Month 9 is officially over. Yep, 9. It’s crazy that in less than two months I will be back on American soil!
I spent the month of March in Chiang Mai, Thailand working with Lighthouse in Action ministries (http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/). Lighthouse is run by an amazing Thai lady named Emmi, who has an incredible story that is told the best by her, here (http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/our-founder/).
This month was ‘man-istry’ month so the boys were all in the south part of the country doing construction for SHE Ministries while most of us girls were in Chiang Mai, working with Emmi’s various ministries to combat human trafficking. If you don’t know much about human trafficking you MUST go watch the movie Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, right now. It’s difficult to watch, yes, but it’s real, it’s happening all over the globe, and people need to be aware of it and start taking action to stop it
Thailand is one of the biggest cities for sex-tourism. 80-90% of the sex-workers are recruited from villages at young ages from poor families who sell their daughters for about $100 USD so they can afford more luxurious lives. Their parents are told the girls will go work in “restaurants”, but these girls are really sold into the sex-trade. Ministries like Lighthouse are working hard to make a difference to stop it, and there are so many ways you can get involved too.
Lighthouse in Action has 4 critical components:
The first one is what my team did, which is called Love Acts. With Love Acts, we would go into the bars every night to just form relationships with people; the girls, the lady-boys, the bar-tenders, the workers children. Some are there because they think they have no option, some are forced to be there by someone. We would spend time with them, get to know them, and just show them God’s love by being their friend and hearing their stories and just loving them for who they are. As the relationships strengthen and they express their dreams of a different life, we can partner them with Lighthouse to get what they need to get out and form a better life.
Next is slum children ministry, which we also got the opportunity to take part in a few times. This is a prevention ministry, trying to fight the sex-trade cycle before it starts. If we can reach the children and form relationships while they’re young, we can have a place to speak into their lives when they face adulthood. We spend time with the children in the slums in the afternoon, playing games, reading stories, coloring and teaching English. I wish we had had more opportunities for this, because it’s so important and the kids were a lot of fun.
(Photo by Cassie Baxter)
X-life is another prevention ministry that ministers to the villages. We had one team go into a nearby village to live life with the Thai people, see what they face and educate them on the risks posed on their children by the commercial sex trade. This team also was able to start the ground work on a new facility Emmi is building to house and educate girls that are trying to start a new life.
Another large part of this ministry has been called WonGen, which is a coffee-shop ministry that allows space for people to hang out and be loved by the Christian workers there. We had two teams working at the coffee shop, intentionally make relationships with students and workers, teaching English and having fun with them.
While we were working with Lighthouse this month, God answered prayers and blessed this ministry with a much needed new facility. For FREE. Yep, a million dollar, 6 story building, big enough to house all the ministries that are needed, right down the street from where the girls we are ministering to live and work. For free. God is amazing.
So we had the pleasure of having our own “man-istry month” by helping Emmi clean the new coffee shop from top to bottom and moving the whole ministry to the new location, in less than a week. They are now well on their way to being open and ready for new beginnings on April 5th! And with the new location, a new name; Zion Cafe. I’m so grateful for God’s timing in having us all there to help Emmi when she needed it most. It was incredible to watch the transformation from a dusty, abandoned building into a comfortable, safe place and home and amazing coffee shop. I’m so excited for how this ministry is going reach more people.
Need help moving? Find Thai guys, trust me. They’re incredible.
Because of Emmi’s obedience to God’s calling in this ministry along with people willing to partner with Lighthouse in Action, the seemingly hopeless “red light district” of Chiang Mai is being transformed!! God’s truth is overcoming the lies. There is now hope and light for people who never had a glimmer of either before. God’s love will bring incredible change and redemption to the people of Chiang Mai. Through prayer and partnership with ministries like Lighthouse, the women and lady-boys of Thailand will soon know their true identity and experience freedom!
(photo by my awesome team leader for the month – Kelly Stienhaus)
Now, you can help answer another prayer. You can help change Thailand! You can help stop sex trafficking. You can change a young girl’s life! To keep this ministry going, they are looking for 60 people to donate $50 a month for maintenance costs, rent and cost of living for the girls and staff. Any gift you can give is a huge help and will go a long way. You can find out more info at this link: http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/get-involved/donate/ and feel free to send me a message if you have any questions!
