Imagine that you are standing on a stage, clothed in bra and underwear. You’re not on a makeshift stage in your closet or even inside your home, but in a public bar. You’re there so you can be perused and potentially chosen by the patrons of this bar, bought like a slave or a piece of livestock. You are there because its a job that pays well and you need to feed your family, your siblings, your parents or even your own children. You plaster a smile on your face, you sway slowly to the music. You wish there was somewhere else you could be. You hope you make good money tonight, but that only happens when you’re purchased. So you’re at odds within yourself: you want the attention for the money it brings, yet you don’t want to get called down because of what you might be asked to do for that resulting money. You do it only because you have to. You wish there was another way.
Is this hard for you to believe? Hard to relate to? Yup. I know. It’s all the emotions— sadness, anger, hurt, disbelief, horror, the ever-lingering question of “why, Lord?” And honestly, it’s not a question easily answered, but I do know that God was and is in those bars.
Walking into the first bar was definitely the hardest, and I led the way. I will never forget my precious mom’s look of nervous hesitation and objection after I chose the first bar to walk into, but I am so proud of her because she shook it off and walked in hand-in-hand with my dad. I’m sure my nerves and hesitation were clear as well, but God was there, because they quickly disappeared as these girls were so receptive and we all dove right into conversations! These girls were excited to see us, and as a small bar the girls were not even 15 feet from us, so we were able to talk to most of them! Almost immediately, I ended up going to sit at a barstool right at the stage while my parents talked to some other girls with Ruby! Without Ruby, we couldn’t have done a thing! She was the key, and an absolute joy to see in action! She was not only our translator when needed, but the greatest voice as someone who has been where these girls are— once a prisoner but now set free!
We experienced one other bar that first night, and God was there too! The girls at bar #2 were thrilled to see us, and I went up to the stage as soon as I walked in the door and shook hands, high fived and spoke to every girl, looking them in the eye, asking their name and sharing mine! There were probably about 30 girls on stage. I’ve never felt more emboldened in my life, and I know it was the Lord’s power I was walking in! And it was so much fun! They were beautiful, precious girls who are no different than me and deserve more! We were there a couple of hours, and had conversations with about 10 girls.
That night, I was overcome by the JOY and fun I had. But the best part was that I realized JOY, a word that He’d given me during listening prayer, had been a promise. For me. Oh, how He loves to bless us!
We found out the next day during a feedback session that all but a few of the leads the Lord gave us came about the night before through the encounters all the racers, their parents and WET girls had made! And remember how I had seen a black “bag” with holes in it? Well, a group of girls at bar #2 had on black t-shirt tanks that had holes intentionally cut out of them, and I met a girl there named Daisy, a name heard during listening prayer with the group!
At each bar, we spoke with numerous girls and shared with them about who Wipe Every Tear was, invited them to an open house tour of the WET houses in Manila, and specifically told them about Girls Getaway, a 5 day beach retreat that was happening a few weeks later! The vacation was totally free, and better yet they were paid to come! Why? Because they can’t afford to miss work for 5 days and WET wants to eliminate any reasons why they shouldn’t come!
Night two in the bars was easier and exciting, as we had gotten comfortable, and my parents rocked it! It was so much fun seeing them step into uncomfortable situations and just go for it, seeing these girls as girls just like my sister and I, who just as much deserve an education, a job of their dreams, a safe work environment, and more than anything, a relationship with the Father! My mom was sweet and unafraid to share why we were there, and my dad was such a gentleman, kind and conversational. He showed them the dignity and respect they deserve, which I think spoke more highly than any words he could have spoken!
There were two encounters that second night that were awesome experiences I want you to know about! First, there was the small bar that my family and one other group of racers, two mom and daughter pairs, went into to kick off the night! I started making eye contact with the girls and asking them questions immediately, and pretty soon I was invited up onto the stage with them. So I got up and danced with all the girls! Pretty soon, another Racer, Chantel, got up there too to dance with all of us. While we were dancing, another big group of racers came in with their parents, and 9 were in their group. And almost immediately, Graham, a racer, came up and got on stage to dance too! Then, about a minute later, his mom joined us! There were so many of us and we were taking over the place so completely that I started to get scared that we were going to get kicked out, but the atmosphere in that bar changed. Joy had shown up. (And if my internet connection will allow it I will try to post the the very rudimentary video my mom took of me up there… it’s quite short to be respectful to the girls.) As a result of the friends I made by getting up there and dancing with them, we took about 5 girls down from the stage when I got down, and every other group took some girls too! There were no girls left! It was awesome! So every girl in that room heard about Wipe Every Tear that night. And I became a bar girl too! 🙂
Another amazing encounter God had for us that night was outside the bar that we had gone to the first night. We wanted to try and go back, as we wanted to reconnect with some of the girls and talk to more, but the bar was closed for the night. We ended up talking to Helen, though, a girl standing outside trying to bring patrons into her bar!
Helen was one of the names we had heard the day before during listening prayer so my mom first reaction was “We’ve been looking for you, Helen!” And she told us about how she is working on Walking Street to try and earn enough money to return to university! She wants to earn a degree in Business, so we told her just how much WET could help her! Had the bar not been closed, we likely wouldn’t have talked with her!
The hope was that we would see her face, and those of all the other women we talked with, the next morning at the buses, as we invited them to come back to Manila with us and tour the Wipe Every Tear facilities and learn more about who they are.
That next morning, 37 girls got on this bus. The bus was quiet. Girls were scared. Fear was there, scared this bus was not taling them to Manila but possibly somewhere else, but they took a risk and I know it paid off for them! 37 was double the number of girls they’ve gotten after two nights of ministry! And FOUR of them were girls my parents and I had talked to!
These two nights of ministry showed me how much of a passion I have for women stuck in sex trafficking, and how much God wishes to give us everything we ask for and more! I didn’t ask for joy. I asked for bravery and courage, but because He is in the business of loving, equipping and strengthening, He overwhelmed me with joy. My goodness, He even gave me a new passion!
So these days and nights with Wipe Every Tear were the best times of ministry on the race, though I have had so many awesome experiences! But it is the ministry that I can’t stop thinking about. It is the place my heart loves. And I can’t wait to figure out all the ways I can partner with them in the future!
And last but not least, you need to hear the latest statistics:
- 37 girls went to the Girls Getaway the following weekend…
- And since those nights of outreach and Girls Getaway days, 20 new girls have chosen to be brave and step out into freedom to come and live at the Wipe Every Tear homes!!!!
- A fourth home has been acquired… just three days ago! God’s so good to us, as while writing this I had more housing as the #1 thing to be prayed for.
- The name of the new place: Freedom House! This means there is now room for even more girls to experience FREEDOM!
As awesome as these testimonies are, there are still many things we need to intercede for, so I ask that you join me in lifting these requests up….
1. Please pray over these names. These are girls my parents, Ruby and I spoke to at length over our two nights in the bars. For safety reasons Wipe Every Tear doesn’t publish who has come into their care so please pray that these girls have or will choose freedom: Eve, Belle, Helen, Marisol, Romuella, Tessie, Daisy, Jenny, Rea, Sheila, and Red. These girls represent the hundreds of thousands of girls who work in this industry.
2. Pray for the Wipe Every Tear movie. They are trying to make a documentary about what the Father is doing in the Philippines!
3. Wipe Every Tear is opening up a program in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They are using the same model! Please pray for open hearts, favor over the logistics and all the details of opening up in a new country, but particularly pray that there are miracles upon miracles!
4. Pray for ways you can get involved in this issue of modern day slavery! If you’re in Houston, there is a lot of opportunity since we are one of the top destinations for sex trafficking in the USA! Whether you get involved locally or internationally, your prayers, your money, your support makes a huge difference! And I can personally, without a shadow of a doubt, recommend Wipe Every Tear as an organization that is Kingdom focused! Here’s their website should you want to learn more about them: wipeeverytear.org.
