Seasons: Christmas Dinner with the Ladies

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Christmas Dinner with the Ladies

Every year, the Evangelism Team tries to host a special dinner for the ladies who work behind the windows in the Red Light District, just as our way of saying, "you are seen, and you are loved." This year was no different. We wanted to have a Christmas dinner and made it early enough that most the ladies could make it, since some go home for Christmas, and even many of us volunteers were going home as well. So planning started early and we took invitations out to each of the ladies we talked with. We never know how many will actually show up, so we just have to be prepared for anything.

The ladies who usually come to our dinners tend to me the Latinas, those from Central & South America, so we decided to have Latin Christmas meal. One of my coworkers is from Venezuela, and is an excellent cook, so she made a traditional Venezuelan Christmas meal. Much prep work went into the food & decorating our hall, and even getting gifts for each lady. We have a connection to the company Lush, and they generously donated beauty products for each of the ladies.

There were about 17 ladies who showed up, as well as our team and some volunteers. The men on our team, as well as a couple of the husbands of our volunteers, served us, and it was a lovely meal. There was a special message shared about the prodigal son and the Father waiting to welcome us in with open arms, we had opportunity for the ladies to be prayed for if they wanted, and at the end each woman was able to go home with a special gift from Lush. All and all, it was a pretty good evening.

Here are some pictures of the prep work & the hall. I'm sorry, but I can't post any pictures of the ladies, so you'll just see some empty tables here.