Hello and
all my love to you wonderful, beautiful people reading this blog. : ) Hugs all around.
Today is August 27; almost all the racers have reconvened here in Bangkok (where I and 7 other girls have been all month) — tomorrow we head out for debrief. It’s fun having everyone together, there are some new blondies and some bushier beards since we were last saw each other. It’s a beautiful thing to see the change in everyone. wink. And I am here at this internet cafe where i have spent many many hours sipping my 33 cent iced coffees and writing little updates and emails to many of you. : ) However, I have seriously been up since 5.45 a.m. churning about the one thing i have neglected to do. So I am doing it now. (Better now than never, is what everyone always says : ) So here i go.
I need to explain something to you all — raw Hannah needs to come out for a moment. ; ) — I promise i won’t belabor, but this is so i can sleep better at night. haha. For some reason it has been somewhat difficult to write blogs from my
soul this month in Thailand. Some of you may have seen my last blog about the Gwen Stefani show we went to on Aug. 19 here in Bangkok — loads of fun for sure. That was
easy to blog about. It’s far less complicated to put words to those funny fun times. But, honestly, i have been at a loss for words about what we have witnessed this month. And i recently realized that for all YOU guys know, I have been pop-star-concert- hopping, waterfalling, karaokeing, buddha-templing, and just internetting the month away over here in Bangkok. Eating BonBons and sipping coffees for Jesus. And so I am genuinely sorry for not being more thoughtful about how my blogs (or lack thereof) are coming across.
We have actually been doing real outreach. : ) We just cannot post pictures of it due to the nature of our environment. Taking photos inside the bars is prohibitted, no faces of the girls are allowed to be posted, and we do not want to post photos of the NightLight ladies, just out of respect and their own preference. That encompasses the entire scope of our most meaningful moments in Bangkok, and i am so torn that i cannot show you all the faces of so many amazing women that have become our friends this month. Sniff. (browse a few photos and continue below: )
For the past three weeks the TRibe 61 and Salt girls plus Anne from Revolution have been working together with an organization called Night Light. (For more on Night Light, check out Stacy’s blog.) : )
stacyutecht.theworldrace.org
Essentially, it is a jewelry business that exists to provide alternate employment for the women who want to come out of working in the Nana bars. Currrently there are 81 employees; many but not all of the women we worked together with at Night Light now follow Christ!! Which is so encouraging to see in such a deep-rooted Buddhist culture… God has literally given them a new life. : ) Anyway, during our days, we basically helped with about everything that has to do with beads and jewelry: counting beads, taking inventory, etc.
Our nights were the best part, though! We headed out to the world renown
“
NANA Entertainment Plaza” and actually went into the bars to meet the girls that worked there. The word “Bar” has a somewhat different meaning over here than what you might envision in the States (lots of TVs with live sports, beer on tap, maybe karaoke). No. People don’t come go to these bars to hang around and get drunk with their buddies; the come to get girls. To pay for a girl — to pay an $18 fee to take a girl home. It is something i can’t find words for. (it’s grievous.)
But we went there to make friends with the girls and that’s basically what we did! It was absolutely awesome!! I found one particular bar that i just ‘felt at home in’ and went back there several times to hang out with my friends. The girls initially think you are there for the same reason as everyone else, but you cannot imagine how amazing it is to see their face light up when we tell them they can just be normal with us. No shows, no seducing necessary. Just hang out, we’ll buy you a drink (thats bar protocol) — and let you see a different love. I loved it!! And i know the Holy Spirit used all of us to plant seeds in those girls hearts. He planted the seed, and i know He will be faithful to watch over it!! Bless God.
Thanks for reading. And I really hope you are encouraged to know that God is showing up over here in so many ways. I know He is doing deep things in my heart — that’s what he does. If nothing else, I am leaving Bangkok with something I didnt have prior to being here. I am leaving here with a deep precious confidence in God’s faithful love — His mercy that covers and redeems anything! My heart explodes with gratitude, it really does. I am so thankful that God uses a broken and pretty quirky person like me to show His spectacular love — in the process, He allows
me to grasp His deep love. Bless God. (3000 x)
Many smiles with joy
hannah
Ps. i didnt proofread, and i apologize for the awkward picture sizing… i was experiamenting
