[patong beach sunset]
Patong is known for its party life, tourist beach, and the ladies. Yes, the ladies. Here in Patong, they have a red-light district where women are sold for sexual pleasures. Some of these women have no say in the matter as they were stolen, traded, and used. While others are here on their own as a means to make money for their family, many have moved here to work in this area so that they can ship money home for their children and families.
This kind of ministry has been on the hearts of all of my team members. Going out and talking with men and women while in a setting that can honestly get rather disturbing at times and sharing Jesus with them… sometimes I just laugh at the thought of how awesome that opportunity IS. After some research that our wonderful Scottish leader did, we met up with a church here in Patong. One of the only Christian ones around here and their primary outreach is the bar ministry. We met up with them to see if we could stay with them (as the island life is not in budget to say the least), to see if we could partner with them, to listen to the Lord and see if this is indeed where He wanted us to go.
[team mate Shavon and Na at her bar]
To my surprise, we met with the pastor and his wife. If you know me, I’m rather sarcastic and could go back and forth with my dad and brother for hours. Never really ever getting a chance to win a sarcasm battle too often, I always show up ready to rumble. Well, Pastor J had the sarcasm of a champ and during this more professional meeting of our team, we both had at it haha. This couple wasn’t a typical missionary pastor couple. They are a young couple in their 30s with three preteen to teenage children. I fell in love with the heart of the church, the heart of the family, and the heart of the bar ministry during this meeting. The meeting included all the questions and concerns that the team as a whole had as well as our individual questions like “How in the world did you Cali guys end up here?!”.
[the Nelson family]
We met as a unit after the meeting and sat in silence listening to what the Lord had for us. It’s so cool to be able to sit at a corner in Thailand eating street food and stopping and praying as a group. Being His hands and feet doesn’t only focus on who it is WE meet, but also those that just might think twice about the group of girls sitting in silence at lunch. During this prayer time, the Lord heavily highlighted the couple to me. THEY were who indeed we were supposed to minister to. During the meeting we had discovered that there weren’t too many members of the church, and those who were members were more so “baby Christians”. This family looked tired, their stories were tiring. Could you imagine not having a group of Christians to go to that could pour into you so that you could pour out?! We came back together after the prayer time, it always amazes me and I know it shouldn’t, but a majority of my team felt the same way about it. That we should stay and partner with the church but that the Lord told them that the family was on our hearts.
He’s a cool God indeed 🙂
So we lived with this family it started out as only a week, but God wasn’t done. There was always so much to do there. They have hosted missionaries before so they knew to keep us busy, but little did they know that ministry time wasn’t just at the bars, wasn’t just in the bible studies, it wasn’t just in the organized settings. But ministry is our life, they are our ministry. It turns out that they had an 11 year old girl, a 14 year old boy, and a 16 year old boy (as well as an 18 year old boy that lives back in the States). These kids live in Thailand. They’ve actually lived many places but America their whole lives. It seems really cool and it is indeed, but they also have desires and dreams that include being in America. They as well as their parents are pouring out so much and God prompted us to pour back into them.
[the gang]
In addition to the kids, their family also includes a sweet girl who’s 21 and from the Philippines. She came here for a better job and to help out with her family back home. However, the Lord has done so much more with her here than I think she’ll ever know. She leads a lot of the bar ministry here and taught us the do’s and don’ts as well as introduced us to the friends she’s already made so that we could encourage the growth of that relationship and pray over it as well. God is so good and so faithful, my prayers for her are that she continues to hear His voice and is obedient in following it despite what might be going on with family or home or what’s right in front of her. Pray for her with me!
They have one more family member that’s not biologically related that lives here at the church with us. She’s also from the states and is only 25 and an alumni of the World Race J This girl has a heart so big it’s hard to understand sometimes. She’s one with a heart for the girls of Thailand that are being sold and used. She actually gets physically angry when we walk through the bar streets. She has a heart that seems ever giving and I pray that she takes the time to pour into herself. She has an eye to see the people in need, but very often seems to look over herself.
[the REAL gang. Nelson fam + Brittney + Jovie]
It was a tiring week to say the least, but that’s because our hearts were activated the most. The family became my family in an instance for me. Yes, I know it took more time for me to win their hearts over 😉 it was worth it. The last cool cool thing I’m going to share in this longer post is what we did in the streets. The streets of the red-light district. It may seem small, it may seem insignificant, but it created a longing heart to continue, it created a desire to persevere, it created a stronger confidence in our listening of the Holy Spirit.
[patong red-light district]
On Monday the 15th, before dinner we walked the streets that we would be visiting later that night. We prayed over the area, we prayed that the hearts here would be vulnerable, we prayed that our spirits would be protected that we wouldn’t get temptations of the flesh in this area, we prayed that the Holy Spirits present would fill the place, would nudge the heart of others. After dinner around 9pm, we started our journey. We made signs and used some that were already made from a previous team that said “I will listen”, “your story matters” and “free prayer”. We took these signs to the area we prayed over and we stood there. We stood there with smiles on our faces welcoming ALL those around us.
It’s a funny thing really. When writing the signs most of us thought of the women that would approach us that are going through tough times and may be victims here, but we so easily over looked that we went at the time of their working hours. How can they come out and talk to us when they’re inside working?! So yes, a lot of men approached us … and it was the coolest thing ever! Let me tell you friends. The first group that approached me and my friend was a group of older men from Iran. They were there on vacation. The men were so eager in knowing what it was that we were doing. We shared with them that we’re just friends here to listen, to hear what you’re going through whether it’s a struggle of the heart or just an issue back home. We will listen and then we will offer to pray over you, you may accept or decline at your wish. After praying for you we can talk more or you can go about your evening but either way, you’re now made as a friend forever and I’ll continue to pray for you even when the night ends. Friends, they were blown away. Since they were a group of four men they all said that’s awesome, asked us if we’d be there tomorrow, and walked away.
[team leader Mhairi holding her sign during our night on the streets]
Five minutes passed and one of the men came running back to me saying “Jessica, Jessica, I have something I want to talk about with you. I couldn’t speak about it in front of my friends so I had to wait to come back.” Just as he finished his sentence, another one of his friends had come back also. His friend went with my friend to talk so that he could continue what he came back for. “You see, I’m here with my friends and they seem to love what we do”. His first struggle was that his friends are okay with the environment so he felt wrong not being okay with the environment. “I go in to get a massage, and the woman has sex with me. Then of course I get feelings for her, I’m a man of feelings, but now I feel wrong for having feelings for her”. He goes on to share that he feels as though none of his friends are struggling with this and he feels alone. “I feel convicted but at the same time, I want to have fun with my friends and I don’t know how to stand up for what I feel is right”. Wow. This is where I took a minute and just praised the Lord in my head. Oh and did I mention that he told me he’s a Muslim man?! Amazing for him to be sharing this with me. After he finished sharing everything he had to share with me, he asked if I was a church going woman. I smiled and said yes, I do go to church, but more importantly I have a personal relationship with my God.
[night on the streets]
I asked him if I could pray for him. He replied “yes please, I need all the help that I can get”. We prayed for his struggle, we prayed for his boldness, we prayed that the Holy Spirit would continue to convict him. I thanked him for sharing with me allowing me to pray for him. He asked “did you pray to Jesus?”. A Muslim asked if I prayed to Jesus. I was worried for a moment… and was convicted to be confident in my Lord and said “yes, I prayed to Jesus”. The man smiled. He shrugged his shoulders and said “I need all the help I can get, we’ll see if this one works”. Oh my lanta. I prayed and prayed and smiled SO big after those words as he walked away. My God what have you just done?! This man was so eager and so open and so accepting. Pray with me for Mubeen and his heart. That the Holy Spirit can fill it and that he knows where it comes from.
There are still PLENTY of stories within the past couple of weeks that I could write books on, if I could write well. These are the highlights. These are what the Lord wanted me to share. I’m sorry friends that it’s taken me awhile to share some of these stories. It really is overwhelming how much there is to share while also being respectful in what stories are mine to share and how I can still respectfully share parts and bits. I love my Jesus now more than ever, I pray that as you follow along this journey that you continue to fall more in love with Him as well. I may be here doing the things and meeting the people, but your soul is just as important to me to reach as these people here. Continue to ask questions. I might have shied away for a moment, but don’t let that stop you! Keep asking, keep being proactive in this journey that YOU are a part of. The more active, the bigger the Kingdom will get.
God bless each and every one of you. I miss you and I miss home, but more and more He whispers that He is my home.
