E02 - Lindsay Pratt: Anti-Trafficking

Lindsay Pratt shares her story of growing up in Ukraine, getting a verse from the Lord that would define her whole life, but then having to wait over a decade to understand how all of the pieces would fit together. We talk about the importance of having people around you that will encourage you even when you loose steam, and the importance of obedience in the face of struggle.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Travis Avila Hello and welcome to the catching Jesus podcast. My name is Travis Avila. And I'm really happy to have my friend Lindsey Pratt on the episode today. In this episode, we're going to talk with Lindsay about her upbringing in Ukraine and her work currently in the anti trafficking movement. But we're also going to talk about how she was given a verse at the age of 15. And how it took over a decade for God to really reveal what that verse would mean for her life. We're going to talk about how God kind of leaves breadcrumbs along the trail of our life in revealing how we can partner with him to see His Kingdom Come on Earth. There's a great episode, great story with Lindsey. So let's get into it. Christians often talk about following Jesus, but what happens when you actually catch him? When normal people discover an extraordinary vision for their lives? These are the people doing the Jesus stuff. And these are their stories. Hey, Lindsay, how you doing? Thanks for joining.

Lindsay Pratt I'm doing well. Thank you. How are you?

Travis Avila good. Well, we're going to talk about some of the work you're doing in anti trafficking. But before we get into that, I was just hoping you could fill people in on who you are and kind of your upbringing.

Lindsay Pratt Yeah, absolutely. And so as Travis already said, my name is Lindsay and I currently live in Ridgecrest California. I lived in quite a few places throughout my life, and it's been really awesome. I love it. So besides your interest, and the Pismo Beach area, and so I've been in California for about two years now. But prior to that I was in Ukraine, and I live in four different cities in Ukraine, and I was born in Indiana, and then I spent a short period of time and hungry.

Travis Avila So what brought you to Ukraine

Lindsay Pratt well, It's actually a really cool story. So the Soviet Union collapsed in the 90s, early 90s, or late 80s. And at that point in time, because Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union, and when that collapsed, Christianity became illegal. And so we had some my family had some friends who moved over to Ukraine to start a church. And they would come back to the states frequently, and just talk about how much they really needed help. There was so much going on in Ukraine, but they just they couldn't do it all themselves, they really needed help. And so after some discussions with the Lord, and everything is that always goes, God eventually ended up calling my parents to go over to Ukraine and to serve alongside them, and just to help them in planning this church and getting a ministry up and running in Ukraine. And so they moved there in 1995. We all did together and there were five of us kids, and we were ranging from my oldest sister was 12 when moved and my youngest brother was three months old, and I was right in the middle. I was about five So pretty crazy.

Travis Avila I mean, looking back on it now to How do you do? How do you think that that risk that your parents took has shaped you and influenced you?

Lindsay Pratt Mm hmm. Yeah, I think it is absolutely influenced and shaped to me. Because growing up, that's, you know, I've always seen my parents taking these, you know, what many would consider risks, but just falling off to the Lord and putting their faith before before everything else and just believing that what God says he will do. And just so just following after the Lord with all of their hearts, and so as a kid growing up, and that's what I've always seen, and I really, I think, has had a huge impact in shaping me whether even I realized that at a young age or not.

Travis Avila Yeah, so let's talk about I mean, even I think the work you're doing now, you know, it might some might be considered, it might be considered risky. I think like you said, you're just following the Lord. So but this has been kind of a long process for you getting to this point. So I know a little Little bit about it in the book, but maybe just take us back to your childhood and, and kind of how this all started for you.

Lindsay Pratt Mm hmm, absolutely. So when I was about 15, or 16, God gave me some verses. And you can find them in both Isaiah 61. And in Luke, chapter four, I'll just read them from Isaiah. So Isaiah 61 one says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. So when I was about 15, or 16, I really was pretty convinced like I read these verses, and I don't think it was the first time I'd read the verses, but I don't even remember honestly how it all came about, but it just was this sense. I just knew it. I was just like, this is what my life is supposed to be. This is what God wants me to do with my life, but I had no What that meant, because there's a lot in here, you know, the buck poor about brokenhearted captives prison, like there's a lot of different stuff. So that could mean a plethora of different things. So I really didn't know what that was going to be. At the time, I really thought it was going to be doing like ministry with homeless and just doing that kind of ministry because it was something that has been on my heart and something that I have been able to be a part of, and that I really, I do enjoy. I do love but it wasn't this, like all consuming passion and this burning desire, so I really wasn't sure I wasn't it wasn't like that light bulb effect where I was like, Oh, yeah, this is definitely what God was saying when he told me that this is my life, and it will be my life. So but fast forward about, let's see about seven or eight years and I was in Bible college and hungry. And actually now we're going to rewind maybe about six months before that. So I had a Then, in college, I was in a community college, I was living in Ukraine, but doing online courses through a community college in the States, and I was going to become a nurse and ended up not going that route. But that's a whole nother story. But I was taking an English class and we had to choose like a social issue to talk about. And my older sister, she is a social worker. And she was working at the time in Indiana for the attorney general's office in Indiana. And she was working in an anti human trafficking division. So she was the one that first introduced me to human trafficking. I had never heard of it. I didn't know such a thing existed in the world. And she told me about it. And it was just like, wow, like that's, that's crazy. And so at the same time, I was supposed to be writing this paper. And so I was like, Oh, well, I would love to choose human trafficking. And I wasn't able to find something that would be like a pro and con kind of thing. So you'd be able to find people that would say, Oh, these are the good reasons for having Whatever social thing it may be. So I chose prostitution instead. And so I wrote about legalizing and decriminalizing prostitution. And so that kind of further just got me opened my eyes to what really is going on in the world, in this specific area. And then at the same time, I watched a video. So there is this really, they're amazing. They're on YouTube. And they have a website. They're called I am Second. And so they do these really amazing testimonies of just everyone and anyone. It could be someone you have seen on tv 1000 times, it could be someone you've never heard of. It could be your next door neighbor. You know, it's just amazing just stories of how people have come to know the Lord and the things that he's done in their lives. And I listened to one I watched one about a woman and her name is Annie lo bear, and she was a prostitute and she was trafficked. In the video, she really only talked about, just like prostitution. And then she talks about being really heavily involved in drugs and there was one evening where she overdosed. And she just prayed to the Lord and said, God, if you are real, just save me. And, you know, if, if you save me, if I wake up tomorrow morning, then I will give my life to you and I will live my life for you. And she did. She woke up the next morning and she was like, Okay, well, I guess I gotta do this then. And, but she the words that that struck me, and that really are one of the reasons that I'm doing what I am doing today is because she said, Okay, so I want to do this, but I can't because they're not going to accept me. The church won't accept me because of who she was what she did, because that wasn't who she was. But so many people would say that, you know, oh, you're just a prostitute. But that's what she was doing. It's what she had done. And the moment just it just broke. For me, and I realized Someone has to go and the Bible talks about it, the word talks about how will they hear if no one goes. And so in my mind, I thought how many other women and men and boys and girls are in that situation right now. And they have no idea. They want to get out. They are, you know, they want to serve the Lord. They want to come to know Jesus, but they feel like they are too dirty. They feel like they can't, they can't pass that, that wall. And so I was just like, someone has to tell them that yes, so unfortunately, there are Christians who would be saying those things and would be doing those things and would not be accepted. There are very many who are and who loves them and who want them to come in because they're no different than me or you or anyone else in this world. And so then you can fast forward to about six months and I was in Bible college and I read these verses again. And it was literally one of those light bulb experiences where God just, it was, it was just absolutely shocked, honestly, I was like, Oh my gosh, this makes 100% it was like, I know that I know that I know that this is what God is saying, for me. And this is supposed to be my life. It is to proclaim liberty to the captives. So those that are being in they are enslaved right now, in a physical sense, in a real sense, and an emotional sense in every sense, honestly.

Travis Avila Okay, so let's talk about that moment, because I think this is the place where so many of us get stuck is you have this light bulb moment and you have this idea, but then, okay, then you have to actually do something about it. Or I think, you know, dreams so often can just go by the wayside, and we need some kind of a forcing function to get us to do the thing. So you know that trafficking is the thing, right? What did how did you get started What did you do next?

Lindsay Pratt So after that moment I was, I was all ready to go. I mean, I was like 100%. in it. I was like, let's do this. Now let's go. I was so ready. And I had an opportunity, a potential opportunity to go to another country to pursue some work and anti trafficking to join us alongside a ministry that was already doing that. And that didn't end up working out. And then I really wanted to go to Amsterdam, because that's a huge, huge red light district area. And so I was so so excited and really wanted to go there. But then again, that didn't work out. So but I thought, you know, after that semester at Bible college, I was going to be that was it, you know, I was going to be going and I was gone. I was ready. And but that didn't end up happening for various reasons. And so I went back to Ukraine, and I was there for about four or five months and then in the fall, I ended up moving to a village in the middle of town. In Ukraine, and I worked as a foster mom in a group home for about three and a half years. And so that was an amazing, amazing thing and an amazing time. And God taught me so much there. And I would definitely not be who I am today if I hadn't learned everything that I learned there. And I think that definitely helps as well just in shaping everything for my future and for I was going to be doing. And then after that, I had an incredible opportunity to work with a hero of mine in Ukraine. And she has a whole whole story in itself and everything so but I worked with her. She was a soldier, she was a prisoner of war in Russia, ended up getting out and became a member of parliament, and she was hero to me, and I love what she was doing in Ukraine. So I wanted to join her. And it was a dream job and I you know, I did everything I could to show her that I would do anything to work there and I would you know, I would didn't I would get coffee if I needed to every day if that's what my job was going to be like. I just I love Ukraine, and I love what she was doing. So I wanted to be a part of it. And so she was like, Yeah, come on board. Let's do this thing. So I was there with her for about four months, and God started stirring and he started moving my heart. And I was back in America for my younger brother's wedding. And I had said previously that my best friend asked me that summer actually, Would you ever consider moving back to the States? And I was like, Oh, no, no way. I don't want to live in America. You know, Ukraine is my home. I love it. It's my heart. It's muscle with everything, you know? And, and while I was in America, God started stirring me and I was like, what, like, I could actually see myself moving back to America. And that was really strange for me, because I had never been in that position. Since you know, for a long time, I was always it's all Ukraine for me. And he started to stir and I was in a prayer house actually here in Ridgecrest. Isn't my best friend and God just started I mean, just left and right. It was just like now is the time, you know, such a time as this like all this stuff and what it boiled down to was God was just like Lindsey like you can do this like now you can you don't have anything holding you back there's what you know why not? Why not go for it you can you can do this you can go for it. This is your huge passion and it is. This is what you want to do. This is what you want to pursue, if not now when and so I was like, okay, Lord, okay. So I called my boss and she was 100% behind me. She was like, absolutely, you should go for it, you should do it. So I went back to Ukraine. And I finished out a couple weeks working with her spent the Christmas holidays with my family. And from the moment that God told me I was supposed to move to the states and I think it was like two months, three months, two and a half months, probably about like that. And I was living in America and it was very wild. very crazy.

Travis Avila Yeah, that's a huge leap. And I think that like, if not now when is it's something I've been learning a lot. Because I think, you know, so often, you know, especially as I worked on this book and everything people will say, Oh, I would love to write a book and it's like, I always tell them we'll write the book, you know? And and so often it's just just got to do you just got to make the decision and do the thing because if not now then like you said, but when you were you terrified. Were you excited? Were you confident in this thing? What were all the things you were feeling as God was kind of revealing all this stuff to you?

Lindsay Pratt Oh, goodness. I think most of all, I was excited because it had been, you know, years in the making, because so from the time I first these verses were first put on my heart 1516 I don't wear the exact age, but I know it was right around then. And then I moved to America, when I was 27, almost 28. So I mean, it had been 13 years in between those two things. And it was like, now is the time like, let's do this thing. And so it was really exciting just being able to just say no, because I don't honestly know that. Before that, even though I could have I could have actually done those things. I could have moved to the states earlier than that. But I don't know that it was the right timing for it. And I think that maybe God was preparing me and, and doing that, but it's in those moments. It's like you said, you know, you, you have that moment, and if God is released to you, and if that's what you're supposed to be doing, and if you have the opportunity, because I don't think I would have been like, oh, if I decided to just stay in Ukraine and just continue working and doing what I was doing. I don't think I would have been like, well, and they can't believe you but like, I'm sure I would have had an opportunity again. But I do believe that this was the time when God wanted me to go so I think mostly was excited. But it was very, it's very hard. I love Ukraine and is in my blood. Even though I was born in America, I feel very Ukrainian. And there's, you know, there's like I have both in me. And so it's very hard. It's very hard leaving the country you love and then leaving all of my family behind. I have one brother in the States, but he lives on the other side of the country, and then one brother in Finland. And then the rest of my family, immediate family is all in Ukraine. And I'm very, very close to them because of growing up the way we did, we were often the only friends we, we had, and, and so I got really, really close to them and to my parents. And so it was incredibly hard. It was the hardest thing I think was just leaving behind those people. And yeah, so.

Travis Avila So you so you decide you're going to move to the States. And I think we can think that Oh, and God gives you the green light. It's going to be easy going from here. And in my experience, that's usually not the case. Yeah. What was it like for you? What were their hurdles in the move and getting started? And how do you how did you overcome them? Did you second guess? Cause calling on your life at all?

Lindsay Pratt As far as second guessing, I'm not sure that I would say I really second guessed it so much. But there were definitely hurdles and they continue to be hurdles for sure. So I moved to the coast first to the beach area, and I, you know, got some jobs because I, you know, I had moved to the states without a job. I didn't really know how I was going to be living and providing for myself. And that's a whole story in and of itself of how that l ended up working out. Because I was going to originally I was going to move to South Carolina, and I ended up in California. And so I was, you know, living here living in California and just working and I started to get really honestly, I didn't. I wasn't pursuing things very much. I think I was looking some online sometimes but I was It wasn't like hit the ground running where it was like week one, I was already, you know, in meetings and doing all this because I'm a California and I moved in with my best friend and where she was living at the time. And so but she was the only person I knew that was it, you know. And so I just started meeting other people and developing those friendships and everything. And so but with time, I started looking into different things. And she's been a huge, she, you know, believes full, fully just as much as I do, if not more, sometimes, I would say, just this calling on my life, and she's been so supportive and helpful in those moments where I've been like, Oh, you know, I'll do it tomorrow, or I'll do it, you know, in a month from now and she's been so much that person that I've needed that's just like to stir me on and be like, hey, Lindsay, like, this is what you moved here for. Don't forget, because it's easy. It's easy to do that it's easy to start to wander off and Especially when it gets hard. And you just start to think, Oh, well, well, maybe this or maybe that, or, well, I'm busy with work or I've got this that I have to do. So I would say it's probably about six months in so the summer of 2018. And I started to look into different places, if I went to like a training that they were offering, and and then there was a training that a church was offering, and it was just it was actually like people there was a local organization. And then some other people honestly don't even remember the time what what they were all from, but they were all joining together. It was various organizations and they were doing this presentation at a church and so I was like, Okay, well, you know, I'll go check it out. Not really thinking too much of it, but just like well, just get involved because when I moved to the States, my whole purpose was to join a an existing organization and to find out what they were doing and how they were doing it because I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done this before. And so by learning from them, I could then start my own one day. And so I got to this training and you know, different people were speaking and then one girl got up and she started talking and I was just like, out like my jaw. I didn't actually but I felt like my job must have just been dropped because the things she was saying, were all things that just that I had really wanted to do in ministry, and so far I hadn't really heard of a lot of people doing that same kind of ministry. Because with human trafficking, there are so many aspects and so many vital aspects of fighting this horrible crime. You know, there's prevention work, which is so important. There's actually going out and talking to the to the girls to the men, the boys, everybody on the streets or in the places you know, in the massage parlors everywhere. There is like taking care of Have them after we've gotten them out. So that can be you know, there's just so many different aspects, but my heart has always been to go to where they are at right now. So to meet them where they are, which is like what we were talking about earlier, which is the risky, very risky side and a very dangerous side. But that's always been my heart. It's always been that I want to go where they are and, and meet them there because that was that was that moment that really got me when I watched that video was that girl was there, she was there and she needed help and she wanted help. But no, you know, but she didn't think she could go anywhere. So I really just have always wanted to go out and so this girl Her name is Bex she started talking about all these different ministries and how they go to the strip clubs and they go to massage parlors and I was just like, you have got to be kidding me. So I went up after the presentation and introduced myself and told her I was like you have no idea like I moved here from Ukraine to do this and like you are just you literally doing exactly what I want to do. How can I support this? How can I get behind this? And so we met up for coffee A while later, and I started to get involved with them. And their organization is called freedom calling and they are still thriving. They're on the coast. And they're doing amazing work there. And it's super incredible. And so I got to be a part of that and just got to be able to learn under her. Yeah. And so that was really how it all got started there.

Travis Avila It's amazing. So trafficking is one of these things that I know, for the longest time I didn't ever think about because it's not something that's talked about so often. But I mean, this is a huge problem in America. Can you share a little bit about just the prevalence of this and and how it's affecting the like you said, men and women of all age. Yeah,

Lindsay Pratt absolutely. It is definitely a huge, huge issue. I will pull up some notes here actually that I have to give you guys some stuff. Statistics because the statistics are just absolutely. They're insane. And they are heart wrenching. And a lot of people in America have this idea that it doesn't happen here, you know that it's we're safe from it. It's not a big deal, especially in the small towns, you know, it's whatever that only happens in Thailand or that only happens in Europe doesn't happen here. But it does. It does. And in California, it is huge. It is massive and so much more than I think a lot of people realize. And that's where that raising awareness, that specific aspect of the ministry comes in. And it's so important because if you can bring awareness to it, then you can help stop that before it gets even worse. So, but just some statistics, so we have some global statistics, and it is estimated that anywhere between 20 point 9,000,040.3 million people are held in slavery today. The industry can with trafficking generates an estimated $150.2 billion per year. traffickers face a mere 1% chance of ever being prosecuted. And then something that's also mind blowing is the fact that trafficking is the fastest growing business of organized crime. And it's actually the third largest criminal enterprise in the world. So something about specifically here in America is that one out of seven endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are likely child sex trafficking victims. And there are an estimated 1 million victims of human trafficking nationwide, and each year as many as 100 to 300,000 American children are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sex in the United States. And those and that's why it's important also with human trafficking to realize that it's not just one specific area so a lot of people when you say, when you say trafficking human traffic A lot of people think automatically just sex trafficking. But the truth of the matter is, is that there are five main forms of trafficking and those are labor trafficking, sex trafficking, involuntary domestic servitude, bonded labor, and child soldiers. And there's a whole lot more we could go into with that. But that'd be a whole nother whole other podcast. Yeah,

Travis Avila man. Yeah. Thanks so much for sharing all that. I think to wrap up, I, I wonder what you would say? And what advice you would give to people just in general, who, who feel stuck or like they aren't really special enough to do the Jesus stuff, the stuff that you're trying to do? What would you say to those kinds of people?

Lindsay Pratt Absolutely. And I would say that that's not true whatsoever. I would say that Satan tries to stop us and especially when he he sees he knows you know, he knows the Huge calling and he knows the things that God has for your life. And so if you are in that place of feeling like hey, I can't do it. I'm not like Who am I? I would say I am in the exact same boat as your Who am I who am I that God would, you know, want me to go out and do this? And so I would say that you're not alone. And I'd say don't give up Don't give up no matter how hard it gets because it is going to be worth it. And I have to tell myself that too. Because after you know, moving to Ridgecrest, so on the coast, I met with freedom calling and everything and then ended up moving to Ridgecrest and taking freedom calling and opening a branch here and it's been hard I have struggled I have you know failed many times. I have not had the determination and motivation that I should have. I haven't done as much as I, as I would like to say that I have done in the last year but I'm sticking With it, you know, I'm not going to give up, I'm going to keep going. And so through your own failures through other people's failures through things that are, you know, outside of your control, no matter what it is, just keep going and continue to pursue it. Because that passion and that calling that God has on your life, you know, he is there and he, he helps us, you know, it's that mustard seed faith. That's really what it comes down to is. And it's those moments of being honest and being raw and vulnerable the Lord and saying, hey, Lord, you know what I believe? I believe that I'm supposed to be here. I believe I'm supposed to be doing this, but help me my unbelief because I don't know how to get from point A to point B. Or you know, just being honest. And then having those people around you that will support you and that will really help you through it. Just to spur you on like I was talking about earlier, and different things like that, to be honest with you, to help you and to to support you when you're feeling like hey, I can't do it. You know, so If you are in that place and you have that, Hey, I know this is what God has for me but I'm too scared or something like that find those people who will stand beside you and don't be afraid to step out on faith because if there's one thing that I have seen is that God has never let me down and he is always taking care of me You know, there have been I've most of the times I lived to America has been living paycheck to paycheck and but God has never ever failed me. And so it's sometimes it is hard you you can get really discouraged with it. And sometimes I do I look and I'm like, man, I was securing Ukraine I had so like, I was not I was like, rich or anything, but I wasn't struggling and then I moved to the states and I'm like, okay, Lord, like I gave up everything. I've moved my whole life across the world. I want myself to do this and to fall after you. So why am I struggling so much in hell? Like why is it so hard, but there have also been just so many blessings The moment when I went in and I did ministry for the first time in a massage parlor on the coast, it, you know it, I'm pretty sure I was sitting there in the car just trying not to cry because it was just like this beautiful sense of that I had arrived that it was where I was supposed to be that it was, this is it. This is what I've, what I meant to do, and what I have been meant to do for so many years. So don't give up. Keep on going, please and if you need help, if you need someone call me, let me know because I will be there, you know, on your side rooting for you, helping you get through it because it is all worth it. And because I know I know that the people I'll be able to share with and the women, the men, the boys and girls, the relationships I have built already. They're worth it and the one for me, it's all about the one. So that one girl that one Boy, that one person, it's worth all of it.

Travis Avila That's good. What about? What about those who are listening, whose heart is racing, because trafficking is the thing they're passionate about as well. And they haven't gotten started, how would you encourage them to get started on this journey?

Lindsay Pratt absolutely. That's super exciting. Again, reach out to me if you'd like to, I would love to, to share and to just kind of help in any way that I can. So with starting something up, you know, really, I think, find a local organization find something, if that's what you're wanting to do, you know, if you wanted to stay in your area, find a local organization that you can really plug into, especially if you don't know much about trafficking. So you know, find something if there's, if you're wanting to do awareness, you know, really whatever it is, but for me, it was I found an organization that was doing really what my heart, the area that my heart was in, and I joined alongside them. And so I learned from them and I started kind of moving in that direction. So find an organization that's doing something that's on your heart to do specifically in regards to trafficking, and just start learning from them and growing with them. And if it's overseas, if that's where you want to go, by all means, do it. There's so, so much amazing are so many amazing things that are happening overseas with fighting human trafficking. And I really want to go as well, someday, so but that's in the future.

Travis Avila Yeah, I liked what you said about just getting people around you too. I think that's really important that if you're feeling a prompting, and a stirring, just say those words to somebody that you trust, and that you know, will encourage you, because I think if we just keep it in ourselves, it's easier not to do Oh, yeah. So I loved what you said about just telling people around you.

Lindsay Pratt Yeah, absolutely.

Travis Avila Well, thanks so much, Lindsay. How can people connect with you on social media through freedom calling what's what's the best way?

Lindsay Pratt Yeah, so if anybody wants to connect with me, my you can connect with me on facebook on Instagram, just Lindsay Pratt. And then I do have like my email and everything. So up with freedom calling. And so if you're wanting to specifically get in touch with me through that, you can always find me on Facebook and I can send you, you know, my phone number, my email address more contact information. So we could even get together if you're somewhere more in the area. After all the social distancing is over. Or, you know, I'm happy to talk on the phone through the computer, whatever, however people would want to get in touch. That'd be really amazing. And yeah, I'm here to help. And I'm here to talk to anybody about that stuff and, and other things in general do.

Travis Avila Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Lindsay. I really appreciate you join in.

Lindsay Pratt Yeah, thank you.