Flashing lights, music blaring,crowded streets, women dressed hardly in anything standing outside each bar, men of all different shapes, sizes, and nationalities. I can remember every detail, every smell, every thought, and every feeling I had my first night on walking street. My first night in hell. The night that changed the trajectory of my life and confirmed so many passions and dreams the Lord had placed on my heart.

Walking Street is strip of bars in the Philippines. Inside each bar are girls and women who are forced to sell their bodies. Inside each bar are men who are searching for love, searching for affirmation, searching for pleasure.

I remember walking into the first bar and thinking, “Wow, is this real life? This can’t really be happening? Why is the darkness of this place overwhelming? Why does it seem so hard to take a breath? God…