Check out my amazing teammates blog about the ministry here in Pattaya, Thailand. Her words are raw. The ministry here is real. I ask myself these questions every time we go to outreach.
Thank you for giving this a read. I hope this gives y’all a better understanding and heart for this city. Please continue to pray for this city, the ministries here, and for my team as we head into our last week.
March 30th… 4am… Walking Street, Pattaya, Thailand
I found myself meandering through the streets at 4am in one of the most known red light districts in Pattaya: Walking Street.
Words can’t be formed to describe the smells, the sights, and the feelings that I had as we walked through the aftermath of another night in the city. Aftermath. That’s exactly what it was. The night before we prayer walked through the same streets around 8:30pm and it was chaos. Graphic images are shoved in your face as you walk through the streets. When you turn your head to avoid these images, you see men, fathers, with their children walking through these same streets. You see men and women overtaken by alcohol and drugs. Ladies are lined up on the edges of the street and in front of their respective bars waiting to be purchased for the night. There is a heaviness in the air.
No description can adequately describe the scene that we have found ourselves in.
Pattaya is often referred to as “The Sex Tourism Capital of the World” or “The Modern Day Sodom and Gomorrah.” You can imagine the company that you quickly find yourself surrounded by when you enter those red light districts.
One of the most trafficked areas in Pattaya is Beach Street. A few years ago, the FBI did some research in this area and found that 9 out of 10 men that walked down Beach Street were there for one reason: to purchase a woman for the night.
As we did a prayer walk down Beach Street around 9pm one night, we found ourselves among over 250 prostitutes and over 400 men. Each time that I saw a man start a conversation with one of them and each time that I saw them walk away together, a sort of righteous anger boils up inside of me. I want to rescue them all and I don’t care if I have to flip tables to do it. And yet, somehow and someway the Lord softens my heart a little more for this place.
Each night that we walk down these streets and through these red light districts, I find myself wondering where God is in the midst of this. In the midst of this slavery. In the midst of the messiness. In the midst of sin. Where is He?
Where is He when I walk through these streets and I am spit on? When graphic images are shoved in my face? Where is He when we are mocked on the pier near Walking Street as we are handing out Bibles to some of the same tourists who are here for the red light districts? Where is He when these women have to go home with guy after guy just so they have the money to sleep on a bed for the night? So that they can send money to their children who they haven’t seen in a while? Where is He?
He’s here. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of God, my Savior, my Creator, my Friend: He too walks these streets. He too has been mocked and spit on for bringing Kingdom. He too has walked through the valley of the shadow of death. He has carried the burdens of each of these women and men that I encountered. He knows where they are. He is there with them. And though these streets are still a mess, though I want to kick down doors and rescue each and everyone, though I feel alone in the crowd of prostitutes, ladyboys and jons, I’m not alone because He already knows.
I’m not the only one fighting. I’m not the only one who sees this mess. I’m not the only one who has been spit on or mocked. I’m not the only one who feels deeply for these people who are trapped.
Before I knew the city of Pattaya, before I found myself in a sea of darkness, before I met the Kingdom bringing people in this city, and before they felt the call to Pattaya Jesus knew.
He knew it all. He sees each one lost in this sea of darkness. He knows more than we can every know.
So because of that, I’m not alone. WE are not alone in this fight against principalities, powers and rulers of the darkness of this world.
And because of that, I don’t care who spits on me, or who mocks me, or what is said to my face because I am always in good company.
He knows. He’s been there. He is still Sovereign. He loves us all: me, you, prostitute, ladyboy, and jon.
So, I trust Him. And you can too.
We are in good company.
