Touching hearts & changing lives...

Hey everyone,
This is Taylor. Thank you for your patience. Sorry I haven't been writing in this as much as I had planned to, but our schedule is so packed all the time so it's hard to find the time.
Here's an overview of our ministry for the last one & a half weeks-

A lot has happened in Davao so far, it's been such a rewarding experience. We took over a youth ministry with over 300 people and did the "Everything" skit and Kaitlin did an amazing job with her testimony, the crowd was really responsive and they enjoyed it.
We also did a prostitute ministry and that was really intense, it was good to reach out to them and I definitely think we planted some seeds but to that first hand was so difficult for all of us. It was so devastating to see these girls as young as 16 selling their bodies for money. We prayed over them and afterwards 2 of them gave me their phone number so hopefully we'll be able to help them.
We went to Agdao, which is a really poor slum area in Davao. They have a youth night and so before the ministry time we went out and invited young people to come and watch. About 30 people came and we did the "Everything" skit which had a really huge impact on them. Britton & Rangi shared their testimonies and you could tell a lot of the people could relate to it. After all of that we had small groups and it was awesome how open all of them were, they really shared their hearts with us and we left there feeling like we had accomplished a lot and helped shape a better view of God for them.
We went to a home for physically and sexually abused girls, it was so touching. The moment we walked in we could feel the Holy Spirit and good vibes in the room. The girls were between the ages of 4-18 and they were all so beautiful and full of life. When we walked in they sang a christmas song to us, and I went to the front and shared a short testimony of my life and sang them a song. Saila also gave a short testimony of her life and spoke encouragement and wisdom over them. Kaitlin went up to the front and just told them how beautiful they all were. Kaitlin and I had baked cookies for the girls the night before so we handed those out, and then we had small groups. It hurt my heart to hear their stories and to hear about their abusers and the difficult things they have been through at such a young age. After that we asked them what they want for Christmas and then when we left we bought them Christmas presents. We go back tomorrow for their family day and to give them the gifts.
We also took over a youth ministry for supported teens. Tristan and I led worship and it was awesome, we all really felt the Holy Spirit while we were worshiping and everyone knew most of the songs. So Jin, Britton, and I shared our testimonies, it's tough because we have a translator while we're speaking, but I believe that each of our testimonies really touched someones their hearts. We did the "Everything" skit and after that Zach shared an overview of his testimony and did an altercall and everyone came up to the front! There were about 20 people between the ages of 14-19. God gave me a specific word for this one girl before I even talked to her, and I felt like I should ask about her mom. She said that her mom is an alcoholic and treats her really badly, I was able to pray over her and she gave me her phone number afterwards. It was a really powerful and impacting time of ministry.
There's many other ministries we've done this week but I just spoke on the ones that stuck out to me the most. Other people will contribute to the blog as well so you'll be able to get different perspectives of what we're doing.
We have all enjoyed having Josh with us this week, he brings such unity and we all have a lot of fun together. We'll miss him but we're glad for the Manila team to have him for a few days.

Favorite thing from this week: mango shake, having a generous heart, making children smile
Least favorite thing from this week: Josh leaving :(