I have been super struggling to write blogs the past couple of months. It has not been due to lack of material. The Lord has been working like crazy in, through and around me. I have tried to write a blog for Thailand like 15-20 times and I keep stopping after two paragraphs. Maybe this one will be different!
Thailand was amazing. I worked with an organization called Lighthouse in Action in Chiang Mai. This organization was founded by a wonderful Thai woman named Emmi. My team’s job while we were there was to partner with Emmi at her cafe and to reach out to women in the bars in the red light district. This was probably one of the most wonderful months of my life.
The many of the women that we worked with at Emmi’s cafe had been tricked or coerced into prostitution and Emmi had offered them a way out. These women won my heart the first week that I was there. I think I won theirs too. I was unafraid to be super silly in order to communicate and learn new Thai words. Because of that I was able to make even the most stern or shy cafe workers laugh by the middle of the week. They all called me Christina Aguilera in their wonderful Thai accents because that is the only Christina that they had heard of. We laughed, we bonded and we loved each other. Who know washing dishes and sweeping could be so much fun?!
The next week my team and I went out to do bar ministry. This was the ministry that I was most excited about. I switched my route from the all Spanish route to the one I am on because I wanted to work with people in human trafficking. This was my first opportunity! I was walking in some new found freedom that allowed me to be exactly who God created me to be and so walking into the bars and talking with men and women was effortless. I got to be silly and social and met new people every day! Throughout the week, I would ask the women if they liked their job and many of them would answer “Its okay” or a few brave ones would look over their shoulder to see where there boss was and reply “No, not much.” Most of the women were providing for children or elderly family members and did not know of any other options. The bar that I felt the most attachment to early on was called Full Moon Bar. I met three women that I developed relationships with. I cannot say their names to protect their privacy, but they were wonderful. Two of them would leave the men they were “entertaining” whenever I visited just to hug me and kiss me on the cheek. They were always so happy to see me. When I would visit with my squad mates, we would always tell them they were beautiful and that we love them. We asked for nothing in return from them. I think that this meant a lot to them because they are always being “bought” and had to let men grab all over them. There are times when they go into a back room with the men, which completely breaks my heart. But in the brief times that I spent with them they were always so happy to just play Jenga with me and laugh at my bad Thai and hear that they are loved.
Two of the girls met me and my squadmate, Madison, for coffee. I brought them to the cafe that I had worked the week before so that they could begin a relationship with Emmi. While there we had such a good time. They asked me about my tattoos which is always a perfect transition into telling people about Jesus. I explained my “Beloved” tattoo as best as I could and used google translate. And to my astonishment, one of the girls started explaining to the other girl, in Thai, who Jesus was. She pointed to her hands and then spread them wide to demonstrate His death on the cross. I nearly screamed! I rapidly typed “Are you a Christian?” into google translate. And She said that she was!! I was blown away!! The other girl was Buddhist, along with 99% of the Thai people. But she had just heard about Jesus for the first time and I got to have front row seats.
God is working in Thailand and He doesn’t need us, but He let me be a part of it anyways. Towards the end of the month we had a big party and we invited many of the women that worked at the bars we visited. I invited my 3 friends, as well as their boss. I was so excited when they said they would come!! I stopped by the bight before to remind them. I told them we would have manicures and pedicures and a photo booth and they all seemed super excited. The party was set to start at 1 pm on a Friday, way before the bars would open. As 1 pm, rolled around they did not come. I had stationed myself outside of the cafe to wait for them and to pray. And pray I did, for 4 hours straight I prayed for these women. At around 3 I checked by their bar to see if the boss had opened the door yet and she had not, so I went back and prayed some more. While praying I was struck so deeply by Christ’s love for them and His desire for them to know Him that I just began weeping. He wants them to know their worth so badly. They are so so precious to Him. So there I was sobbing outside the cafe and some of my squadmates came and checked on me. I was okay, I was keeping my hope alive that they would come until the very last moment.
The party ended at 5pm and none of the girls I had met came. There were about 6 women who did come and I know that the Lord is working in their hearts. I was slightly devastated by them not coming. I wanted to go see them, but I didn’t want them to think I was mad at them for not coming. We only had a few days left before we were moving on to Cambodia, but for some reason I was scared to go see them at their bar. The closer I had gotten to them, the harder it was for me to see them “work”. I kept wanting to yell at the men “Don’t freaking touch her, she is my friend,” or say to the girls “Sister, you are more precious than rubies, don’t you know your worth?” Our schedule was busy the last couple of days, but I made sure that I went to say goodbye on our last night there. When I arrived at the bar only one of the girls that I had gotten close with was there and the other 2 were not. She told me that they were out getting work permits and they would not be back until the next day, when I would leave the country. So I quickly scribbled down my name and told her to tell them I loved them both very much and to find me on Facebook. And I hugged her goodbye through my tears and left.
I have not heard from any of them since. This has been super tough, but not wasted. I have been praying hard for their salvation and that they would know their worth. I will continue to pray for them and I asked that you will too. These women are important, so important. God sees them and loves them so deeply. He imparted a fraction of His love for them into me and hopefully I have shared some of that with you!
Pray that the Lord would tear down the red light district in Chiang Mai and in its place build up His church and His people and that they would all come to know their worth in His eyes!
