It was another extraordinary few days in Kelly Green's amazing mission to Boy's Town, Mexico. Here's the thrilling report from Juli Catto (left)  who visited Kelly recently with a team of Transit students from Kansas City.

 

Kelly's dream of establishing a 24-7 Boiler Room in one of the world's forgotten places just came one life closer to reality...

 

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Kelly Greene (left) was still grieving the tragic death of her friend Kilo (click here for the story) and she was desperately needing encouragement when the team of fifteen arrived from the Boiler Room in Kansas City. We drove into Reynosa, Mexico a little over 2 weeks ago and arrived at Boy's Town, a walled-in section of the city which has been set apart for prostitution and drug abuse for the past 150 years.

 

Kilo (left), a 24-year-old guy who operated one of his Uncle's bars in Boys Town and who 'owned' several girls had been tragically killed in an accident less than a week before we arrived, and it was a hard blow for Kelly as he had been the first real friend she had made inside the walls. Kelly had been prayer-walking around the area for over 18 months, and he had just recently started to respond to Jesus. Their friendship gave her some credibility and safety in Boys Town and opened opportunities for her to start building friendships with some of the woman who live there.

 

Our primary purpose in going to Reynosa was to help finish a prayer room and add our voices to the thousands of prayers Kelly (right) has already prayed for this area and the people who live and work there. We had hoped that we could go into the walled in area with her and take some new ground, with Kilo opening doors for us. Amazingly, God made a way for us - instead of Kilo’s death shutting us out of Boys Town, it blew the gates open and created wonderful conversations and deeper friendship with both the women, other pimps and drug dealers.

 

On the very first night that we were there, Adam Cox went into Boys Town with Kelly to scout out the atmosphere, while the rest of the group prayer-walked outside.  Kelly had never been inside the walls at night. While they were there, they spoke to a girl named Jacqueline (see left - she's behind the bar), who initially told Kelly about Kilo’s death.  She asked them to come into her room, and she told Kelly: "I know Kilo is in heaven and I have peace. He told me about God."  A few minutes after that, Christian, the manager of the bar that they were in, came and invited us as a group to play music (a.k.a. worship) in his bar for the rest of the week (see pic below).

 

The next night, after working on the prayer room during the day, we rallied the troops and walked with Jesus into Boys Town.  As we walked past the first club called Lipstick, we came to Kilo's former bar.  No one was in there - only flowers to remember his life.  We turned the corner to see door after door open, with half-naked women standing there waiting for their customers - these women were identified by little numbers painted over each door.  As we walked, people came up to us with such an excitement to see Kelly, to hug her and to hear her say their name in this place where they are only known as a number.

 

So much took place in those next few hours - Kelly describes it as one of the most amazing experiences of her life.  We had a great time in the bar that night (one of the only 3 bars where the federal police allow open drug sales, including crack) as Nate Chud, Tim York, Dan Jones and John Arndt went crazy on guitars and drums (see right), with everything from ‘Twist and Shout’ to ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Freedom’. 

 

Many women and men came in to enjoy the music and soak in the newfound friendships that were forming.  We were amazed at the peace we all felt as we worshiped Jesus in the middle of blatant crack deals happening literally in our midst.  Some patrons weren’t very excited that we were there; others made it plain that our presence was an answer to prayer. 

 

"One evening," says Kelly, "I was silently praying that the Lord would guide us and show us if we were not supposed to be there.  A man named Raul who can only be described as “greasey” wandered up to me, beer in hand, eyes glazed over, and all of his tattoos displayed from under his tattered shirt, saying, “God sent you.  And it’s beautiful what you’re doing here.  One day, He’ll come and I’ll go with Him.  God sent you, and it’s beautiful.”  The faces of prophets look a little different in this place.  If you look with the eyes of Heaven, you meet Jesus in the most unlikely suspects – in the homeless and those weathered by life’s struggles.  But believe me when I tell you, you’ll meet Jesus in there.  And Raul was right - it’s beautiful."

 

Kelly continues: "Many of my conversations that week began with someone asking me, “Why were you and Kilo friends?  What did you talk about?”  Needless to say, there was some wondering about the nature of my friendship with Kilo.  Their questions opened an amazing door to tell them we simply talked about the love of Jesus.  I don’t understand why, but Jesus is using the loss of Kilo to open hearts.  Nearly every time, our conversations would end with, “Jesus knows your name; He knows the story of your life and He loves you.”   Psalm 9:18 in The Message reads, “No longer will the poor be nameless…”

 

Juli Catto continues the story of what happened in the bar that night like this: "Jacqueline - she's the one in the middle in the picture between me and Kelly - began to cry as Kelly walked up to talk to her at the bar.  She said, "Thank you for coming, thank you for coming here."  She told Kelly that the night before had meant so much to her and that she wanted prayer that night before we left.  Kelly encouraged her pray first, and Jacqueline told God that she wanted to get out of Boys Town - that she wanted to come back to Him and change her life. What an amazing moment to be apart of!  After a year of diligent prayer and pursuing people, the first prostitute came to Jesus in a real way. Echoing the heart cry of so many of the women caught in the traps of abuse and addiction so evident in that place, Jacqueline cried out to God.

 

After 3 days of praying 15 hours a day (12am-3pm) in the little prayer room, praying for prostitutes and drug dealers by name, the walls of the room were covered with proclamations and scriptures of God’s heart for the oppressed. We all knew our God in a new way… He is a God who hears the cry of the broken and destitute and his heart is for them to be lifted from the dust and seated among the princes.

 

In a place were girls like Jacqueline (left) are just numbers, Jesus is walking the streets in Kelly, communicating that they have names and value and that someone cares about their story. Truly it was a privilege to be there and see the love of God worked out practically. We got to share in reaping a harvest that we didn't sow, joining in God's mission to restore a truly broken place. Our hearts have been changed forever, and now that we're back in Kansas City we still feel a burden for Boys Town and the people we met there. Our prayers are more fervent and our eyes are open to the desperate and broken among us on the streets that we walk.

 

Please join us in praying for Kelly and her work in Boys Town - and as you do, ask Jesus to show you where He is walking in the city or nation that you may find yourself in.