my best friend was sold for 10 days.

View is a beautiful Thai girl that I met my second day in Patong while prayer walking through Bangla Road. As we walked up and down Soi Sea Dragon, I
noticed her; beautiful and petite, sitting at one of the high tables at
STOP bar. She kept staring at us as we walked. I awkwardly made eye contact
with her more than a few times. Go talk
to her, God said. But uncharacteristically of me, I shied away. I told my
friends, “I think God wants me to go talk to this girl, but I don’t know what
to say.” (I have no idea where this spirit of fear and timidity came from.) We
prayed. “God if you want me to talk to this girl, then I pray she is still
there when we are finished prayer walking.” We kept going. About 25 minutes
later we walked down Soi Sea Dragon again and there she sat, still following us
with her eyes, but this time there was a guy sitting with her at the table- a
customer. Go talk to her, God said
again. Gah, Lord, I can’t talk to her
now! She has a customer. Obviously you don’t want me to talk to her now! . . .
if she is there tonight when we walk around for outreach THEN I will talk to
her!!  

Frustrated with myself and my lack of boldness I walked
away. That night during outreach she was there. And God did give me the
boldness to go up to her and say hi. It was a quick hello; we talked no longer
than 2 minutes; enough time for me to learn her name and for her to briefly open
up about how she did not want to work at that bar. My friend Leisa told her she
was beautiful and that was all it took for her eyes to well with big fat tears.
I hugged her and told her I would come back and see her tomorrow. She nodded
and hugged us before we left. “Good bye my friend” she said as we walked away.

The next night I went back . . .

She had been bought. Sold, paid for and taken away. I would not
see her for the next 10 days.

During this time, I prayed constantly for her. I would visit
the bar every night and every night the girls standing outside would tell me, “View
not here. View with customer, Phi
Phi Island.
Don’t know when she come back.”

Faithfully, I would go to the bar each night and ask for her. Finally, she had returned! She ran out yelling, “My friend! My friend!” and threw her arms around me. We sat down and talked. Conversation flowed easily. During our conversation, God opened
my eyes to the reality of her life and situation; a storyline that runs all too
familiar through the lives of many women on Bangla Road. 

View had only known this customer
for two weeks and yet he was offering to take her back to Holland with him. He gave her promises of a “good
life” and told her he didn’t want her to have to work in the bars any longer. He
promised her he would take care of her family. And when I asked her if she was
thinking about going she said, “Yes, but I unsure. I need time to think.” She
then told me (in so many words) about how he was controlling; how he would get
angry if she talked to other guys, while he flirted with other girls in front
of her; they fought all the time, every night; he was Muslim (Many Thai Buddhists do not
like Muslims). “Many problem.” she said, but he could provide for her family. She was torn.

These women are either sold by their families or sent by
their families to the city to “work” and make money. Their sole purpose for
being there is to provide for the family unit. Because of their lack of
education, prostitution is their only option for making enough money to
support their families back home. Of their “paychecks,” girls will probably keep
5 or 10% and send the rest of it back to their families. As you get to know
these girls you realize this is their number one priority and if they could
make enough money to support their families doing something else, they would
much rather choose that, so when a man comes along and promises financial
stability and a way out of the bars, it seems too good to pass up.

God opened up the door for me to share with View that his
plans for her life were much larger than she could imagine. I was able to share
the gospel with her and tell her about Jesus for the first time. I began to
speak hope of a future into her. She didn’t have to settle for the first man
that promised provision for her family. God would provide. Then she broke my
heart . . .

“I was told once, No one would ever marry a ‘bar girl'”. I
felt my heart crumbling in a thousand pieces. NOT TRUE! LIES! LIES FROM SATAN!
I asked View if she could read in English. She said yes. I told her I would see
her tomorrow and that I would have a present for her; a book about a man,
who fell in love and married a “Bar girl”. Her eyes lit up, “REALLY?! Is it
true?!”

The next day I went back to STOP bar . . . sold again.

For one week I carried her present around with me in my back
pack until I saw her again. That night I sat down again, I handed her a copy of
Redeeming Love along with a Thai NT Bible and a little wooden trinket; two
hearts with the word FRIEND carved into it. I began reminding her who she is. “Bar girl” is her job it is not who she
is. View is smart, beautiful, gentle, compassionate, she has a HUGE heart, she has
dreams for her future, she is lovely, and worthy of true love- Jesus’ love. We hugged and
parted ways.

Last night was my last night on Bangla road. Saying good by
was so very hard. View was already drunk when I arrived at STOP bar. She kept apologizing. “I sorry my friend. I drink already too much tonight. I sorry my friend. I have to drink to work. I sorry.” Girls that work at these bars are made to drink and take shots by the bar owners. The more drunk they are the more friendly they are with the customers. I couldn’t blame View. I would also need some liquid anesthetic to numb my emotions, my pain, my emptiness, if I lived her life. 

We promised to send emails. Just before I turned around to leave she said, “I have something for you my friend.” As she bent down to fasten a beautiful anklet around my ankle she said,

I could barely fight back tears as I hugged her and
encouraged her to keep reading the books I gave her. I promised I would see her
again. And as I turned to walk away my heart broke again for the bajillionth time this month because I had to leave her behind
in that bar.