Allison Hale first came to the Dominican Republic as a missionary with her parents at the age of 13. In 2003, she returned with her husband to reside in the city of San Pedro de Macoris. There they have a church plant ministry as well as a Christian school and several other outreach ministries to the community. One of those is The Mercy Workshop, which ministers to women who have been exploited in the sex tourism industry. Allison and a group of women from her church take to the streets to reach hurting women and offer them a safe place for dignified work, making jewelry. They also assist with documents, access to education, and teach them the Word of God and what it means to belong to Him.
IF YOU HAVE EVER WISHED YOU HAD A TEAM TO PURSUE YOUR DREAM, THIS WAS THE EPISODE FOR YOU.
In this interview, Allison educates us about how women get caught up in sex trafficking and prostitution from what she’s learned in her nearly 10 years of ministry on the streets of San Pedro, Dominican Republic. She talks about the ministry of Mercy Jewelry, where victims can learn an honorable trade, create something beautiful that others want to buy and wear, earn an income and find practical help as they reshape their lives.
Allison shares about the value of knowing that you’ve done what you can when the day is done. She tells of the fruit that’s come from working with a team, discipling Dominican women, and empowering them to be sent out with God’s word along with the excellent reminder that this is not her burden to carry alone. And I love when she shares how this dream started as just a little inkling in her heart from God during four months of prayer.
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CONNECT WITH ALLISON & MERCY JEWELRY:
Website || Facebook || Instagram
MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:
Women at Risk International
Dare for More
Hearts and Hope Global Solutions
BOOKS:
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo
Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Love Big, Be Well by Winn Collier
Spiritual Depression by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Reclaiming Surrendered Ground by Jim Logan
On Caring For Your Needs While Ministering to Hurting People
SCRIPTURE:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
~ Eph 2:10 (ESV)
Though my father and my mother abandoned me, the LORD gathers me up.
~ Psalm 27:10 (ISV)
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
~ Isaiah 61:1-3
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.
~ Psalm 37:23 (KJV)
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