Call to Freedom with Becky Rasmussen. Human Trafficking

And okay, so this is where we've started the recording and the live stream, and here we go. So I'm Terri Camerazzo, and I'm here on behalf of Creation Fellowship Santee. We're a group of friends bound by our common agreement that the creation account, as told in Genesis, is a true depiction of how God created the world and all life in just six days, several thousand years ago.

We've been meeting on this platform since May of 2020, and we've been blessed by a wide variety of speakers who love the Lord and have a message to share. They've brought us presentations that have been a blend of creation science, current events, and other theology topics as well.

You can find a list of our upcoming speakers for the rest of 2023 by going to tinyurl .com forward slash CF Santee. That's C like creation, F like fellowship, and Santee is spelled S-A-N-T-E-E. While there, you can also click on the link for archives to visit our brand new archives page that has a list of all of our past speakers, including the links that we have for their videos.

You can also email us at creationfellowshipsantee at gmail .com to get on our email list so that you don't miss any of our upcoming speakers, and we promise not to spam you. Most of the time, we do focus on, like I said, creation science topics or current events topics or even other theology.

The Image of God and the Sanctity of Human Life

Tonight's a very special night. We study creation apologetics. We know that God created human beings to be very unique, that we were made in his image, and because of that, human life has, there's a sanctity to human life and dignity.

Tonight, we really want to just take an opportunity to spotlight that and present to you guys an issue that's going on in the world that needs to have a little more attention. Our speaker tonight is Becky Rasmussen-Simmons.

She's a victim advocate, TV personality, YouTuber, podcaster, and founder of a successful non-profit called Call to Freedom. She is well known in the Midwest for her advocacy since 2016 for anti-human trafficking.

Call to Freedom brings wholeness to all individuals impacted by sex and labor trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation by navigating a healing path through our continuum of care model. Based out of South Dakota, Call to Freedom not only serves those in the state but also the Midwest region.

If you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, if you have any questions during the presentation, please feel free to put those into the comments. With that, Becky, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you.

Well, Terri, thank you so much for having us today and the opportunity to share about Call to Freedom and what we're doing, but also what the Lord is doing through Call to Freedom and the opportunity to maybe reach some more people and to have a better understanding of this dynamic.

One moment here, I will get set up. My name is Becky Rasmussen. I'm the CEO of Call to Freedom. Thank you for that very long intro. We appreciate that. Call to Freedom was founded in 2016. Many years ago, God impressed upon my heart a draw to the issue of anti-human trafficking.

Little did I know at the time what the call looked like or what that meant. I just continued to follow God's journey and just serve in different capacities. In 2015, I felt God prompted to get involved with anti-human trafficking.

I do what everybody do. I Google anti-human trafficking in South Dakota. An organization under Tapestry International, which was named Call to Freedom, popped up. I went to that luncheon. Fast forward to August of 2015, God called me to Sturgis, South Dakota, which is the largest bike rally event in South Dakota.

Long story short, I had an interaction with a young girl named Marissa, who had been found and went missing based on what I found out after my connection with her, which was about 10 minutes. I began to ask the questions, how do you identify a young girl who is vulnerable, and then how do you lose her again?

Free International began to tell me that there were only 298 beds in the United States for victims of trafficking and that they were re-recruited because of the lack of services that were available to those who were victimized by not only sex trafficking, but also labor trafficking.

I knew God was calling me to something. I went and prayed. The woman who was doing this work at that time said, I feel like God is transitioning Call to Freedom to you. I want you to pray about it. I did, and I felt like the answer was yes.

Founded Call to Freedom, applied for a 501c in November of 2015, was accepted in January of 2016, and opened our first doors in March. Survivors started coming forward, and never did I imagine the need to be so great.

Today, we are almost eight years old in January, and we're at 27 staff. We just hired two more. We'll be at 30 by the end of July, and we're not slowing down because on an average, we see anywhere from 37 to 42 increases every year of new individuals walking through the doors looking for our services.

We're grateful to be here. I'm going to let Mary introduce herself, and she's also part of the.

Call to Freedom team. Thanks, Becky. Yeah, you are one amazing person, and so is Call to Freedom, is the amazing organization. My name is Mary Jackson, and I work with Call to Freedom as their survivor program coordinator.

I am a survivor, thriver, overcomer of sex and labor trafficking. I am here in the Midwest in South Dakota. I connected with Call to Freedom really to go in and serve. We had a mutual friend in common.

I knew there was something going on with myself from things that I experienced over 20 years ago where there was no help. There was no discussion on what even the word trafficking meant within the United States, and it definitely wasn't happening here, or people were not recognizing that it was.

When I started with Call to Freedom, I went in and I served. I served. I brought whatever needs, the victims, the ladies that were coming out of, quote, the life as the term is used. There's so, so many needs, so many.

I sat down with Becky and started looking over her program, giving insight into maybe like the mindset, our responses, how much we need people to walk alongside us, to accept us, to understand a little bit.

Not that anyone's really going to understand what we went through physically and mentally and spiritually, but Becky has a gift that God has graced her with and covered Call to Freedom. I've been with them now.

Gee, Becky, I don't know, since 2016, 17. I've watched it grow. I've watched the women that I mentor and how they grow in every aspect of their life, mentally, again, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

I'm very, very humbled and grateful.

The Lord's Heart to Set the Captives Free

To be here. This is about the Lord. The Lord has made it very clear in many conversations that I've had with him that this is his ministry. The heart that the Lord has for those that are in distress, that are in human trafficking situations, the times that I'm in prayer, the teams in prayer, the depth of love and compassion that he has, we can feel.

Our goal is to exemplify that, to model that as well as we can in being human beings. But there's a scripture in Psalms 118 .5 that says, out of my distress, I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free.

Now, one of the keys is everybody says, hey, you're going to go rescue a victim of trafficking. Mary can talk about how we don't like the word rescue because the only person who can rescue and set somebody free is Jesus.

But the key to this scripture is out of my distress. Many survivors have walked through the door, many victims who've gone on to be survivors have walked through the doors of call to freedom saying, I called out to a God that I didn't know and I was very angry with.

My trafficker would victimize me in the name of Jesus. And so I didn't know, I was confused about who God was and why he would allow this to happen to me. But the faithfulness of God, when they get to a point and journeys look very different, it doesn't look one way for a survivor, that they cry out to God just in that moment of surrender.

He has been so faithful. And I think one of the things, and I'm going to let Mary talk about this because she's an example of that story, is that we have to remember is that God needs people to work through.

This is very much God's heart. It is very much the Lord's heart to set the captives free. I feel it all the time when I pray. I observe it when he works through call to freedom and those that serve, but it is that survivor's choice.

And when they make that cry out to God, he is so faithful to answer. And so Mary, this is a perfect opportunity to share.

What you would like. Yes, thank you. So I'm from South Dakota and I would have probably been considered the girl next door. I attended a local Christian high school and one year of college in a Christian college.

And I, for reasons of some emotional and verbal abuse within my own family, I just never felt that I belonged. I was raised in a Christian household. It is more the words that were spoken to me that I would never amount to anything.

I couldn't, I needed to be better at what I was doing. I wasn't like my other siblings. And so I just really did not feel that I was worth it. And I didn't really express that. There wasn't really a lot of people to talk to about it.

I did end up moving to the East coast. I did meet a group of people that befriended me and got to know me and really said, we'll take care of you. So these would be my traffickers. And eventually one of the traffickers would end up to be my husband.

I had moved to South America and these people were a part of the, during the eighties and the nineties, there was a cartel called the Medellin cartel. So I moved down there and I was just brainwashed.

That was through physical abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse also. So they controlled every aspect of my life. When I wanted to leave, I had become pregnant. When I wanted to leave something in me stored when I had my son and I sat outside and I told my ex-husband now that I'm leaving.

And there's a lot behind that, but it would take too long probably to go into detail a lot of that. And he said, no, that you aren't leaving. You make us too much money. The criminal activity behind trafficking and setting up LLCs, setting money laundering.

There's a lot of different aspects that also fall into sex and labor trafficking. And they would not let me leave. And they said, you're going to do this last thing. And when you do that, then you can go.

So I thought, okay, great. Let me do this. And they said, but just for our reassurance and for our kind of insurance on you, we are going to take your two month old son. So the night before I knew that they were going to come and take my two month old son, I sat outside and sorry, sometimes I cry about it because I know the goodness of the Lord.

And I sat outside holding my two month old son. And I prayed. I just prayed so hard. I said, God, these are just people. I don't know how to leave. I am being held. I don't have documents. I can't get my son out.

They're coming tomorrow to get him. And I prayed and I said, Lord, bring me home to my earthly home. However you do it. But bring my son and I home. I didn't ask for any of this. So it was pretty quick in what happened because the next day then they came and took my son and I was forced to commit a crime.

I did serve federal time for that. And I think when I look back, I did come home. We did get my son back after two years and I thanked God for bringing me home. And sometimes I sit back and say, gee, did I really have to go through all of that to get home?

And I now know because when I pray and I ask God to show me and show me discernment that I needed to go through that. It really saved my life. I wouldn't be alive today. As many of the people that I know, people that were victims, I wouldn't be here today had it not God placed that path.

And it was suffering, but yet there was joy and restoration when I came home. And now I use that to show other victims when they come out survivors that there is hope for us, that we are lost, that people care, people love us unconditionally, and that God loves us.

We just have to reach out. And that was the day I was physically free. Mentally was a different story. And also spiritually, because I did have a lot of un-Christian like things that were done to me.

And so that was also a path. And I remember that day that I was spiritually free. I cry about that too, but not cries of sadness. I laid on the floor in my family room. I simply could not handle life.

I didn't know what to do. There wasn't services for me. And this was how many years back. I couldn't even handle myself. And what was I experiencing even physically being free, but not mentally and spiritually free.

And I laid on that floor and I cried and I spread my arms out. And I said, God, I am yours. And that I am your daughter. And I know that you love me and I am yours. And I hand everything to you because I cannot do this alone.

I've tried. I fought my battle trying to think I could do it myself. And that isn't the answer. Something came over me that day and there was a peace and calmness in my life. And it was like, I knew what I needed to do then.

And somehow it just, once I answered that call to bring that hope, explain that this does happen, it is real. And it can happen to anyone. It doesn't trafficking and labor trafficking doesn't know any boundaries.

There are more, there are people who are more vulnerable to being trafficked. And we want to, you know, obviously we, you, you focus on all the vulnerabilities, but really anyone can be trafficked. I was the girl next door.

I mean, my first year of college, I was going to be a nun. So what led me is a whole different story in itself also. But thank you, Becky, for letting me share that. Well, I even got through it without crying.

I know you did. He did. It is a beautiful gift to see when God restores a person's life, but he always has somebody else in mind. He, you know, he always knows he loves Mary. He favors Mary. But he had other survivors in mind in working alongside Mary and the team.

When survivors first come in, there's a lot of anxiety, fear, survival mode that we call it. But when Mary walks into the room or other survivors like Mary, and you have somebody who's in a cartel organized type of trafficking, you don't survive.

Mary represents a miracle and hope to a lot of those that walk through the doors. And our hope is to that as you hear this, hear what we're talking about, and hear as we talk about Calder freedom and those that we serve and, and what the Lord's doing, because he is doing something and it's good.

Amen. That you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you didn't know. And so a lot of people, this is a, it's a, it's a deep topic and there's a lot of layers to this topic that people don't want to hear.

But when I want to challenge people today is God has, God can work through people. And if you are on this podcast, and I really felt led to include this, that God's calling you to go deeper, or he's calling you to a certain area that, you know, now you know, and you're going to know, and God's going to impress upon your heart.

But I'm also saying this to the community, the community, we need to talk about human trafficking. We need to take what is the enemy likes to keep in the dark because it can, it can manifest in the dark.

We need to bring light to it. And when we know that this is happening within our communities, and it's happening within our state, we can't look the other way. And that's really called a freedoms model is that as a survivor walks through the door and we learn their story, and there's another layer or another form of trafficking, we can either choose to look the other way, or we can allow God to use us as the answer.

And so today I want to encourage people to know that God wants to use people to be the answer. And so when I was praying and, when I first started seeing visions or glimpses in 2016 of what called a freedom was to look like, and I'm grateful he didn't download the entire vision all at one time.

I believe that was his grace. I think I probably would have been a little overwhelmed. One of the first thing he said was unite a community. And I didn't know what that meant. And I kept saying to the Lord, what, what does that mean?

What does it mean to unite a community? And all of a sudden people would walk through the doors and say, I have this gifting. I have this passion. I want to do this, or I can, I can hold an art class, or I used to be on a security team.

I can be on your security team. I realized that God, there was a lot of people that wanted to do something about this movement and wanted to be a part of answering the call for freedom. And so we started creating these unique opportunities for the community to be part of the answer from doing events to serving on the security team, to being grocery shoppers.

If you can look on our website, all of a sudden I started God creating not only an army, a real army and a community that said no more. And I think there's power in unity. And when you can get people behind a vision for unity and have that unity, God can do great things as we've seen in the Bible and multiple different testimonies of that in the Bible.

And they also continue to set the captives free. And what I knew was important is, is we began, like you heard Mary, we started journeying life with survivors. We realized that there wasn't one set story and what this looked like, and that you can't do program just one set way as that you really needed.

And that's why I, when I do this, I do this with Mary or another survivor, because their voice has such power and, and their insight is something we've never experienced, but it helps us do our job better.

And so in order for us to continue to set the captive's feet, we have really had to focus on how do we have the best programming and that covered that is covered with a lot of prayer, a lot of grace and, you know, the continuation of the funds to come in, to expand those services to those that we serve.

And I am telling you some of the most difficult people and Mary and I were just talking about this other day that I thought, how are we ever going to reach that young girl? How? Like, I know God can, but that's going to take a miracle.

We are seeing miracles. Are we not, Mary? We're seeing absolutely, absolutely. And people, we just, that that's only going to be God and, and God is, is doing it where mental health is getting healed and, and they're, they're coming back and, and they may not get it right away, but they know that there is always grace with Calder Freedom and those that we serve.

And so a little bit about us before we jump into what is trafficking as a whole on this program, but, you know, we were established. We now have a home that, that houses women and their children. And that has been the greatest gift.

We actually started housing is called Marissa's house based on the young girl that I had met in Sturgis, South Dakota. And we started just with a little efficiency apartments, rentering a unit. That was the first time Mary served, right.

And, and they were very small, but the women started doing really well and they had this deep desire to be reunified with their children. And because they look like they weren't good parents and, you know, you can hear a little bit in that Mary story, it was not by their choice.

It was by force. They lost their children in that process. And they had this deep desire to be reunified and, and God made that a reality. He heard their cries and they would leave our program early and we knew we got to do better than this.

And so in 2020, early 21, the God impressed upon our heart to build a facility. That's a 12 unit facility and rapid community rally behind us. And today it was built, fundraised and paid in full in a year and four months, it opened April 1st of 2022.

And we are currently housing 12 survivors and 10 children. The beauty of this is we've had in one year, eight survivors successfully graduate from Marissa's house and we've had nine reunifications. We're on almost 10.

So it's happening right now. So we're going to say we're close to 10 reunifications of moms with their children, but it's a safe, supportive housing unit that allows them to do life with support. So being a parent, getting a job, learning how to navigate just systems as own and having a counselor and having those things that are support.

And, and Mary, you want to talk a little bit about the survivor support group that you're leading as well within the house?

Yes. So nationally I am on a support group and this support group is, is just amazing for myself, letting me know that I'm not alone, that there are other people out there that really understand. And so when Becky and I had talked, Becky brought up and we decided that we needed a support group here for the women and in Marissa's house.

The women is, they are so appreciative to be educated, to be empowered, to know what happened to them was not their fault, that they may be the victim. And with time, they no longer have the victim mentality.

They can make choices. And with all that call to freedom offers for all these services that I have looked in when Becky had asked me one day, what do victims on their journey of healing need in their life?

And I just remember that clearly, Becky, I don't know if you do. I looked at you and I said, it's more like, what don't we need? And from that, there is so much. And all the women that I have talked to in within the support group, just cannot believe the amazing that they are valued, heard, and they all want to know.

I mean, we have a spiritual coordinator also. They want to know about Jesus. They want to know that God loves them and they know God loves them, but it's just coming together and walking alongside.

Them. And I think the biggest too is a place to belong. Traffickers are very good at manipulating and they'll find your weakness. Trafficking, we see the movie Taken and it can happen that way, but more than likely it doesn't.

It's more of that building of a relationship and they will find your vulnerability and become the answer to that vulnerability. So you feel like you have a place to belong. And so what the enemy has taken as something that's a deep desire for us as individuals, all of us want to belong somewhere.

We want to be a part. The enemy has used this trafficking, human trafficking movement to really distort what God created to be beautiful. And so how do we then recreate this right as an organization and as a community for them to belong and to be understood and to be valued and dignity as we were talking about the wholeness of the person.

And that's really a process of understanding who you are in your victimization, but also that you were victimized and that what they manipulated as you belonging, you know, wasn't necessarily what God intended and recreating that into something beautiful.

And that's what we've watched with Mary's support groups is they're like, I'm not alone. You know, I thought this would just happen to me. I'm believed all of those things that they didn't think because they are held in silence and isolation that the community wouldn't.

And now.

God's using it and turning it for good. And I think also with the fear of talking about it, also knowing the different types of traffickers that not every, it's not a cookie cutter approach. Everyone has their own journey, their own story.

What happened to me, it's not, you know, I mean, people say, well, that doesn't happen to people. Well, they were kind of losing what actually happened. And what happened was I was trafficked. I was sex trafficked and I was labor traffic and that it does happen.

So again, there's many, there's different types of trafficking. If you have questions on those, and I know Becky talks very well about the different types of trafficking and who the traffickers are, has really a trafficker can really be anyone.

It could be someone in your family. It can be a gang. It can be a group. It could be the cartel. There's different types of trafficking. But one thing in common with so many of the victims is we want to belong and be accepted.

And whatever that looked like, I mentored a young lady who was born into trafficking. So that was the only life that she knew. And that was love for her. That's what she felt love was.

And she was a tough one, probably the toughest because that's all she ever knew. And God just kept bringing her back and just looking at her today. And I want to just touch and then we'll open it up to Terry and the team.

But this isn't just, hey, you know, one person working with a survivor, the complex trauma that's involved with the complex needs a person who's coming out of human trafficking. This is how this continuum of care model through Calder Freedom was developed through a lot of prayer, a lot of walking with survivors and not having those services in place and saying, we can do this better.

I believe that God is a God of excellence. I believe that God wants to provide excellence and all he exemplifies. And I believe that at Calder Freedom, we're called to exemplify excellence because guess what?

Everybody who walks through the doors deserves that. For so long, they have not been honored and God wants to restore that honor back to them. And so we're a part of that journey in this continuum of care model.

So you've heard from Mary from the survivor led mentorship, but addiction is a big part of those that we serve because a lot of individuals are controlled by substance abuse or, you know, medicine or, you know, drugs to conheat them and that victimization.

And so where there is a lot of addiction navigating that we do, mental health that we have to address. And then also before we can even get them to the housing stage and to some of those other stages of the next phase of that journey of healing.

And so what you're seeing here is a combination of occupational therapy, clinical services, but also emergency addiction services, because those are real struggles for those that we serve when they walk through the doors.

And what we've found is Jesus can set people free. I've seen it. I'm seeing it. People have to know how to maintain their freedom. And the model that you see here gives survivors and individuals the tools to be able to maintain their freedom when they get it, because you got to know how to deal with those darts that come your way.

And those next step of that person who sounds good coming back into your life and trying to influence you. And so this model was really developed based on our life and journeying with survivors, but also the input of Mary, you need this in your program, you're missing this.

And really always looking at how can we be more successful. And I've actually heard people say that we're kind of like a case management on steroids in the sense that we will not leave people until they choose to leave us.

And I feel like that is a something that they have never experienced. And I think it's very important, and is a very grace filled approach to those that we serve. Did you want to say anything about this, Mary?

No, I just think all of these services are vital in everyone's step. Because ultimately, you're trying to reach for that freedom that you can make your I mean, you make your own choices, are we making healthy choices, not healthy choices, our behaviors, our responses to our triggers.

What is drawing us back? What was our vulnerabilities? And for myself and many, many survivors nationwide, this continuum of care taking that whole person surrounding that person and saying we care unconditionally for you, and that you matter and that you are loved.

So I get kind of a little emotional about that. Sorry, Becky. But I have seen every most of the survivors that I've mentored, you utilize these services. And they might not like it at the moment. You might get a little, I don't have to have that.

I don't need that. But once they start that, and then they'll be like Mary or Becky or whomever their case manager. Wow, you have this I could really use this. I didn't. Well, that's like amazing that you guys all do that.

And I'm like, yes. I don't know. I look at that Becky and the audience. I just I'm in awe of where you started in 2016. And how God has covered this and grown and the people walking through the doors.

It's sad that we even have to have services or that we even have to talk about something like this. And you hope someday that you wouldn't have to. But it's real. It's out there. It's happening in. I mean, I think I know survivors in most states.

Some have federal cases, state state cases, mine was a federal case. And I would have sure love to have had this. Because my my prayers are for a victim never to have to wait as long as they did. As long as I did to receive help.

And to know that somebody cares. So I know that went a little long, Terry. But we appreciate the opportunity to share and we'll turn it back to you.

Oh, no. Actually, that didn't go long. Go ahead, Robin. Go ahead.

I just wanted to say, thank you, Mary. I'm, you know, I'm the same thing. Like, why do we even have to talk about this kind of thing? But it's so real. And, and it's so hidden. And, but the world is just getting increasingly dark.

And so it's really nice that you guys are.

An upright spot. Thank you. I know having the tough conversations. You know, yeah, they're tough conversations. But it's is the reality. And it is happening. And if we don't have the conversations, and say enough, that we're not going to accept this.

In our city, our state in our nation, worldwide, we stand for no, we we choose to shine the light. And I am grateful. I'm grateful for everybody on here. You have no idea. I'm sure when it's all done, I will have to discern and I will have to pray just because I'll be overwhelmed that it always that people care and that God has given me a voice and I am obviously grateful.

Well, um, we do have some questions. And so I just want to remind you guys, I mean, I'm sure that you know, and also remind the people that are here in the zoom room that we are still live streaming and recording.

So any of the questions that you guys ask at this point are going to be public. So that means also to you guys, Becky and Mary, if there's any that you feel uncomfortable answering on the on the recording, please let us know and we can save them for just in back inside the zoom fellowship room at the end.

So um, the first one that comes from Robin, she'd like to ask just a little bit if you could Becky explain a little more about the different types of trafficking and specifically like, what kind of what is labor trafficking?

Like what does that.

Look like more? Sure. So human trafficking is a use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit somebody for either the sex or labor exploitation, unless you're under the age of 18. If you're under the age of 18, force, fraud and coercion does not need to be proven.

Now, what does that mean? That means that if an individual if there's an exchange a monetary exchange for either sex or labor against this person's will, then that is a trafficking situation under the age of 18.

It does not have to be against their will, it could be survival sex, it could be just the sex torsion and the exploitation that we're seeing online. When we talk about labor trafficking, some examples of that are we see quite a bit in our area and it looks different.

You know, Mary talked a little bit about using LLC's and using people's social security numbers or forcing them to come across with, you know, doing distributions or possession charges that could cross over into some of that labor part as well.

What we see a lot of in that labor trafficking is within the foreign national population and so they are being exploited in restaurants or being exploited in farming communities. What that means is you have exploitation and then you go to trafficking and there's overlying elements of exploitation into trafficking.

The way that it becomes trafficking is that that person cannot leave those scenarios. They cannot freely come or go in those scenarios. It's really important because sometimes traffickers are really good at creating this fine line and creating this manipulation in these mind games where people feel like they are choosing to be in that lifestyle because of the manipulation and because of the grooming techniques.

But if there is an exchange and they were held against their will, so it could be a possession, my identification, they were controlling me by my housing, if any of those items or if any of those elements are present, we are talking about human trafficking and that could be either.

In sex or labor. Oh, thank you. That was very good. I thought there was more to it than what I thought. Thank you. That really cleared it up.

And then your ministry is based in South Dakota. We talked about that and then in the introduction, I mentioned that you guys reach through the Midwest. Do you go beyond the Midwest?

How far does your ministry reach out to? We have gotten survivors from pretty much every county in the state of South Dakota, but we are getting calls from Michigan, Florida. We're taking survivors from Ohio.

We are really seeing that other individuals that don't have these services within their communities, they're desperate to be able to help survivors out of these situations that we've moved nine states one way or another.