Week one of Argentina has gone by and I cannot believe how fast time is flying already. I needed this first week to process all of Southeast Asia, but most recently the Philippines. Now, I want to ask that you share this blog carefully and that your heart is in the right place when reading and sharing. I also ask that you give me grace, grace because I do not have the perfect words, but my intentions are that God speaks to you as you read and that hopefully it brings things to life. Warning: I am vulnerable in this one also.
I started writing this blog with the intention of updating you all with the entire month of Philippines. I want to share with you about my week at the Bella Goose in Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines. I want to tell you about the week that broke my heart because it’s something that has changed the way that I view myself and my heart. (Mom & Dad if you happen to be reading this blog: I am okay, I am in Argentina and look nothing happened to me and I love you!)
So, my squad mate Olivia Moncrief had this ministry set up for her team about a month ahead of schedule because she thought that the squad would have another month with no hosts or what we call ATL “Ask The Lord”. It turned out that we would be at a host and her team was unable to stay at Bella Goose all month. Fast forward a couple weeks, sprinkle in Jesus’ plan and then came the week of PVT or Parent Vision Trip. The parents that were able to visit their children could, for a few days in the Philippines with permission from AIM. Those of us whose parents weren’t able to visit them had to leave Kids International (the ministry we worked with at the beginning of the month) and find a different ministry on their own. Well and here we are. Eight of us tagged onto Olivia and TEAM GOOSE was born!
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I’ve become more and more confident in knowing that I know when God is telling me something or showing me something. All the last 7 months have been an incredible spiritual journey that have taught me that I can trust that I hear him. To my non-believers or to those who are still uncertain in what they believe in, I promise you that you won’t be disappointed if you go ALL IN.
Well, with that being said, the day came to leave to Angeles, and what was supposed to be a 45-ish minute car ride turned into a 6ish hour adventure. We had all the intention of leaving at 10:30am. We started looking for a grab driver then. One hour later and an entire squad later, no grab driver. We asked our host at Kids International if he would be willing to let one of his drivers take us and we would rent out his van. He said he couldn’t take us all the way because he needed him and the van to pick up another team later in the day. Well, he would take us to the bus station and get us a bus to Angeles. We drove for 40 minutes when he realized he couldn’t drive that van around the city because his plates don’t circulate on Wednesdays. We drove 40 minutes back to our host, carried a toilet, sink, and a large piece of marble up 10 flights of stairs and then got in the van.
And so, the adventure began. The poor driver, he took us to 3 bus stations that didn’t sell tickets to Angeles. Then, as it works throughout the World Race, people pointed us to the next direction, and the next one and the next one. Around seven “bus stations” later, our driver started to flag buses down and just started asking them if they would take people to Angeles. At this point all of us were inside the van laughing because the poor guy looked like he just wanted SOMEBODY to take these 8 girls off his hands because he was already over the time he should be out and about with the van.
I was laughing, but I was beginning to think that maybe God didn’t want us to go to this “coffee shop” (I forgot to mention that I didn’t know it was Bella Goose until we were already in the van to head on over) and maybe God didn’t want me to work with girls that have been victims of sex trafficking. Honestly, I 100 percent regretted getting in the van. I didn’t really want to do this. Sex trafficking scares me, it makes me angry because I know it isn’t just women. Sex trafficking is men and worst, it is children. So, I was beginning to believe that I shouldn’t go. I was about to share with the girls that maybe it is time to just go find another place to stay and we aren’t meant to be in Angeles. (Insert emoji-with-her-hands-thrown-up-in-the-air here.)
In the split second that I was about to tell them this, the driver comes to the van and starts telling us to get off. He found it, he found the bus station that sells tickets to Angeles and it leaves in 15 minutes. Isn’t it so cool?! How cool is that? Just as I was going to share with everyone the doubt that the enemy placed in my mind, God shows up. Not only did he show up, but we didn’t have to sit for hours for the next bus! We loaded our bags and sat in our seat to head to Angeles. In that moment I talked to God (more like I pouted), “Fine. I’ll go. But YOU KNOW I don’t want to. YOU KNOW that I need your help to do this because I DON’T WANT TO do this ministry.” Then I put my headphones in and an hour and 15 minutes later we were in Angeles at the bus station.
It was that easy. One hour and fifteen minutes was all and we could have been at our ministry site. But no. The enemy works so hard to keep us away from helping and doing the work that God wants us to do that it took us 6 times the amount of time we needed. He wasn’t done yet. WE stood at the bus station as Olivia tried to contact our Bella Goose host and as we tried to find the Jeepney (google these they are the cutest!) or Grab driver that would take us to Bella Goose, a 15 minute ride. Three Jeepneys later and no luck. We couldn’t even find a grab driver with the app on our phones. Nothing worked. Finally, Laura our host for the week said she would come get us. She came, she got us in the little Trecks (google these also) and we made it safely to Bella Goose. She said she has never had a team take so long and have such a hard time getting to her. She also couldn’t believe that three Jeepneys flat out refused to take us!
Well, the enemy knew what he was doing, but as always the Lord won. We met the staff and we talked for hours the first night. It was so nice to be able to sit down and just get to know each other. I don’t know what came over me! I had the most energy. I also felt like I knew Laura the moment we sat down to talk. Something in her spirit just said “come here Marilyn, hug me.” It’s an inexplicable feeling really. It’s the Lord.
Alright guys, this is part one of this two part blog. I will post part two tomorrow or later tonight. Please keep reading!
