I think
I have officially had my best Valentines day ever. Yes, I know BOLD statement. So how does one celebrate the day of love
without that “special someone”. Well,
our teams mostly (Elle Mitchell) planned and put on an awesome dinner for our
new found friends of the month. Our
desire was just to show the women and ladyboys we have met, that God loves
them, no strings attached. We wanted to
just lavish them with love and acceptance and we just happened to be able to do
it Valentines day.
We
planned to have our party at a coffee shop where we had food catered in from a
Thai restaurant. Little hearts and flowers covered our venue. Party gifts were purchased for our
attendees. The scene was set but we were
still unsure if any of our invited friends would be able to come. Many of the people we have met have late
nights and didn’t think they could make it because they would most likely be
sleeping well into the afternoon. Others,
although they wanted to attend had been bought for several days by a customer
so they couldn’t. So as the party time
approached we didn’t know if it would be just our teams having an amazing feast
of Thai food on Valentines day.
Thankfully,
we were able to share our feast with four of our new Thai friends and some of
the YWAM team that is working at the coffee shop. So let me just share some of the comments
made by our friends. Two women from a
bar Anna has been visiting this month said “I have never been to a party like
this” They kept thanking Anna for inviting them and they mentioned how they saw
how our teams interacted and liked the way loved and respected each other. Jen and Sydney had built relationships with
several of the ladyboy prostitutes on the main bar street. Two of them attended our party. They thanked Jen and Syd for inviting them
and said “thank you for inviting us and treating us like people, most people
don’t even see us or act like we aren’t human” Talk about being real with
us!
I am so
thankful for the Lord for His grace and mercy.
I have learned some powerful things this month. I have learned that God is bigger than sin
and that it is my job to love not judge.
Jesus loved being with the sinner because His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. No matter where we are
Jesus just loves to be in relationship with us.
His heart is passionate for even the one sheep that goes astray and so
our hearts should be too.
Here are some pics of our nights out this month…
Me with all the Mai’s (all of them are named Mai) at our Same Same but Different bar
Me and Tyler with Mai # 1.
Tyler getting ready to kick my butt in pool…I have yet to win but my time will come, I have made him nervous a time or two.
