One of the reasons I decided this route was for the bar ministry. Although I didn’t have that for any of my 3 Asian countries, I am still grateful for one night. I received so many prayers after my last minute post on Facebook so I thought I would update you what we experienced!
In my group of 4 was my squad mentor Teresa, Alicia and Kimmy.
We headed out from the van first ran into a man next to 7-11 with a sign asking for money. The strange thing was that he was Caucasian and had an American accent. We walked by and Teresa heard him say “YWAM’ers are so nice” (youth with a mission) and she stopped to talk to him. She said ” what did you say?” He shook his head. Then she asked him name and he shook his head again. After we left, Teresa explained it may be demonic possession because of the comment he said and how he wouldn’t speak to us after that. That was the first eye opener of the darkness in this area.
We walked down a little further and found a fortune teller. We sat down on the side walk and started talking. Teresa asked her if she knows where she goes after she dies since she can tell the future? She said she was Christian, but she had Buddhist necklaces on. We explained that telling the future is not something God wants us to do, because he wants other to go to Him to hear the future He has for them. She had a bible, and told us that Jesus told the future many times which means she can. She then used scripture to tell us why she can do sorcery. Satan also twisted God’s word to convince Eve to commit sin.
All of us prayed to God and asked what He wants to tell her. I saw a lighthouse… which didn’t make sense to me. Kimmy then said that God wants her to choose 1 God to serve, but she has to make the choice. Then, my vision all made sense!
God is the 1 true light… lighthouses only have one big light and are created to search out lost people. God is the light that find us and saves us when we are lost.
She listened, but didn’t seem like she was taking in the truth. I could tell that other Christians had come before us, but I know we are planting more seeds.
As we got closer to the bars, we came across many men with brochures for shows… the names were Soo degrading and disgusting. We would tell them no, that is bad for the girls and ask them if they know Jesus. They would usually turn us away and tell us to go if we don’t want to buy the show of the women. Many Argued that Buddha is better, yet Buddha wouldn’t agree with the way these women are used either! We could see the conviction though running all over them.
We found the alley of bars and brothels. Our group literally just walked up to them and started talking! It was hard because they hardly spoke any English. They were so young looking. They said ages in their 20’s, but we think they would told to say those ages.
One of the madams (female pimps) came up to see what we wanted. We asked if she would translate but she said no. She kept saying we’re all Buddhist, no change. We kept telling them about Jesus and how much he loves them. This part was all sort of a blur to me. It was Chinese New Year so fireworks and music everywhere, 2 pimps trying to talk to me, I was trying to stay focused on the women and all the while listen to God! It was crazy…
So one of the madams told me if we want to talk, pay 300 baht ($8) and I can talk with them for an hour. We only had 30 min to be back to the van but I so desired to pour into one woman. Long story shorter… we go up the elevator and they double the price. I didn’t even have that much on me. BUT while they were talking to my group about prices, I was talking to the women! The Language barrier was so hard, but I was able to ask them their age, where they are from, and their names.
We were sent back down once they could see we weren’t going to pay. Alicia was able to share the gospel to the madame who agreed to translate for us in the end. We could see her heart softening for us throughout the time she was with us. We prayed for her & spoke truth over her.
On a curb we found a women and her baby. She looked maybe 16, and the baby was probably 1. I have a HUGE heart for moms and babies. We stopped to talk to her, but she said no words. Her eyes spoke for her though. They were so innocent and helpless. I feel that she understood us, but was not allowed to talk because of someone watching her. Although I’m not 100% sure, I believe that she was forced to collect money for someone else, possibly for someone that owns her. This showed me there are many types of slavery in this world.
Here are some other stories by girls who went with us!
3 of our girls bought 3 women. They talked with them about their lives and they like to do. Our members sought to understand them better and asked about how they got into prostitution.
The women said that it’s better money than anywhere else. Thailand economy is terrible which is one of the reasons it’s the highest country for prostitution and sex trafficking. The crazy thing is this… the girls get 500 Baht ($13) A NIGHT, yet for one person for 1 hour… it was 600 Baht. If a girl has 10 customers in a night, that’s 6,000 Baht… but they still only get 500.
One of the girls works at cold stone creamery in the day. I don’t know why but this surprised me!
The girls who spend an hour with the women talked, sang karaoke and ate snacks. We can’t help them find a better life in one night, but we did save them one hour from selling their bodies for money. Instead they just hung out with world racers and got paid for it!
This was quite an experience for my first time at bar ministry. I wish I could just show the girls that there is a better way… but I know there will be others who come in after us.
Thanks for all the prayers for my team and me!
