This month I am living in Chiang Mai above a coffee shop called Zion Cafe.
I live with about 30 other girls. It’s a bit like a college dorm, which can have its funny/difficult/crazy moments. Zion was started by our contact, Emmi, who started this café to help Thai girls who have been working on the streets or in the bars. It’s giving them the opportunity for better. Right now there are five girls who work there; part of our ministry is to get to know them, teach them English and build relationships. I have loved living here and drinking coffee every day!
Our main ministry is partnering with a group called Love Acts to go out in the red light district to try to build relationships with the Thai girls and lady boys in the bars. Each night a few of us go out to the main strip in Chiang Mai and sit with the girls in the heart of the red light district. It’s amazing how powerful it is to love people in the smallest ways. We just sit with these girls, tell them that they’re beautiful, ask them about their lives, play a game of pool, remind them that they are worth real love. Their faces light up and they cling onto our smiles, our words and simple acts of Jesus’ love.
I have been surprised at how extremely open the girls and lady boys are about their lives. Most of them are quick to tell us that they do not want to have to get “customers” every night, but that they have to make money. That they want to be loved. Most of them have kids. Most of them are very insecure about their bodies and how they look- this was at the center of many of our conversations. They are just people with emotions and feelings and insecurities and dreams. They became our friends throughout the month. It was an honor to spend time with them and be used to show them the Lord’s love.
The whole time I was out I would pray in a way that I never have before. I prayed for where to go, who to talk to, what to say. Prayed for the presence of the Lord to protect us from the darkness that we felt so strongly. Prayed that our conversations, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, would bring Jesus’ light into the lives of these women. Ultimately, our prayer is that the girls would come to Zion to start relationships with people who are here more long term, learn a new trade and be introduced to the Lord.
When we weren’t taking our turn to go out to the bars, we would pray for three hours for the girls who were going out every night. I don’t know that I have ever prayed that long in one sitting before and it was amazing what God did through these prayer sessions. We prayed for Chiang Mai, for Zion and Emmi’s ministry, for Love Acts, for our squad, for the group going out to the bars, for the women and men in the bars, for the presence and light of the Lord to be in the darkest corners of this city. There is power in prayer. It was so good to be reminded of this and to practice speaking things in faith. Most nights, the words that we prayed over the group going out would be reflected in the bar ministry that night.
It has been an honor to live at Zion and be a part of this ministry. Here is a video about Love Acts.
