After a 20-hour travel day, we made it to month 2 of our World Race, Thailand! We are working and living in the city of Chiang Mai this month. It is a very fascinating and beautiful city that has tons of stuff for us to walk to and do while we are here. Our host this month is a fantastic lady who knows her way around the city. The second or third day we were here she sent us out to do a scavenger hunt so we would know our way around the city. We can now find the good market, the river, the gate with all the pigeons, plus a few other things. We stopped to feed pigeons while we walked by on our scavenger hunt. It was fun but also kind of a scary experience!
In just a week, our ministry host has already been so invaluable. She has been and will be a tremendous asset and blessing in reaching these people this month. We are excited to continue to get to know her!
OUR MINISTRY THIS MONTH
On Monday, we received our ministry assignments for this month. This month, two teams, including mine, are to build relationships with the girls who work for the bars in the Red Light District. The Red Light District is home to the majority of the prostitution that happens here in Chiang Mai. We are going to the bars and buying sodas for both the girls who are working at the bar and us so we can have their time and just get to know them. We also go in the afternoons to hang out and help them clean up from the night before so that we can spend more time with the girls when they are not working.
With these relationships, we hope to accomplish several things. First, we hope to show the girls love and that they are human. They rarely get this, and we want to show them that they are loved and can be loved as a person and not an object. The second is to offer them a job, if we deem appropriate, at the cafe run by the ministry for which we are working. These jobs allow them to leave the bars as well as be discipled. They do not have to be Christian to take these jobs. They simply have to want out and be willing to work. Finally, we build these relationships to share Christ with them. Many of them have heard of Jesus but don’t know about Him. We want to show them.
As we have gone out this week, we have already seen the fruits of what the Lord has done in the past upon which we get to build. We met a lady Thursday night who had another World Racer build a relationship with her and give her a Bible. We are now continuing that relationship with her and building her trust in us. It has been a blessing to walk into God’s work in such a blatant way. We are hoping to take her out to lunch at some point as well as a movie or some other fun activity. She is a person who needs as much love as the next, and we want to offer that to her.
PARTNER THROUGH PRAYER
I’ll be honest and say that this ministry is a very hard one and it has its risks. We are taking the precautions of never going out alone and bringing cell phones with us when we go. We have very strict times each evening that we need to be back where we are living. We also have part of our team and squad who stay back every time we go out and pray for us the whole time we are gone. I hope you will join in praying for us as we go out to the bars. The times are:
- 2:00-4:00 AM (EST)
- 8:00-10:00 AM (EST)
This is 2:00-4:00 PM and 8:00-10:00 PM Chiang Mai, Thailand time. Your prayers would be much loved and appreciated. We can feel the weight of what we are walking into and the sin that has made its home here. It is sad and hard to face. After the first week that we have now gone through, I can say that it is emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining even if you are simply interceding through prayer all day. This is deep and hard stuff we are up against, but we have already seen the power of prayer and God’s ability to sustain and fill us up. It has been glorious!
PARTNER THROUGH DONATIONS
Another way you can join with us is by buying a drink for us and the girls so we can continue to build these relationships. We have a page that will allow you to make a tax-deductible donation for us to buy non-alcoholic drinks as well as take these girls out and have a fun day with them over the next month. Please pray about donating! The money raised will be shared by the two teams working in the district. The link to the donation site is:
http://give.adventures.org/campaign.asp?campaignid=1138
Our time in Thailand will be a month that I will never forget even if it ended today and we moved on to the next country tonight. It is crazy, sad stuff, but God has already brought so much light. I can’t wait to keep bringing it! Thank you for your support and for allowing me to share it with you!
Blessings,
Elise Swepston
