So, I have had the most trouble getting online and posting. So here is just one story from my newsletter. If you would like to know more about Guatemala, email me at [email protected] and I will send it to you in a PDF document. Thanks for your patience! I'm still working on pictures, but there are some in my newsletter!
Probably the hardest ministry for me to do was the prostitution ministry. Prostitution is legal in Guatemala as long as you have a license and get a check up every month or so. Every week, Pastor Roni would pick us up and take us around to several bars. Our job was to go in and just spend a little time talking to the ladies and getting to know them. We would bring them candy and ask how their week had been and ask if there was anything we could pray for with them. It was so intimidating! I had no idea what to say or what to do. I don’t know Spanish and how crazy am I to think a prostitute would want me bothering her during the day! It was hard and awkward and probably the coolest, most stretching ministry I have ever done.
The first week was so hard, and believe me, it really didn’t get that much easier. The ladies were awkward and we were awkward and it took a while for them to believe that we were not there to judge them or preach at them. We were just there to get to know them and pray for anything that they needed. We would go in and ask how they were, how their week was, how their family was doing; things like that. Sometimes they would just give us short answers and be annoyed. Sometimes though, they would open up and tell us just some crazy stories of their lives.
We met two ladies in one of the bars, both were named Alma. The first week, we met Alma #1. She was an older lady, probably around 45 or 50. She was so kind and I really enjoyed talking with her. When we pressed into her a little and asked some questions, she broke down and started crying. Her husband had left her and her two children. Though she had searched and searched for a job, she had run out of money and had no choice but to turn to prostitution. She was devastated and was so afraid that her children would never love or respect her. We prayed for her and asked God to work in her children and help them to keep the love and respect they have for her. Alma #2 had a similar story. With this Alma, her granddaughter had a tumor on her back that would cause her not to be able to walk as she gets older. She gave us directions to her house, and we went there and prayed for the baby and met the other children. The next week, her younger daughter saw us on the street and she came running up to us just to say hi. It was so sweet.
There were so many girls with so many sad stories and so many walls around their hearts. There came a point where I couldn’t go into one of the bars because they were burning incense and my allergies would not allow me to stay. I went outside and sat with our men in the van and just started praying. In that moment, God started speaking to my heart.
I started thinking about these women and how I would feel in their place. I was overwhelmed with a sense of shame and guilt and hopelessness. I started praying that God would protect them from violence and protect them from feeling worthless and like they deserve what was happening to them. In that moment, God broke my heart. I realized how I have treated prostitutes in my own country in the past. How I have looked down on them and judged them, assuming they liked their work and chose to stay there for the money. Never once have I asked a prostitute or exotic dancer her story. Never have I cared enough to take her a gift and pray for her. Never have I offered to help her with her children so she would have time to look for a new job or so she would not have to pay a babysitter. Never have I taken the time to love someone I consider such a sinner when loving them is the only thing that might bring them enough hope to leave. In that moment, I cried out in my guilt and shame and asked God to forgive me and give me a heart for the precious women who were trapped in this industry and for the men who chose to use and abuse these women.
Let me tell you that God hears and answers prayer. From that moment, my attitude changed and I started praying crazy things! I asked God to close bars, to make the men who drove down those roads sick so they would not feel like going inside. I started praying for revival and asking God to save the pimps. I started asking God to bring us opportunities to pray and make our presence known. Guess what, He showed up! One of the bars did close, and while sitting outside one week, a young man came up to our guys in the van and asked the guys for prayer. Our team had prayed for his mother and she was all better and he wanted us to pray too. (Later, we ran into his mother and she was excited to say that she was all better and so was her son!) Our last day of doing ministry, we went too early and the ladies were still asleep. We were sad that we were going to miss seeing some of the ladies. When some of them realized that we were outside, they came to see us and let us pray with them.
We may never know what impact we had on those women, but I am convinced that we made a difference with some of them. Please join me in praying for the prostitutes. Pray God will provide new, honorable jobs and that they will be treated with dignity and grace. Pray their families will love them and that God would send them new, godly, kind husbands.
