before going into mainland china, my team had the opportunity of staying in Hong Kong for a week of ministry. There i got to visit my good friend Will Knoll- it was such a delight to see a face from home. we missed you Sarah!!
Will and I and then Leah and I on her birthday!!^^
We also had the opportunity of going into the red light district. The first night my squadmate Leah Mohrig and I decided to break off and just walk up and down the street praying. praying for the western men in the area and for the women. Most of the girls in the area we were in were from the Philippines. They come over on 6 month visas to work in the sex industry to earn money that they can take back and provide for their families. Since we had just come from the Philippines, it was a great conversation starter with the girls. Thanks God! we even knew how to tell them they were beautiful in their own language! In Hong Kong, the bars are not as open and so we were not allowed by the madams to talk to a lot of the girls, but we weren’t going to let that discourage us.
and then we met Grace.
she was beautiful standing there. She spoke to us even though she was afraid of getting in trouble. She still would have to try and get guys while we were talking to her, but I could see her smile and that she was happy we were just wanting to be her friend. We asked her is she enjoyed China over her home and she said no, but that she did have friends here that she trusted and they took care of each other. She said she missed being able to go to church with her grandmother like when she was a little girl. She works 7 nights a week and never gets a day off. This was her 5th time coming for 6 months at a time to work and she said she was very exhausted, but had to provide for her family :[ She also told us that we were the first people to actually want to get to know her, that most all of her “customers” are strangers to her. She was excited to be going back home soon in April tho.
we got to go back two nights later. This time, Leah and I had a note we wanted to give her. We went to the club, but she was working at first so we waited. After a while she came out with the biggest smile on her face. She was so excited to see us. We had to tell her sadly we were leaving the next day, but we wanted her to know how much God loved her and how much we loved her. Grace went inside and came back out with 100HKD (about $15) for us to take ourselves to lunch. She said she did not have the time off of work to take us, but wanted to. Our contact told us that that was a huge gesture for Grace to do, that they work so hard for very little and that her giving us that money meant she trusted us and loved us.
I know this was all God. We only got to talk to Grace for two nights, but I know she got to see His love for her. Leah and I left praying and knowing that His love is strong enough to overcome anything. We left with broken hearts, but not broken spirits praying that Grace would decided not to come back to Hong Kong to work again after this time- praying that she would trust in God to provide for her family. praying that Grace would get the rest she needs and that she knows her worth in Christ.
[God’s love is stronger than anything].
