Let’s just get to the point.
We went right into the bars for outreach. I’d say the conversations went very well. The first girl I talked to was on her second day and she DID NOT like to work at the bar. She loved talking to me and the girl that was with me though: “wow this is SO much better than talking to the men”. She’s a Christian and she asked me what my favorite Bible passages are and worship song recommendations. She was working in the bar for the family of course, so hopefully she considers what Wipe Every Tear has to offer.
The second girl actually left early because her boyfriend showed up, but I was able to get the necessary information out. She had been working in the bar for two months. The third had been working for two years, and we had a pretty long conversation. Two days, two months, two years, it didn’t matter: all of them HATED working in the bar. The girls only worked there for their family or for money. I know some of these old men are delusional enough to think the girls are actually interested, but no, no they are not. That day was the only time we did bar outreach. The situation was too much for some of my teammates, which is fair. The girls have ID numbers on (not name tags), you point laser pointers to call them over, the girls will dance on stage lined up with barely any clothes, shake their butts or pole dance while you talk to other girls, and the men do some pretty gross stuff. Most teams they get are trained for the scenario and hours for months prior to arrival, and we found out what we were doing like two days before.
There was also a very well attended banquet. Unfortunately, not all the attendees were from the bars, but the banquet was still good. Wipe Every Tear got about half capacity for a retreat for the girls, so here’s hoping the staff are able to continue to work to get the girls out.
We went to a waterfall as a team. The cool part about that one is you could go right underneath the waterfall. Some of the water accidentally went down my nostrils and I got sick for a day. I actually couldn’t go to the send off for my squad leaders because of the illness. I’m good now though.
We went to a Korean barbecue place, went to a pretty garden cafe for a Bible study, and also had adobo. I like food. Speaking of, breakfast and food distribution is going well. The fellowship and breakfast are a lot less attended, so hopefully the girls realize those are consistent services. My independent distribution is going well enough that I am learning some of the homeless people’s names and they recognize me. There is still some caution required for our team which I think we are doing a good job with.
More fun occurred. We went bowling and the Holy Spirit got a strike through me! You can tell the strike was the Holy Spirit because of how poorly I was bowling before and after that point. I also did archery independently. I got better aim as the time went along, unlike bowling.
The Philippines ministry is just about wrapping up, so I will try my best to wrap it up well.
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