As our second month of The World Race was approaching, we began to pray for our time in Thailand. We knew we wouldn’t find out exactly where we’d be, or how we’d be serving, until shortly before traveling there. From others’ stories, however, I knew one possibility would be doing bar ministry in the RLD (think Ludacris circa 2004). This thought weighed heavily on me since it is not a light environment and just the thought of being in that darkness started to break my heart. Turns out that the Lord chose our team to partner with this ministry though. He prepared us and trusted us to serve alongside the long-term team in Chiang Mai to love the women working at the bars just as Jesus does.
While we were learning more about the culture of Thailand, we were told that of the customers that go to bars for additional “services” that women offer, only 2% are Westerners and 3% are other Asian tourists, while approximately 95% are local Thai. It is something so engrained within their local culture that about 80% of men have sought this entertainment at some point in their lives, commonly with their own father as soon as they hit puberty. Another eye opening moment was learning about the honor that these women bring to their families. As a result of the income they contribute to their homes, they receive far more honor than any “dishonor” for the type of work they are doing. As I tried to wrap my mind around this concept, I both praised God and prayed to God for education and employment opportunities.
The first night we went out on Loi Kroh, the street where bar ministry takes place, we had a prayer and worship session to first get our hearts and minds in a good place. We prayed to have the eye lens of God so we could see what He sees from His perspective. Little did I know, the magnitude to how God would respond to this request. As we turned on to Loi Kroh, I did not know where to begin praying as I saw broken relationships, hungry children, illness, brokenness, emptiness, and so much more. These observations came from far beyond just the women working at the bars and their clients. The whole street seemed overwhelming to me although I’m sure it wouldn’t have hit me that hard if I hadn’t actually prayed to see through the eye lens of God. That is what I prayed though, and I couldn’t help but think that this is how He sees our broken world here on Earth. It hit me, however, that this was just one street in one city and that He sees much more than this each and every day.
The second night we prepared to go out, my prayers focused on the different chains that hold people back from knowing the full love of God. Whether it is bondage to drugs or alcohol, loneliness, temptation, lust, comparison, gossip, guilt, or anything else. I prayed that we may lay these chains at the feet of Jesus so His strength can release them & set them free! We also continued to pray to have the eye lens of God and this week I saw more love & light than darkness & brokenness. For one, I saw multiple people having conversations with the homeless and bringing them back bottled water. It struck me that in the course of just one week, I saw this change through the eyes of God. What hope for our prayers for light to continue to cover darkness on the street of Loi Kroh, in Chiang Mai, in Thailand, and throughout the world.
Another night, our team stayed back at our hostel to pray and intercede for different teams that were going out to Loi Kroh. We continued to worship and at one point began to declare things out loud. We praised God that He had already gone before our squadmates that night, we declared that the past was in the past, we declared new brothers and sisters in Christ, and so much more! Among these truths, I also praised God that our Friday night was different than others’. It brought so much joy to realize that I was with a group of girls singing and dancing for the Lord on a Friday night, when that was not how my Friday nights usually looked like in the past. My how far we can come if we let Him lead us. As the other teams got back, one of my squadmates Jenny shared that she saw a bumper sticker on a streetlight that said Jesus. After praying for continual progress, I couldn’t help but think that Jesus’ name on that bumper sticker represented the source of light to the street.
The last night we went out to Loi Kroh, we began walking on the other side of the street than we normally do. I noticed various vendors along the sidewalk and praised God that employment opportunities other than working at a bar existed. I also felt a light rain for the first time and knew once again that God gave me his eye lens and that He was weeping over the street. I began to pray knowing that because of the sin of man, He caused a great flood, and I asked that He may bring a flood again. Not necessarily a physical flood even, but possibly a spiritual one, as more people may come to know Him and that fellow believers can fill up the city of Chiang Mai. As we walked along the street we ended up talking to a woman at one of the bars who was telling us that she also worked at a farm in her hometown 4 hours away. She said she was scared of her job at the bar since she knows women who have been killed by their clients. She claimed that this happens about every 5 years in Chiang Mai. This broke my heart as I began to pray that her farm job may be sufficient enough for her not to have to work at the bar anymore. As she was talking with us, she looked at some of the men walking by and said she wasn’t “lucky” tonight. I replied “well we love you” while secretly praising God that we could have served as some sort of potential distraction from a client for the night. As we were leaving I asked if they knew what the image of the bar logo meant. It was the shape of a hand forming “I love you” in sign language and I was eager to them “I love you”, “Jesus loves you”. That is that last thing I said to them before heading back to our hostel to debrief our night. Once we got back I sat by a squadmate who happened to have a similar image of the bar logo on her phone. Instead of a bar name and address, however, it was circled with words that read “Lover and Fighter”. This turned into my prayer for the women who work on Loi Kroh. That they all may be a “Lover and Fighter” for the Lord. It is my prayer that the RLD may become God’s Light District.
Our last few nights in Chiang Mai, God intentionally included us to be a part of the Ye Peng Lantern Festival. It is Buddhist tradition to make a wish when you release a lantern into the sky. However, instead of making a wish, I said a prayer. I said a prayer to Jesus that His light would take over the city of Chiang Mai and that its people may grow to know Him. It is my prayer that the words of Revelation 21:23 may be said of Chiang Mai too, that “the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” May this be our hope as the lyrics of Chris Tomlin, who wrote “God of this City” for another RLD in Thailand, remind us that greater things have yet to come!
