It has been awhile since I’ve updated you on the continuing story of Mae and Ning, the girls we met and had the privilege of helping while we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand back in June. Before you read this current update, if you haven’t already, it’s worth your time to read the entire story. It is one of the most amazing testimonies of God’s power and love that I’ve ever heard, much less been able to experience in person. The story starts with Part 1 here.
The last update I posted in Part 11 was hard for me to write. It told about how Mae had come into WonGen Cafe one day, yelled at the staff, and left out of the blue. Right before she was supposed to become legal to work in Thailand. Right before all the pieces of the puzzle were supposed to fall into place. It was not the ending we had been praying for, and in the middle of Africa, unable to help or do anything except pray, I got angry. I wanted her to be free and to stay in a place where people wanted to help her, no one wanted to buy her, and she could learn about God. But instead she actively walked away from freedom and chose darkness. She went to Burma with her Italian boyfriend who has a wife and family back home because she is still addicted to the kind of love that he can offer her.
After being upset and feeling like I had failed her in some way for a few days, I finally listened to my wise teammates and realized that none of this was my fault and that relapsing is part of the recovery process from an addiction. I also realized that not being there did not make me powerless to help. I could pray, and as we’ve all learned this year, that can do so much. So we started praying. We prayed for Mae to return, for a change of heart for her, for financial provision for Emmi and Lighthouse in Action, and for continued growth and opportunities for Ning, her husband, Chok, and their little one-year-old boy. For awhile we heard nothing, but whenever we would get discouraged about how things were turning out, we would pray for them again. The prayer I kept coming back to was, “God, you literally started this whole thing. I was just sitting in the Kitty Kat Bar being my usual shy self and praying that if you really wanted me to help someone they would find me. And then she sat down next to me, and you know what has happened since then. You sent her to me and me to her. You did this, so finish it! You say in the Bible that you’re faithful to complete a work that you started so let’s see it!” Or something along those lines.
We prayed and we waited, while still traveling from country to country and investing ourselves in new ministries. We knew we were coming back to Thailand on our way to Laos, so we kept praying that Mae would return to Chiang Mai by then so that we could have a chance to visit her. It turned out that visiting Chiang Mai was impossible because of the flooding in the area, but the weekend that we were supposed to have gone there, I received the following Facebook message from a squadmate who was able to visit:
“On my way out Emmi caught me at the door and said that yesterday Mae came back. She has no idea what they’re going to do with her, but she’s back! Pray hard!”
On the exact weekend that we had prayed for, Mae somehow returned from Burma, made it back into Thailand without getting caught at the border, and walked into WonGen out of her own free will. We later learned that she is back to working in the bars again, but that she came to WonGen for help, so they are currently deciding what to do. Please pray for her! Pray that she will come back for good this time, ready to open her heart to God’s love instead of the cheap human love she is so dependent on. And please pray that Emmi will have wisdom to know the next steps to take to help Mae.
This is Mae back when she was working at WonGen Cafe.
The other half of this story–Ning’s half–is no less amazing. God has been so faithful to bring her out of the sex industry when we didn’t even think she would be a part of our ministry, give her a place to work, bring her husband and child back into her life, and reunite her family in a safe place. We have also continued praying for them over the past five months, and there are some exciting new updates that you need to hear!
Emmi updated the Lighthouse in Action blog recently with new details about Ning and Chok’s lives. As an answer to so many prayers, they are both now completely legal to work in Thailand and receive health benefits! That means no more worrying about getting deported to Burma or not being able to pay for the medical care that their son needs! Chok has turned out to be a wonderful man who is excited to take on the role of leader and provider of his family. He’s been working full time at WonGen Cafe while Ning goes to a learning center everyday to be taught how to be a mother to their one-year-old son. She had never cared for him before a few months ago, so she’s being taught how to be a mom, and he’s being given all the vaccinations that he never received as a baby in Burma. Once his shots are up to date, they are hoping to move him to a nursery during the day so that Ning can return to working at WonGen. Chok and NIng are also both continuing to learn Thai and English so that they can communicate with the WonGen customers. They have been given a Bible in Burmese, and they are reading it and learning more about God everyday.
The most exciting and wonderful part of the new updates is that both Chok and Ning were able to attend the discipleship program that Lighthouse in Action hosted as part of YWAM last week. They received teaching, training, and love, and were able to participate in outreaches and worship sessions. There was also a time of baptism in the traditional Thai style, in which Chok chose to be baptized and assume the role of spiritual leader of his family. In her blog, Emmi called their lives “modern day trophies of God’s grace,” and it’s so true. God has completely redeemed all three of them from terrible situations and brought them together. They are now getting more than simply the physical freedom of being out of the sex industry and having a legal place to work. They are becoming free in Christ!
Chok and Ning and their son at WonGen Cafe
The Lighthouse in Action group at the discipleship training week
Chok being baptized in the traditional Thai style
My favorite picture: Ning and Emmi praying. In her blog Emmi captioned it: “Meeting with our Dad.”
Thank you SO MUCH for all your prayers for these precious people! God has done so much in their lives, and we are confident that Mae’s story isn’t over yet. We are praying and waiting for the day when she comes to know Christ and invests the rest of her life in helping other girls not walk the painful path that she has walked. In our first conversation, she told me about a dream that she has to start a school for girls in Burma to help educate them and keep them off the streets and out of the bars. I still believe that her dream will come true, and that someday someone will write a book about her life and all the incredible things God has done through her. Please join us in praying for that to happen.
Emmi is still also in need of quite a bit of financial support to continue doing the amazing work that she does and to provide for the salaries for Chok and Ning and give them a place to live. If you would like to contribute to the work being done in Thailand, please see my previous blog for details about how to give. A fellow World Racer, Bethsaida Portalatin, has just joined the Lighthouse in Action staff, so I’ll be passing along whatever updates she sends out. Pray with us and look forward to more chapters in this amazing story that God is writing!
