If you know me, you know I love Asia; being in Thailand is such a dream! Not as much as going to South Korea will be one day, but I love Thailand!
This whole month, all 37 of us are staying together in a hostel owned by previous racers in the city of Chiang Mai. Although the whole squad is together, each team goes out and does different assignments throughout the week, but for the most part, it’s the same. We all have ATL as our ministry, which is just going out to the city and “Asking The Lord” to show us what He wants us to do. It’s been really cool just being able to walk around the city on our own and meet new people and share God with them. We’ve met people from all over and who all have different stories. It’s beautiful when the squad gets together and shares how God is moving through them to change others’ lives.
On top of that, some teams are doing construction three days out of the week and others are working with an organization that takes care of children while their parents are out working.
My team goes out Thursday nights to this specific strip that has bars and tons of massage parlors that offer other “services”. The six of us pair up and go out to do prayer walks up and down this street and start conversations with many of the women there.
If I hadn’t known p’stituti0n was a big thing on that road, I would have never known it was happening. The road just seems like a normal tourist spot with many families walking through and people dinning out and unless you really focus on what’s happening, you would never notice what’s actually happening. Not only do you notice these girls throwing themselves onto every guy they see walk by, but you also notice how broken they are and how much more you want to show them God’s love and speak truth over them. Many of the women may have been sold into that life style and now they themselves chose to continue in it because it is their source of income, while other chose to go into that lifestyle on their own. As long as they bring in some sort of income, they won’t bring shame to their family. What’s even more heartbreaking is many of them are men who decide to turn into women just because women make more money, claiming the term, “lady-boy”.
This past week, another team was able to join in on what my team does on Thursday nights and they were able to have conversations with some of the women. A few of my squad mates asked the women what their dream was and they couldn’t answer the question unless it tied back to what they do at the bars. Their thinking is so wrapped around selling their body that they have no other dreams outside of that. That’s why prayer is so important every time we walk through that street. We want them to see their true worth and just experience freedom and the true love of God. It’s been so sweet to be able to come together as a squad and intercede for all those women and men who are seeking for something more and coming up short.
We know God is not done in this city and He will move those mountains just to get to them. I hope you can also pray with my squad and I for all the people here in Chiang Mai and just for them to encounter God and be set free in Him.
