Thailand Race – 9/3/07
The day after we arrived back in Bangkok after debrief, we had another race day. This time we were handed a list of tasks to accomplish in any order we wanted. We raced through Bangkok on foot and public transport, buying fruit, going to the top of the tallest building in Thailand, etc. Much to my delight, finances were kept in check for this race day. Also, since we could pick the order of the items, we would only occasionally run into the other teams, allowing more team bonding time.
The highlight of the day was the part of the race where we were able to pray in the heart of the red-light district of Nana, Bangkok. We met up with our race coordinators at the Starbucks in the designated time. We were given the mission of praying for 20 minutes for the red-light district area. At first it made me think “Ready, Set, Pray”… I wanted to concentrate more. So we moved away from the comfortable Starbucks, crossed a couple streets, passed many beggars, stood on the stairs to a store right next to the veranda of a bar. It was only 3:30 p.m., yet the bar was crowded with foreign men and Thai women. It was there that God moved me, pushing me into prayer, petitioning the hearts of those in the bar. God broke my heart for the men! At training camp, my heart broke for the young ladies. Here, the men were my focus. Honestly, they could be anyone you or I know, hard, broken, confused, hurting, needing ‘love’ and looking in the absolutely wrong places. I prayed that they would see their emptiness inside and understand that only Jesus can fill their longing for deep, True Love. I prayed for those in the bar and for men across the seas. Before I knew it, the 20 minutes were passed.
Also during that time, God directed Katey to buy food for one of the beggars we saw on the way there. We stopped in a convenience store, picked up some water and food. When we dropped the food off, the man genuinely smiled at us. And when we walked back about 5 minutes later, we saw him eating and drinking the meal provided. Praying and responding to God was the best half of an hour we spend that day!
Results: We were the first to finish the Thailand race! And we completed all tasks, thus winning the second leg of the race!
Prize: $50 of team money to be spent on whatever we want and $50 to give to another team for ministry money. We gave the $50 of ministry money to Team Lego, since they will have additional ministry expenses this month, since they are hiring a translator for their ministry.
