Cedarville Magazine, Summer 2013

30 | Cedarville Magazine by Laurie Bolthouse C h a p e l N o t e s Six years ago, while we were in Cambodia, my three daughters and I decided to spend a few days away from the city and decompress from what we were learning about human trafficking in Phnom Penh. A young woman who joined us was an intern at a nonprofit organization. She told us she would not be coming back with us to the city. She was staying to prep some girls rescued from area brothels to tell their stories to a judge in a pretrial. “Is there anything we can do to help?” It just came out of my mouth. “Could we pray for you? Could we have dinner?” She called her boss, and in a matter of minutes, we were committed to hosting more than 20 people for dinner that evening at our resort ... where we had come to “get away from it all.” I thought we’d be talking to a few social workers or the head of the organization. I didn’t know we’d be having dinner with translators and the seven girls who had recently been rescued. We were told the girls, between 18 and 20 years old, had been kidnapped across the Vietnam border and sold into Cambodian brothels. As dinnertime approached, my young daughters and I grew apprehensive. Would The following is an excerpt from Laurie Bolthouse’s chapel presentation on February 13, 2013. She and her husband, Bill, produced the 2012 film Trade of Innocents . Listen to their full remarks at cedarville.edu/bolthousechapel . Watch or listen online at cedarville.edu/chapel to hear these engaging presentations: they look different? Would some of them have HIV? What would this experience be like? What transpired at dinner was beautiful. It happened to bemy daughterMolly’s ninth birthday, and she chose the menu. We had a lovely family-style dinner, complete with ice cream sundaes. The girls could order anything they wanted, and here was the kicker: this feast held no expectations. They did not have to fear being manipulated, exploited, or betrayed. There wasn’t much English spoken around the table. Instead, we played, giggled, did Shrek impersonations, and balanced spoons on our noses. We had a great time together. One of the Vietnamese girls was seated next to me. At one point during the dinner, I heard her laugh in such a way that told me this was no teenager, this was a little girl. My heart nearly seized up. I couldn’t begin to understand the horrors she had been through. My spirit cried out, “God, what do I do with all of this?”The emotions I had been suppressing began to surface. The moment we got back to our room that night we all began to cry. We cried from a really deep place and with every emotion you can imagine. We felt helpless, overwhelmed, and angry. My daughter said, “Mama, you say that we believe in God. Where is He ?” I whispered, “God, this would be a great time to show up.” We went back to the city without any great closure. But soon afterward, we received an email from the head of the organization. “You won’t believe this,” he wrote. “We went back to the hotel and debriefed with the girls and told themwhat to expect as they stand before the judge. They all began to cry. It usually takes a long time for girls like these to let down their guards. We really enjoyed ourselves at dinner tonight. This may be the first time they have actually felt loved. We believe God used it to open their hearts and begin their healing process.” I didn’t think that I would have an answer that quickly, especially to an “angry” prayer. I believe God continues to answer our prayer and all those from survivors crying out to be rescued. Join the global fight against human trafficking. Learn how you can host a showing of the film Trade of Innocents at your school or church at tradeofinnocents.com . A Redemptive Feast 2/12 Matthew Moore ‘92 Associate Professor of Theatre Cedarville, Ohio 3/13 Dan Akin President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Wake Forest, North Carolina 3/21 Joel Penton Former Ohio State University Football Player, Youth Speaker Hilliard, Ohio 4/9 Sammy Rodriguez President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference Sacramento, California 4/16 Rob Turner Teaching Team Lead, Apex Community Church Kettering, Ohio 4/22 Honoring President Bill Brown Cedarville, Ohio