I’m currently at debrief in Boca Chica and it’s the #1 place in the world for sex touring. I didn’t realize the reality of it until tonight when it happened right in front of me while eating dinner with my team.
We decided to go out to eat tonight at a pizza place 5 minutes away from the hotel. We sat down, ordered our food and drinks and talked about life. It was such a fun time filled with laughs and joy. While we were sitting there, an older man came over to us and asked us what we had ordered and what sizes we got. We told him what we ordered and we started having a conversation with him about how we were all from the USA. He told us that he was from Las Vegas and that he was here on vacation. I had noticed that he was sitting with a girl a little older than me but I didn’t think much of it. We ended the conversation and started talking amongst ourselves again. Katie stood up a couple minutes later, walked over to the man and girl and started having a conversation with him about why we were in the DR and that we are missionaries. Katie started praying over him and I admired her for doing that. Some of the girls on my team were talking and then they said that we should leave right now. I had no idea what was going on but Ky told me that she’d tell me once we got outside. Katie finished praying for the man and girl and we left.
I asked Ky why we left so quickly and this is why. That man that Katie was praying for was using that women. Ky and Katie had over heard him using google translate to talk to the girl because he didn’t know how to speak Spanish. I asked what he had said but it was so inappropriate that Ky didn’t repeat it. When she first told me about it I didn’t think too much of it, but when we started walking away I had processed what was going on and what I had just witnessed. I wanted to go back and help that women get out of the situation but there wasn’t much we could do.
We got back to the hotel for a session and I couldn’t sit through it. I was so angry with God. I kept asking Him why He would allow this to happen and why He wasn’t doing anything about it. My heart was hurting so much for that girl. It made me even angrier at the man for thinking everything was okay with what he was doing. He had a casual conversation with us and he let Katie pray over them but he’s still going to take that girl back to his place for the night. It disgusted me. I couldn’t believe that this was actually happening and God was doing nothing about it. It made me angry towards all men for thinking they have power over women. Listening to the men here whistle and hiss at us because they think we are objects is terrible. And seeing this man do what he was doing made me dislike a lot of men.
Kate pulled me aside during the session and we talked about what I had just experienced and howI was feeling. She told me some great things.
The reason why I’m feeling this so much is because God is letting me into what He is feeling. God is letting me in and showing me that He feels the same pain as me. He doesn’t want this to happen either and He also doesn’t want me to look at the men the way I do now. He wants me to see them as His children. He wants me to pray for their brokenness and numbness. It’s going to be difficult to see men in that perspective because the only emotion I have for them right now is anger. The pain that I felt tonight has brought me closer to God and has improved my intimate relationship with Him. He allowed me to come in and see His pain because He trusts that I will do something with it.
If you have read this far I just ask that you stop and pray for the men who are involved in this. That they are freed from their shame and brokenness. That God gives them healing so they don’t have to look for pleasure through women. I also pray for the women who are involved in this that God heals them from their pain. And that they will know they are worthy and a daughter of God. Pray for this country and ask God to guide them all through their pain and struggling.
