Light in the Darkness

I’ve been in Ethiopia for three weeks now, so it’s time to write about my third country… THE PHILIPPINES!!!! Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out this whole blogging thing, but for now, enjoy reading about my time in the Philippines.

In the Philippines, we lived two blocks away from Red Street in Angeles City. It’s a red-light district. It’s a long street filled with bars and entertainment venues right in front of your eyes. It was one of the darkest places I’ve ever seen. When I first heard that this would be our ministry, I was excited but also knew it would be really hard. Knowing my past, I kept telling myself, “Buckle up.” The second night we were there, we walked down the street. As we walked, we prayed. I was filled with anger, bitterness, and disgust. I began questioning why I was even here. It was hard to see any sign of light. Anytime we left our house, the darkness was there. Whenever we walked through the gate to our house, I felt peace and comfort again. The more times we walked down the street, the more my heart began to shift. A few nights before we left, we prayer-walked down Red Street one last time. This time it was different. I walked up and down the street with boldness and confidence. I’m reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” In my weakness, He was making me strong. I just had to trust and continue to walk in obedience. I was able to see the Lord’s protection over my heart. I was here for a reason and a purpose. I was here to boldly have faith that there is hope. Hope that these men will feel convicted about what they are doing. Hope for each girl and woman caught in this cycle that they will find freedom. Hope that this street will one day be shut down. In the hope, I saw the light.

Changes: The Philippines came with lots of changes, starting with my role. I was told I would no longer be a team leader. At first I was disappointed but knew the break would be good for me. Our teams also changed. I was excited about the opportunity to get to know people on my squad better. My new team is Jessie (our squad leader), Michael (our team leader), Amanda, Aaron, Abby, Mandy, and Ava. During the first three weeks, Jessie trained Abby to be the raised-up squad leader for our team. Once Abby was trained, Jessie went back to the United States. I love my new team so much. We all get along really well and are quick to build each other up both positively and constructively.

Wipe Every Tear: Our main ministry was working with an organization called Wipe Every Tear. The organization helps women who work on Red Street get out of the sex trade industry. There are around 12,000 women who “work” on Red Street. On Thursday and Friday mornings, we would go to the welcome center and help serve breakfast from 2–5 a.m. to the women. A lot of them would be getting off work during this time, so it was an outreach opportunity to be a smiling face and share the gospel. Also, on Thursday mornings from 9a.m. to noon we would have fellowship. During this time women would come to the welcome center, worship, hear a message, spend time in prayer, and have an opportunity to share anything that they wanted to. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. Another opportunity we had was to hand out hot meals to the women on Saturday nights. As soon as the women saw us at the bar, their faces would light up. The bar owners charged them to have dinner, so to have a free meal was a huge blessing to them. Wipe Every Tear has a safe home in a town called Fairview, which is about an hour and a half from Angeles. Women who decide to leave the sex trade and come into Wipe Every Tear’s care move to Fairview. In the safe home, women are provided a safe place to be, a bed, food, education, and discipleship. We got the honor and pleasure to stay there for multiple days two separate times. It was a joy to have conversations with the women, pray and worship with them, do fun activities, and play with the kids. If you would like to hear more about Wipe Every Tear or donate to the amazing things they are doing, check out their website attached below.

https://www.wipeeverytear.org/whoweare

Church So Blessed: Wipe Every Tear also partners with a local church called Church So Blessed. The church does many ministries, including hospital outreach, street evangelism, Aeta Tribe outreach, jail outreach, slum outreach, girls outreach, drug rehabilitation outreach, and special education outreach. We got to take part in drug rehabilitation, hospital outreach, street evangelism, and go to the Aeta Tribe. Drug rehabilitation was my favorite out of the four. The first time we went to the drug rehabilitation center, we split up into men’s and women’s groups and got to hear their stories and then pray over them. It was bittersweet to hear how hopeful each one of them was to heal to better themselves for their families. The next time we went, we prayed over each person individually. We went chair by chair, asked what the person needed prayer for, and prayed over them. The three people I prayed over had tears rolling down their faces when I was done. It was a testament that the Holy Spirit was moving through me and was speaking truth in their hearts. When we went to the hospital, we handed out food packs to all the patients. We started in the pediatrics unit. Then we went to a hospital ward. Lastly, we went to the emergency room. It was a very eye-opening experience, as the hospital is government-run. Since it’s government-run, there isn’t a lot of money that goes to keep it up and running. The youth at the church invited us to go to a market to street evangelize. We walked around and asked people if we could share the gospel with them. After our conversation, we would pray over the person. The Aeta tribe people live in the mountains, and it took us about two hours to get there. They live in huts and mostly farm their food. While there, we got to pray over families in their houses and go to church with them. Another opportunity we had with Church So Blessed was to go to the Dumagat tribe. This tribe remotely lives off the ocean. It took us a five-hour car ride and then a two-hour boat ride to reach them. The Dumagat people also live in huts, and all their food comes from either the ocean or the food they farm. If it weren’t for a pastor whom the Lord called to this tribe, these people would be unreached by the gospel. It was a very eye-opening experience to see how they live and the church they worship in.

Food: We cooked our own meals, which I really enjoyed. I say we did it, but it was really Michael. He cooked our dinner every night, and it was AMAZING. He’s a really good cook, and we call him Chef Michael. I ate oatmeal for breakfast most mornings. For lunch I ate leftovers, made a sandwich, or found random things and made a meal out of it.

Fun times: We went on a hike one Saturday and got stranded. That was a fun time! We went to two different waterfalls, which was so fun!! I love waterfalls! We also spent a lot of time at coffee shops, resting, and doing laundry.

I’ll do another photo dump in another blog because there’s too many to choose from!

With love,

Lillie