New Beginnings: No Quit!
“You can’t fail if you don’t quit. You can’t succeed if you don’t start.” — Michael Hyatt
ALO is proud to support New Beginnings, the first program of its kind in Java, Indonesia. This much-needed safe house and aftercare program ministers to trafficked and exploited women in Indonesia. They offer hope, transformational change, and opportunity for a new life through an empowerment program. The home offers shelter, a healing program, and a new community, so victims of human trafficking can become healthy survivors in every way! New Beginnings’ empowerment program provides education, counseling, medical care, and legal assistance for women and their children.
Java, Indonesia—When the rescued sex worker chose to go back to the red-light district, her children were devastated. So were Dawn* and the team at the New Beginnings safe house. When the ministry’s doors had opened in November 2021, three generations of this family had been the first rescued from sex trafficking. Without emergency surgery made possible by the ministry, the mother would have died. But just two months into their new life, evil influences from the mother’s past dragged her back to her old, ugly life. She insisted the children go with her.
How could she do this? Dawn wondered. How could she choose that degrading life after tasting a new life of dignity and hope...after experiencing the lavish love of God and His church... after seeing demons cast out by the power of Jesus, and after her child had seen a personal vision of Jesus. How could she throw that all away?
For a brief moment, Dawn wrestled with regrets. Had the costly investment she and her husband, Mark*, made in getting to this place and in this one family been worth it? Should they even have bothered? After all, this was not what she had dreamed would be the return on almost 35 years of sacrificial labor. But there’s no quit in Dawn. Through many years of pursuing God’s call, she had learned that God’s ways and timing are not our ways. She had learned to trust Him.
When Dawn was in 7th grade, she had a dream that set the course for her life. In the dream, she was taking God’s Word into mosques and hiding it in dark corners. As she watched, the Bibles ignited, shining brightly in the darkness. God was calling Dawn to take the Light of Jesus to Muslims. She was sure of it.
But 25 years later, although the desire remained, her certainty was fading. No matter how hard she tried, she seemed no closer to fulfilling God’s call. Every door she and her husband tried to push open seemed to shut. Still, every time she saw or heard of impoverished children overseas, she wanted to pack her bags and go there as fast as she could. She wanted to tell them, “I know someone! I know Christ. He is the freedom giver, the life sustainer, the one who can help!”
After weeks of prayer and fasting, Dawn and Mark were finally approved as missionaries. Following a series of problems and setbacks that felt like spiritual attacks to keep them from fulfilling their mission, their family was finally ready to go.“
But once we got on the field, “it felt like all hell broke loose against us,” Dawn recalled. “My husband nearly died, and my children had strange rashes and fevers. We experienced disappointment, heartbreak, and loneliness. We had to learn a new language and embrace a culture that is very different from our own. We had to move two times before we knew we had found the right city for us. It was HARD!”
But they were determined to stay. They had fought for their dream. They had prayed and fasted for it, and there was no way they were going to let the enemy stop them. The warning in Deuteronomy 17:16—”Do not go back”—seemed like God’s direction for their lives. They would not quit.
So although Dawn and Mark were disappointed by what felt like failure with this woman’s relapse, they were convinced that it had not been for nothing. Without their help, this woman would have been dead and her children orphaned. Because of them, these kids had clean new clothes, were ready for school, and had heard the gospel for the first time in their lives. They had seen a better way and felt the love and care of Christians. And now, even as they went back to a life of danger and uncertainty, they had believers who would not stop praying for them. God won’t quit on them, and neither will Dawn and Mark. Seeds have been planted. Only time will tell what fruit will grow.
And, right on time, God sent a new family desperately needing New Beginnings. Today they are doing well and thriving. Dawn and her husband won’t quit planting seeds, meeting needs, rescuing children, and changing lives. They can’t do it if friends like you quit giving, praying, and caring. But with your help, they will keep bringing light and life to the people of Indonesia.
* Names changed for security