We’re in Thailand, and just in time for the Songkran festival! Songkran is essentially the Thai new year, and they celebrate it by “washing the Buddha” which pretty much consists of washing everyone else in the process. Literally, EVERYONE stands on the side of the road with water guns or buckets and douses anyone that walks by. The entire country does this.
I did not realize the seriousness of the situation when our contact Bethsaida told us to prepare to get wet. I thought she meant get wet, not be drenched from head to toe from the second you walk out your door to the second you re-enter it. We found this out the hard way our second day of ministry. My teammates Travis, Caitlin, and I were headed out to bar street during the day to see if we could connect with any girls who went in early to set up for the night. To be fair, we got several blocks before the worst of it hit. I can honestly say I have never been more wet in my entire life. We connected with a girl named Gop who shielded us in her bar for a while and gave us our first weapon to defend ourselves (a lovely water gun shaped like a cat’s head). Her bar is rather out of the way, so we were able to be a bit stealthy at first. In the end though, Gop actually whipped out a huge water hose, and we got sabotaged by another team that snuck up on us. It was the best day of ministry I have ever had, and I am sad to say that, due to obvious reasons, my pictures of said event are limited.
Yesterday we were able to see the fun side of this, the families out in front of their stores throwing water together, the youth riding around in trucks dousing foreigners with an “I’m sorry” on their lips, the little girls with ladybug water guns chasing you. It was wonderful to see the girls laughing and just being able to be girls and have such simple fun. However, today, while walking through the Tapae gate section for the first time, we saw a different side.
As I mentioned before, the entire country does this, but Chiang Mai is a hot spot. Many foreigners and vacationers come to Chiang Mai during Songkran because the environment around bar street and the Tapae gate area is very much like spring break. Not only are there tons of westerners, but for about a three block radius the traffic is rerouted and there is live music, foam machines, and many girls being paid to dance. The bars where the girls “work” actually get busier significantly later than usual because all of the visiting westerners get drunk during the daytime and go home to sleep it off for a few hours before returning.
You see, the Red Light district in Thailand is made up of many bars where the girls “work.” Here in Chiang Mai, it is mainly one road with over 70 bars. My team, along with two other teams on our squad and one team on another squad, will be going into those bars at night, building relationships with the women and showing them the love of Jesus with no strings attached.
With the influx of “customers” Songkran brings, it is even more difficult than usual. There is so much darkness, but there is also so much hope. I looked at Gop today and saw the child w
ithin her, the little girl that just wants to know her Father sees her as beautiful and precious. Please pray for these women, they are so broken. Please pray that they would see the love of Jesus in us and know hope; that He would draw them in. Pray for these “Johns”, the men that come here living double lives who are trying to fill the void in their lives with all the wrong things. Please pray for the children on these streets, the ones who have mothers, aunts, sisters caught up in this world, who are so hardened by what they see. And please pray for us, that we would listen to the Spirit of God and go where He would have us go, speak the words that He would have us speak. There is no way we can really be the light in this darkness without being firmly grounded in Him.
(pic 1 – the craziness of the water festival on bar street. pic 2 – Travis with our fist weapon. pic 3 – Caitlin, Travis and I in front of the Thai kick boxing, having survived the ambush)
