DISCLAIMER: I tried to think of ways to sugar coat this, but
I can’t. There is some “graphic” and “personal” stuff that I wrote. Please don’t
be offended. This is our ministry for the month. Other teams have done the
EXACT SAME THING for the past 10ish years, and IT WORKS! Also, I’m going to be
honest about the stuff that happens during ministry. If you are under 18 years
old, please read this WITH your parents.
Yes, my first time at a bar was for ministry…haha! And this
is not a typical bar in America, because there are women that are selling
themselves, which means: they are throwing themselves on you.
Our first day of ministry and we went to the university to
build relationships and hand out flyers for the cafe that we work at. Then, we
went to the cafe and helped make food and talk to the people that come in.
After that, we went to the slums to walk around and talk with families and play
with the kids. And finally, our team went to a bar…to do ministry.
about 15 to 20 bars on each side of the street. Our team walked around, prayer
walking, asking God which bar we should go to. Now, once we pick a bar, we will
go there for the rest of the month. This month is all about relationships. In Thailand,
if we come in standing on a stool to preach, nobody will listen to us. So through
our ACTIONS and them asking questions (because of the relationship we built) is
the only way that we are presenting the gospel.
Anyways, we find a bar that we felt called to, so we walk
in. Immediately, Joel and I get approached by the women that work at the bar
asking if we want a drink and if we want to buy them a drink. Everyone on our
team buys a non-alcoholic drink. As soon as that happens, the women know we are
not there to buy them for the night, so they go back to the front of the bar to
try and talk to other men.
After awhile, some women will come over to talk to us, or we
can buy them a drink so that they will talk to us and we can start building
RELATIONSHIP. Now, our girls will usually talk with the girls and our men (me) will
usually talk with other men that are at the bar or lady-boys. Now “lady-boy”
sounds like an “inappropriate” term, but that is what they call themselves. A
lady-boy is a man that dresses like a woman. I’m not going to explain anymore,
because it gets too confusing.
Enough explaining. So the first night, our team sits as a
group and we start talking to people at the bar that come over and sit with us.
My teammates talked to a few people. Joel and I [and out translator] talked to
a woman. She was 38, worked at an office during the day. She travels sometimes.
And her dream is to be a dance teacher in Malaysia. She was raised in Burma
till she was 13 and came to Thailand. She has never been to a school. She knows 5 languages.
There was also a lady-boy named Erica. My teammate Joy is
talking to Erica and they are building a great relationship. It is so AMAZING!!
Also, Erica convinced me to buy some of her coffee [she sells makeup, shampoo,
soap, etc], so I didn’t try it, but now we joke about buying more coffee and
such.
The second night that we went to this bar, it was only Joy,
Emily, Joel and myself. Joel and I started playing pool, while our girls talked
to the women that we met last time. While playing pool, this boy (5 or 6 years
old) that is selling flower necklaces comes up and takes my pool stick and
hands me his flower necklaces. So, I go around the bar selling flower necklaces
and everyone is laughing! So after about 5 minutes, we have 3 boys [who are all
selling flowers] in this bar playing pool with us. Kids club in a bar…go
figure. Anyways, we finish the game and then sit down with our girls and start
talking. Everyone remembers us, so it’s a great way to start talking again. After
a few minutes, the women at the bar get the game “Connect 4” out and we start
playing. The woman that I met last time is a PROFESSIONAL Connect 4 player. She
let me win the first game and then beat me 5 in a row [and then let me win the
next one I think. She says she didn’t, but I think she let me win…haha]
Also, they don’t like my beard…so the next time we go there,
they might have remembered to bring scissors to trim my beard…uh-oh.
So now that you have hopefully read the whole story, you
know that we are building relationships at the SAME bar for one month. And the
relationships are healthy. They women ask so many questions, especially why we are
not drinking. I’m excited to see what happens in the next few weeks! Please be
praying for me!! 🙂
And if you have questions -> Ask!
On a completely different note: Travel day video from El
Salvador to Thailand…
