Margaret (center) learns about the programs offered at the Downtown Women's Center in Los Angeles.

A child running happily through green fileds toward her mother. Her mother says she can always dream of this day and of going to America for a wonderful life together. In the background an American flag flutters in the breeze. The little girl laughts. She has high hopes. She envisions the dream of America. But her dream is shattered; her hopes dashed whe she is sold to a brothel. Imagine this small child's horro when she looks out a window, after being sexually abused by a man, to see the American flag fluttering in the breeze and , then, two more men, Americans, waiting to add to her misery. O, God, where are you?

Dozens of men at a day labor site, waiting, hoping, for someone to drive up, call out to them, and give them a job for the day. A man drove up, stopped, signaled to one of the groups of men who came running expectantly, hope in their expressions. Less than a minute later, we saw those hopes die, O God, crushed by a man too lazy to get out of his car to move a shopping cart away from teh parking place. That's what he wanted the men to do. O, God, where are you?

Maria, how do I describe Maria? Her story is a common one; one that happens frequently. At fifteen, she came to the U.S. with her father who left her to live with her sister. She needed a job. A woman said she knew of a housekeeping job but not to tell anyone. She told her sister who wanted to know who this was. After several days, Maria forgto about it but the woman showed up and said, "let's go.". Maria went and found herself sold by the woman for $200. She began a life of slavery that lasted five years and ended with the murder of the man and a prison term for Maria (who was not the one who had committed the murder.)

Lord, it makes me angry that Maria cannot get her green card even though she had one before she was sold in the U.S. to a man who abused her for more than five years. Maria, however, has become a beautiful woman helping other , a forgiving woman who radiates your love, O God, to other hurting women.

Empty rooms soon to be filled with empty girls - teenagers trafficked into prostitution. The Dream Center, a place where these girls who need to be filled with life again can find a safe bed, a bed where they will not be molested, abused, where thier nightmares can become pleasant dreams.

O God, what do you want me to do? How can I help end human trafficking of all kinds? Lead me, I'll follow.