Ministry on the World Race has taken a different form for me every month. In Ecuador it looked like construction, in Romania it looked like Evangelism and in Swaziland it looked like teaching. The closest word I can come up with to describe our ministry in Thailand is dating.
As I mentioned it an earlier blog, last month I worked with an organization in Chiang Mai called Lighthouse. While Lighthouse does ministry in several different forms, my primary ministry was with a part of Lighthouse called Love Acts, which rescues girls from the bars.
Four days a week we would go out onto Loi Kroh Road, Chiang Mai’s bar street and attempt to build relationships with the bar girls, some of which are there by “choice” and others of which aren’t.
I have to admit, I was terrified of this ministry. Starting conversations with random strangers isn’t always the easiest for me but God really blessed me and made it so much easier.
On our first night out I met a woman named Nat* at the Promise Bar*. Her smile and friendliness drew Emily and I right in. We talked for awhile about her family and she showed us pictures of the Royal Flower Show. Then a “friend” of her’s, and English man named Carter* showed up, her attention was distracted and our conversation for the night was over.
Later, while we were back at the guesthouse debriefing and praying over the night I felt God tell me that I needed to continue persuing Nat over the rest of our month, so I did. Every time we went out I would stop by Promise Bar to see Nat and talk for a little bit, and eventually we asked her on a date.
The coolest part about taking a bar girl on a date is that we can pay for everything, something that they aren’t used to having people do for them unless they are expecting something in return, and the girls are especially not used to having women do it for them. Nat even told us that she doesn’t have any friends that are girls, only men. That only made me want to work even harder to prove that I can be a friend for her.
On our first date, Em and I took Nat out to lunch at McDonalds (she loves french fries!) and then we went back to Nat’s apartment to sing Karaoke, one of her favorite activities. We spent hours in her little apartment laughing and singing along to songs like “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree” and “Country Roads.” We had an incredible time, but the most incredible part about the day was that she told us she hates working in the bars and wishes she could do something else.
This was a huge open door! And the most awesome part of it is that Lighthouse is currently starting a program for the women coming out of the bars. The program is designed to both educate the women about Christ and to give them training in a new vocation, and it’s entirely free to the women.
Over the remaining two weeks we were in Chiang Mai I was able to go on two more dates with Nat, we got to see some of her true passions in life and most importantly we were able to share about the Lighthouse program with her.
My prayer now is that she has taken the program to heart. I’m attempting to stay in email contact with her but the biggest help will be positive influences that are physically there, people that will come and continue the relationship that I’ve already built.
Another woman I had the awesome opportunity to “date” while I was in Chiang Mai is Bow, a former bar girl who was rescued a few months ago and now is a sold out follower of Christ and a translator for Lighthouse. Bow is such an amazing woman and she has the most precious 11 year old daughter Mo. We got to spend a day just hanging out with them, swimming, bowling and having fun. But the coolest thing about Bow is her heart to help and save the bar girls. God is doing great things through her and I’m so excited to see more!
*Names have been changed in order to protect the girls and the ministry.
