Sorry for the title, Grandma and Mama Pat. If you keep reading you’ll understand.
Update! Our squad got to spend Easter weekend together in Bangkok, Thailand where we congregated before traveling to Malaysia. It is an Easter I’ll never forget. How powerful it was to celebrate Christ’s resurrection in a country that is 98% Buddhist. What a joy it is to celebrate the freedom we have in Christ and to be reminded that the same power that rose Christ from the grave is ALIVE in us. There are people all around us that don’t know him, but He’s sent us as ambassadors to share the good news, that the King is ALIVE! We stayed at a hostel on a busy street in Bangkok. Our meeting area as a squad was just inside the front, double glass doors of the hostel. I’d often see passerby’s do a double take when they saw how many people were congregated in the hostel’s lobby/living room. The evening of Easter we gathered for praise and worship to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Halfway through worship, my teammate, Jessie, decided to prop open the door because so many people were drawn to what was happening. She stood outside the front door, barefoot on the street praising God. People started to gather. A waiter from the Muslim restaurant next door started to record video. The next song was a squad favorite, I Raise a Hallelujah by Bethel Music. This song sets a fire in our squad every time. We all flooded the side walk with our bare feet and joyful shouts of praise…
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me
I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!
Truly an Easter I’ll never forget. To always have the joy of the Lord shining so brightly that people can’t help but be drawn to it- that is the goal. After a 14-hour bus ride and two train rides, we made it to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. If you haven’t heard, my team applied for a route change. The rest of the squad is in Malaysia, but after putting a lot of prayer into it, my team felt the Lord calling us to go to the Philippines to share the freedom and hope we have in Christ with the working women in the red light district in Angeles City. We stayed two nights at a hostel near the airport in Malaysia and then caught our 4-hour flight to Manila, Philippines, went through customs, got on a 3 hour bus ride to Angeles City, and then took taxis to Bella Goose Coffee, a coffee shop we are partnering with this month. We hung out there for a few hours and then took taxis to the church where we are staying. Wow, deep breath. We made it!
Yesterday we had orientation at Bella Goose Coffee. Bella Goose exists to combat human trafficking and bring freedom to the girls being exploited in the sex trade. There is an upper room above the coffee shop that belongs to an organization/partner of Bella Goose called Wipe Every Tear. What they do: “Wipe Every Tear provides women with real hope for a better future by offering a way out of sexual exploitation. By building trust through genuine relationships, facilitating holistic healing, providing a safe place to live, and job opportunities through education, we walk alongside each woman as she transitions out of the sex trade into a new life of freedom.”
We know God brought our team here for a purpose. We feel a mix of emotions- anxious, nervous, excited, expectant, you name it. I’m writing this blog because over the course of the race I’ve come to recognize the power of prayer in the body of Christ. No matter where you are in the world, you can unite with us in prayer for these women. The time difference is 13 hours so when we are hitting the streets at night, you’re probably just waking up for the day. If you have a quiet time with the Lord in the morning, I invite you to intercede for us. Pray for breakthrough. Pray for direction from Holy Spirit. Pray for relationships to form and hearts to be open. Pray for protection and for the full armor of God to be upon us. The atmosphere is heavy here. We know that our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with rulers, powers, and authorities in the heavenly realm. It has been laid on my heart to look for a girl that lost a brother years ago in a tragic accident. Pray that we find her. Pray that her heart is open and that she sees something different in us and longs to know what it is.
This morning after church, my teammate Amber and I left to go find a laundromat and some lunch. The laundromat happened to be on the outskirts of Walking Street, which is the center of the red light district here in Angeles City. Walking Street is second largest sex tourism destination in the world. After dropping off our laundry, we walked by an old man that had a young girl to his right and another to his left with his arms around them. Most of the girls exploited here are teenagers. They put makeup on to make themselves look older. I could feel my blood boil when I thought about how young they were. Amber and I dodged out of the street into a diner and sat down to get lunch. Still flustered, I took a deep breath and looked up from the menu, realizing the company around us. A whole place full of men just like the one on the street. They were all either alone at the table or still with the working woman they met last night. “Oh I’m angry.” I said. “Yep, me too,” Amber replied. Just a couple of hours ago I was sitting in a diner full of middle-aged men who were eating eggs and toast as they read the newspaper. And THAT made me angry just knowing why they were there. We haven’t even entered the bar scene. I kept making eye contact with a man across the room. I was trying my best to avoid it, but every time I looked up he was staring at us. As he and the young girl he was with exited the diner, he hesitated as he walked by us and then paused.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello. Are you guys American?”
“Yes.”
“Where you from?”
“Wisconsin and Oklahoma.”
“What are you doing here? Just vacation or travel or what?”
Amber said, “Actually we’re missionaries.”
“What do you do here?” The man asked.
“We’re here to share the freedom and hope of Christ with women in the red light district.”
“Oh.” He said.
“Are you American?” I asked.
“Yeah. From Hawaii.”
“What do you do here?” Amber asked.
“Nothing. Just enjoying life. Gotta enjoy life, you know?”
He walked out the door.
I wanted to chase after him, punch him in the face, kick him in the balls, and scream in his face. I realize that would be reacting rather than responding and thanks to the fruit of the spirit of self-control I remained in my seat. These men are children of God just as much as the working women. God loves the men just as much as he loves the girls they are purchasing for the night. God loves that man we spoke with as much as he loves me and you. He helped me realize this as I watched one of the men in the diner take a bite of his toast and read the newspaper. He’s just a normal guy caught up in the brokenness of the world. He’s a child of God. His heart longs to know Jesus too. But I’m still angry. To add to my prayer request, please pray for our hearts to be softened toward the customers. Father, please forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Thank you for fighting the good fight alongside us! Prayer changes things. God hears the cry of our hearts. If you feel led to help further, when we go into the bars we have to purchase a drink for the working woman we speak with. They have a quota to meet each night and this is our only opportunity to speak with them. A drink is anywhere from 3-6 dollars. We are also hoping to have the opportunity to “purchase” a girl for the night, which is common for men to do here. We will buy her dinner and then she’ll get to go home early instead of spending the night with a man who may purchase her. It costs 60 dollars to “purchase” a girl for the night. If you feel led to help in this way, my paypal is paypal.me/juliereynolds24 or Venmo @Julie_Reynolds
Here is a link to the fundraising video if you haven’t been able to see it!
Love to all!
