This month has been very different from the previous 2 months on the race. This month my team wasn’t given a specific contact ministry to work with, instead we were given a city, Pattaya, and told to go there and find Unsung Heroes. An unsung hero (UH) is a person or ministry that is doing good work for the Kingdom that we want to come along side, encourage, and possibly partner with in the future.
The City
My team is in the beach city of Pattaya, Thailand. You may not recognize the name of this city but if you have heard of the song “God of this City” sung by Chris Tomlin, then you actually have. That song was written about this city a few years ago by an Irish band that was here on a mission trip. It was actually written in a bar on Walking Street, which is in the red light district of the city. Pattaya is known as one of the biggest city in the world for sex tourism, so the dark presence is practically thrust into your face as soon as you arrive. The number of bars, massage parlors, prostitutes, and single older white male travelers is overwhelming.
City view.
First Impression
If I’m being honest, I hated Pattaya at first. The dirty beach and tremendous number of tourists were not what I had expected when I first heard that we were going to a beach city in Thailand. It took me about 2 seconds to realize that most people don’t come to Pattaya to go to the beach. And it was hot, low to mid 90s all the time with what felt like 150% humidity. It took less than a week for the Lord to blow my mind though and completely change my opinion of this city.
Image of Walking Street.
Not just a Coincidence
Going into this month, our team had no idea where we were going to be staying in Pattaya. We were in Bangkok for a few days getting UH training and there we tried to do research on hostels in the area, but everything was out of our $5/person per night budget. On our last day in Bangkok, we were desperate so we booked a hostel that was out of our budget (by almost $3/person per night), which was going to add up fast. And as the team treasurer, I’m in charge of our team’s finances and staying under budget so I was anxious to say the least. Upon arriving to the over budget hostel, we told the owner our situation and he reduced the price to just $1.25 over budget per person per day. It was not ideal, but it was our only option.
Well I should say that we thought it was our only option. Within a few hours of being in Pattaya, the Lord led our team to a godly man named Jack who lived right down from the hostel we were staying in; that was no coincidence. Jack is one of the most connected people in the city and he graciously took us under his wing. He found us a place to stay that is nice, safe, and most importantly UNDER budget!! He also helped us meet all of the local ministries and most of the local pastors, talk about an invaluable resource! He even took it upon himself to drive our team to church and to pastors meetings and he took us sightseeing outside of Pattaya one day because we had no way of getting out of the city. Talk about a generous, selfless, and godly man!
Our good buddy Jack.
When I think of this month, the words divine favor keep coming to mind. I have to believe that it was part of the Lord’s plan because nothing else makes sense; it was orchestrated too perfectly. And let me tell you, it’s a cool place to be in!! Being completely blown away by how the Lord provides, especially after I was so apprehensive about this month, the Lord is so good!!
Lastly, be on the lookout for an upcoming blog that talks about some of the ministries that we met and partnered with and the amazing work that they are doing for the Kingdom here in Pattaya!
