Ministering in the Bars

Last Friday was the beginning of our second official week here in Guatemala and we hit the ground running. In the morining we visited a school in Puerto Barrios and had a program for them. Being there was hard because we didn’t get the response we had from the students in the school in San Manuel and it was very discouraging. We came home and had some family time to re-vamp and really prepare as a unit for  our ministry that evening.
That night we went out to the bars in Puerto barrios to visit and pray with theprostitutes that worked there.We brought flowers to take with us to give to the women to know that they are beautiful and they are loved.  The first place that my group went into was a night club. We barely even had time to brace ourselves before stepping into an open room dark except for the spotlights on a woman stripping in the center. My heart sank to my stomach but I was able to be strong and rest in the peace that God was with us and that we needed to be there. I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting in the back who worked there. She was very friendly and open with me and seemed to ginuinely enjoy our conversation. I asked her how many kids she had and where she was from and just about her life in general. I was humbled by the story she told me of her husband leaving and of her desperation that led to this profession. Putting a face and a story with the word “prostition” and all the connotation that it carries really changed my thoughts toward it. God loves Sonya. Last Friday it was my job to break through her shame and stand in the gap and tell her that her savor loves her.
After the night club we went into a few other bars to reach respnding a different way and each with its unique clientele and employees. God protected our hearts that night and used us to reach out to his lost daughters and I am humbled that he chose me to do that.
It wasn’t until we meet back together at the end of the night and I was talking to our ministry contact Hilda that I found out that to get into that club you are supposed to pay. Not only that but missionaries are usually unwanted company and they have never let in a group of missionaries before. This is evidence that God was fighting for us; we walked right into the club without a problem. We were exactly where God had called us to be.
Even though that was by far the hardest ministry we have done, and by far the most draining, it was so rewarding to be meet in those places with open hearts to receive prayer. I am confident that the holy spirit was working before us, went with us, and is continuing to work in the lives of the women that we met and prayed with now.