I hope this letter finds you well, that your Christmas shopping is
almost finished, and the crisp winter weather is to your liking. I hope
the nights are filled with hot chocolate and warm beds. I hope you are
surrounded by your friends and family. Tonight I hope you are loved.
Tonight I am riding in the back of a truck through Chang Mai, Thailand.
It is a warm and humid 65 degrees and there is the delicious smell of
spices in the air. It is going to be a long night and I won’t get to bed
until 2 or 3 am (that’s about noon in California), but this is what you
may not know about tonight.

Tonight 20,000 – 30,000 street
children are impoverished, hungry and in danger of being exploited on
the streets of Bangkok, Pattaya and Chiang Mai.

Tonight
girls, age 13-15, who were sold to pimps by their parents for 5,000 –
10,000 baht ($160- $325), are working in bars and brothels of Chang Mai.

Tonight
a rural family will eat thanks to the 300 million dollars transferred
yearly by women engaged in prostitution in urban areas.

Tonight
18-20% of all Thai women aged 18-30 are in sexual slavery

Tonight
the streets are walked by men who sell sex because it is the only work
they know, the work they have been doing since they were children.

Tonight
the industry is booming and 2.8 million sex workers, including 800,000
minors under the age of 18 are available for purchase in Thailand.

This
past weekend over 1 million people changed their face book profile
pictures to favorite childhood cartoons to combat child abuse. Over 1
million people were willing to take the time to change their profile to
voice an opinion that child abuse is not acceptable. What if they were
willing to do more? What if those 1million people descended on Thailand
and outnumbered the 500,000 foreign tourists who buy women and children
for prostitution every year, 2 to 1? What if each one of those 1 million
people took personal interest a woman or child trapped in Thailand’s
sex industry and showed them real love? What if?

I can’t stop sex
tourism, I can’t deliver a crushing blow to the sex industry or end
human trafficking. What I can do is buy a woman or child for the evening
and keep them from having to do sex work that night. I can talk to them
about the foundations and the resources available to help them out of
trap of the sex industry. I can become their friend and let them know
not everyone in the world wants to use them… I can’t do these things if I
am not here.

At the moment there are 43 June 2010 world racers
in Thailand. We are working with orphans, street kids and sex workers.
We are building houses, doing out reach, making friends and even picking
up trash. We have spent the last six months and hope to spend the next
five (11 total) working with existing ministries in Europe, Africa,
Asia and Central America to bring the Love and the word of God to the
people. On December 15th,the final support goal for the world race
requires each of us to have $14,300 donated or pledged to continue on
the race, without it we will be forced to abandon our work and have to
return home to the U.S. There are currently 11 racers in danger of
leaving the field. 11 racers! That’s 11 friends, 11 pairs of hands and
feet, 11 smiling faces, 11 people doing the work and giving the love
that you want to. I know finances are tight, I know Christmas is coming
and there are so many things to do and to buy, I know I am asking a lot
but if I don’t ask you can’t help.

Below is a link for each at
risk racer and the amount they need to raise in the next 7 days, take a
little time (maybe the amount it would take to change a profile picture)
and read our blogs, read about what we have been doing, what we have
been learning and who we are becoming and if you feel moved to help
please pick a racer and commit to make a one time or monthly (for the
next 5 months) donation to support their mission.

James:2-14-17
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does
not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and
destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace,
be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead.

Tom and Casey Kowatch, Colorado
-$4,446
http://www.thomasandcaseykowatch.theworldrace.org
Rachelle Uribe, California-$3,575
http://www.rachelleuribe.theworldrace.org
Lili Mejia, Texas-
$2,515
http://www.lilimejia.theworldrace.org
Anna Matthews, South Carolina- $2,100
http://www.annamatthews.theworldrace.org
Kris Tippett,
Maryland- $2,088
http://www.kristippett.theworldrace.org
Carrie Campbell, Florida- $2,000
http://www.carriecampbell.theworldrace.org
Nathan Salley,
Colorado- $1,800
http://www.nathansalley.theworldrace.org
Garrett McNeill, North Carolina- $1,500
http://www.garrettmcneill.theworldrace.org
Dan
Montenegro, Texas- $400
http://www.danielmontenegro.theworldrace.org
Sarah Hogan, Oklahoma- $390
http://www.sarahhogan.theworldrace.org

The
Lord has called us to this and I have no doubt He will provide the
finances necessary for His will to be accomplished. We are inviting you
to partner with us, with God in the work he is doing in Thailand,
Cambodia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and wherever else He sends our squad.

Thank
you for reading, may God bless and keep you!

Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year