love. prevails

One of the very first people we got to speak with who was a working prostitute was (rachel). Verg brought her in off the street one night to talk with us. She is such a beautiful girl and only 21. She was so open with us and answered our questions. We asked about her story and how she started prostituting. She got married at the young age of 16 and had two children. Her husband was "crazy and lazy" and she wanted out of the marriage. Around the same time her mom got in a fight with the sister in law and it turned into a legal issue where the mom now owed money. The mom heard about how her niece was prostituting for money and so she thought maybe they should do that, (Rachel) agreed to do it because she wanted out of the marriage. The sad thing is (Rachel) is still in the business helping to pay of a motorbike the family bought to use as a source of income, taking people around town. She is the only one in the family with a job. They, including her kids all live together with her parents and siblings and no one else works. Family honor is so huge in the Philippines and (Rachel) talked about how she wants out but she has to help her family out of debt. It was so sad. Her family, including her kids, live in the provinces about an hour from Manila. She lives in Manila in her apartment with a friend while she is working which is like 6 days a week. And she goes home to visit her family only like once a week :( She told us a little bit about how she works. She charges 300 Peso (about 6 US dollars) the pimp gets 100 and she gets 200 peso. And thats for 10 minutes of sex. She work from 5 in the evening till 3 in the morning. Her dream is to be a nurse or a teacher. It was the weirdest thing siting through this interview. We had just finished dinner and Verg invited her in to eat some of the leftovers. It felt like dream. Was I really sitting here talking with a prostitute?? How does the Lord see these girls, Lord give me your heart for them, was what I prayed. She then said she had to leave because she had to "get back to work" :( Before she left my friend Sarah wrote a sweet note for her and gave her a geode stone. We had brought these along to use as a ministry tool. With the help of Verg translating, we explain how the geode stones are rough and beat up on the outside by there are beautiful crystals on the inside. And how She has worth in God's eyes even if she's a little beat up on the outside. After she left we kinda sat there in shock. We could tell God was just bringing these people to us, not wasting time haha we had only been in the Philippines for a couple days. As Verg came back in the house she brought another older lady along with her. This time is was a female pimp. She loved and respected her deceased husband enough to not prostitute herself but she became a pimp instead. My westernized view of prostitution was girls in mini skirts and stilettos and male pimps with suits and canes and white hats wearing bling. But its so different here. As we learned, most of the pimps are females. And as a pimp you aren't really in charge of a certain amount of girls as you are in charge of a street. The pimps just kind of walk up and down he street yelling "chick! chick! you want chick!" to the men walking by and directing them where to go. Sitting and talking to the women made the issues of prostitution so much more real. Before she left we wrote her a note and gave her a stone as well. It was crazy to see God entrusting us with the responsibility of speaking into these peoples lives and hearing their stories. The amazing thing was, after the girls all left, Verg told us that on the way back out to the street (Rachel) told her that she would like us to meet her family! Hearing that was SO huge because her family is in a way supporting her being a prostitute and us meeting them I would think would be something that could potentially bring a lot of shame and embarrassment to her but she was so open to having us over. The staff talked it over and decided that the next day we would go :)
So Monday morning we woke up early and took the hour jeepney ride over to her families house out in the province. It was such a tiny, poor, one room house. With only one mattress for everyone. They were so sweet though and we managed to all fit in the house and her mom cooked us all lunch together. They had a karaoke machine in the house (karaoke is HUGE in the Philippines) and so we sat and sang along with (rachel) and her friend, it as so fun just hanging out in this tiny house with them and singing karaoke. It started storming outside and suddenly this huge thunderstorm came (and actually got pretty scary at one point haha). But it was just so beautiful sitting in this home with a family who had nothing, enjoying some coke they got for us and singing karaoke at the top of our lungs :) The whole series of events over those two days was so unexpected but it was such the Lord just placing these opportunities in our hands. Such a blessing that we got invited to her house. We ended up, with the help of a translator, talking to her dad about his faith and he shared how he use to be a Christian but then when he lost his job and moved he stopped going to church. By the end of the conversation he agreed that he would like to start working on relationship with the Lord again and he wanted a bible (which we ended up buying one for him and rachel the next day). And then we got to pray over the family. Such a beautiful and unforgettable time. We photographed them and then got the photos printed for them to have a nice family picture. We said goodbye and headed home thanking God for these opportunities he was giving us and excited for how he will use us in the weeks to come :)

(girls name had been changed)