I could be a bar girl, but for some reason I was born into a rich place called America. These girls were born into poverty and a lot were tricked into sex trafficking. These girls are not prostitutes, they are prostituted. They are girls just like me. None of them want to be there, but they do want to go to college and be able to provide for their children. I am so thankful, but it doesn’t really make sense why I wasn’t born into poverty. God has His reasoning though I’m sure. I was made to love people, in Virginia beach or across the world.
Our first night of PVT was before our parents arrived and we had a meeting to learn all about the ministry. We were ending our meeting with prayer and as we finished we looked up to see lanterns. The roof top over looked the city, so we saw hundreds of lanterns going up in the distance. It was so cool. Our friend that led the meeting said he has never seen lanterns in the Philippines, only Thailand. Jesus was showing us the light and freedom he was and is still bringing to these girls.
Bar ministry was amazing. It was harder and easier than I thought. It was so easy to talk to them, it was just like me making friends anywhere else I would go. I just happened to be in a bar. It was harder emotionally, it is so sad to watch these precious girls stay stuck in sex trafficking.
My group was my mom, Casey, his mom, and a girl from the safe house leading us. The first night was kinda uncomfortable, but good. We went to a couple bars and in the first bar talked to two girls. They were very nice, but didn’t know how they felt about coming to see the house. One girl had children that you could tell she loved with everything she had.
The way this ministry works is that we love these girls and show them Jesus. We don’t preach to them or even mention the name Jesus. We show them Jesus with our actions. We ask them about their dreams for the future. Then we tell them about Wipe Every Tear and invite them to come check out the safe house on Friday morning. Wipe Every Tear provides free college, a place for them to live, meals, and provides for their children. We tell them about this and some of them get so excited.
Jesus was so present in these bars. The second night of ministry was so much better and I had so much fun. We went into a different bar than the first night, but happened to see the same two girls from the first night. That is Jesus. I was amazed.
The first bar we went into was called Lollipop. I just went out on a limb and said lets go in there. Again that was Jesus. We walked in and sat down and had probably 5 girls surrounding us right away that we got to talk to. I went and danced on stage with some of my new friends and just had so much fun. I had so many people come up to me asking about Wipe Every Tear in that bar, so I told them. It was a great start to the night. The owner of the bar I’m sure realized what we were doing in there, so we eventually got kicked out.
We went to another bar that I can’t remember the name of and met two girls that were cousins. One we will call Claire and she teared up when we told her about the safe house and said “I am so excited, God is good.” This made my heart happy. I could not get over how present Jesus was this night. I hung out with her for a little, we laughed and just talked about random stuff. She was so sweet and funny. You can pay to take a girl out for the night, typically it is men buying girls. I asked if we could pay to take her out for the night and they were not allowed to leave at this bar. Needless to say, I got too attached to her. We left this bar and said see you tomorrow.
Casey and I’s moms were tired, so we found a new group for the night. We went into a bar called Vikings next and Casey and I bought a girl a drink and talked to her. We will call her Hannah. She didn’t speak a whole lot of English, but we still got to tell her about Wipe Every Tear. We just laughed together and then she told me to go dance on stage. I wasn’t going without her, so I dragged her with me. We danced on the Viking ship and I had SO much fun. Jesus was giving me joy that was shining His light in this dark place. I got attached to Hannah too and prayed so much that I would see her and Claire the next day.
So the next day the girls were supposed to show up at the hotel at 9 to get on the bus and see the house. 8 girls showed up, none of which I talked to. I kept waiting and waiting for them to come. Hannah had a meeting, but I was hoping she could still come after. I was heart broken. I want my new friends to live in freedom so bad.
Even though my friends didn’t show up, I trust God that he planted so many seeds that night. He was so present and I know these girls will come into freedom in God’s perfect timing. Even if I was a little disappointed, I trust God. And Praise God because 8 girls showed up to see the houses. These girls will probably be living in the house in a couple months. We can’t save anyone, only Jesus can.
I am so so thankful that I got to experience that ministry and with my mom by my side. Jesus is so good friends.
Pray for these girls and the men that go into the bars. I am now back at Kids International Ministry in Manila and learning the ropes.
