This blog was written by one of my girls, Lindsay Fox, while we were in Pattaya, Thailand last week working in the bars with the women in the sex tourism industry. It is an incredible story of why we are here, why we let God move us to brokenness over these men and women, and how there really is hope.
the English class, which was also our last class to help out with. As
the girls filtered in I saw a new face in the crowd and I realized it
was a lady that I had talked to a couple nights before in the bar as
she was working – Her name is Put. I invited her to come to class just
like I had with many other girls, and she actually decided to show up!
It was so amazing to see her there, and the feeling it gave me was just
indescribable. She told me (in very broken English) that all of us
women were beautiful inside and out and she could see there was
something different about us. She asked if I would be there for class
on Thursday and I had to tell her no, we were leaving to go back to
Bangkok. Her eyes welled up with tears and she pulled a ring off one of
her fingers and put it on mine and asked that I please don’t forget
her… I told her that was not possible and I loved her and God loved
her, then we hugged and parted. I am terrible at goodbyes, and that was
one of the hardest I’ve ever had to go through… or so I thought.
That night we went out again for the last time
to talk to the ladies working the streets and the bars. We headed out
at about 6 pm… usually at that time the girls are putting on their
make-up and still primping themselves and not too distracted by trying
to catch men yet. I was paired up with a Thai girl who had just become
a Christian 6 months ago, and we set off to a bar across the street.
Apparently this was the bar that Sage and Jordan sat outside of and ate
ice cream and felt compelled to pray over the other day, but I didn’t
know that at the time. Anyways, we went in there, walked up and down
the huge aisle and finally sat down at one of the bars in the middle.
We started talking with one of the bartenders named Sip (pronounced
Seep) and before I knew it she was in tears. She hated her job, she
hated selling herself to men, she hated her boss. She had heard about
God before but always felt like He had no reason to forgive her or love
her after all she had done – she had even heard about the Tamar Center
and tried to call them about going to church but somehow was never able
to get a hold of anyone. She wanted out of her lifestyle but didn’t
know how to get away – she owed her boss money and was afraid to leave,
and had nowhere to go but back to his place at night. I told her some
of my story and let her know that there’s nothing a person can do that
is past the point of God loving them. My partner translated the parts
she couldn’t understand, and then all of a sudden they began talking a
million miles per hour in Thai… I just sat there, smiling and
nodding… not really knowing what was going on.
After about 5 minutes of that, my partner looked at me and asked “do
you think we should have her come with us now?” and I felt my stomach
flip. I replied YES, and so we asked her if she would come with us
before her night of work started- that we’d find a way to pay her boss
back, and that we had a safe place for her to stay. She anxiously
looked around, and then nodded to us. She said goodbye to the girls she
was working with, grabbed her purse, and walked out with us. Talk about
guts!!
Before I knew it she was swept away
by the ladies in charge at the Tamar Center, but not without her asking
if she would see me later this week… I had to tell her no. She asked
me when she’s going to see me again – I couldn’t think, and so I just
said I didn’t know. She hugged me and half stated, half asked “in heaven?” and I sort of laughed and cried and said of course. Then she was whisked away into the crowd, and that was it…
It’s going to be so hard to leave here tomorrow
morning. I know my teammates and I have made a big impact on the lives
of these women, but that doesn’t make it any easier to leave. These
women have touched my heart just as much as I have theirs… and these
past few weeks are ones I will hold on to for the rest of my life.
