We have only been here a few days and God is already
breaking my heart for this town. I am on an Island called Puerto Galera,
Philippines. It’s a small island filled with tropical vegetation and beautiful
beaches. I live a 5 minute walk from the beach in what feels like a jungle.
I’ve never seen a place so beautiful. We also have a pet monkey named Moy Moy, which makes me love it here even more! haha
We are working with a ministry called threads of hope.
Threads of hope started with a man named Alex, from Minnesota, who bought $100
worth of bracelets from a girl on the beach. He told her to make him however
many bracelets that $100 would pay for. A few days later, she brought him back
1,200 bracelets. I don’t know how many of you have ever made bracelets out of
string, but it takes a LONG time. I used to make them and it would take me on
average 3 hours per bracelet.
With this, God gave Alex a brilliant idea. Alex decided to
bring them back to the US and sell them at kids camps for $1 each. Not even a
month later, he made $1,200. He returned to the Philippines, and used that
money to start a ministry. This time while he was there, he bought $ 1,000
worth of bracelets. He again, brought them back to the US and made more money,
which he used to build a ministry site, including a church, and a full size
basketball court. The goal of threads of hope, was to target women often forced
into prostitution to learn to make money in an alternative way as well as share
the love of Christ.
Our first day here, we walked the beach (White beach), and
right away spotted several prostitutes; young women that looked around my age,
or younger, all with 50-60 year old, white American men. It disgusted me, and
broke my heart at the same time. I immediately wanted to punch all of these
men, and rescue every girl and explain to them that they don’t have to live
this way. I wondered how I would go about ministering to people like this? When
I see a ‘couple’ on the beach, I can’t just go up to them and start telling
them about Jesus. When was I ever going to get an opportunity to talk to the
girls, alone, without the men around?
Seeing as Stacey and I love volleyball, have played it, and
coached it, we came up with the idea of playing beach volleyball or starting a
volleyball camp, to hopefully attract some girls that we could potentially get
to know, show love, and minister to. Today, we brought this idea into action.
As far as attracting people, our plan succeeded. As far as attracting women to
play with us, our plan failed. Only Pilipino men joined us. This got me to
thinking, that I shouldn’t feel so much anger toward these men. In God’s eyes,
every sin is equal, He loves these men, and sometimes these women are just as
much at fault as the men.
After playing volleyball for about an hour and a half, and
older white man in his late 60s walked up to us, and asked if he could join.
Stacey and I were extremely tired at this point, after weed wacking/running 3
miles earlier in the day, and playing
1.5 hours of volleyball, we were ready to quit, but what was one more
game? So… game on. The man was from California, and very interested in
volleyball. He knew his stuff, and I was surprised at how well he played for a
man of his age. After one more game turned into two, we shook hands and called
it quits.
Little did we know, that while we were playing volleyball,
God had secretly been working through two of the girls on my squad, Bethsaida
and Leah. It turns out, the old man who was playing volleyball with us, was
with one of the prostitute girls. Leah and Bethsaida were watching us play,
until they realized that this girl was sitting all alone, while the man was
playing volleyball with us. The girl was 22 years old, and explained to them
that her family was very poor, and that it was her only option. She couldn’t
see a way out. She told them that she had dreams that her entire family went to
heaven but that God would not allow her in because of what she was doing.
Bethsaida and Leah explained to her that God can forgive her of the things she
has done. That she can have a new slate, and be rid of all of the old things
that were holding her back. The girl, nearly in tears, thanked them and told
them that God had used them as instruments to come and speak to her today.
It’s crazy how God works. He set up our volleyball game, to
provide a way for Bethsaida and Leah to witness to this girl who was in
desperate need. Tomorrow, Bethsaida and Leah plan on meeting the girl for
lunch, as Stacey and I put together another volleyball game. This time, we are
bringing Joshua, another guy from the squad with us, to hopefully minister to
this old man at the same time.
I have only been here a few days, and I don’t know what is
going to happen, but God is already opening so many doors. Keep these women and
men in your prayers. Not just in the Philippines, but all over the world.
