Starting out in Thailand we were in the main part of Bangkok by one of the oldest red light districts. We were attending one of our squad debriefs, and trying to take in all of the people that were around us was something else entirely.
At night there were a lot of markets, but they weren’t just your normal souvenir markets. There were women being openly sold on the street. They would sit on stools outside bars and clubs, scantily clad, holding cards of different “services” they could offer. Men would follow us offering us different types of shows in clubs they worked for…selling women like they were nothing more than a puppet.
Bangkok is a huge city for sex trafficking, and it’s pretty unbelievable to see in person.
The first night we were there I walked down one of the main streets and there were at least 50 women sitting on stools along the street just waiting to be bought. Glancing into their eyes, you could see how hollow they really were. Their souls, completely broken, just trying to make it through another night. It is by far one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
Day three of debrief we had the opportunity to go out and minister in the district and it was an experience I will never forget.
I went out with three other people. At first, we wanted to focus on ministering to the John’s, or men who buy the women. So we walked over by the night market/strip clubs and prayed who the Lord wanted us to talk to. We ended up going into one of the “strip clubs” but when we got up there it was just a ton of women standing around basically waiting to be purchased.
Since the John’s were buying time with these women they didn’t really want to talk to us. We looked up, and the women were all dressed in “white blouses”. There were poles all around, but nothing was happening. We weren’t allowed to talk to any of the women without paying, so we asked the manager if any of the girls spoke English. Collectively we decided to pull our money and buy time with one of the women so that we could talk to her and so she didn’t have to work.
That is how we met May.
She was hesitant, unsure of why two women were buying time with her.
First we had to explain to her that we just wanted to talk and wanted nothing in return from her, in the beginning she didn’t understand. Eventually she realized and relaxed and just talked with us.
May is an 18 year old girl who had been working as a prostitute for three years, and she has a story.
May’s mom sent her to Bangkok to get a job to help pay the bills because they had no other means to live. Although she still sends money home and talks to her mom she rarely gets to go home. While talking to May we found out that she would love to go back to school for journalism. The sad part is she feels that’s never an option, and that this is her life. She just has to be content with that.
We asked her why she couldn’t go back to school, besides money, and she said she just can’t. She had no hope for change, this was it for her. Of course while we were talking, her boss was walking by and watching us quite closely.
Then we started asking her if she knew about Jesus. She hadn’t, so we started telling her about Him. We told her all the Lord had done for us and how much He loves her. When we told May that God loves her she started smiling, giggling and saying “He loves me?!” She was bursting with joy once she understood and believed that, and was in so much awe that the God of the universe cared about her.
We told her, “Yes, God loves you so much, you are everything to Him.”
She couldn’t even believe it, but she was so overwhelmed in that moment with the thought that someone could love her, and want nothing in return.
She said she was going to start reading the Bible because she wanted to do research and learn more about Jesus. She said He sounded nice and she wanted more. She let us pray with her but then she had to go as our time ran out. We thanked her for talking to us and asked if we could have lunch with her some time. She said yes and gave us her number so we could meet her at a restaurant over the next couple of days, since my ministry was in Bangkok for the month.
We reached out to her a few times but never heard back from her. I was pretty disappointed at first because I really thought she would meet us and we’d get to talk with her more, get her a Bible, and get her connected with others in Bangkok that could help her. But as I prayed about it the Lord reminded me that it is all in His hands and His time.
The seed has been planted for May. We got to show her that there is someone out there that loves her unconditionally and wants nothing from her in return. We got to show her that she is not alone and that there is more out there. I know in my heart that is not the end of May’s journey with the Lord, but rather the beginning.
