6th Grade geography class with Ms. Coleman was the
first time I had ever really thought or heard about Thailand. I remember my
teacher telling us a story about when she was in Thailand (something about
passing the soy sauce?) and since then I thought Thailand sounded pretty
awesome and wanted to visit one day.
I must say, Thailand is living up to many of the
expectations I had gathered over the years. Both seeing the beauty of the
people and culture I had so often heard about along with seeing the damaging
and heartbreaking effects of the sex trade industry in full swing, it is
similar to what I had pictured in my head.
But, our ministry and work this month are nothing like what
I imagined us to be doing. This month, the women and men on my squad are split
for a month of “ministry” and “womanstry.” The guys are off doing manual labor,
grunting, sweating, doing guy things, which is normal. And the women are
divided up among the country working with various organizations that deal with
sex trafficking. This month our “womanstry” is looking an awful lot like
“ministry” that we didn’t expect. We are living and working at a children’s
(all girls) home that works with preventing girls from ending up in the sex trafficking
industry by providing a safe home to grow up in for children who are classified
as “at risk.” Usually, the men are sent here because there is a lot of work on
the property to do, but this month, our contact was met with 11 ladies! We have
been mixing cement and laying in trenches on the property to prevent flooding
along with helping spread gravel in front of the house.
This work isn’t at all what we expected to be doing, but it
is just as important as any other work in this country to piece together God’s
puzzle. We are helping keep up a place for girls to say safe and getting to
love on them as we live with them. I have this picture of Thailand in my mind
like a huge puzzle being pieced together. Missionaries have been here working
to end human trafficking for years and help orphan children, and it seems overwhelming
to see how intense the problems still are here, but none the less the puzzle of
restoration is coming together. Piece by piece women are coming out of the
industry, customer’s hearts are being changed, and children are growing up in a
safe and caring home. The puzzle takes time and work, pieces are being found,
and slowly but surely things are happening and the picture God has for the
country is coming together and it is incredible to see and be a part of.
