GUYS! I’m in Vietna.m! AND m1nistry is amazing! Also, my team is in a really beautiful spot in learning to love each other well and choose relationship with each other.
But more on that later…
I’d like to share a story with you about an opportunity we got to be part of toward the latter end of our time in Nepal.
In Nepal, Williams family’s m1nistry has SO many different connections. Part of their ministry in working with women is to reach women working in the dance bars. This is what I understand of dance bars in Nepal. Women are sort of paraded in front of men or customers who come in. They are wearing clothes, just not the most modest, obviously. They do some dancing, and they talk to customers when they come in. Eventually, customers get the numbers of the girls and then take them to a hotel or somewhere else where other activities ensue..
Women can resort to this sort of occupation if they lack education or don’t feel they have the skills to have a lucrative trade. The m1nistry’s staff will go to these dance bars and spend time with the girls, which prevents opportunity for men to step in and spend time with the girls, and then they themselves get the numbers if the women discreetly express that they would like to get out of that sort of occupation.
So that’s what my entire squad did one Friday night (the party night of the week) in Kathmandu. We split into teams and went to the dance bars to build relationships and give an opportunity for girls who want to get out to do just that. Going into the ministry, we pr@yer walked down the main street of Kathmandu and asked the L0rd to lead us to which dance bar he wanted our specific teams to go to.
Going in, none of us had any idea of what to expect. We had been briefed on some protocol, but the nerves were real. As we sit down, we are offered menus. The girls try to get customers to buy them alcohol, but we opted for some sodas for ourselves and the two girls that came to sit down with us. They didn’t speak much English, so conversation got a little awkward until the girls started playing games with us and dancing around with us while other girls took their turns on the stage. This felt a little weird. And admittedly, I wondered when the “big stuff” was going to happen!
Like when were we gonna bust out of the dance bars with all the women working there in tow who wanted to leave that lifestyle and accept J3sus on the spot?! It’s funny how I want the big stuff so often and tend to be discontent in the little ways the L0rd is calling us to walk in obedience. The vision cast by the m1nistry staff for our night was to go in and LOVE these women, to get to know them and build relationship and some level of trust. And THEN hopefully and pr@yerfully share with them an opportunity to get out of the dance bars, to take classes and learn job skills so that they can be independent and take care of themselves and respect themselves as women.
Eventually we learned some of the girls’ names and their ages (anywhere from 16-late 20 year olds typically), and we loosened up a bit. This m1nistry here in this environment couldn’t be stiff or cookie cutter. We just danced around and laughed SO hard playing silly Nepali games and teaching dance moves back and forth. We taught the girls to do the Macarena, and they LOVED it! I mean, of course they did because it’s super fun and easy and goes along to any song… We also taught them to “churn butter,” (a dance move our fellow team Ahava Chara taught us.) which admittedly I still haven’t mastered.. haha! There were moments with the girls when we really saw them be themselves and truly enjoy having FUN instead of being given attention because we wanted something from them. We simply wanted to steal away some of their time and give them GOOD attention, to express that they are beautiful and loved by J3sus who made them.
We also saw moments when we stopped dancing or conversation lulled that we saw such weariness in their eyes. When we finally asked the questions like “do you like your job here?” or “do you wish you had a different job?” some girls admitted that they did like it. And I can see the appeal, in a twisted way.. They get attention from guys and get to be made up and dress up and dance and drink and all that, which so meagerly feeds a deeper hunger underneath to be loved and wanted. We just pr@y that those girls will get to the realization of the emptiness of this lifestyle and know there is an opportunity and hope to leave that behind.
For the girls who were so amazingly vulnerable with us to share that they weren’t happy working there, we got their phone numbers to give to our m1nistry hosts to follow up with later. We weren’t proclaiming the G0spel on the tables in the dance bar, but we were loving them as Chr1st loves them–right where they are and right in their need for him. We spent some time actually seeing who they are, expressing that value by taking time to make friends with them, and not asking them to give us anything at all. It is a profound thing to sow seeds like this. I am learning to be humble and trust the L0rd’s sovereignty. I pr@y that these women saw hope and love in our visit with them. If I could have gone every night to these bars to see these girls again, I would have!! I trust the L0rd’s plan for them and pray that they meet J3sus and receive his hope and love, forsaking their pasts and any darkness there for incomparably more beautiful things in this life. Please join me in pr@ying that their eyes are opened to Jesus’ love for them and His desire for them to be His daughters, walking in the purpose he set out for them. The L0rd is pursuing these women and is chasing after them with his furious love! We’re praying that the follow-up with these women is so intentional and that every little interaction and discussion with the ministry team waters the seeds the H0ly Sp1rit is nestling into the soil of their hearts.
J3sus, be seen and exalted and worshiped by these women whom you created to know You!
