Well, welcome everybody to the Dry Bones Army podcast.
We are super blessed today to have a dear, sweet friend and just a woman that everyone
needs to get to know.
It's Brandy both and she is both smart and funny.
She absolutely has blessed my life really in a lot of ways and just our friendship has
been a treasure over the years.
And I invited her on today to share a little bit about the work that she's had her hands
in for years and she's going to share some of her stories with us, some insights on how
you can be more effective in praying to end human trafficking.
And if you're not yet a part of the Dry Bones Army, go to the DryBonesArmy.com and get signed
up.
It's absolutely free.
We send you an invitation to join us in praying for an end to human trafficking and we get
to introduce you to incredible people like Brandy both.
So with no further ado, Brandy, welcome to the podcast.
There is no other army that I would rather be a part of.
I'm so excited to be part of the Dry Bones Army, but I need to talk about one really
important thing before we get into anything else.
It's your eyeshadow game, man.
Like you are so good at eye makeup.
Like every time I see you, I'm mesmerized because you have beautiful eyes, but then your eyeshadow
game, man, is like on point.
So if you ever launch an eyeshadow army, I would like to join that one as well.
Well, gosh, Brandy, I'm, thanks for the compliment.
Now I'm going to be batting my eyes through the hole.
This is good for people who are listening to the audio who have never seen Sandy Storm
like on video.
These are always posted on YouTube so you can check out the eyeshadow.
Yeah.
Like go jump over to YouTube just to see Sandy's eyeshadow.
Like I highly recommend it.
I have a heart for elevating women.
Like you said, it's, it's one of my favorite things and not just women, but people in general.
I love helping people see themselves through the eyes of Christ, who they were created
to be, where their identity lies, where their strengths and gifts lie, because so many people
have so many incredible gifts that they don't even recognize as gifts and strengths.
And so I love calling that out of people.
I love pulling people into, into a greater calling.
I like convincing people to get other comfort zones.
Like it's one of my, kind of one of my favorite things to do.
And so I think that my, I mean, I could go back to like, I was an international studies
major in college before I burned out and blew up, blew off a really huge scholarship.
That was fun, but whatever.
But I, but I had this heart for, for elevating others and creating change and my focus at
the time, it was women and children in developing countries and socioeconomic issues.
And it really was, was like eradicating poverty and vulnerabilities.
And it's so beautiful.
Like I think the gift, what I found the gift of the forties is to be able to look back
and see God's hand at work and see him just like weaving threads together into this beautiful
tapestry.
And so I, I can go back and I can say like, none of that was wasted and none of that was
lost regardless of whether I finished with a degree or not.
That foundation really catapulted me to where I am today.
I couldn't see it then at the time.
Like I just knew that I felt like a loser and a failure who quit college and walked away
from a bunch of money.
But fast forward to 2017, 16 to 17, I was leading a sales team of about 400 women across
the U S and Australia and Canada.
And I had, I had really had a fire reignited.
I had just come off of being a stay at home mom for about 10 years.
And I was in a place of remembering what really sets me on fire and what my passion is in
life.
And I was doing leadership training with these women and sales training with these women
and mindset training and just really helping develop leaders, right?
Like helping elevate women.
And I loved it.
It set me on fire.
And then God started tapping and nudging and saying, Hey, I have more for you.
And you know, you've, you've done well.
Like at the time I was successful in business.
I had a great family.
I had beautiful children, a good marriage, but God was like, Hey, there's something else
out there for you.
And it was one of those times where like, he was not going to leave me alone about whatever
it was he wanted me to do.
And so I just started leaning in and, and said, Okay, like open hands, open heart, you're
waking me up at three o'clock in the morning every night.
I don't know what you want me to do, but here I am.
I went to a conference in April of 2017.
The speaker at the end of the conference said, it, you know, it was one of those like, you're
in a room full of like-minded people and we're talking about purpose and, oh, everyone's like
so ready to change the whole world.
Right.
And so at the end of the conference, he said, I want you to write down this year, which was
2017, this is the year that I blank and you fill in that blank.
And so I literally, when I wrote down was go to Africa.
And I just like as an international studies major as a evangelical Christian woman, like,
I don't know.
I don't know if I just felt like Africa was the way that you serve others.
I don't know if it was because I, I had friends with orphanages in Africa.
That was what I wrote down.
It was not the year spoiler alert that I went to Africa, but I went to Australia the next
month for a business trip.
And while there, I saw a billboard that said something about immigrants being targeted
for human trafficking.
I probably had heard this phrase or this term in the past, but it was the first time it
resonated with me.
Like it was the first time like it just grabbed hold to my heart and I needed to know more
about what it was.
Right.
So then I saw a poster in a casino when we were going to dinner there that said missing
children are targeted for trafficking.
And my lens of American privilege said, oh, Australia's shady.
They got a problem over here.
Right.
And so went ahead, went through my trip.
You know, it was a business trip.
We did all of the things.
And then when I came home, this, this term, this phrase just would not let go of my heart.
I had no idea like what it meant.
I didn't know the inner workings.
I just knew that it was, it was just not letting go.
And it started showing up.
Right.
Like this was before it was like a trending topic started showing up on social media.
I started hearing about it on news channels.
It was like everywhere I looked, it was boom, boom, boom.
We were talking about trafficking.
So I just started reading and watching documentaries and Google searching and just trying to find
as much knowledge as I could soak up and still sat sitting back saying like, I have no idea
what God wants me to do with this.
Like I don't want to be involved with it.
I'm just learning.
Like this doesn't sound like anything I want to do.
And then it was every night.
Like literally I look back and I really think it was three 20 in the morning every night,
but I know it was three o'clock in the morning every night.
And I would, I would just wake up and I would just like heart racing, like breath catching
in your throat.
Like, okay, like what, what do you want me to do?
God, like what are you trying to tell me?
I would like to go back to sleep.
And I just started praying like, yes, I would wake up literally and I would say, okay, yeah,
yeah, whatever you want me to do.
So let me go back to sleep.
And I just started hearing like move your feet and serve where you are.
And I heard this repeatedly every night around the three o'clock mark.
And so one night I laid there for two hours and literally saying, I don't, I don't know
what you mean by move your feet and serve where you are.
And so I got up and I got on my computer and I found the Walk for Freedom a 21.
And I thought, well, this seems like a literal way to move my feet and serve where I am.
It's a local walk done at a global level.
So all right, moving my feet, serving where I am.
Cool.
I am not a marathon runner.
I am not a person who signs up for walks.
I like, I'm a speaker, I'm author, I'm a podcast host.
I use words.
That's what we do.
So I literally think I had a conversation with God that night where I was like, you're
wasting my talents, but whatever, you know, because that's just how I work.
And God knows it.
And so I'm real honest with him.
So from there, this chain, chain reaction began and I got plugged in with a local coalition
where I learned about other organizations.
And then I started teaching a vocational planning course at an aftercare home because
I do business coaching.
So it was a great marriage of my gifts and my strengths there.
And then we needed some, we needed jobs for the people that I had was mentoring.
So over the course of a few years of creating vocational plans and then seeing people face
obstacles due to criminal backgrounds, gaps and resumes, lacking marketable business skills,
I just thought, man, we really have to create some type of a solution for this.
And so yeah, like you were one of the first people that I talked to about the idea of
creating a hat company and creating transitional employment and gap income for individuals
who have experienced trafficking and exploitation.
And I just knew that we needed a way, my thought process was we needed some way to attach these
individuals to a life of purpose where we could use our work to still glorify God and
use our work to really utilize and leverage our gifts and strengths and not look at it
as just like punching the clock or trying to make money to pay the bills, but really
do something that is God honoring and that we love and gain skills and references and
experience along the way.
So we've been doing that.
We launched in October 2020, the power hat company.
And that was fun.
We launched in October 2020.
There's a little blip on the radar that has affected the last four years of my life because
we just have challenges in business that we never had before that year.
And so it was a cool time to launch a new endeavor.
And yeah, it's been sanctifying.
It's been an incredibly sanctifying experience.
I've prayed from day one that whatever happens with this company, it needs to be like such
a testimony that there's no way anyone sees me in it.
They only see God in it, right?
Only God can do that.
And every time I get to a place that feels like an impasse, I sit back and I'm like,
well, guess what?
They don't know this is all you because I got nothing.
I'm tapped out, maxed out, and he keeps providing.
And I did a call earlier with the team where a young man in Uganda shared that, thankfully,
we serve a God that knows our tomorrow so we don't have to.
And I thought, man, that is just one of the best ways to sum up my entire life.
And that brings us to 2024.
I went into 2024 feeling very unlike myself.
And like I said, October 2020 or March of 2020 today has been an incredible challenge
for me.
Personally, I'm a very positive person.
I stay very encouraged.
I'm like, you tell me I can't.
I'm like, hold my beer and watch this girl.
Let me run through brick walls.
Let me kick down doors.
And I've wanted to quit and give up more times in the last four years than I ever have my
whole life.
Discouragement has been a thing.
Defeat has been a thing.
And so I, being a person who usually has a word for the year and a scripture for the
year and goals for the year, I went into this year feeling like I didn't know.
I didn't know what it held.
I just knew that I had faced a lot of obstacles in the past few years and it felt like doors
kept getting slam shut in my face.
And my sweet friend Sandy Storm messaged me, I believe January 2nd.
I think it was January 2nd.
And you said, hey, hi friend, check it in.
What's your word for the year?
And I was like, she's really positive right now.
And I said, can I just be honest with you?
Because that's the type of friendship that we have that I know that I can lay out all
my ugly and you're going to be like, okay, cool.
And I said, I feel very uninspired.
I feel very defeated.
I don't know what God's plan is for this year.
I don't know what my word is for this year.
Like I don't know.
I can't even tell you what I think I want to, you know, God's calling me to this year.
And you said, well, that sounds very unlike you.
And you said, so we're just going to start praying that God reveals your word.
And our good friend Tommy messaged me like the same day wanting to know what God was
calling me to this year.
And I gave her the same answer.
And she said, well, girl, I'm going to need you to put some worship music on and blast
it and just give it to God.
So I did.
And that same week, God revealed Deuteronomy one, six through eight and gave me the word
move.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I like, I don't hang out in Deuteronomy like ever.
Like I'm never like, ooh, I need inspiration.
Let me jump over to Deuteronomy.
No, that is not where I gain my strength from.
Yeah.
And so I just thought, okay, well, he wants me to move.
And last year, the words that were really spoken over me and the scriptures given to
me were expanded territories, right?
And so I ended the year being like, well, I didn't get expanded territories and I didn't
get expanded blessing.
And so I don't know what this means.
So this year, he gave me that, you know, you've been on this mountain long enough and it's
time to move and take the lands that I've promised to you.
And so I shared this with you and you're like, oh, look at all the territories that he laid
out for you.
Look at what a huge area this is that he's talking about.
And I just began praying like, God, allow me to move in you as you move through me.
And that just became my prayer because I didn't know what the heck he meant by move.
He likes to give me all these cryptic, you know, things.
So yeah, so since then, we did a freedom business forum in Thailand where the whole entire focus
was economic empowerment for individuals that have experienced trafficking.
And this was a global meeting with 150 different members from all across the world that this
is their primary focus is ending trafficking by eliminating vulnerabilities by breaking
cycles of poverty by empowering individuals.
So through that, we made some incredible connections with incredible organizations and we're doing
some, we have some partnerships going on in Nepal right now.
We're working with an organization that employs survivors of trafficking and exploitation and
they're working on snapback hats and trucker hats for us.
And we're really excited about that because they're just are not ethically sourced hats
like that with transparent supply chains where we know people are getting paid fair living
wages to make them.
So it's been one of the reasons I haven't really carried, you know, I have the one hat
with my label on it and that's it.
So we're excited.
They're working on new designs.
They're working on prototypes.
So I love the connections that came from that.
And that was definitely like there was a nudge and an urge to go and at the time I kept thinking
I'm not even really sure why I'm going because I don't really know what God's even doing
with my business.
And when I went to Thailand, I was at a make or break.
I could easily close the doors and walk away.
And I knew what we needed to do at the next level.
I didn't know how to get to it.
And I was out of money.
I was tired.
I was burnout.
And so I kind of went into it and literally thought, I don't even know why I'm here.
Like I don't know why I came.
There's people here with established social enterprises that are doing well.
And I'm like, it felt all very conceptual for me at the time.
It felt like really good idea, but nothing has has been successful in the in the terms
of the amount of people that I want to create opportunities for, right?
So yeah, so God's done beautiful things with that.
He's brought some amazing connections out of that.
And within a couple of weeks of being home from that trip, my friend Tasha message who
has she's been doing work on the ground in Uganda for the past seven years.
She has been begging me to come to Uganda for the last four years.
And I, I kept saying, look, I'm a person that will easily say yes to way too many things.
And I have to stay in my lane.
And I was like, your deal is sustainable agriculture in Uganda.
Cool.
But that's not my deal.
And I need to stay in the anti trafficking economic empowerment space.
So when she, when she called me up this year, she was like, I need to talk with you.
And look, she said, I have some women's empowerment programs that we're doing in Uganda.
And we're creating micro enterprise and we're creating savings programs.
She said, but I really just need you to bring the power project here, do some business coaching
with them, some entrepreneurial coaching.
And she said, also, I'm working with some organizations that are, that are serving children
that have been trafficked, children that have been child brides, children that have been
exploited.
And she said, I just think we need to see if we can connect the dots.
And then she said, this is a time, you know, pray about it.
Let's look at like September or October as a possibility.
And so that's what I did for the summer.
I just kind of tabled it as like, I might go to Uganda in the fall.
I don't know.
I'm just going to pray about this.
And yeah, so I went to market at the beginning of August, mid August for our first wholesale
market because the hat company is expanding and the goal is to be in real retailers nationwide
by the end of 2025.
So that's super exciting.
Going to market like the day before I left, I was going to be gone for a week for at the
market.
And Tasha called, she's like, Hey, can you leave on the like August 26th?
I'm like, Oh, like 10 days when I get back from market after I've been gone a week and
I've been prepping for market all before that.
I'm like, well, I don't really see any reason I can't.
Let me just run it by my husband's.
So we went to, we went to Uganda and I met the team of native Ugandans that she's working
with their, the leadership team that are standing up a village and church planting in this area
that she's launching some sustainable agriculture initiatives and women's empowerment programs.
And we met with a gal that's on that leadership team that lives in the slum that has an initiative
to provide sanitary products to girls that are going to school that don't have products
for their menstrual cycles.
And then we met an aftercare home, the love does home aftercare for the girls who've been
exploited in traffic.
We met with a children's home and orphanage that is taking in kids with all sorts of trauma
that have been given up by mothers with all sorts of trauma that started out as children
with all sorts of trauma.
So all of these cycles, we met with a team that has planted a hospital in the village
there and very similar to Thailand, I spent the first two days going, I have no idea why
I'm here.
I admit that I have nothing to offer.
I'm a vessel lord.
You use me.
I'm not here to fix anybody's problem, but just show me what you would like me to do.
And we have had beautiful, beautiful fruit grow from those seeds that were planted within
the first month that we've been home.
We launched an initiative to provide products to these girls in the slums because what happens
is they don't have products and there's a stigma surrounding your menstrual cycle.
So these girls that are in school, they get their periods, they won't go to school for
the week that they have school because they have their period and they have no products.
They will end up falling behind, they drop out of school, and then they have no education,
they have no income.
Well, then there are men that will provide them products in exchange for them sleeping
with them.
So this starts the cycle of exploitation, which leads to a cycle of prostitution or a
life of sex work, right?
And it unwanted teenage pregnancy, early motherhood.
It just creates this entire convoluted cycle of exploitation, vulnerability, stemming from
poverty and period insecurity.
So we were able to tag on to the initiative that the young lady had started there and
raise, her goal was $200 US dollars, we raised $1200 US dollars and $3800.
And last Saturday, they launched a power project period pad initiative in the slum that, because
the leadership team has decided they are the power project Uganda and that is all God,
that is not me, that that brand has been carried into Uganda.
And they not only did they pass out pads, but they did round table sessions with the
girls and they shared testimonies and they shared challenges.
They raised awareness about exploitation and not not entering into this life to solve these
these problems of vulnerability and poverty and they worshiped and they praised God and
they prayed with them.
And I have chills, chills talking about this because the very root back in like 2017 when
I thought maybe I'll go to Africa and maybe I'll write a book and maybe I'll start a podcast
and power was the the main underlying through line of everything right.
And it was all based off of Ephesians 320 that according to the power that's at work
within us right like his power at work in us.
And when I looked up and this team of Ugandans have printed up t shirts that say the power
project and the back of it says Ephesians 320 his power at work in us like I could cry
because it's it's all God and it's seven years of like me not knowing what the heck God is
doing why he's calling me to what he's calling me to and and just the I don't know ignorance
on fire to say like okay all right like every time every time I step out of my comfort zone
every time I answer him and say yes I'm like I don't know why I'm here I feel unqualified
unprepared and I don't know what that you're doing.
So let's talk a little bit about what you saw because what the dry bones army really
wants some guidance on what what we come together once a month and listen to these stories of
leaders like yourself other survivors of trafficking or people like yourself or Dr. Grover was
one of our guests or some others who have shared insights about strategies for prayer.
I don't think that our team would have been aware that praying for a simple need like
sanitary pads for young girls in school in Africa and partnering with an organization
who's going to solve that that need how that could be a strategy to ending human trafficking.
So share let's dig into some of your your personal insights and your personal revelation
that the Holy Spirit has allowed you to receive during your travels this year.
Do you do you feel comfortable talking about some of the things outside of the conference
in Thailand or some of the experiences that you had when you're I saw you running around
Africa all over your Instagram so living vicariously through you I think we were on like a 12 hour
difference.
So yeah it's up the next day but yes.
Yeah and I and I think I'm very intentional about documenting the work because I think
that there's so much to be gained from sharing it literally sharing the lived experience right
because things can feel like they're so far away and they're over there and so I'm not
trying to be a travel influencer and this is my best friends like so what are you like
a travel influencer now and I'm like no I while I'm doing this and while I just have
found that the most engaged content that I create is when I share the lived experience
bad and good when I shine a light in the darkness but I also bring darkness to the surface.
People really respond really well to that and I I want them to see the humanity of it
I want them to see the faces I want them not to think about this being an issue that's
tucked away far enough way that we don't need to worry about it right because you and I
both know this is all in our backyard right here in the US right like that's one of the
most common misconceptions that that people have but in Thailand I knew I okay our conference
was in Pattaya Thailand and for those of you who don't know there is one thing that Pattaya
is known for and it is sex tourism right so Westerners primarily Westerners travel to
Pattaya to live out their fantasies with sex workers there and people like there are people
that save up for a lifetime to go have a week of debauchery in in Thailand and so I knew
I knew where I was going I knew that Thailand as a country is beautiful and the people are
lovely and they're the most they're so hospitable they're so kind they're wonderful human beings
and I knew that I was going to experience that culture but that I was also going to
see like the darkness of humanity right so we had an organization that is planted there
doing outreach work every single day in in one of the red light districts so there are
I can't remember exactly but there are red light districts all across Pattaya and so
we were at the conference center that we were at the hotel we were at I believe we were
like two streets over from from the street and we had gone to I'm not certain if we had
gone to dinner one day or we were going to an outreach center across town and it was
daylight and and you know we're weaving in and out of the streets in Thailand and the
the took tooks were in a Uber car or not Uber but they're equivalent to Uber and as I'm
like I'm like uploading to my story right I'm talking about Thailand and I look up and
I'm like oh well the signs above the businesses have changed they are no longer written in
Thai they're written in English and they are incredibly vulgar and obscene like more than
any smutty club you see in the US it was like oh oh well that says exactly what we're doing
in in this place and so I started looking around the street and I'm like excuse me what
street are we on and one of the girls who was at the conference with me actually Tiffany
who has the organization in Nepal she said the fun one I think I think we're on the fun
street and I was like yeah looks like it because it's daylight and I can't believe what these
signs say so the organization Tamar Center that does the outreach there they said that
the director said hey we have an outreach center in the smack dab middle of that street
and we go out and I would love to take you like I take groups down there if you want
to go at night and and see what goes on and I was really clear about making sure that
this was not a voyeuristic trip because we can tend to fall into like ooh let me see
you know and are we there for a reason are we bringing Jesus to the area or are we just
trying to like see something and he said no no no he said look we're gonna take you and
we're gonna show you the center I'm gonna show you the different layers of the center
and what we do there for outreach I'm gonna take you to the rooftop and we're gonna pray
over this district so we set out he's like you know be ready I believe like 10pm is what
time we set out and we walked the you know the two blocks or what it was over to the
street and we went through and it was a group of four of us girls I believe and then the
leader of the center who's a man that's planted there and he said listen as we walk down the
street like there's gonna be girls they're hanging out at the bars they're gonna be trying
to grab me into a bar they're gonna they're probably gonna touch you because like women
are not a threat to them like they would rather you be their customers so they're probably
gonna love on you as you walk through the street and the only the only term that I can
come up with that like most accurately explains my feelings and when I experienced emotionally
walking through that street is righteous indignation like I was like I was pissed like in the holiest
of ways as we walk down the street because you're just looking at there's 900 women
in this street in a street that I don't even know if it's a half mile long I mean it is
a it's an alley basically and it's just bars lined on both sides of the street and the
girls work in the bars they live above the bars that's where their apartments are and
the bar owner is not their trafficker but they have to pay rent to the bar owner and
they have to see so many customers to pay the rent and their goal is to bring customers
into the into the bar and so they're technically free to go not held against their will but
they're also trapped in a life of a cycle right that they've come to try because they've
come from villages and they've they've come from abject poverty and they're looking for
work and this is the work that they the line of work that they end up in so girls are
scantily clad they're walking around you know in their in their G strings and and topless
and and they're just trying like it's all like one big bachelor party it's like the
biggest crazy as wild as bachelor party you can think on like steroids and they're they're
pulling they're trying to pull guys into bars there are like groups of people who who literally
are just walking through the street and ended up on the wrong street right and then there's
others that they've come here for one thing and you can see it and you can see it in their
eyes and you fill the wickedness that is at work and the the spiritual bondage that is
at work in this space and I like I wanted to I wanted to physically harm these buyers
and the girl walking alongside me I said what are you what are you experiencing right now
because it's just there's noise the the the bars have their music so loud you just feel
it pumping inside your chest there's people like passing you left and right there's mopeds
scooting around you almost running over you because they're looking at the women in the
bars there's women coming out hanging on people it's it's like drug fueled alcohol fueled
debauchery I said and and like I'm a person that you know I'm I'm in Vegas a lot and
so when I say it's like a lot it's a lot and I said what are you what are you experiencing
right now and she said I like I just I think so much sadness and she said you and I was
like I want it like I want to murder people like I like I I want to throw punch that guy
on that moped that is like looking at this woman with the most nasty look on his face
I've ever seen in my life like like I physically almost like threw a handout and knocked him
off the moped as he came by me like that was my guttural reaction to what I felt there
and she was like oh it's a little harsh like I don't know I just like I'm so angry like
I'm so angry at this and the fact that humans are exploiting other human beings like this
so we halfway in the middle of the street we stop they roll up a garage door and here's
the center and it's there's a bar next to it a bar on each side of it a bar across from
it there's people in and out and we went in and they showed us the ground floor level
is a hair salon and they do hair for the the girls that are in that district and they build
relationships with them and if and when the girls choose to leave the lifestyle they do
training vocational training on site to teach them cosmetology and how to do hair and then
and it's it's disguised as a hair salon right and then the middle center is there their
training center where they teach English where they do prayer meetings where they have church
where they do vocational training and educational training and then and then the third floor
is like they have a place oh they have a place for the girls to sleep because when they go
with a client if they go to the hotel with the client oftentimes they come back in the
morning hours before the bars open and so they live above the bar and the bar owner
doesn't give them a key to his bar because he doesn't want them stealing his liquor you
know what have you so they have no place to sleep after a night out of work and there's
typically like a they said anywhere from a about a like a four hour window where they
don't have anywhere to go so there's mats on the floor in this room and it's just a safe
place that they can come and they can sleep and no one's going to hurt them and then we
went up onto the rooftop and we look down over this red light district of all of the absolute
worst of humanity laid out below us and you can just see the scene and you can watch the
scene and you hear the laughing and the shouting and and then you can look up and your eye
level with with the apartments and the laundry hanging out drying and and the life that these
women are in and so we prayed over this district we all joined a circle and we hands out stretched
prayed over that space are you familiar with this song is it Chris Tomlin God of the city
that song was written on this rooftop overlooking this red light district yes and literally when
you're like all I could think was like man like he's still the God of this city like
he's he's the God of these people like all of these people down here who are choosing
not to worship him and and I just started praying like God like let these women know
their identity in you let them know you as their God let them know their worth let them
know their value and I need these men and these these people that are purchasing these
individuals and these women I need them to know this God I need them to know their God
and I just started praying like God let these men know your know your value and worth and
like let something supernatural happen tonight where they are so overwhelmed with your power
that they can't do what they came here to do you know like let things not work tonight
that would be awesome for me okay so let's talk about some prayer strategy I'm glad that
you're bringing this up because I've been in red light districts like this I haven't
been on that rooftop yet now you will on my list of places to go but I think that the most
strategic way to pray in a place like that is for impotence for there to be no strength,
no power to complete the task that they set out to do and a holy conviction the fire of
God to fall upon these men who came with a burning desire in their hearts a burning
something burned into their mind that they saw in probably pornography and now they're
going putting feet to their flame just like you were just like you were you had the whispers
in the night you had the stirring you had the pounding of your heart and you're like connected
to Jesus you said oh how do I get how do I solve this urge that you put inside of me
it drew you there they were drawn there as well they have that a lot of the same physical
manifestations of that desire being birthed in them and being kindled in them and growing
into a raging fire until they they took as much of a chance as you did when you got on
the plane and went to Thailand they got they got out with the evil intention so because
they are clearly serving another a completely different God the God that they're serving
brings them into places of destruction the God that they're this is not God's plan for
their life and I'm not sympathetic to people who participate in sex trafficking whether
they're buying or selling I'm not sympathetic at all but I do understand and it can help
us to shape strategic prayers so in Uganda the first day literally I got off the plane
and the team took me to a lovely meal by on the on the banks of Lake Victoria which was
I was like oh this is amazing and and I was told like hey this is probably gonna be the
best meal you have all week long we're you know so we're taking you here first and the
rest of the week it may be questionable so it was beautiful we had a great a great lunch
and then from there they took me straight to the slum of Kampala and there are I believe
seven slums around Kampala and this one Nemo Wango is the one that that we that we plugged
into the one that we did the period had outreach and I I'm pretty comfortable out of my comfort
zone and I'm pretty comfortable in in places where people are very vulnerable and very
exploited I would not recommend anyone who doesn't have experience in a developing country
or or in a situation that's not comfortable to you to just go straight to the slum you
probably need a couple of days to acclimate before you go there and so I I didn't know
what to expect I knew that they told me this is the the poorest of the poor these are the
most dire living circumstances because even the people in the village who lack resources
have a better quality of life than than the people who have come to the city looking for
work and there are all of these stereotypes and stigmas with what region what area you
come from and your education and even amongst the community so these people end up very
like ostracized living in the slum incredibly impoverished and it is not a place that is
faint of heart it fills you it fills full of despair and it fills full of wicked at play
but it feels even more hopeless than the red light district in Thailand dead and you know
I went there were there were two of us and two of us that were white or mizongos as as
the Ugandans call us and and then we were with the team the leadership team there who are
native Ugandans that the majority of them grew up in a slum or a slum like the one that
we were visiting and we met with Vivian the young lady that is just really leading I mean
she want to talk about like this 24 year old girl is just the Jesus that people are seeing
in the slum and she has such a heart for empowering them and so she said we're going to take you
to some houses we're going to do some home visits and we're going to go meet some people
and hear some stories and this is a place that you just constantly feel like you need
to watch your back you constantly feel like I mean you feel like you don't want to stand
out you don't want to draw attention to yourself they said don't don't don't bring any valuables
leave your phones in the van don't you know don't take anything that can be snatched from
you and stay close in this pack and thankfully we had four big strong Ugandan men with us
that had connections with some people in the community so they had already told them like
hey keep an eye out for us and make sure that our backs are taken care of while we're in
the slum right so we wove in and out of tight little alleyways that wouldn't even be considered
alleyways but walkways pathways there's raw sewage draining down the ground that we're
walking over it's it's vile like it's a vile place and a lot of people without hope and
a lot of people who don't know their identity is so the first home that we went to once
again I was in a place of like okay God why am I here what why did you call me here what
am I supposed to do like you know just having some intent conversations with God as you're
walking through a very uncomfortable scary place right and as we made our way through
the the homes which are like six by eight mud huts in the form of like a little concrete
square as we made our way through that and the filth and the trash and babies running
everywhere half dressed and kids coming and flocking to us because there were mozongos
and some of them have never seen a white person and they want to check you out and see what's
going on with you they led us to this house and it was a house where our leader you know
asked in native language said is your is your mom home kids greeted the door is your mom
home will you go get your mom and two girls came to the door this is the first house that
we went to two young girls came to the door both with babies on hips and lots of babies
around them and our leader introduced himself and he said this is our these are our friends
and they're here visiting and how can we pray for you tonight like what can we pray for
and so the girl said something to to the leader and he he choked up you know and I it wasn't
in English I wasn't sure what was being said or communicated and it's dark at this point
like darkness has fallen I'm there's people all around me and I'm in a like this kind
of situation right I'm like looking over my shoulders like okay what are we doing and
so he got choked up when she responded and and he covered his mouth for a bit and he
looked down and he he fought back some tears and he looked up and he said they want you
to pray for the women in in this community because their only option in life is prostitution
and it hit me so hard like just the Holy Spirit like I had I just was overwhelmed with so
much empathy and wow this is the very first thing we're doing when we get off the plane
huh like I've been questioning why I'm here and so okay and he said mama Texas which is
what they call me he says would you would you pray would you pray for the women in
this slum and I'm not short for words ever in case you can't tell and I just like everything
caught in my throat and I did not think I could form the words to pray over this hopeless
place I didn't know that I could speak identity to these women when everything looks so hopeless
and desperate and I mean I even like I fought back tears I stood with the lump in my throat
and I shook my head and I looked at him and I said I don't think I can and he said you
can that's why you're here and I was like okay God that's why I'm here and it's your
power at work within me right and so I just began praying over the women there that they
would know their identity they would know their worth they would know their value that what
we see with our physical eyes is not what's happening spiritually and he's a God of breakthroughs
and he's a God of restoration and he's a God of redemption and I just started praying
like truth over these women in this space and and so we we said our goodbyes as we as
we walked our way down the walkway path the house past the house and down some steps because
theirs was like elevated up and as we walked off I look back and I realized like oh well
directly next door there's a bar with these men sitting on stools and drinking and some
lights like it's obvious that it's a bar not like anything we would envision but it's a
bar and I thought huh well you know their house was right next to the bar and then as
we continued walking I look back again and I thought well it kind of looks connected to
the bar and so I'm processing real time all night long and at the end of the night my
friend that I was with she said yeah did you notice the guys that were in the bar next
door like drinking while we were like standing on the porch of the house next to that like
praying and I said yeah actually did we just like did we just pray on the steps of a brothel
is that what just happened and and my friend said yeah yeah that's what just happened and
I thought okay God like this is why I'm here I'm here to just pray just to pray your truth
and your identity over these people and from there the next prayer request that was issued
throughout the night that stuck home was that the girls there needed sanitary products because
they they couldn't go to school when they didn't have pads and I thought at the time
like oh well that's something I never thought of as a need and that's interesting and then
as the week developed we realized this this just crazy cycle like you said like they're
ending up in a life of exploitation and sex work because they didn't have pads to go to
school like this is like this is mind-blowing to me that it's 2024 and we have people living
in a space where they don't see any other choice in their life but to be in this cycle
of exploitation because of poverty abject poverty and period insecurity and so yeah when I came
home and and Vivian shared with me like this campaign that she was doing she wasn't asking
for anything she just said hey this is a campaign that that my friend Jovan and I were hosting
and we want to provide pads to 40 girls that are going back to school next week so that
they can stay in school this semester and not have to miss school because of their periods
and I thought well I said what's your goal and she said you know to provide pads to girls
that so they can go back to school I said no no no financially what's your financial
goal and she said well 200 US dollars which is a lot like that's a very large amount because
the average you gondon lives on less than a dollar a day and so 200 US dollars is huge
and I said well let me see what I can do so I wrote up a blog post and I shared it on
Instagram and Facebook because I can't fix anyone's problems right but I can sure as heck
like spread the word so we raised $1,200 and 48 hours and they were able to go and and
the thanks and the gratitude that has been shared like I handed out so our hat bands
have stamped leather bands on them that that survivors of exploitation and trafficking
in the United States make our hat bands for us right so I took bracelets which are made
from the scraps to our hat bands that have an X just a simple X in the center of them
and we hand them out at markets and events to share our mission that says like this is
to end human trafficking this was stamped by a survivor this is why we do what we do so
I took a bundle of them with me to Uganda and as I was leaving I handed the leader Vivian
I said I'm going to leave these bracelets with you would you just hand them out to some
of the girls in the slum and just tell them like I'm praying for them and we are looking
for ways to give them other opportunities in life like use this to spread awareness so
the videos and the pictures I have from the girls that are wearing these X bracelets in
Uganda that are like thrilled and so excited to be a part of this initiative and to know
that people see them and to know that people see to know that people care that they're
on their period like is huge and to see like God's work there and to see like these girls
are going to stay in school these girls might graduate these girls might be educated these
girls might get a job like we're going to teach them I had a call right before this
with four different organizations that are on the ground and in the US creating opportunities
to teach vocational training and teach these women how to make these pads and teach these
women how to start a business selling these pads creating an economic empowerment piece
around their greatest struggle in life right and to keep them from being exploited and
vulnerable so if you want to think about like how to pray and when people say like all we
can do is pray like girls stop what you can do is pray like that's it like that's when
I I was in Uganda to pray right and I've come back from Uganda praying and I have a prayer
team collective that our friend leads once a month with all of these people with vested
interest in Uganda that are just praying over Uganda right now and we're seeing like so much
freedom be birthed out of the last month and we're seeing so many testimonies of people
experiencing God's love for the first time and are they still living in poverty right
now yes are they still facing insurmountable challenges that I know nothing about and a
lived experience that I've never had to walk through yes but have they found joy in Christ
in the midst of that hope and despair yes and that's what it's about right like it's
about that experience and that transformational life change that lets us view our circumstances
differently and find joy and find hope so if you can pray like pray for hope to be found
in the space in that place of despair right because you can't fix the problems of the
world and you can become super overwhelmed and in all the places I've been since I was
18 years old doing mission work in developing countries this is the most need I've ever
seen and I could very easily say like this is too big and it's too much God but I'm just
going to pray that the God of the city is in control and he's the God of hope and he's
the God of joy and I'm going to tell every single person I can find about him so that
they can find joy in that God forsaken place that they find themselves in so how can people
find you where are you on social media your website talk about your book how they can
get your book and maybe what's next well thank you so the dash like the little hyphen the
power project.com so the dash power project.com that is our umbrella website and you can find
most things there it probably needs a little updating but you can get to all of the right
places from there right and then that's going to link to the power hat Co there's a link
on there you can go straight to the power hat Co.com the power project site the dash
power project.com just has our whole overarching umbrella which is like you said empowering
individuals right like that's that's what it's all about and on Instagram I'm brandy
both B R E N D I V O T H and I answer all my own DMs and the power hat Co is on Instagram
if you want to follow us we would love that it really does help as we move into the whole
cell channels having that engaged following and then the power the dash the underscore
power project on Instagram is the platform where I share podcast information event information
and just uplifting saveable graphics that you can share that just point towards growth
mindset in Christ and developing those skills so those are the ways to find me like honestly
like Instagram is the easiest way to get in touch with me because I have maybe 10,000
unread emails all together because there are six different email accounts on my phone and
what's next is I'm speaking at the boldly conference on October 18th in Dallas and we
are talk talking about the body of Christ collaborations working with others to accomplish
his purpose so if you haven't picked up tickets for that you can go online to the like Google
the Boldly conference and then you can use code brandy both for a discount on that.
I will link all of this in the description and I'll add that code if people want to get
that ticket and they can meet you in person and check out watch you can watch virtually
also so you can you can get a virtual ticket and tune in and the boldly conference through
the Polish network and the whole focus is intersection of business and faith so it's
a lot of people that speak my language because I love bringing business and faith and women
into a room together and finding out ways that we can lift each other up we just launched
the season new styles so this is our rolled brim with our cattleman's crown and then we
have cowboy hats which my husband and boys are so excited about we have both wool felt
like Western felt cowboy hats and we have beaver felt cowboy hats which are going to be like
a much higher end hat people in the Western industry it's a lifetime hat right it's not
just a seasonal hat so we're crossing into that market we don't want to ever sit in
one box because we're a brand that we feel like really we want to reach everyone and
so we don't want people to feel like we're not just a Western brand but we're also not
an urban brand we're a lifestyle brand and we believe that there's a hat for everybody
and it's a purpose it's a purpose driven brand and so if you're into hats you got to
watch YouTube so you can check out Brandy's cool hat but go to the power the hyphen power
project dot com I'm going to link it all in the description below connect on Instagram
Brandy's really active on Instagram and I'll make sure that you have the links for the
boldly conference with the special discount code as well if you want to do in person
or virtual and it's been a delight absolutely having you as a guest today Brandy I love
you we're sisters last question is there anything specifically we can pray for you about I
'm pulled in a lot of different directions as you can tell and there we are on the verge
of of God doing a major breakthrough right now and I know that and I get very weary when
I'm when God's on the verge of a breakthrough and I tend to find a place that would be easy
to give up and quit and sit at home and eat bonbons so I'm not experiencing that but I
anticipate it so I just would like you to pray that I stay strengthened and encouraged
I love being plugged into this army and I love adding prayer warriors to the team so
thank you for inviting me here absolutely well you heard it you're going to want to
check in the description down below to see some of those scriptures that Brandy shared
and some of the links so you can continue to connect with her and learn more about the
incredible work that she's doing the power hot company is changing the world and it's
because it's being led by a humble leader who is listening very carefully to how God
is directing her steps so be praying for Brandy be praying for her work to be effective be
praying for those individuals and Thailand individuals in Uganda and all over the world
that that she's networking together with to release the hope that comes with Jesus and
the power that comes with him working inside of us so thank you for being a part of the
Dry Bones Army podcast this month and remember to go to the drybonesarmy.com to sign up for
our newsletters and so you can be reminded when new shows come out and you're going to
get some tools you're going to get some bullets to add to your prophetic weapons pile your
armory so you can be praying for an end to human trafficking and it's absolutely free
to sign up find us all over social media at author sandy storm.com you can find all the
links and thanks again to our guests Brandy both I'll see you next month the second Tuesday
of the month for our next episode of the Dry Bones Army podcast and until then God bless
you and have an amazing day.