Month 8.
Thailand.
The month of Thailand was one of my favorite months of ministry thus far. 🙂 Yes, I played with tigers (not sedated), rode elephants, and ate at least 1 mango a day…
…but there was so much more.
We worked with an organization called Lighthouse In Action. (http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/) This ministry has a 3 part vision of a cafe, bar, and village outreach. My team focused its time during the day in the Cafe, and at night in the Chiang Mai red light district.
I was broken, as usual it seems.
“During tourist ‘high season’ every November to March, the numbers can swell to nearly 25,000 prostitutes as visitors crowd Chiang Mai’s bars, nightclubs, massage parlors, or karaoke bars.”
Our job was to love and serve this month. We would go and meet the girls working at the bars during the evening, play pool with them, sit and talk, laugh,–and then go back the next day. Then, after some time, we’d invite them to the cafe where we’d buy them a smoothie, listen, and be Jesus.
I made friends with people deemed often as ‘dirty’ or ‘desperate.’ I listened to stories where I sat in a daze, and wondered why.
And I learned how deep and how dark this world can truly be.
But I was reminded of HOPE.
I had to believe that we served a God who was the rescuer of pain and holder of hearts.
Who was a King and a Father.
I had to believe in a provider and redeemer–because what I saw, hurt.
Love is moving in Thailand.
Hope as a state of being, as a belief that God is and has and will continue to come through–is powerful.
And although I might not understand this world, I can trust Him, for He is good.
