A young sister- prayers and advise

Prayer Requests
#1

Hello all,
I met a young (20s) sister in Christ while we were out witnessing. She is from Columbia. She came to know the Lord about 4 years ago when she had cancer of the jaw. The two of us study the Bible together- she wanted to learn more as she doesn’t know the Word.
A family brought her here on a tourist visa and they have her nannying for them. That’s illegal as you can’t work on a tourist visa… Stefany has limited English so its hard to capture everything as her expression is limited. The family told her a couple of months ago (she came only in late April) that they were going to go a different direction now and have a nanny who speaks Chinese. So she would have to go back in October. We started praying for that as she wants to stay here. She cannot work in Columbia bc she had cancer at one time. Yes, they are that antiquated. So, her hope is to stay here and work. I believe she knows legally she shouldn’t be working. She wants to be here working legally. She has been so kind and speaks well of the family but from meeting with her I know they give her a room in their home and a car to drive the kids and sometimes money. But, she is at their whim with work and works many hours. She is basically an indentured slave and they are taking advantage of her.
She just called this morning crying. They told her in the past she could have her mother visit for 2-3 months. She decided to have her for 1 month so as to not take advantage. She told them yesterday finally that mom was coming. Today they told her she had to be out at end of the week. What an awful thing to do. She said the woman said many things and she couldn’t understand it all.

So I know their is a language barrier and two sides to every story. I also know from what little she says and what she doesn’t say that it is best for her to be away from this family. I believe Stefany has spoken to the boys about God and when she first told me that, shortly thereafter the parents said they were switching gears to a Chinese speaking nanny. She may very well be being persecuted for what she may be saying of the Lord (and not knowing it).

Please pray God would bring a solution for housing, finances, being here legally and working. We might have her stay with us, or at a minimum financing her for awhile.
Please pray for us and for my husband to continue to want to help.

An d, if you have any advice on how to help her… I have looked at the government sites, made some calls… I even thought of the northern resorts who bring foreign workers in to see what they may have to say… If you have any expertise in this please lmk. Its a situation where we need God’s provision.

thank you! blessings, Merritt

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#2

You are very kind and compassionate to offer your home and assistance to her. I have no experience with this situation, so I can’t offer any advice (sorry) but I am praying for you, your husband and Stefany… keep the faith and God will work things out according to His will.

"God you are known to Your people as Yahweh Jireh, the Lord who Provides – so I ask You, if it is Your will that Stefany remain here in America, please intervene on her behalf to make it so. For Merritt and her husband, help them to know what steps to take to help her and bless them above and beyond what they can imagine for their love and care for Stefany. I thank You Father, for providing all their physical and spiritual needs as You have to this day. Amen’

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#3

That is a double-stuff tough situation, Merritt. I don’t have any idea how to fix this. I’m sure that through a tourist visa, they can change it to a work visa. I don’t know exactly how that works. May try to call the embassy for her country (there has to be one somewhere) and talk to them too. However, you said you’ve gone through multiple channels and ideas and conversations, so I’m sure that already was carried out. Prayer on the other hand, that much I know something about.

All Mighty Father in Heaven

The time will come when people who abuse a tender heart, or a Godly heart, or a kind heart will suffer Your wrath for taking advantage of a saved or born again child of Yours. Merritt is doing what she can to fix a problem with a gal named Stefany which, You already know. While I personally would pray for You to crack open the sky and reveal the truth to the family this Stefany is dealing with, to show them the hundred million angels at-the-ready and singing such praise to You that it would deafen the lost, I’ll refrain and just beg of You to present some message to this family as to what they are doing, and what they need to do and see the turmoil they are causing for both Stefany and themselves.

With Stefany and Merritt though, I pray that You would bring forth that wonderful example of aide in time of need. To present to Stefany that which You continually give all Your children and that’s the leaning post of a rock, a cedar of Lebanon and present an answer, solution to the problematic circumstance that has befallen Stefany. Please transform for both Stefany and Merritt their problems into solutions, questions into answers, confusion into clarity, anxiety into peace and worry into calm. Please transform their trials into victories and losses into successes (should it be Your will being done that is.) I know how Your children think we have all the answers worked out and how things should work out, but You have higher, brighter, and better avenues for us to travel that we could never imagine. Please place upon these two a message fitly spoken to them and help them come through this trial that has in some way intermingled their walks if but a momentary blink on this side of Heaven.

I pray, Father, that you’ll protect Stefany from evil and those not of You and place upon her a blessing of peace and calm in her heart and mind, but also a blessing of Spiritual wisdom and understanding, along with oodles of discernment. Please also transform any devastation into restoration–whatever that may be.

Please inspire this family to flee the prison they’ve made for themselves also, Father and come to the acceptance of the Truth of Jesus (there, I finally got it out).

We pray that whatever you have in store for Stefany, she knows she’s not alone, she knows she can lean upon the Father, and that whatever happens, it’s for her good and His will to be done which can only be good. Grant this miracle we beg of You to be such that will move mountains too stubborn to carry away.

We pray this in Jesus’ name
Amen

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#4

Thank you very much!

1 Like
#5

Hi, I’m in the UK. The situation is known officially as modern slavery. Your friend should be legal, paid at least the minimum wage, have a contract, and set hours. The family ‘hiring’ her would be in serious trouble legally here. It’s likely their new nanny will be a modern slave also, and the one after that…
Can your friend apply to live in the US legally?

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#6

Hi Kitkat and thank you all for praying and sharing!

An update: God moved right away last Monday on this. At the end of last week she had a wonderful, godly family to live with until returning home in October , where they would receive her mother too for a month. This was amazing! They also go to my church and Stefany would have had the opportunity to go more to church, be built up in faith and in other spare time learn more English. Between our two families we were planning to give her some financial gifting to help her with some basics (for english courses, for her phone plan, for some basic needs etc). Initially Stefany wanted to take this opportunity. Then she decided not to and she is now living with a friend in Mpls (this wasn’t an option for her previously) and she wants to find more work. After talking with her more throughout last week it became apparent she wants to earn money. And she doesn’t mind that its illegal. So, that is where the Lord was really convicting me late last week is to share with her that this isn’t God’s plan for her. That right now she has an opportunity to be blessed. She was not feeling convicted of the sin in this as I believe she already made up her mind.
I believe she may have been under labor trafficking but cannot prove it and she is not interested in pursuing that I know because she has stood up for her host family and that they allowed her to work illegally. She has made a poor choice and at some point will have God’s consequences for that I believe.
It is a problem for trafficking here in the US also. At this point I am not pursuing this as Stefany is an adult (26) and feels no concern about this and is absolutely mortified that I already called this host family to have a conversation about their illegal situation with her.

It was a very intense week last week and I am waiting to see if the Lord would have me do anything more at this point.

Thank you all so very much

1 Like
#7

It’s always a dilemma, wondering what to do. I detest modern slavery, but also, how do you stop it when some slaves are willing? If you report the host, it implicates stefany. If you do nothing, the host will continue and perhaps the next slave will not be OK. I have no answers and the problem is massive worldwide. Will pray.

#8

[quote=“Blessed, post:6, topic:29615”]
And she doesn’t mind that its illegal.

Yeah, that would a big red flag for me.

1 Like
#9

It is a red flag. The whole thing is surreal.

#10

thank y ou very much.
Yes its hard as she would not help with any trafficking charges. But as far as the illegal work, I am not sure what to do now as I told her last week I would not proceed (as she was devastated). That was the wrong answer according to God’s Word. I was out of my league on this with emotions at the time. I think too bc we are all so desensitized with having undocumented workers- I mean their everywhere! Do they even do anything about this? I will tell you it has been very hard just to get a hold of anyone in immigration to discuss. My time right now I think is better spent in prayer about and for this situation.

How God provided her a blessed option so quickly tho is utterly amazing and it blew my socks off! At the end of the day I can see why she chose not to go there as she would have had no car or way to do anything on her own. Now, unfortunately she is in Mpls and that is so very unsafe. She couldn’t have picked a worse place as far as I am concerned. She knows the risks.