****WARNING****
This blog is rated PG-13 due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. (Yes, I watch too much TV)
So, in my last blog, I mentioned bar ministry but I did not mention the importance of it or why it is ministry. Many of you are probably aware of sex trafficking and how common it is (especially in Asia) and I am going to give you some things I learned as well.
In Chiang Mai, Thailand, there are 5,000 women and children that are trafficked during normal times and that spikes to over 20,000 during the ‘busy season’. In villages, it is common for women to hope to give birth to girls because they can ‘save their family’ if something happens and they need more income. It is a saving grace for them. Also, if a family has all boys, they will choose for one of them (typically the youngest) to become a lady boy where they dress them and treat them as if they were a girl which can commonly cause identity issues later for them.
Prior to the World Race, I knew a tiny bit about sex trafficking and I had watched some specials about it on MSNBC but it was not real to me. It was just like everything else I saw. Like Law and Order or scary movies. There is no way that someone would really go out and kidnap women and sell them. Or even worse, sell their own kids so they don’t have to work and they can live comfortably.
Poor Niave Brittany!
I remember walking the streets of Manila the month before and seeing women dressed in scandalous clothing standing outside of bars. I heard and saw the way they talked to the tourists walking by and at first felt weird about how open prostitution is here. Then I learned that most if not all of the women were not there by choice. This was the same in Chiang Mai as well.
Before we went out at night, we were required to do a prayer walk around the bars. During my first prayer walk, I saw a group of men, probably close in age to me, that were hanging out waiting for the bars to open. This disgusted me. I wondered if they knew what they were doing which I’m sure they did. But that wasn’t even the worst. I went out for my first night of ministry and I am sitting with a girl I just met and out of the corner of my eye I see a girl in her early twenties that was with a man three times her age. Easily could have been old enough to be her grandfather and I got pissed.
I maintained my cool for a few minutes until our conversation was over then I walked out of the bar to the alley way. I looked at my friend and questioned if I could do this. I was angry and overwhelmed, I was sad for her and for him. From then on, whenever I saw an American on bar street, I assumed the worst and changed the way I looked at them. I was being judgmental.
I treated them with so much hate from a distance and I really had to seek the Lord in this. I was talking to one of my teammates about it and they really gave me insight about how to move forward. We talked about loving the least of these and how the men in the bars need the love of Christ just like everyone else. That they were lost sheep just like I am. It was so humbling.
I am used to walking into a bar and seeing my favorite bartenders (Autumn and India, shout out from Asia) and grabbing a drink and hanging out with friends. Seeing people around me dancing and having fun. But it was a different story here in Chiang Mai. The women I met were not happy to be there like Autumn and India and they often times weren’t treated like women at all. The men there were lost and searching for a quick get-away from whatever reality they were facing. And all of it was happening right before my eyes.
That month, my team and I prayed to be a light in such a dark place and I am confident we succeeded. Did we shut down bars and give new jobs to everyone? No. Did we make everyone believe in Jesus right away from our first conversation? No. But we did love them. We loved me women and the men. We told them that they have value and that they are loved.
I cannot save the world in one month and honestly, I am not here to. I wish so hard that I could but I am trying my best to obey the Lord in what he is saying. I am following where he is leading and carrying my light to the ends of the Earth until he tells me to stop. Please pray for the ladies I met, they are beautiful and wonderful and I truly miss them but I know the Lord has a plan for them just like he has a plan for me!!
