This past weekend, our team of Mentors gathered together for in Colorado Springs for a time of rest, nature, fellowship and brainstorming for the year ahead. Our fall retreat has become a welcome tradition that grounds the team in the heart of our mission: How can we help every unique Survivor reclaim hope as they navigate life after their trafficking experience? 

The theme of this weekend was Gathering Together, as Jesus expresses in Matthew 23:37, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing….” Verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Colossians 3:12-14, and Hebrews 10:24-25 remind us that we were created for community and gathering together. Not just to build one another up, but to walk with one another through dark times. Not just to encourage one another, but to forgive and bear with each other in love. 

This photo is of the hearty group who went on a hike during our retreat free time!

As we enter into the winter months – a dark time for many people – and the holiday season, it’s vital we remember we’re in community with our church family, neighbors, Survivors of trauma and family members we may not always agree with. We encourage you to ask yourself: How is the Holy Spirit using all of these people and interactions to make you more Christ-like? 

As you consider who your community is and how you’re going to gather together this season, also consider how you can support those around you who are navigating trauma. For Survivors of trafficking or domestic abuse, a friend going through a divorce or sickness, someone experiencing heartbreak or isolation, you could: 

  • Give them a call on difficult holidays to remind them they’re not alone
  • Handwrite a sweet card or letter for them
  • Volunteer together, doing something they’re passionate about 
  • Drop off a prepared meal
  • Go for a walk or hike 
  • Sign up for Care Portal to help others southern Colorado 

We are called to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those mourn.” (Romans 12:15). We are grateful to our Mentors and Reclaiming Hope family who know how to rejoice and mourn with one another well. In community, we experience Christ, so please, dear friends, continue gathering together this season. 

May you each have a safe and memorable Thanksgiving. 

In prayers and in Christ, 
Sues Hess
Executive Director

IN THE NEWS AND RESOURCES

RECLAIMING HOPE ON KKTV, CH. 11
Local Colorado Springs station shared more about Reclaiming Hope’s mission to educate people on the recovery process after Survivors are rescued from human trafficking. 

NEW DOCUMENTARY: RAISED ON PORN
This new documentary, viewable on YouTube, created by Exodus Cry and Magic Lantern Pictures, explains how pornography has become the “new sex education for children” and how perceptions of pornography impact people around the world.

DENVER TO ADOPT MASSAGE PARLOR ORDINANCE
After Aurora passed a massage parlor ordinance earlier this year, the city of Denver is taking steps to do the same. According to the Colorado Sun, the new massage business ordinance requires massage business operators to submit to a vetting process before they can open their doors. This is not only an effort to combat money laundering and wage theft, but it also allows a clearer path for law enforcement to immediately suspend operations when criminal activity is suspected.

  • The Human Trafficking Taskforce of Southern Colorado is calling upon Colorado Springs to enact the same ordinance. Read more in this KRDO story. 

PRAYER REQUESTS 

  • Praise for our successful Reclaiming Hope launch event in September and the generosity of donors and supporters!
  • We are putting together the guidelines to open 2 apartments for use by our Mentees in need. Please pray for wisdom and discernment, and for sympathetic landlords willing to work with us.
  • Pray for God’s covering over our Hope Bags sent out to Survivors in the remaining months of 2021. And the Christmas stockings that will be delivered, some to victims still caught in trafficking.
  • Pray for a Mentee who is pregnant to have a safe delivery this month and praise for new life and the hope that comes with growing confidence as a mother. 
  • Pray that each Survivor has access to and willingness to pursue any help they need, for both physical and mental health. 
  • Pray each Mentee overcomes their fears so they can choose healthy friends and activities. 

STOCKINGS AND HOPE BAGS

Tis the season! It’s time to pack Christmas stockings for Survivors and Hope Bags for the start to 2022. Find lists of up-to-date needs and requests for stockings and Hope Bags on our website.