About a week ago, I saw my friend Curt Devine’s Facebook status saying that his squad was located in Phuket, Thailand this month. I got so excited and contacted him immediately. Curt is a friend from back home in Florida. We got in touch and made plans to hang out this Saturday night (Dec. 18th).
This month, their ministry consists of going to Bangala Road, where there are hundreds of bars and clubs that cater to prostitution, strip clubs, and the like. It is a very dark place. Drugs and alcohol are rampant, single and married men are thirsty for women to fill their voids for the night, tourists and families (with YOUNG children) wander the streets as if the environment is normal, women and men are selling themselves because they make 4 times the amount a month than they would working anywhere else, and hopelessness, despair and worthlessness flooded the area.
Curt ended up befriending a local bar owner and they invited them to play worship music there. In the midst of this chaos, Coyote Bar became a safe-haven, a beacon of light. Kingdom showed up and peace surrounded the bar. Women who have been befriended by those on R squad as well as locals and tourists, showed up throughout the night to listen to the band play praises of who our God is. It was incredible! Despite the sorrow that I felt, Jesus reminded me that Bangala Road is His; that He is the God of this city. Here are pictures from the night. Hope you enjoy them…
Jen, Anna, me, Alissa and Lili before we headed out to Bangala Road in Phuket.
We met Curt and his squad at SHE (Self Help and Empowerment) where they are working this month. The ministry focuses on going out to the bars and creating relationships with the women working there. They then invite them over to the facility to hang out and show them the SHE is a place where the girls can come and get out of that lifestyle by providing them employment, vocational training and counseling. To read more about it, check outhttp://www.shethailand.org.
In one of the rooms in the facility, there is a prayer wall. They have the names of all the women they have met and who they are praying for. There is also a map of all the bars just off of ONE road- it was shocking and heartbreaking.
Turning onto Bangala Road.
There are signs like this all over, enticing men and women so that they would come and know what they were getting when going into a bar or club.
This is the bar where Curt and a few of his squad-mates played worship for about two hours.
the band.
Curt and I. Check out his blog to read about his journey http://www.curtdevine.theworldrace.org.
They were awesome!
me, Jen, Bethany and Alissa at the bar. Bethany is also on R squad- follow her at http://www.bethanydragon.theworldrace.org.
This is Lexi. She works at Coyote Bar. I was talking to her about how grateful I was for her to allow us to come and sing here. She was saying how every night she maybe gets one or two customers but when we come her business does so well. She also said that there was a peace when we are there and that she wanted us back there every night : )
Everywhere you turn you see this going on…
There were people filming a documentary about Bangala Road.
There are girls dancing on the bars all over the place.
These group of women were outside a bar trying to get anyone they could to come in. That one girl in the middle was begging for customers.
I break for these women…
The look in this girls eyes crushed me.
These are lady boys. There are tons of them all over the streets.
Please keep Bangala Road in your prayers; that Kingdom would reign on this road, in these bars and clubs, and in the lives of everyone who visits and works there. I saw a piece of Kingdom come and it was absolutely beautiful.
Love, Logan.
