The past week has been a complete whirlwind, and by far my favorite week so far on the World Race! My new team is blessed to be in Chiang Mai, Thailand, working with Lighthouse in Action. I love our ministry, I love the food, I love my new team and I absolutely love living in a city and all the things there are to do here.
Our ministry, Love Acts, involves outreach to prostitutes in bars in Chiang Mai's Red Light District, as well as a lot of intercessory prayer. Our role is to simply show these women, ladyboys, children and even the male tourists, the love of Christ through our actions. We are not preaching the Gospel (at least right away), we are not expecting to "rescue" women within three weeks, we are simply caring for them and showing them that someone loves them. Buying them a coke, playing pool or Connect 4 with them, asking about their families, inviting them to hang out with us outside the bar and speaking life into them. If Jesus hung out with prostitutes, so should we. We want to remind them of their worth and of their value and begin to plant the seed within them that they are daughters of the Most High King, who has a plan and a purpose for their life that is so much bigger than selling their bodies to Western men night after night.
We expected to be working with human trafficking this month, and in a sense we are. Most of the women caught in prostitution here in Chiang Mai went to work in the Red Light District voluntarily, but the majority of these women feel they have no other way to support their families. In the rural areas of Northern Thailand, many parents send their daughters to the cities to work in prostitution to be able to send back money, as well as for them to hopefully meet and marry a white man who can provide a better life for them.
Erica, Dura and I getting ready to go to the bars for outreach
There are three teams from E Squad, one team from A Squad and a married couple with YWAM all working together this month. We are split into groups of two and three, and each afternoon (Monday-Thursday), half of the groups do outreach while the rest of us stay behind to intercede in prayer for them. Then at night the second half of the group goes out while the others worship and pray, and everyday we switch. The Lord is already showing me a lot about the power of prayer this month.
Our ministry is pretty intense, but luckily we get Fridays and Sundays off to soak in the beautiful Thai culture. So far we have been to several of the huge outdoor markets, got a $2 30-min. foot massage, swam at a fancy hotel bar, and took part in Songrakn. The Thai New Year was on Friday, and they celebrate with a four day all out water fight. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. You could not walk anywhere without getting soaked. Check out the video below I found on YouTube to see for yourself! The food here is amazing and so cheap. I've been eating lots of pad thai, cashew chicken and fresh fruit smoothies. There's several smoothie stands not far from the guesthouse and I have at least one a day. Why not when they're only about 60 cents each? There's also 7elevens everywhere here so I've had my fair share of slurpees to combat the extreme heat and constant sweating.
Goodnight from Southeast Asia,
Bethany
