Our squad finally arrived safely in the Philippines after a few days of traveling! I am still in complete awe of how God is continuing to fulfill the promises that He’s spoken to me since I was a high school student. Promises to bring me to a place where human trafficking and prostitution are running rampant. Promises to bring me to a place to love people that are completely broken inside. Promises to show me the purpose for my life. My heart is so happy. I may or may not have felt like quite the loser while tears streamed down my face on the bus ride from the airport to the ministry location we rested at for a few days. But, I’m okay with that :). We stayed at the KIM “compound” outside of Manila, a ministry that a few other teams are working with this month, and then took possibly the sketchiest boat ever to the island of Mindoro.
This month we’re working with a ministry called Threads of Hope. This is such an incredible ministry. I get goosebumps just from explaining it to people. Basically, there is an American couple that buys bracelets from women in the area, then they sell them all over the world. They began their ministry by trusting completely in the Lord’s plan for their lives. They met a young girl that sold bracelets on the beach; each time they visited, they continued to spend time with her and learned that her close friend had gone into prostitution because she couldn’t feed her family. Alex and Chris felt in their heart that the Lord wanted to use them to help remedy this situation. Thus, Threads of Hope was born.
These women are given a steady income from the bracelet sales so they are able to feed their families and make the choice to protect themselves from prostitution. The organization has given us the freedom to let God speak through us by using the things that we’re passionate about…aka getting to know people’s stories, playing volleyball/teaching volleyball, teaching swim lessons, and working with kids. It’s all about relationships….and I L-O-V-E it!
A random story about this organization…a girl on our squad sold their bracelets to raise funding for the World Race…and I own a few of them….and now I’m working with them for the month and am so blessed to be meeting the women that make them. Crazy, right?
I’m so excited about this month. Everything about Mindoro is beautiful…the ocean, the trees, and especially the hearts of the people. I also ask that you please be in prayer for me over the course of the next few months. I’m continuing to prayerfully seek what the Lord has in store for me after the Race. God began to put a few ideas on my heart in Moldova (November) of how to raise awareness and funding to fight human trafficking, which I voiced to a few other girls who are passionate about the same things. As with everything else, I know that the ideas will most definitely come to pass if it’s something that God is blessing. For now, I’m waiting to see what the future holds 🙂
love.
