Mission: Love the Unloved

One of the other ministry opportunities we were able to do while in Guatemala was to go to the bars and minister to the prostitutes. We would make little cards for them with bible verses and have a gift to go along with it. We went at various times throughout the day and would talk to the girls and pray for them. There were also three rules that we stuck to while there: never go anywhere alone, pray with your eyes open, and always ask for permission to enter the bars.
The first night of prostitute ministry I was not able to attend because a family had invited me and three other girls to eat dinner at their house, so in order to honor that request and their generosity, we stayed behind and had dinner with them and then prayed for the girls that did go. Now, if you remember, my team is all girls, and as such it wasn't very safe for us to go to bars alone, so we enlisted the help of our pastor, our "uncle" who was also our translator and comedian, and one of the guys that helped run the radio station where we lived. They would often accompany us to the night bar ministries, but during the day it was usually just our pastor.
So that night when the girls got back from the bars we asked them how it went. Even now, I clearly remember their faces, the looks of shock and sorrow, and how overwhelmed some looked. Even so, their stories were amazing: they were actually able to talk and pray with prostitutes, to show love to girls who might not even know what real love looks like.
I was looking forward to the next time we went, but was also nervous, but then again, if Christ is for us who can be against us? So a week later we went around 8:00 at night, running a little late because our uncle wasn't there yet and another girl had to run to the hospital quick. But praise God we were late, because as we were standing outside one of the bars towards the end of the night, a man walked up to us and shared his story. Apparently he'd been clean from marijuana use for ten years, but that night he was looking for a way to let loose and give in to the temptation. Everywhere he went, however, was turning him away. And then he saw us standing there, a group of missionaries. He told us he knew it was a sign from God that He was still with him, still protecting him. He wanted to grow closer to God, to form a stronger relationship with him. So we prayed that God would protect Him, and continue to lead him closer to His heart, and then the man went home, a thousand times lighter than when he first walked up.
Of the many stories of the girls that we were able to hear, many were eerily similar. Many were from either Honduras or El Salvador. Most still had families back there that they were sending money home to. All of them thought it was the only way. And even a few wanted a way out. It was amazing that some of the bars even let us in. In the past, our contacts informed us that some of the bars we walked into would refuse them in the past, even other missionary groups. So we knew God had a purpose for us there, and even when we felt discouraged, we held on to the hope that He was somehow moving. And he certainly was!
Our last night of prostitute ministry we headed out with the whole team plus three men to accompany us. We were armed with our slips of paper and bracelets for the girls, and a few of my teammates even had bibles as presents for a few of the girls that they had gotten to know over the two months. We split into two teams and headed opposite directions, the other team heading towards a strip club that had only let us in once before. And by God's grace they were allowed in again! After those first two bars we joined together again and headed to a larger bar.
I stood in the entrance with a few others, watching as one of my teammates broke one of the three rules: she went in alone. I didn't have long to think on this because then a girl pulled on her shirt and came up to me and one of my teammates. We started talking with her immediately and were able to pray for her and give her a paper and a bracelet before we stepped outside. Behind a group of three of us, another group was talking to a woman who was listening very attentively. I watched as another girl hovered around the outside of the group, and I was worried she was going to interfere, but then she came up to us and asked if we could pray for her too! So we did, and then a man walked by and asked the same! He apparently had been a Christian, but had fallen away when his wife left him, but he wanted to return one day. Then we found out from the teammate that had went in alone, that she had been asking about one of the girls she was friends with. But, the owner of the bar said she was gone, that she had just left and was never coming back!
At the next  bar we went to, a couple teammates had a bible for a girl, but she was busy stripping so they were going to leave it for her with another girl, but then she stopped stripping (something that is very against the rules to do!) and came up and hugged them and took the bible. At yet another bar, a few teammates were talking to a girl who was also very open to hearing about God, and actually knew that she wanted a relationship with him. Right before leaving she told them that maybe she wouldn't be at the bar the next day, that maybe she would just leave.
I praise God for the mighty ways in which he moved in the hearts of the girls, and men, at the bars that night, and the other nights. Our uncle told us recently that the girls had been asking about us, about when we were returning, so we know that God really used us to impact their lives. Thank you Jesus for filling us with Your love so we could pour it out on others and touch their lives!