Month 9 in Thailand has been one for the books. So much has happened and there is so much I could say.
At the end of month 8, we had minor team changes, which meant my team lost two girls and gained two new girls. There were also leadership changes and I was asked to step into the role of team leader for my team for the last 3 months, a team I then wasn’t even fully with for the first week of May. The first week of month 9 was Parent Vision Trip, a week for parents to join their racers on the field, get a small glimpse of what life is like on the world race, and serve at a missions organization for a week. My mom and over 20 other J squad parents joined us in Chiang Mai, Thailand to work at Lighthouse in Action in the Red Light District. The ministry at Lighthouse quickly stole my heart and it was such a special experience to have part of my two families come together. But after PVT, I joined the rest of my team (those whose parents didn’t come) at Remember Nhu, where my team worked the rest of the month.
Chiang Mai, Thailand is a popular sex tourism destination and is home to over 5,000 woman, child, and lady-boy prostitutes during low season and up to 25,000 prostitutes during high season. The sad thing is that is not even considered “that bad.” As I walked down the streets of Chiang Mai, I would pass at least 3 girls sitting out by the sidewalk of each bar, waiting for their next costumer. Inside, one girl would probably be taking her shift at bar-tending and another sitting next to an older white man with her arm in his lap or wrapped around him, trying to make a “sale.” The girls may act like they enjoy it and they may have chosen to work at that bar. But the reality is that deep down they feel trapped and worthless. Instead of being asked “How are you?”, they get “How much are you?” every night. They take shots to numb the pain and to enable them to perform for the men as desired. These special girls are forced to believe their only worth is in their body and how well they can please a man. But they are worth so much more.
Lighthouse in Action is an organization with the goal of helping these girls get out of the sex industry, showing them their worth, giving them an extra push toward realizing and reaching the true dreams they have for the lives, and introducing them to a relationship with Jesus. During Parent Vision Trip, racers and parents together did bar ministry. We went into the bars to befriend these girls, get to know them, show them we care, and make them feel special.
After my mom and I visited the same girls at the bar two nights in a row, I wrote the following in my journal:
These girls are so sweet and precious. They don’t know how valuable they are, how capable they are, how incredibly loved they are. I wish they knew. I wish they knew there is something more. Molly (name changed for security) didn’t even understand what it meant to have dreams and aspirations. And when I asked her what her hobbies are she just said the bar. All she knows is the bar, but God has so much MORE for her. I pray, God, you will reveal that to her and to the other girls there. I pray they would get out, that they would realize their potential and see the truth of how their Heavenly Father sees them. Jesus, rescue them from this pit, rescue them from this darkness. I pray they would see your light.
After I said bye to my mom, I spent the rest of the month working at Remember Nhu, an organization that also fights against the sex industry, but from the preventative side. In Chiang Mai alone, they have 4 houses, holding about 150 children total. These children have been rescued from their high risk home situations before being sold into child sex slavery, something way too common in the remote villages, or before growing up to believe all they are good for is sex. Every night my team ate dinner with the children of one of these houses and played endless games of Uno, volleyball, and tag. During the day, we worked the land, trimming trees, pulling weeds, planting flowers, and digging holes for a garage foundation etc. It was all the behind the scenes work of a preventative organization.
But honestly, I wanted to be on the battle front, right in middle of the bar scene and back with the girls I met the first week. I was jealous of the teams that were staying at Lighthouse in Action for the whole month and I felt like I was taken away from where I was supposed to be. But God humbled me to approach our ministry with a willing heart and He gave me an attitude of thankfulness for the perspective the week in the Red Light District gave me on rescuing children. He humbled me to realize God doesn’t need me in the bars and He opened my eyes to the immense value of starting early to prevent beautiful children from getting sucked in to what is happening in the Red Light District and elsewhere.
Whether working to rescue women out of the sex trade or prevent children from entering it, the goal is the same- to proclaim worth in the lives of these people that are made in the perfect image of God and to decrease the number of people caught in the evil that is the sex industry.
journal entry, May 27:
These children are priceless. Yet it is scary to think how many children are given a price tag and sold as slaves, often so their family can have a bigger house or a nice TV.
The women that work at the bars are priceless. Yet every night they diminish their worth to be a price for a couple of hours with them. They are worth so much more than any amount of money. They are worth so much more than how they can please a man. They are worth so much more than a nicer TV for their family. These women, children, and lady-boys are priceless
God does not put a price tag on us. He created us in His image. We were already His, yet He bought us back at the cost of His son dying on the cross. We are worth Jesus dying for. Our worth was forever settled on the cross. What would it look like for us all to believe that? What would it look like if we stopped putting our worth in our appearances, achievements, skills, morals, and relationships, but found our worth fully in Christ?
Watch this incredible video my squadmates made, featuring other squadmates and some of the most recent rescues from the bars, girls that are now employed by Lighthouse at Zion Cafe.
