All About the Philippines,
The Philippines was the hottest and most tropical place I’ve been to and it was the 3rd country of the 6 on the list. This country held the widest range of ministry opportunities. There was Jail Ministry, Rehab Ministry, Street Evangelism, Handing out Food, Bar Outreach, Hospital Ministry, Devotional time with Bar Girls, Food Preparation before we handed out food and finally my favorite, tribe outreach. It was so cool to have a variety of ministry opportunities to take part in. The only one I sadly did not take part in was street evangelism because I opted to do jail ministry. Which was only available to men and on Saturdays at the same time street evangelism was.
Jail Ministry was my second favorite because we got to share the gospel with every inmate there and got to pray over them and then hand out food. Food was used a lot in the Philippines as a vehicle to share the love of Christ. I opted to do jail ministry because I could see the message we would give really touch those who heard it. We even ended up building relationships with some who were in there for a while. I also really enjoyed Rehab Ministry, we got to attend church held at the Rehab and then worship with the men and women there. I also shared my story of addiction and drug abuse and how Christ saved and freed me from it.
Hospital ministry was good but it was also very eye opening to the conditions of medical centers. It was hard to see people in very poor condition from whatever was affecting them while also being in a place that could make them worse. Regardless, we got to pray over them and their families while handing out food and sharing the gospel with them. I wish we had more opportunity to do hospital ministry but we only got to do it once. We also, once a week, packed 300 – 400 meal packs which consisted of some meat, egg, and rice. We did this in an assembly line. Then after we packed the food we would head out the red light district and hand out the food to Bar Girls and girls who didn’t work out of a bar but just on the street.
Then, there was bar outreach and bar ministry. We took part in this every week and in many forms. There was a Thursday and Friday free breakfast from 1am – 5am each day. One these days we would serve girls that came in for breakfast and coffee while they were on their way home from their shift. This was such a good time to share the gospel with these women and just be kind to them and ask them about themselves. Then every Thursday after breakfast at 10am we would have a women’s Devotional time, it was a time for the girls to worship and enjoy fellowship and share their stories and what they were walking through at the time.
As a part of the Bar Ministry, we went into the bars one night. We bought some girls a drink (it didn’t have to be alcohol) and we would share the gospel and just talk to girls about what they would want to do instead of working out of these bars where they get trafficked. Then we would share the opportunity this organization offered. The organization we worked with would offer these girls a free college education, a place to stay while going to college, food, and even an allowance. Sadly some girls wouldn’t believe us because it sounds too good to be true. But there are many girls who have graduated to get better jobs and leave the sex trade and some girls are on their way to graduating.
Now, I’m going to tell you about the most memorable, incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity I’ve ever had. We were allowed to join the church we worked with in going to an unreached, coastal tribe called the dumagat tribe. It was a long trek to get there, 5 hours in a truck and then 2 hours in this small boat. Then, we landed in the boat on this rocky jagged coast. What followed was some of the best days of my life so far. The views were absolutely incredible and the sunsets and warm water were wonderful. The ministry was so cool as well. We got to give a sermon and lead the people in worship, some of the community were believers but many weren’t. We swam with the kids in the ocean. It was so much fun and such a blessing to have been brought into it by the church.
The Philippines was great, the church leaders and people from the anti-traficking ministry were so wonderful, welcoming and full of love. God is doing so much through those people!
Blessings,
Michael Drago
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