All you need is love
"You look like a doll" that's what I hear countless time from the women here in the Philippines. They look at us with envy and want our white skin. So much that many girls put the whitest powder on their faces to make them look as pale as possible. It's funny how our worlds are so different. Where I'm from girls pay a lot of money to be tan. These women here to me are so beautiful and I wish they would know that. Many of them have no self worth and I wish they did. Many women here are sold into sex trafficking but many choose to be prostitutes. Many feel there is no way else to make money but to be prostitutes. Here in the Philippines it is really hard to get a job if you aren't at least enrolled in college. You can't work at McDonald's or any fast food restaurant for that matter without being enrolled in college. Many kids here can't afford to go to school which brings up the option of working in the streets. That's why there are so many street kids and so many prostitutes here, they can't afford school here. It hits you when you see young children running around naked in the streets begging for money, all I want to do is help all those children but I can't. Some nights though during outreach when playing with these kids I realized how much they just want love. Many probably don't get much love from home and love is stronger than anything. Love is better than a big house, food, anything. Sometimes I need to remember that God will provide for them, and he sent me here to love them. Not necessarily to give them food and a big house and all these things I would personally love to give them. All they need is the love of God and they sent my team here to show them just a small glimpse of Gods love for these people. Loving on the prostitutes has truthfully been my favorite ministry. Talking to them about God and how loved they are makes me have more joy than I could ever imagine. I can see their faces bright up when they hear his name and that He loves them. I have seen prostitutes here as young as the age of 13 and all I want to do is show them another way out. My heart breaks for them knowing what men do to them at night. All I can do at this point though is love on them and pray for them. I know that God has a way out for them if they just LISTEN. Please be praying for these women. The power of prayer can so amazing things. Through team money one of the prostitutes that came to our bible studies started her own business selling jewelry and other random things. Through only 150 pesos from 7 people which is like 3.50 helped start her business. I saw her at outreach last Thursday after not seeing her for about 3 weeks and she was the happiest I've ever seen her. Full of smiles and happy with God. She knew that God had done this for her. In the last couple weeks she had saved up almost a couple thousand pesos for her and her family. There is a way out for these women. Gene is an example of that. I want to show all these women that with Jesus there is a way out. If they just trust He will fully provide for them. I can't wait to see how God works through my team for the remainder of the time in the Philippines because these 4 weeks have shown us so much about Gods unfailing love.
