A Review: Sold

Sold by Patricia McCormick

 

This novel is about a thirteen-year-old girl named Lakshmi who lives in a small mountain village in Nepal. Although her family is poor, she enjoys the small pleasures in her life.

Then Lakshmi's family is left without the little they have, and her step-father takes her to a beautiful stranger from the city. But the stranger is not who she says she is, and Lakshmi ends up as a prostitue in India. Will she ever see her mother again or the mountains guarding her village home?

This story was gripping and deeply moving. Although it's fiction, it is based on fact and opened my eyes to the horrors of sex trafficking that is still going on today to unknowing children and their sometimes unkowning families.

I highly recommend this story to anyone who is interested in sex trafficking, but especially to those who don't know anything about it. It is a quick, raw look at the horrible business occurring all over the world. I will say that the ending did not leave me feeling fulfilled, but maybe it was written that way, as my sister said, to lead us to action. Read this story! Then tell me what you did about it. :)

Prancing in the Public Sphere

Today and tomorrow at my school, Colorado Christian University, we are having a Symposium about Christians in the public sphere. This basically just means that a lot of speakers talk about engaging in politics and in public ideas in general.

I thought it was going to be boring at first, and it did get dull this morning after an hour and a half, but I'm glad they're forcing us to go. It's sad how many people, especially Christians, are not involved in this often nasty, warring public area of life. I am guilty of this, esp. over the last few years in college. I am ashamed to admit I do not know much about this Presidential campaign and have not been following what's happening in the world as I should be. 

So I understand why Christians shy away from politics and other public ideological areas. Who wants to be called a bigot and hate-filled person? People have a negative attitude on followers of Christ today. But why should this surprise us? Christ said everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).

Christ was not ashamed or afraid to stand up for the truth, and I think it is our duty as his servants to stand for that truth and shine his light in a way that is respectful and caring of others. People may not care about politics persay, but they probably do care about their freedoms. I

f we as believers connect to others who have different beliefs than we do and try to figure out why they believe that way instead of getting angry at them, we will earn more respect in the public sphere. If Christians back away from these hot topics and difficult ideas, who will take our place? I want to stand confidently on the truth of God's word and listen humbly to others in this heated time for our country. I don't serve the government or myself, but the King of the Universe, and I want to live in a way that makes him look good and glorious to those around me. We are to be his salt and light in this world, and if we don't stand up, there will only be darkness left.

Italiano Festivalio and Hiking

I don't have much to say today, just working on school and debating nearly every second if God truly wants me to be a teacher or not. So, who wants to look at more pictures?! Everyone loves pics, right?

Last weekend I went to the Italian Festival which was a lot of fun. There was a lot of Italian food you could buy as well as shirts and other items. My favorite part, though, was the flag throwers who came all the way from Florence. And man, were some of them good-looking! :) I also went on a hike today up in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, where it looked like the trees were on fire because the aspens were turning yellow. Our God's awesome, is he not?

Sister Fun

It's been hard adjusting back to school; more difficult than I thought it would be. This might be due to my continued drop in care of grades and classes. But these last few days haven't been all work. My sister came in town this last weekend (Labor Day Weekend) to celebrate my 21st birthday, which was Tuesday, September 4th. Here are some pictures of our time together: (which included hiking up to a glacier and eating at the Cheescake Factory)
 

Hope your Labor Day Weekend was as fun as mine!