I am sure that you are wondering where on earth I have gone because it has been so long since I have written a blog. Well I am still here in Phuket, Thailand (pronounced POO-KET). We just returned back from a lovely Christmas in Bangkok with the rest of our squad and are ready to continue ministry here. We are ministering in a part of Phuket called Patong, located right on the beach. There is a ton of tourists and worldly entertainment. If you have not read any of my teammate’s blogs, I will give you a little background to what we are doing here…
Have you ever felt as though you are out of options? Have you ever been without much opportunity? Without any money for you or your family? In Thailand, if you are a woman or even a young girl and that is your situation, it is likely that you will become a prostitute. Or a ‘bar girl’ as some people like to call it, trying to cover their eyes to the injustice that is taking place. Many people say, “These girls do this because they want to do it…they like it.” I think maybe if I were naive and unaware this thought could have belonged to me too.
But you cannot sit in any bar on Bangla Road, watching old western men awkwardly talk to and touch young Thai girls who can’t be older than 15 years old and still believe that these girls truly enjoy what they do. I am conviced that they did not wake up one morning and say, “When I grow up, I want to be a bar girl!” No, I am certain that they had dreams and aspirations that they created in their imagination of who they would be and what they would accomplish in life. I am certain of this because they were created by a Dreamer to dream and to imagine what more there is to this life. They are not just bar girls; they are human beings who thought that there was no other option. They have learned how to cover up what they are feeling; they have perfected their masks with crooked smiles and drunken laughter. They are young girls who couldn’t find opportunity (or what they saw as opportunity) anywhere else but in these bars so that they could send money home and not disgrace their family. When you look into their eyes, you can see the despair. It is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
Everyday we hang out with and work with several girls who used to be trapped in the sex industry. They are beautiful, amazing women of God who have been rescued. Some of them have been Christians for a few years and others only a few months. At night, our team goes out to the bars to meet some of the girls who work down there and to make friendships. A few others, including me, have been staying back to intercede for our teammates. Many of my teammates have already made deep relationships with the girls on Bangla Road and our vision and our hope is to show them that they have a choice. We want to tell them that if they do not like what they are doing and don’t want to do it anymore, they can come and work with our Thai friends making jewelry and cookies. If they choose to come, they learn skills to start their own business and they also get introduced to Jesus and discipled if they choose to follow him. A major stronghold that keeps the girls in the bars is the need to make a lot of money to send back to their families. If their hearts are not willing to give up this life and move on to feel good about what they do, they will not take the offer we give them. Please keep these women in your prayers and pray that God would protect them and draw their hearts to him and out of those bars.
It has been amazing to see how God is working with the people of Thailand and also within our teams this month. He is going after the one sheep, rescuing her and giving her a new life. While we know that the sex industry in Southeast Asia is ridiculously big and thousands of girls work just on Bangla Road, we are going after the one. We are keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus because he has written and perfected our faith, giving us vision and hope for the ones we will meet and the ones we will see come out of those bars.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support! I am forever grateful for your generosity and faithfulness. And also for your patience with me and blogging…the internet is not easily available.
I will be working on a video soon to give you more of a perspective of Bangla Road and how God is breaking our hearts for Thailand. I will try to post it as soon as I can.
LOVE YOU ALL!! God Bless.
