For lack of being able to properly put this into words, here
is a brief description of what we have been doing this month.
Five nights a week we split into pairs and go into the bars
to minister to the women trapped in the prostitution industry. When you enter a
bar and order a coke or water you essentially ‘buy’ the waitresses time until
you leave. She will sit and talk to you, play card games or pool and is at your
beck and call until you leave. This is what we do five nights a week. We go
back to the same bar and make a relationship with the same woman (because they
work every night of the week).
Many of us have made great relationships while we have been
here and since it is our last week we are taking some of the girls out of the
bars and having a fun evening with them at the mall. It costs just over $10 to
‘buy’ the girls for the night. We are taking them to the movies and bowling. It
should be a fun week. It will end on Friday with all of us going bowling with
one or two of our new friends.
This month has been difficult at times. To see these
beautiful women selling themselves because they are not educated to get a
normal job is extremely sad. Then you see the men who buy them and it makes
some angry while others have compassion for them. It makes you wonder what is
lacking from this man’s life that is making him turn to purchasing women for
his pleasure.
Like I said there are a lot of emotions going through me and
I am having a difficult time expressing them all to you. As soon as I get
through them I will write about everything.
This month has also had me spending more intentional time
with God. It has been great but I still am lacking a great deal of obedience to
spending time with God. I will write later on what He has been teaching me but
if you have time you can get a head start on that blog by reading: Ephesians
4:1-6, Pslam 39:4-8 and Hebrews 12:1.
We will be traveling to Koh Samet Island on Saturday/Sunday
for debrief with our coaches Mike and Patti! We will be there for about a week
and then the squad splits up into our teams again and goes in a lot of
different directions. Team Manna is going to a closed country so I cannot tell
you exactly where we are going but it is completely where God wants us. He has repeatedly
given us the information for the same contact 4 times from 4 different people.
Its going to be exciting!
