At the beginning of our time in Thailand, my team and I asked God where He wanted us to go. As we prayed, we saw a lot of different visions: like small tin and wood shacks, fields, mountains, lakes and pine trees (which was odd since I didn’t think pine trees existed in Thailand). I heard the words “go to the root of the problem” (the problem being sex trafficking). After our prayer, my teammate Kody emailed one of his friends living in Thailand telling her about our visions we had seen. She replied back saying:
This sounds a lot like Isan.
We did some research and found out that Isan is one of the most unreached places in Thailand for Christianity, it is 99% Buddhist. This giant rural providence is the most populated in Thailand but it is also the poorest region. Almost all of the women that go into the sex industry in Thailand are from Isan. There is a lot of poverty and kids turn to criminal activity or prostitution to make money. Families are usually broken, abusive and unhealthy. When we read up about Isan, we were scared because this place sounded dangerous and foreign, but God stirred something in our hearts. We knew we had to go.
However, through a series of events (read my previous blog for more details) God led us to Bangkok. My team and I were serving at The Well, which is a ministry that helps women recover and escape from the life of working in the sex industry. We were all using our gifts and talents to help out at The Well. Jay and Bee, who love photography, were photographing women and their jewelry that they were selling online. Tiffany was using what she learned in her college art classes to teach art to the women and children for therapy. Kody was using his science background to help create copper jewelry. And I was just talking and hanging out with women; and women’s recovery ministry is one of my passions!
We knew God had called us here. We were in the right spot. God had orchestrated this plan together perfectly for us to stay in Bangkok. But we still had this desire: we wanted to go to Isan. My team and I had gotten all these visions about Isan, but God was also calling us to stay in Bangkok. We were confused and didn’t know what to do. But we felt God nudging us to just trust Him. He had a plan
So we kept serving at The Well, letting the idea of Isan almost fade away. But then Jim, the leader of The Well, approached us one day and asked us:
“Hey, would you like to go to Isan for a couple days?“
Woah! I couldn’t believe it! God was answering our prayers. We had not heard wrong from God; He just wanted us to obey and the plan would unfold in front of our eyes.
Jim told us that Jub, a lady who runs a branch of The Well called “Breakthrough” in Isan, was currently in Bangkok. She was leaving for Isan the next day. She had room in her truck to fit us all.
Man, talk about God answering prayers!
So early the next morning, Jub picked us up in her truck and we traveled 6 hours into the rural side of Thailand. (Side note: we thought it a cool coincidence that her name is Jub and our team name is JUBilee)
As we traveled, we saw a lot of our listening prayer visions. We passed mountains, lakes, rivers, and small tin houses. We even saw pine trees! Who knew those existed here.
We arrived in the middle of nowhere. Our team pulled off onto a dirt road where we passed a couple of small wood and tin houses. It was weird because even though we were in the middle of nowhere, I felt a sense of peace. The quietness was a nice breath of fresh air from the big city of Bangkok. I had peace and I knew God wanted us here.
Jub then took us to the “Breakthrough” center. It was a cute little house, with murals all on the walls. We walked in and were greeted by a group of about 15 children, ages 7 to 20 years old. Almost immediately we were given a plate of food (that’s how Thai people show love!) and we sat down to eat.
I was surprised as to how normal all the kids acted. After hearing all the stories about poverty, abuse, drugs, and prostitution, I expected the kids to be hurt, hardened and sad. But they weren’t! They acted just like any kids do. The older girls wanted to chat it up about Facebook and paint my nails. The younger kids ran around making weird noises and goofing off. I expected Isan to be this dark, almost evil, place but it wasn’t:
Isan felt like a home.
While in Isan, we spent most of our time with the kids. We played soccer, we swam in the lake, we worshipped together, we ate meals together, and we played weird games that involved smashing baby powder on people’s faces. It was one of my favorite times on the Race. I loved all of the kids and had so much fun playing with them.
It was amazing to see the impact that “Breakthrough” is having on this community. This ministry provides kids with hope and a place to go instead of turning to drugs or prostitution. These kids come in from broken homes and are shown the unconditional love that only comes from the Father. Through this love, their brokenness is healed. They learn English, play sports, and do life together. I could tell that God was moving in these kid’s lives. They worshipped and praised God, they had joy and peace, and they had hope for their futures. Jub and the other leaders are doing an amazing job of raising young men and women of God. It was truly a blessing to witness. I will never forget the wonderful time I had at Isan 🙂
