At the beginning of our time in Bangkok, January 5th, our team spent time in prayer. Instead of just talking to God, however, we devoted time to listening to him. (Jesus rose from the dead, right? We serve a living God who wants to talk to us – we just aren’t always very good about listening.)
It was on this occasion that God said, “Walk and be with my people. Listen for my voice and be obedient. Pray boldly. Be my hands and feet.” And then, God gave me a word…“Shark.”
I spent the next couple days looking for a shark, but pretty quickly came to the conclusion that my mind had wandered and I’d heard wrong.
On January 8th we met Kelli for the first time. As previously mentioned, she invited us to go with her to the red light district. On the 12th, four women from our team met up with Kelli an hour early to prepare for the evening ahead. She spent time prepping us for what we would experience and gave us a list of things to pray for.
Pray for the women – for protection against violence and disease and against the love of money.
Pray for the men. They are broken and hurting – ruled by lust and seeking love and respect.
Pray for the truth of God’s love to reign – for all to experience it.
Kelli did a great job of preparing us for what we would experience. The lights would be bright. The music loud – and familiar. “Don’t be distracted and start singing along. Keep your eyes open to what is happening and keep your prayers going.”
We took a deep breath and slowly walked in, preparing ourselves for what we were going to see. There were women lining the street, some wearing nothing but a bikini and a number in place of a nametag. Men walked up and down the street, window shopping for their girl of choice. My feelings of anger and disgust were displaced by heartache for God’s children. His little girls and little boys who were lost and desperately desired to be loved.
We stopped at a convenience store in the middle of the street to talk about what was going on. As we did, one interaction in particular caught my attention. One of the prostitutes was very actively trying to attract customers. She would approach them and hang on their shoulders, trying to convince them to go inside. When they didn’t succumb to her beckoning, her demeanor would change and she would stomp away. She successfully pulled an older gentleman aside for a period of time. He never looked at her eyes and she never cared. The communication between them was full of a love of money and a desire to satisfy lust. It became clear that there was no Truth in their interaction.
We continued walking down the street, just two bars left until we stepped out. A girl was sitting in the second to last bar on the right. All four of us girls were drawn to her eyes, full of sadness. We all individually dismissed it as we walked past, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I got when I looked at her. We began to process and suddenly realized that all four of us had been drawn to the same girl.
“Okay,” Kelli said. “Sounds like we need to go talk to her.” Kelli, the only one among us who could speak a lick of Thai, prepared herself for the conversation she would soon be having. The rest of us offered up our prayers.
So, back we went. Back into the lights and the noise with a specific goal in mind – talk to the girl with the sad eyes. As we approached the bar, the girl wasn’t where we had left her. She’d moved positions and her eyes were glued to the mirror – fixated on her appearance. Suddenly I doubted, “No, we are mistaken. This is silly. We aren’t supposed to talk to her.”
And then, I looked up.
And there it was. In huge neon lights. Directly above us.
This is exactly where God wanted us to be. This was exactly the conversation he wanted us to be having.
I began to shake and tear up. One of the girls walked out with me and we stood at the entrance praying for a bit. Praying boldly for the conversation that was happening and for Holy Spirit to reign in that place. We prayed for clarity while we were there – for all earthly and fleshly desires to be gone and for God’s love to speak volumes. My tears subsided, but I continued to shake. “Lord, please give me peace so I can go back in there.” Not two seconds later the shaking stopped and we were able to go back in.
Meanwhile, the others had started a conversation with P (the girl who caught our eye), M (the bar mom), and B (P’s friend). We were terrible for business in the best way possible as we almost completely blocked the entrance. We didn’t understand the conversation happening, but smiled at the girls at every opportunity. Eventually a couple clients entered the bar and the two girls very hesitantly went back to work. However, M continued to talk to us and asked Kelli to teach her English. Kelli accepted, but explained she would teach it through Bible stories. They exchanged phone numbers and we went on our way.
Please pray for Kelli as she continues her relationships with these women. Kelli is connected to ministries that can offer alternate careers and training to these women, but the women have to want to leave. Please pray for P, M and B. Pray for clarity. Pray against the love of money.
Pray for God’s love to conquer all.
