THIS BLOG IS FROM MY MOMMA!!! I asked her to write a blog about her experience during Parent Vision Week:)
When Katie was sharing with me about this Gap Year she wanted to do, she had mentioned that there would be an opportunity for me to come out to serve alongside her for a week. I wasn’t sure I would be able to go, because there were so many obstacles both tangible and emotional. As we went out to Atlanta last fall to send Katie off on this journey, I told her I would really try to go. My ministry field, as I have shared with my girls, has been my family and my job. I have not felt called to go out into the world in the same way I have seen and heard from Katie. As she knows, this trip to the Philippines was WAY out of my comfort zone in MANY ways. I accepted Katie’s invitation, because I missed her like crazy and because I felt I wanted to have this opportunity to get to experience a little bit of what she has been doing over the last many months.
I have been back just under a month and have been reflecting on my experience and trying to figure out how to put into words this trip I took to the Philippines. (Katie asked me to write a blog on my experience.) I set aside this time to start to draft my thoughts and I decided to exercise before I sat down this evening. Last Sunday (4/22) was “Missions Outreach Sunday” at our church and we missed it due to being out of town. I was remembering Katie setting up a table display for this last year. I pulled up Sunday’s sermon to listen to as I worked out and laughed out loud. The guest pastor who gave Sunday’s sermon was Pastor Jorge from Jaurez, Mexico. Katie (and my other daughter, Carrie) has gone to his church several years to serve and she loves this pastor, his wife and that community. His words helped me to recall and formulate my thoughts better from my trip.
We were told we would be going to be working with an organization called Wipe Every Tear run by a guy (Kenny Sacht) who is from Boise, Idaho. Their mission statement is: “Wipe Every Tear exists to bring Freedom, Hope, and a Future to girls trafficked in the sex trade.” We were let in on the plans more as our time got closer to going and I had a huge range of emotions heading into this week. Along with that, the same day we got to get our arms around our kids, we would be going to the two safe houses in Manila and meeting the amazing people who would be serving alongside us for the next several days. We would be learning quite a bit that night about this organization; what they do; who they help and meeting many of the girls being helped along with hearing their stories.
Kenny shared with us that God had been giving him a word for our time together. That word was “Expectant.” This whole week as I was listening to Kenny share and listening to and watching the racers, I was changed. My heart was beyond broken as we ministered to the young women; as we went into the bars and saw the exploitation they had to endure; and as we saw the poverty all around us. Their eyes, the smells and so much more of what we experienced will stay with me forever. Katie and her team mates are sharing some incredible stories on our experience in their blogs, but I feel called to share something different.
I grew up with a good understanding of the Trinity. I have seen and experienced being moved or touched by the Holy Spirit, but nowhere close to as tangible and ALIVE as I did the days we were working with Wipe Every Tear. My prayer life is forever different, too. I was exposed to a new way to pray – “Thought Prayer.” I had heard (from previous blogs) the racers being given a word or a picture and learning that by focusing, listening to that – it was God speaking to them to go in a certain direction or to speak to a certain person. You aren’t always shown the fruits of following this, but if you learn to pay attention instead of just chalking it up to your mind wandering, you learn to really listen…you can see the Holy Spirit at work. Two examples of this that week I’ll share. First, a dad shared at worship that he and his wife were encouraged by their daughter to listen to what the Holy Spirit was placing on their hearts. He shared that the name “Jessie” and a “short bobbed hair style” was given to him. He actually wrote it on a piece of paper. The first bar they went into, he saw a young girl dancing on stage with short bobbed hair. He called her down to speak to her and when she introduced herself, she said her name was Jessie. He pulled out the paper and showed it to her. They spoke about what Wipe Every Tear can offer and the Freedom she could have if she wanted.
Second, as we continued worshipping, Kenny asked for us to share words or images that the Holy Spirit was placing on us during our prayer time. Many names were shared along with a few images, including “Hello Kitty.” Our group went into a bar and one of the first things we saw was a Philippina girl sitting with a blow up Hello Kitty doll on her lap. We shared with her along with many other girls in that bar that night about the opportunities available to them.
Getting back to Kenny’s word “Expectant,” he said he didn’t know how many Philippina girls would show up the morning we left to get on a bus to check out the safe houses and see that what was being offered was the real deal. The Holy Spirit was very busy around us as we shared and reached out in all the bars. There were 22 girls who took that first step that morning. Truly all God!! The racers were on fire as they boldly got up on the dance floor and danced with the girls to not only block the patrons but to break the ice with the girls and be able to start conversations with them. They boldly spoke to the patrons about what they were doing, and to the mama Sans who ran the bars and managed the girls (as a pimp would here in the United States). Again, I encourage you to read some of the other blogs that share these experiences.
Worshipping with the other parents and all the racers, was also, a time that I felt the veil between Heaven and Earth to be very thin. One of my favorite songs we sang together many times was Reckless Love by Cory Asbury. If you don’t know the words, I encourage you to look it up – such truth and we saw it, lived it, spoke it, shared it all together. It was such powerful hours we spent together worshiping!
I am so thankful that I not only had the opportunity, but that I took it to come to serve alongside Katie and Wipe Every Tear. I believe I will continue to unwrap God’s lessons for me from this trip for a while. What I do know is that I am going to listen deeper in my prayer time and live more boldly in my walk.
As for Wipe Every Tear, I was given an image I shared with Katie and Kenny. It was “the Great Migration” (the animals moving across the Serengeti in Africa), but it was all about the girls “migrating” out of Angeles City (where the bars we visited are). It may not happen in massive droves, but I believe through amazing organizations such as Wipe Every Tear and the Holy Spirit, it will happen!!
