News about Dubi - May 2007

WHERE IS DUBI?
First of all greetings from "Dana" and "Sharon". Maybe the name 'Dubi' sounds familiar to you, maybe you've never heard about it before. Maybe you think we want to share about Dubai (and it was a spelling mistake...;-). We would like to share with you about a little town at the border area of the Czech Republic, that captured our hearts, and we believe that God especially has such a passion and love for this little place on the planet called earth...

GOD'S HEART CRY
It begins 2 1/2 years ago. An young unsuspecting lady was asked to research into the prostitution problem that runs along the border area between the Czech Republic and Germany. Little did she know that it would have an deep impact on the next years of her life. As she led the intercession time in August 2005, who would have thought, that this was the beginning of God doing something new... Only a few weeks later: she and a team of three people prayed in front of a 'nightclub' (=brothel), 20 Minutes away from Herrnhut/Germany. They got to know some of the ladies by drinking a cup of Czech coffee ;-) with them. Just a few days later they watched a movie about a girl that was trafficked from Russia to Sweden into sex trade. Suddenly she could feel the heart of God and his pain, as he sees all of the injustice happening... his heart is crying out for these people!

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Just another few weeks later she (Dana) and "C" (a friend of her's) led a team of 25 young people into one of the main prostitution areas along the German border. The name of the town is ‘Dubi‘. Since going there I (Dana) haven’t been able to get this town out of my mind. Our first outreach was crazy. The police stopped us, because we were parking in a ‘wrong place‘. After paying a penalty, we wanted to go back, frustrated with the fact that we couldn’t find any brothels. Just a few streets further down, we suddenly saw it: It was 12 o’clock at night and as we watched trucks, coming from the E55 on their way to Prague, slowly driving along the street. As we looked to see what had caught their attention we saw half naked girls standing in windows inviting customers in. Immediately we stopped and decided to intercede right then and there. It led into a time of praise and worship where we could really feel God’s presence and the fact that He wants to do something in this place.

One year later, Sharon, myself and two friends found ourselves in Dubi once again. We had just been in Prague with the purpose to start working among the prostitutes there. Yet as I asked God I felt over and over again that Prague is not the right place. On our way home we got lost and somehow ended up in Dubi. Something about this town again gripped my heart. Lord what are you speaking to me about Dubi?

HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVES
The following month friends and I started to visit a lady in a brothel, only 20 minutes away in a town called Varnsdorf. It was totally God opening the doors, so that we were able to visit this Bulgarian Lady ('Rosa') at her working place. We got to spend time with her, to sing worship songs with her, and to share with her about Jesus. Through time we were able to build a friendship with her. She felt valued and loved, when we as her friends would come back to visit her almost every week. During this time God broke my heart, and one time I almost started to cry, while we were sitting with our friend in this room beneath the brothel. I imagined how wonderful it would be to see this woman one day before God’s throne, to hug her and to be able to speak with her without the language barrier. I long to see one day some of these ladies united with Jesus.

SUPERNATURAL SIGNS
We weren't able to keep contact with Rosa, because the pimp wanted to shut down his buisness, so she had to go to a different town. We couldn't figure out the name of the new place. We would have loved to see Rosa coming to the Lord! Even though we had a really good conversation the last night we met her, we felt, that there were still a lot of doubts and fears inside of her. On our way back to Herrnhut we suddenly saw some interesting looking 'light-wheels' in the dark sky, that werefollowing us. Nobody in the car knew, what they could be... As soon as we stopped the car, the 'lightwheels' stopped as well. This 'supernatural appearance' followed us almost all the way back to Herrnhut, then it disappeared... Somehow we felt very encouraged. A sign from heaven? God is so much bigger than we are. And it seemed to show us, that when we give the little bit that we have to give, God really takes it and uses it to build his kingdom.

NOT MY WILL, BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE...
As God was opening more and more doors to the Czech Republic, it was still on my heart to go long-term to Cambodia. But when I went to Cambodia for a short-term-outreach, God was still reminding me of the Czech Republic. I started to think about this idea... a team of young people, focusing on prayer, intercession, and the arts – in one of the darkest places in the Czech Republic, to bring God's light. His beauty and grace instead of pain, injustice... setting contrasts.... daring to do new things...

December 2006. I had to decide: Am I willing to make myself available for God's plan? To lay my own dreams and plans down before him, to follow him? Who would come with me? Would I be there, left alone? Would God put the same burden and passion on the hearts of others? The leadership confirmed 'my' plans. But first I went to India. There I got inspired about prayer, intercession and community life and I learned a lot more about leadership. I had earlier asked Sharon if she would like to join the vision. Coming back to Herrnhut, she confirmed that she would be a part of the team! Yipee! So here we are. Two people.

THE STORY CONTINUES...
So now we are planning to move to Dubi. We are still very much in a process of having
God shape and sharpen our vision and we know that we only have a piece of the puzzle at the moment. There is much more to unravel. These days are busy with preparation. We have been meeting with people who have wisdom and experience, such as a lady who founded a ministry in Bangkok 17 years ago and a German speaking missionary from the Czech Republic, who knows a lot about the history of his nation. We are also trying to come into contact with local Christians and cell groups. One of our goals is to learn as much as possible to be prepared as we go there. As we look towards the future we are also praying that God will raise a team who would be willing to move there with us. We believe that it is not only the two of us, we are only a piece of the picture.

SPY TRIP – NEXT STEP
From the 31st of May until the 4th of June 2007 we are going to have a prayer- and research week in Dubi. Together with an international team of about 10 people we want to seek God in this town and find out more about his plans and 'strategies' to reach out to Dubi!

GOD'S FAVOUR IN DUBI
We were just in Dubi over this last weekend to prepare the Spy trip in June. As we arrived in Dubi, we realized soon, that we don't fit into the city at all. The cars were passing by us slowly, because some of them thought we were prostitutes... - what else should two young girls like us be doing in such a place? Our first priority was to find a place to stay before it became dark. As we looked around we saw that there were only hotels in which prostitutes worked. We decided we would ask in one to see if it was a possibility to stay there. They immediately said no! So we continued to pray. We met a lady who could speak some German. So we asked her if she knew a place in which to stay.

She repeated over and over again, that Dubi is not a good place to stay, there are no hotels, so we should go to the next town! But we resisted, and emphasized the fact that we really like Dubi, and that we would like to stay here over night. Then a miracle! She said that we could stay in her place! From this time on, we could sense that the favor of God is on us!!! Through this lady we received contact to the landlady of a 'motel'. This is the place, that we can come back with ,10 friends of ours', and stay. Suddenly one door after another seemed to be opening. The next morning we went to the catholic mess in Dubi. We met about 12 other Christians there – they received us warmly, even though they were probably as surprised about our visit, as the people in the 'motel' the night before.

Dubi is a place where you can easily access drugs, prositution is everywhere, corruption is normal... the people continued to ask us if we were afraid to be there. Our answer was no. We could honestly feel the peace of God, his protection and guidance in such an amazing way!!! Even though we came with little faith, God revealed his faithfulness and mercy to us in even greater ways!

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE ADVENTURE?
We need God's guidance and his presence with us, in each step that we take. Would you like to be part of the adventure? We want to ask you to join us as we go out to Dubi, by partnering with us in prayer. This is one of our prayers...'Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.' Exodus 33:12+13

Our biggest prayer requests so far:

- That God will bring a team together

- That God will give us favour and opens the doors to the local believers (on sat, the 19.05. there will be a conference where Dana will meet different pastors and Christians from that region)

- Unity

- Protection, we are going into a spiritual battle, the enemy will not give up his territory without a fight.

- Wisdom as we make connections

- Clarity in things such as; Vision, Location, etc.

- Guidance, open ears to hear God clearly

Thank you so much for your prayers and interest in this project. We would love to hear from you. Also if you have any impressions or thoughts please let us know. Many blessings

Dana and Sharon