Trainee Testimonials

Due to the sensitive nature of our work and the countries we work in, these are just a few of the hundreds of stories represented by those we train. 

SIBERIA, RUSSIA



Meet Trainee- Marina -
In the group of Siberian women Jewels 4 God trained, Marina instantly stood out with her high cheek bones, porcelain skin, and long black hair. Inside such loveliness lurked the deep scars of a broken young woman.  This is Marina 's story...

The following testimony is graphic in nature and used by permission.


Marina 's father left when she was too young to remember him. Her mother was physically and verbally abusive. When Marina was 10 years old she overheard her mother make a deal with her middle aged neighbor who was a cruel man. Marina tried to escape but it was too late. She found herself in her neighbor's home forced to be his sex slave for one night and one day, to pay a 5,000 ruble debt that her mother owned the man.

 When Marina was released, her mother beat her, and she ran away.  She wandered the streets without food or proper clothing or money.  Days later she was found by a social worker, lying unconscious on a park bench. Marina was taken to an orphanage where she stayed until she was 16. At age 16 she enrolled in school and found a place to live in a dorm. One day after school she was waiting at a bus stop when suddenly a car pulled up to where she was standing.

 Without warning, the car doors opened. Three men grabbed her and threw her in the car. Inside, there were four other men. She was driven to a place that she did not know, and brought into a dark, dirty room with a bed in the center. Marina was stripped of her clothing and her hands and feet handcuffed to the posts of the bed. For 2 months, Marina was brutally raped every day by up to 15 men.

 She was given very little to eat and drink. The only time her handcuffs were unlocked was so she could use the bathroom. Marina 's escape came suddenly and miraculously. A stranger in the complex had seen her handcuffed to the bed. When all of her abusers were high and drunk, the compassionate stranger heisted the key and unlocked Marina 's handcuffs. He whispered in her ear, "Run."

 Once out in street, Marina realized that the only thing she was wearing was a thin blouse. It was winter in Siberia . Others came to her aid and clothed her. In a daze, Marina made her way back to her dorm. Her friends had no idea where she had been. She told know one what happened to her. Weeks later, traumatized and unable to function, Marina broke down. Her friends took her to the hospital where she was admitted. The internal injuries from her captivity were severe as doctors removed pieces of glass from inside her, the result of being raped by broken bottles. The men who raped Marina were found, convicted, and imprisoned.

 A year later at the age of 17, Marina got married and was pregnant.  She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. She loved her baby boy more than anything. One day her husband was high on drugs and put their baby in boiling hot bath water. The water was so hot that it killed the baby. Marina 's husband was imprisoned.

 Heartbroken and alone, Marina was unable to return to school or cope normally. She felt worthless, used, and damaged. She started drinking heavily to numb the pain. To support her habit, she started working as a high end prostitute. She hated what the men did to her so much that eventually she stopped prostituting. It was then that Marina was befriended by an older woman. She finally felt some normality in her life. This older women represented the motherly figure Marina never had and always longed for. A few months after living with the woman, the woman told Marina that she wanted Marina to work for her as a prostitute. Marina panicked. She couldn't bear the pain and thought of being abused again. She grabbed a knife and started stabbing the woman. The woman survived and Marina was imprisoned for a year.  She was rescued from prison by Teen Challenge. 

We were honored to be able to provide professional counseling for Marina and teach her how to make beautiful handcrafted jewelry.  Marina says, "I am so grateful for the training I received from Jewels 4 God.  Life is now meaningful to me and I am a new person. God has filled my heart with such peace and joy.  Today I work in the Women's Teen Challenge program as a teacher and I am now able to express to others the love that has been shown to me and teach them how to make jewelry.  It is such a joy to serve the Lord and I am grateful for everything he has restored to my life.”



CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
BEFORE
AFTER

 

Meet Trainee- Anthea

The following testimony is graphic in nature and used by permission.

Anthea grew up in Cape Town, South Africa.  Her mother and stepfather were addicted to Mandrax (a downer combined with marijuana) and alcohol.  They were very poor and lived in a one room shack.  Many times Anthea saw her stepfather cursing and beating her mother, and she hated him for it. 

 One night her stepfather and mother were drunk.  They were all sleeping in the same room.  Anthea was only 11 years old.  That night was the beginning of years of pain.  Her stepfather raped her.  She didn’t know what to do.  She was confused and afraid that she would be accused of lying if she told someone.  After about six months, she finally told her mother.  Immediately, her mother began to cry and asked her to tell her stepfather what she had told her.  He said, “I remember that night.  I was drunk and thought that you were your were your mother.”  To Anthea’s surprise, he admitted it and Anthea immediately asked her mother, “What are you going to do about it?”  She replied, “Nothing because he didn’t know it was you.”  At that point everything in her life started spiraling downward.

 She started stealing in order to buy cigarettes.  When she wasn’t stealing from stores she was stealing from her mother’s purse.  A year later she was caught stealing by the police and her mother beat her with a pan until she was sore and bruised.  Later that night, she gave her a long lecture about how it was not right to steal.  Anthea thought to herself, “She didn’t listen to me when I told her about her stepfather so why should I  listen to her now.”

 She continued stealing and started smoking mandrax.  Sometimes, when her stepfather was beating her mother she would run to her Aunt’s house for safety.  However, her home also became a nightmare.  Anthea’s 19-year-old cousin held her down and raped her when she was 12.  Over the next two years he raped her several more times.  At 15, she started dating a 21 year old guy who was a Satanist.  Satanism made her curious and she wanted to learn about it.  Her boyfriend said, “You have to prove that you have an evil side.  One day when you see a woman with a baby you have to hit her unconscious, steal her baby, and bring it to me.  Don’t worry if you hit the baby because it will die anyway.”  One night about a week later, she saw a woman walking with an 18-month old baby.  She grabbed a plank, ran up to her, and did the unthinkable.  After proving herself to her boyfriend, he told her to go home.  She went home and started crying because she felt so guilty.  But she wanted to be accepted so she ignored her conscious and said to herself, “This is what I want to do!”

 Her boyfriend taught her all of the signs and symbols of Satanism, and she attended his satanic coven.  In the center of the church was a pentagram.  At the church service, she watched as they were drinking the blood of humans, dogs, cats, etc.  Then they prayed and worshipped Satan.  Afterwards, they all had an orgy.  She thought that what they had would fill her emptiness and she asked demons to come live inside her.  In order to become an official member of the coven, she had to be sacrificed by letting all of the 22 male and female members sleep with her.  She started preparing herself by praying to Satan, sacrificing animals, cutting herself, and drinking blood.  Then her time came to be sacrificed.  On a Friday night, she went to the coven; and each of the members took turns having sex with her.  Afterwards, they all cut their hands and let their blood spill into one cup and she had to drink their blood.  She started using drugs heavily, prostituted to support her habit, and divulged deeper into Satanism.  She even slept on top of graves all night asking more demons to come into her.  Over the next eight months, she got 13 tattoos and her face pierced 17 times.  People in her neighborhood would literally spit on her when she walked by.

One night, she returned home from prostituting and her mother was in a large tent that someone had set up on the property behind the shack she and her family lived in.  She went into the tent to get the key to the shack.  and as she was approaching her mother, the Director of Teen Challenge standing in front of the tent said, “If any you have a child addicted to drugs bring them to the front; if they are not here just you come.”  Immediately, her mother got up and ran to the front.  Anthea yelled to her, “Just give me the key…just give me the key!” Then another lady who had been sitting next to her mother told her to go to the front.  Anthea cursed at the woman and then blacked out.  It was a divine appointment.

When she woke up there were five or six people around her.  She tried to get them away, and then she blacked out again.  When she regained consciousness her mother said to her, “If you weren’t my own daughter I wouldn’t have believed it.”  Anthea didn’t know what her mother was talking about, but she was tired and her white shirt and jeans were dirty.  And, she felt empty inside again.  She went back home and smoked mandrax and felt guilty again for the first time in a very long time.  She knew that something happened but didn’t know what it was.  Her mother asked the Director of Teen Challenge to help her.  He and a pastor from a local church went to her home, and for over a half hour they gathered all of her satanic books, jewelry, paraphernalia, and even some of her clothes.  Then, the pastor took a large bag full of her things and went somewhere and burned it.  Two days later, the pastor picked her up and took her to Teen Challenge of the Western Cape, a place that helps people straighten out their lives.

While at Teen Challenge the rest of the demons were cast out of her.  This time she felt very different, a way in which words can’t fully express.  She felt joy.  She felt loved.  She didn’t even want to speak to anybody because she felt so full and at peace.  She knew that nothing could ever take the place of what was now inside.  She was forgiven.  She felt brand new.  At Teen Challenge, they taught her how to cook, iron, and take care of her body.  Today, she is a totally different person.  When visiting her home, she walks right past people she used to do drugs with and they don’t even recognize her.  The people in her neighborhood that used to spit on her and shut their door in her face now invite her into their homes and ask her to talk to their children.  After years of prostituting and having unprotected sex with so many people that she cannot even count, she was so afraid to get tested for HIV/AIDS and other diseases.  Four months after entering Teen Challenge she was tested at a medical clinic.  The tests came back 100% negative.  No one at the medical clinic could believe the results.  God not only saved her, but he completely healed her.

 Once Anthea worshipped the prince of demons, but today she worships the King of kings.  Once she slept on the graves of the dead asking demons to live inside of her desiring power.  Today, she rest in the peace and presence of the living God who gives all authority and power in heaven and on earth.

Once she violated her own body by cutting and burning herself, prostituting, having group sex, using drugs, and drinking blood sacrifices to Satan.  Today, she presents her body as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God because the spilled blood of Jesus that has cleansed her and set her free.

CENTRAL ASIA ORPHANAGE

We trained special needs orphans in Central Asia (cannot disclose location).

Meet Trainee - Sasha (name changed for identity protection)

The following testimony is used by permission.

"I was born in 1992. I came to the orphanage when I was 4 years old. I was put in the young kids section. In this section we had one volunteer at the orphanage who would sing, 'This is the day that the Lord has made...' I really liked when she sang for us. She would play games with us. I was very angry but the volunteer taught me to pray. Before I was fighting with other and swearing but when I was told about God I started to fear Him and began changing. I asked God to make me smart and kind. When I turned age 12, I wanted to live like normal person. Although I was born without hands, I was taught how to make beautiful jewelry which will help me learn to live independently when I leave the orphanage. I dream to work and earn money. I want to earn money for house and car. I want to have my own family and 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl. My family will be Christian and my children will be taught to pray to God."