Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.)

Who is Tim Ballard? (O.U.R. History)

Timothy Ballard spent over a decade working as a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security where he was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. He has worked every type of case imaginable in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings. Ballard specializes in undercover work, in the United States and in multiple foreign countries, to infiltrate child trafficking organizations.

During one of his routine training visits to South America, he threw the training book out the window and actually helped them plan an op! But a problem arose. Their plan was dependent on U.S. support, and unfortunately they were outside U.S. jurisdiction. When the U.S. government was ultimately unable provide the resources ($80,000 and 10 operatives for 3 months) to rescue dozens of trafficked children in South America, Ballard decided to leave government employ and formed Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) in late 2013. Ballard leaned on his personal network of former CIA, Navy SEALs, and Special Ops operatives to form his own Jump Team, and quickly raised the money required to execute the op with the assistance of Glenn Beck. Success! After rescuing over 100 children on that op and prosecuting the traffickers involved, Ballard knew O.U.R. needed to continue. O.U.R.'s next mission was an overwhelmingly successful op in Haiti. During the process, they filmed undercover video for the movie The Abolitionists in order to make good people become more aware of this nefarious epidemic all around us. Thanks to O.U.R., the war to rescue 2 million children being held against their will as sex slaves has begun.

Tim's Fireside Message

(OREM, UTAH) On Sunday, Nov. 13, 2017, I heard Tim speak to a packed congregation at an LDS church building. One of my strongest memories of that night was of how his face shone as he greeted a lady seated 10 feet from me.  His face radiated with the same light and majesty that I remember mine glowed with at the time I opened my LDS mission call. In the scriptures this "radiant countenance" is commonly ascribed to men and women who are full of faith and the Spirit.

After his introduction, Tim revealed that the question he gets asked the most from people is "how do you keep the lights on through the darkness?" He offered these three principles to explain how he keeps the lights on, and how we can have it in our darkest times too:

1. PRAY — If you plead for the Lord's protection and guidance, he will bless you with the divine power to fight the darkness in your life. After experiencing a special connection with two of the children he helped rescue in Haiti, Tim and his wife (who already had six kids at the time) felt inspired to adopt them. Unfortunately, by the time he made his way back to Haiti to sign the papers, they had been confidentially distributed to one of the 50,000 orphanages throughout the country. True to Haitian bureaucracy, there was only one woman who could even access the records, and she was next to impossible to pin down. For example, she might stop in her office once a year. Tim was ready to visit each orphanage, one by one. Realizing that his plan might require decades of searching, his family decided that they would all pray at 10:00am for Tim to be able to walk into the administration office and find the answers they needed. On the appointed day, Tim stood outside the entry gates, praying, As he boldly strode in at10:00am on the dot, an old woman was on her way out. He grabbed her, demanding her name. Startled, she demanded his in return (in perfect english). After settling himself down, Tim told her his story. Delighted, the woman's cries filled the court yard as she praised Jesus and danced in circles. She explain to Tim that she didn't even work there—she was only picking up some papers for her orphanage. But that her friend happened to be the one who had his kids. She marveled that had either one of them been 10 seconds later, they would have never crossed paths.
2. GIVE SERVICE — In your times of greatest despair, you can blast through the darkness by standing up and serving others. To illustrate this point, Tim told the tragic story of a man named Guesno Mardy. Guesno is an LDS proprietor of a successful orphanage in Haiti. Due to his success, kidnappers mistook him for a rich man, and spirited away Guesno's 2-year-old son during an LDS serivce and held him for ransom. After failing to come up with the ransom of $150,000 US, Guesno never heard from the kidnappers again. Unable to sleep, Guesno spent the next while walking up and down random streets of Port-au-prince, calling out for his son. Eventually, he was connected with Tim. After careful planning and preparations, Tim's special team ultimately facilitated the rescue of 28 children from the very ring suspected of holding Gardy. Unfortunately, Gardy was not among. Guesno saw that his son was not with Tim upon their return. "I'm so sorry," Tim said. Somehow, Guesno immediately put a smile on his face and concerned himself with the well-being of the rescued children. In a moment of pure charity, Guesno said, "Tim, if I have to lose my son so that you and your team could come here and save these 28 kids, that's a burden I'm willing to bear for the rest of my life." In due course, Guesno located the Haitian officer in command and said, "if you are unable to successfully place any of these children, my wife and I will take them." He ended up adopting 8 of the rescued children.
3. SEEK ANGELS — The doctrine of angels is real. The ministry of angels is real. Our family members are dying to come to our aid (pun intended) and bolster our righteous efforts. The greater the opposition we feel, the stronger their influence can be felt, if we faithfully seek for them. Tim said that in those moment when he is sitting across the bargaining table from a sex slaver, there is no other time in which he feels a greater light and inner strength. And he chalks that feeling of special assurance up to angels at his side. He know his loved ones are involved in his life. Tim admonished us to seek after our own dead—to learn their stories, and to develop a relationship with them. "If you feel after them," Tim said, "you too will recognize their strength and light when you need it most."

Find out how you can help at OURrescue.org/join-the-fight.