The Power of Prayer

Well, our outreach is done. I leave the country on Wednesday, and our team is getting in some last minute shopping and lion-petting before we go. It's been amazing, and here's another testimony:
Just as last week's all-night "Urban Campout" with the Salvation Army yielded much fruit, this past Friday was amazing as well. Around 50 people from the Salvation Army, YWAM, and Exodus Cry came together on the streets of a neighborhood in Jo'burg. We started worshipping and praying around our campfires at 11pm, and prayer walks started around 12:30. Groups of about 12 at a time walked through the neighborhood praying and talking to those on the streets. I went with a team of YWAM Argentina folks around 1am. After walking a few blocks from the base we spotted a girl standing in the shadows in front of a house. As we approached, she turned around and walked inside the gate. As I gestured to say hello to her, I found that she wasn't alone- she was standing behind her pimp. I left my hello, and we kept walking. As the team behind us stopped to talk more with them, we stood on the sidewalk and prayed for what to do next. One of our girls didn't feel safe on the dark street we were standing on, and as we were praying and discerning what we should do next, a girl came out of the dark, crossed the street, and said hi. She seemed to be under the influence of what we later found was drugs. She stood before us in her mini skirt while we were shivering with our coats, gloves and scarves. We talked with her for a while, putting together her story. She is 32 years old, and has two children that were taken from her a while ago. She's been here on the streets for about 10 years, and at the time was living with a Nigerian down the street who was supplying her drugs. As the conversation went on, we asked if she wanted to be here and liked selling herself, and her answer to both was no. While under a street light, she showed me the bruises on her thighs which she got from the pimp down the street. Charles, the man in our team, was persistent in telling Nadia that there is a way out. Eventually, breakthrough happened, and the reality of leaving the business hit her. She finally said that she was ready to leave, and she wanted to go to the Safe House. She wept as our people went to fetch the vehicle that would take her away to safety. Life came into her eyes as she began dreaming again. Her biggest dream was seeing her children again. She also got excited at the idea of getting a job, getting off drugs, and seeing her mother again. During the 45-minute ride to the Safe House, we prayed for her, affirmed her dreams, and I got to chat with her woman-to-woman. During our conversation, she reached into her dress and gave me her drug pipe. She was done.
Her favorite color is pink. Her favorite song is a South African song that I can't pronounce and she was too shy to sing.
We arrived at the Safe House at 3am, and left Nadia and her rose, covered in prayer and love.
A testimony about prayer: When asked why she decided to leave tonight instead of the many other nights she's been given the same opportunity, she said, "I don't know, something just felt different in my heart tonight." Her heart had changed. She could feel it changing as she spoke, she knew something was different. We told her that was God speaking to her heart, and she smiled a beautiful smile. She knew that God was with her. Just that morning in prayer, we had prayed for God to go before us and prepare hearts. We prayed for changed lives. This woman was ready, and her life was changed.