, that she is reasonable enough to call her parents and go home and for wisdom for the social workers, because they are not allowed to make her stay, they have to let her go.”

Most Recent Update

Prisca is my age (22), goes to my church here in Berlin, and is also in my small-group Bible study on Wednesday nights.  I saw her last night and she was overflowing with excitement and had great news to share about "L".  "L"’s doctor at the psychiatric clinic had found Prisca’s contact and called her yesterday to inform her that "L" was safely back at the clinic and to thank Prisca for her role in that.  The doctor also said that it can be arranged for Prisca to visit her at the clinic!  How awesome is that?!?!?!?!!!!  Prisca was oozing with joy and praise last night as she was sharing this good news with me.

God is so good.  Wow…He just saved this girl from potential a life of prostitution and all the violence and enslavement that comes with the job…God just delivered "L" into the hands of His servants and protected her from the hands of Satan’s servants who would have taken advantage of her….please be praying for young "L" and for her salvation; that she not only be brought into worldly safety but that she be found by the Shepherd who will bring her into the safety and rest of his Father’s fold.  And shout to the Father for the great things He has done!!!

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