This is my second blog about my experience with the sex trafficking industry. If you haven’t read the first one I advise you to give it a gander before diving into this one.
I’ve found it rather difficult to put my thought, emotions, and convictions into words for other people to understand but I have given and will continue to give it my best shot.
If you’ve read the blog before this one you will notice I briefly mentioned the other side of the sex trade — the men who buy the girls. Let me talk about these men.
I had an encounter with one of these men on our first day in Angeles City. We had just arrived to our hotel and I was walking up the stairs to the 6th floor. After a bit of a strenuous climb, I noticed an older man waiting for the elevator. But he was not alone. By his side were two very young Filipino girls. He made some comment to me about how the stairs is a great place to look at the girls as I passed by him and I was instantly hit with a wave of anger and disgust. This man had to be in his 60s and I could not believe it. I had no respect for that man.
But God did a work on my heart last week. You see, this disgust and anger towards these men continued for a few days. You would see them everywhere. Old men walking with young girls. Sometimes 2 or 3 girls with them. You would see them in the bars acting like children, being vulgar and crude. I honestly thought of them as the lowest of human beings.
That was until God started chiseling away at my hardened and hate-filled heart. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but one moment, I just stopped and thought, “I’m no different from these men.” These men are not animals or freaks of nature. They are just guys… guys who are terribly, terribly lost. They are all on their own journey seeking to fill the void in their heart. They are men in bondage to their sinful desires and flesh. In someways, they are trapped. Not to say it is not their own doing, but their desire for love or companionship or fulfillment or whatever it may be has led them to this point. They have been looking for acceptance in the world and if I’ve learned anything about looking for fulfillment in the world it’s that it “takes you further than you want to go, costs you more than you want to pay, and keeps you longer than you want to stay.”
These men are trapped in their sin and I am no different than they. Who am I to say I’m better? To say I’ve rebelled from God any less then they have? How is my sin any different? The truth is my sin is not different. My need for grace is exactly the same as theirs. We both have a DESPERATE need for grace.
God loves these men so very much. And He told me to love them too. God broke my heart for these men. He turned my hate into compassion. I wanted these men not just to stop but to change, to find the ULTIMATE fulfillment: Christ.
Once I felt this change of heart I prayed that God would give me opportunities to love these men and He did. The first man I got to spend time with was a guy named Bill from Australia. He was an older man, maybe 70 and used to work for a mining company. He told me he comes up to Angeles City pretty regularly for vacation. I’m not sure if he is or was ever married but he told me that he doesn’t have any friends. All his friend and family has passed away. My heart broke for Bill. He was very kind to me and interested in my life and even asked some great questions. This poor man was so lonely. Now don’t misunderstand me, I realize what he was doing was terribly wrong, but I just felt so bad for him. This guy should be at bingo not at a sex trafficking club. I’ll most likely never see Bill again, but I had a great conversation with him and the Lord used that to show me that these guys are just men, just humans that are lost.
I got to talk with one other man. Brady and I were in a very large bar and while walking down a staircase passed a man and struck up a conversation with him. I’m not sure what his name was, it was so loud in there it sounded like he said “chicken” but I doubt that’s his name. He used to be a Japanese teacher in Michigan and just recently moved to Japan. He started asking us why we were there and after we told him we were there to get girls out of the bars he was astounded. You could almost see his face flood with guilt. His reply was, “Wow, and I’m here to take the girls out for the night…” It became really awkward for him and we parted ways but that wasn’t the last time we saw him. Later on that night, we walked into a bar called “Dragon” and as we sat down in a booth the same man was seated behind us. We waved over to him and he half waved back. And in just a few minutes he walked out. I’m not sure if he was going home or just going to another bar, but my prayer is that our story touched his heart enough to send him away from the bars.
God broke my heart for these men that are hated by so many and were once hated by me. These guys need love just as much as anyone else does and I have learned not to disregard them.
Please join me in praying for these men (especially Bill and Chicken), that their hearts would be wrecked and they would experience the Love of the Father.
