So God gave me the opportunity to go back to Thailand for the second time. The first time was when I was on the World Race. I am here currently with YWAM and I have about three weeks left here. This story came about in Bangkok during my free time.
During my free time, I have been going on prayer-walks into the Red Light District, a place of moral and spiritual darkness. My heart is burdened for these prisoners of sin-slavery and I pray to be a light shining into this darkness. My desire is to sow seeds of hope by speaking words of life and LOVE along my walk.
The first night I went alone on my off time. I took a bus and train into the middle of Bangkok, Thailand. I was walking and praying for people’s hearts to be opened to God’s LOVE for them. I was walking past one of the bars and one of the girls caught my attention. I felt impressed to go in and talk to her. So I did. I introduced myself and she said her name was Cake, but I call her Kate. This is the short story of Kate….
I asked her what her dream job would be; she said she wanted to be a nurse. I told her that’s so cool and she should find ways to live that out! Then she asked me why I was in Thailand. I explained that I was doing volunteer work and how I desired to simply LOVE on people by telling them that God values them and has a plan and a purpose for their lives. And to challenge people to dream!
We talked about traveling and the places we had visited. After a short time, I asked her if she ever heard of Jesus, she said yes. She had heard about him while she was in Europe. Kate told me she was Buddhist. I told her I was Christian and she asked what it meant to be a Christian. So l told her about my relationship with Christ.
I continued by sharing how much God loves her and how valued she is. I told her that she is an awesome person and just as important as the most popular person in Thailand. She tried to deny the fact that she is awesome and I argued! You could see it in her eyes, how meaningful this was for her to hear. I will never forget looking into her eyes and seeing them light up with hope!
As I was about to leave, she accepted my offer to pray for her. I prayed that God’s LOVE would captivate who she is. As I was leaving I gave her a hug and took a picture of my new friend and promised I would visit again.
The next night, me and two of the girls from my team returned to see Kate again. This was Carmen and Kalli’s first time to the Red Light District. When we arrived we started praying that God’s LOVE would be poured out over this place. I took them to see Kate. She was so surprised to see me again.
We started our conversation about life and once again reminded her that she is LOVED and valued. Kate started telling my teammates what I said to her the night before. I was blown away that she remembered! It was confirmation that the Holy Spirit had prompted me to talk to her last night. We talked with her for a while until it was time for us to go. We were about to leave when she asked us if we could pray for her again! My heart jumped out my chest! She asked us, it wasn’t us asking her. We said of course, we would LOVE to! So each of us prayed for her, gave her hugs goodbye and told her we would visit again.
We knew we had a few days left before leaving for Chiang Mai our next outreach location. The three of us went back to the Red Light District to see if Kate was working. We got there around 8:00 pm and her co-workers said she would be there around 9:00 pm. We decided to walk around. While we were standing on the corner, just passed where Kate works, one of the ladyboys (a.k.a. shemale) dancers from one of the clubs was on break. We asked him what his dream job would be. He couldn’t answer because of the depth of darkness he was lost in. I shared with him how he was loved and cared for. Just by looking into his eyes I could see it was hitting him. He changed the conversation by talking about other places to go. His break was over, he had to go back to dance. Before he left we asked if we could pray for him, he said no. My heart is saddened to see people living such empty lives. I pray that God will continue to pour his LOVE over him.
It was well after 9:00 pm, we decided to go back to where we were staying. As we walked through the district we walked by Kate’s place and didn’t see her. We continued and I felt impressed to turn and look again, then I saw Kate. So, the three of us went over to talk to her. Kate said she had good news that she found a job at a hospital in Norway and was quitting the job in the Red Light District at the beginning of the week. This was an answer to my prayer for her! We celebrated with her and told her how proud we were of her. My teammates gave her a cross necklace as a gift and explained the meaning of the cross. I added that the cross is the ultimate sacrifice of LOVE. We took one more picture of all of us together for our final visit. In the picture Carmen, Kate, Kalli and then me!
Before leaving, Kate asked us if we were going to pray for her again. We prayed that God would continue to LOVE on her and keep showing her how much He values her. As we were about to leave, Kalli asked her if she would you like to accept God’s LOVE into her heart. Kate said YES!! I led her in a prayer to accept Christ’s LOVE and to enter into a relationship with Him. After I finished praying Kate said now I need to know how I can put my whole heart into it. So we told her to download a bible app for her phone and explained what chapters to read in the bible. We also got her contact info so we can keep in touch with her. We gave her a hug and said our final goodbyes. Meeting Kate is an encounter that I will never forget; it has impacted my life in a huge way. She is a gem of a person.
This is simply how we can change the the world by showing people how much God LOVES them and how value they are.
May God continue to captivate you in His LOVE!
~Jonathan Johnson
This my other blog if you want to continue to follow me on the journey God has me on. https://iamjonnyjay.wordpress.com/
