At the beginning of the race God told me he was going to break my heart for what breaks his. I wasn’t ready for the reality of that until it was right In front of my eyes.
Our last night in Bangkok Thailand, me, and a large portion of my squad spent a couple hours at night going to the red light district. For those that don’t know what the red light district, it’s an area in the city of Bangkok that has they highest population of sex trafficking. It’s streets are filled with clubs, bars, and places where women and men are working. They are there to be bought and used for sex. Some of the people choose the life there, but most don’t. A large portion of them are sold into the industry as kids or teens. This is a place of heavy darkness. Me, and many others on my squad wanted to go out and talk to these men and women just to get to know them. We wanted to show them what it’s like to have someone just talk to them. To really talk to them as people. We wanted to show them the love of Jesus and the hope he offers.
Going into this night I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t realize how hard it would be. To look at these women and see how they are treated. I want to share an experience I had the really broke me.
When we got to the red light district we split into small groups. My group that I walked with down the street was me, a squad mate, and a squad leader. As we made our way down the street we mingled with a few people here and there, but didn’t make any connections. It was hard to talk to the girls sometimes, because some of them didn’t speak good English or we weren’t allowed to talk to them unless we bought them. So my group kept walking till we felt led to talk to a group of girls outside a club. They were all dressed in red. We walked out and started a conversation with the Mom. She is the woman who “looks after” the girls. The mom is a female pimp. She didn’t speak good English so she called another woman, who was in her early 20’s to translate for us. This lady was the Madam, which is the Moms assistant. We began with questions about them. First it was small talk to get to know them, then turned into questions about what they believe. During the conversation the madam left us and didn’t want to talk anymore. The mom, however, kept talking to us and even let us pray for her. After we finished talking to her she let us stay outside the club so we could talk to the girls. We wanted to go upstairs into the club, but they said only men were allowed. The three of us stayed outside the elevator that takes you up to the club and talked to some of the girls. Most conversations weren’t going anywhere, but we felt like we should stay there a little longer. Here’s why we needed to stay.
While we stood in front of the elevator in the middle of all these girls, two middle aged men came up. They walked right up to the sidewalk in front of me, turned and looked at all the girls. The moment they showed up all the girls swarmed them. It looked like an auction. They were looking at the girls to see if there were any they wanted to buy, like they were property. This is what got to me. As I stood there looking at girls my age, and then at men my fathers age, it tore my heart to pieces. While the men were looking at the girls the one standing in front of me turned around and looked at the three of us. Right as he looked at us he turned around and said he was going to take his business elsewhere. At the moment I didn’t know how to process what was going on so I just stood there. A few minutes later we felt like we should leave so we started to walk back to our van to meet up with the other small groups. While we walked I prayed for all the girls I just spent some time with. My heart was so heavy. When we got back to the van I broke down. Looking out the window I cried my heart out. This life is no way to live. You hear about people being sold into the sex trade, you see it in movies like Taken, to see it with your own eyes is something totally different. I have meet girls, and women that were sold, some even by their parents, into this trade. While I looked out the window praying I asked God why, why would he have me stand there and see these women looked at like they are nothing more then a moment of pleasure. Why have me stand there and witness something so horrendous. Gods response.” I put you there so I could save two girls”. I hadn’t thought of it like that till that moment. If we hadn’t been standing in front of the elevator, two girls would have been bought, taken upstairs, and used. Because we stood in the gap two girls got to have a break, which is probably something they don’t get very often. I was open to let the lord use me that night in any way he wanted, and he did. Hearing God tell me this changed my perspective of that night. It also showed me how much I care for women. The sex trade is real. Many women, and even men who are prostitutes will tell you they hate being in that industry if you take the time to sit and talk to them. These men and women are just like us. They are humans, who need love just as much as we do. Please remember to keep these men and women in your prayers.
