600 baht….somewhere around 20 USD. That's all it costs to take home a prostitute for the night in Bangkok. $20. I was shocked. Like I said in my last blog we were able to go out into the bars, into the Red Light District a couple of times a week and do outreach. The main purpose of this is to make friendships. Make friendships with ladyboys that hopefully the ministry can maintain and then if the ladyboy decides they want out, get them out of the bars and give them a job in the coffee shop. It's not about going in and screaming the Gospel right away, but becoming friends and letting your actions speak huge volumes. Showing the workers the love of Christ by talking to them, getting to know them, and not judging or condemning them.
There are several Red Light Districts around where we were. Technically prostitution is illegal in Thailand but it brings in so much money for the country nobody does anything about it. The first night we did a prayer walk through a couple of different ones so we could get a feel of what it was like and not just thrown into it. You can feel the heaviness, the spiritual warfare before you even walk into the plaza or down the strip. It's a very odd feeling that I've never experienced before. I learned a lot about big prayers and believing my prayers because I had to fight hard in prayer this month. The workers wear numbers and that's how they are identified. They aren't known by their names or who they are, but as something that can be bought and treated however wanted. Most of the bars require that each worker have so many customers a month or their pay gets knocked in half. When you talk to them most of their stories sound the same. They are from pretty far away, and they don't like what they do or the kind of life they have but they have to provide for their family and they feel this is the only way to do that. It absolutely breaks my heart.
one of the red light districts.
My experience was a bit different than my other teammates. I went to a different bar every time we went out. It was great, I got to meet LOTS of different people. I got to go out and do ministry with my former team leader/now squad leader Michelle and other nights with our contacts. I loved seeing their heart for this ministry and the people working in the bars. And now I have lots of faces and names to pray for. My other teammates went to the same bar every time so they created some sweet friendships. Our last night of outreach I got to go with Kendall and Rachel. Over the couple of weeks they had created a pretty good frienship with one of the ladyboys so the last night they decided they wanted to pay his bar fine and take him out to dinner and to hang out outside of the bar for the night. I am so glad I got to be a part of this because it was a night I will never forget and had a big impact on me.
To start out the night we took in some cupcakes to the workers of this specific bar. They ate them up SO fast. They loved them. Then we paid the bar fine of 600 baht and left with our friend 🙂 They all wanted to come with us but we could only take one.
He got us a taxi and took us to a resturant that he used to work at and ordered us a ton of food that we all just passed around and shared(I even tried squid!). He probably asked us 50 times if we were happy, if we were having a good time. We spent the evening laughing, talking, and enjoying each others company as friends.
We then tried to go to a building you can go to the top and see the whole view of Bangkok but it ended up being expensive so decided not to go up. After that our friend decided he needed to get back to the bar and hopefully get another customer 🙁 It broke my heart. We paid for him for the night. He could have went home and rested. He could have had a night off from this not so pretty lifestyle, but instead he choose to go back. My prayer is that he felt so loved by us that night. That us taking the time to get to know him, not questioning or judging his lifestyle meant something to him. That he felt the love of God through us. He might not reckognize at this time that's what it was but hopefully we planted a seed in his life. I pray that he will continue a friendship with Dton Naam and that one day he will will come to know our amazing Savior and get out of this dark lifestyle. That he will see that he is worth so much, that he will see there is more to life, that he can place his identity and value in Christ and be done with chasing the desires of the world. I'm trusting and believing that we made a difference in the life of this new friend, as well as other people we talked to and got to know. I'm believing that Jesus is going to change the heart of this man.
