I am judging the men in Thailand
Yup. Hardcore too. I’m going to be totally honest about my time in Thailand.
If you have read my blog “So Far In Myanmar” it tells a sad story of misplacing a blog, I have rewritten it! That being said I couldn’t remember everything I wrote but I’ve asked the Holy Spirit to bring it into remembrance. Enjoy
Upon entering Thailand my team has traveled to three cities to do ministry, Bangkok, Chaing Mei, and Pattaya. The main belief in Thailand is Buddhism, and the royal family is respected by all. You will see monks walking the streets early in the morning collecting money in their little jars and monks randomly in bus stations and convenient stores, pictures of the King in every store with flowers adoring it and the ceremonial anthem that plays that stops everyone in their tracks to pay respects to the King.
I’m going to be totally honest here, I don’t like Thailand that much, the people are one of the nicest and dedicated people I’ve seen, the street food is great, the landscape is breathtaking, the markets are enticing, and tourists love this place for many reasons.
The main reason Thailand has been hard is because of the spiritual atmosphere, Thailand is one of the biggest sex trafficking counties in the world and it is known because at night you go down any street it’s not covered or hidden, it is wide open for all to see. In the three cities I’ve been in they all have a huge industry in the red light district. I have asked permission to include a paragraph from my friend Katie’s blog she wrote in Thailand, if you have time check it out! It is powerful.
Pattaya, Thailand is a spiritually dark place and it’s been heavy on so many of our hearts. “The sex capital of the world” is what it’s referred to. My stomach has physically ached as I’ve walked down streets literally lined with prostitutes who are trying to make a living and are desperate for a man to take them home. I watched an old man bring a young thai girl into the hotel room right next door to me last night. It took everything inside of me to not scream at him. The red light district is filled with old white men who will buy girls off of a menu in a bar to take home for the night. The streets are quiet by day and at night all the businesses open. Erotic massage parlors, strip clubs, rent-a-rooms, “karaoke” bars, porn shops, you name it… it’s here. The Thai woman and the tourists from all around the globe who come for the sex industry are all desperately searching for their self worth. The women don’t know their worth so they sell their bodies to put food on the table. The men come seeking a good time because they feel unloved and are desperate for relief.
Men are everywhere. Middle aged white men are everywhere, and they are roaming around malls, streets, the beaches holding the hand of a young Thai women like holding a trophy, I don’t know how to explain it but it’s like everyone is walking around knowing what everyone is doing and they are okay with it.
My team mate was asked to have sex leaving a coffee shop after her morning devotion from an 80 year old white male. I felt like I haven’t gone a day without hearing of an inappropriate story and wondering if that’s life for those who live here. I felt paralyzed from ministry because I didn’t want to talk to anyone because I felt like my grace was running low for people because I was mad at what I was truly seeing. Granted I have been disgustingly sick so my body alone as been coping with sickness (thank you all for your prayers!! I am feeling back to normal) but I felt like I couldn’t do anything except be frustrated.Real talk.
I was sitting with a friend over lunch and saw a couple pass, we talked about the situation, obviously placing a stereotype on the man. I was pressed with the thought that did not come from me “you have no idea who he is, you don’t know his name, you don’t know why he is here, they could be a missionary couple, they could be tourists coming to explore the food, they could be married or they aren’t, it is not your place to judge.
Whaat?
I blocked it out until that night in my room I locked the door and bawled my eyes out. I was sitting in the middle of a city indulging in sinful lust, why was I the one sorry?
This was the moment God taught me about forgiveness, mercy and judgment.
When you were little and fought with your siblings did your parents make you say sorry? Mine did, we would say we were sorry to one another even when we ALL knew no one was sorry. My sister would always say “don’t say sorry if your not sorry”. Well said. But a lesson learned later on in life. How many men or women in this city would ever say they are sorry, how many men or women would fall in their knees before God and ask for forgiveness? The way I see it, not that many who mean it.
That night I felt like Abraham making petitions for Sodem and Gomora before God, God did come and do what He said He was going to do with Abraham and had mercy and received the few faithful out of the city before judgment came. God heard my prayers too for this city, except they were answered long ago, Jesus came and died on the cross and paid every single debt of sin with His life and those who know it and receive it are the ones saved from death. It was the best/worst realization that Jesus on the cross paid once and for all, every sin, even the sins that are happening right now all throughout Thailand.
It’s something I have always known, Gods forgiveness of sins, and His love for His people, but learned what it looks like in a place where He is not welcomed but He still longs to be. I’m praying God will redeem my time in Thailand, it is a beautiful place with beautiful people, and it is a place that needs Christ.
“I am guilty, Ashamed of what I’ve done, what I’ve become, These hands are dirty
I dare not lift them up to the Holy One
You plead my cause, you right my wrongs
You break my chains, you overcome
You gave your life, to give me mine
You say that I am free
How can it be?
I’ve been hiding
Afraid I’ve let you down
Inside I doubt, that you still love me
Inside I doubt, that you could love me
But in your eyes, there’s only grace now
Though I fall, you can make me new
From this death, I will rise with you
Oh, the grace reaching out for me, yeah
How can it be, how can it be?
You plead my cause, you right my wrongs
You break my chains, you overcome
You gave your life, to give me mine
You say that I am free. How can it be?” ~Lauren Daigle
“There is no sin too great for God’s grace. There is no habit too big for his healing. There is no label too strong for his love.” -Craig Groeschel
Thank you for all the prayers, Thailand would have been immensely harder without them!
??Gabriella
