Today we went to the Well, as we do every morning. As we were worshipping, Jim and Judy came in with Guy and Kay. Kay is Meow’s older sister and Guy is Meow’s husband. Meow is one of the girls at the Well. She is 20 and has a 2 year old daughter. It was an incredible and joyous reunion as everyone embraced and exchanged love with tears and laughter. It was so incredible for me to witness this. I even began to cry. I could not hold back the tears.
Kay
Jim and Judy explained some of their story. Guy and Kay both have extremely painful backgrounds and they have been through such brokenness. But it was so evident that the Lord was working fervently in their lives. They radiated with joy and just their presence filled up the room with such love. It made me wonder if I am radiating the joy of the Lord or if I am just coming and going through life.
Guy
For the past 3 months, Guy and Kay have been in Chaing Mai at an addiction rehabilitation center. They were badly addicted to drugs and alcohol. They are required to stay there for one year. And they are not allowed to have outside relationships for the first 6 months. Usually they are not allowed to leave, but they had to come to Bangkok to take a GED test. Guy is separated from his wife and daughter, since Meow and her daughter, Shampu, are living at the Well now. But they hope to move to Chang Mai to be with Guy in 3 months.
Meow
Shampu
They shared incredible testimonies of their time at the rehabilitation center. Neither of them wanted to go there at first, but with encouragement from others they went. Kay was so joyful. She was encouraging to the other women and shared testimonies about how God is giving her a heart to pray continually and a desire to spend hours with Him.
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Sao has been at the Well for several months. She did not work in the bars, but she was friends with a girl who left the bars to come to the Well. She decided to join the Well too. Jenny and I fell in love with her immediately. She is so caring and goofy and loyal and attentive. I loved teaching English to her because she was eager to learn. She is incredibly intelligent. I also loved to watch her during Bible study; she really had a hunger to study the Word. She was not a Christian when we came, but one Friday afternoon she decided to become a Christian. It was so amazing. I couldn’t get over the way God was working. And how good He is.
Fon and Sao
During our last week, another girl named Fon became a Christian. I do not know her story or background. But one day she decided to become a Christian. It wasn’t during a bible study or a church service. It was simply her decision after many months of God working on her heart and changing her. God completely revealed His truth to her through the many people that pour into the girls at the Well and through the transformation that was happening in so many other girls. Jenny and I were ecstatic. And it was so, so hard to leave these women.
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One of our bargirls decided to come to the Well. We were to so thrilled. Another one is interested. She wants to visit the Well. But she has been working in the bars for 10 years. She is 37 now. She met an American man and spent time with him abroad while he worked all over the world. They have 2 children together. Her children recently left to live with him in the states, giving them a better opportunity for education. They split up because they argued a lot and because she would often drink and gamble. Now she lives in Bangkok with her sister and her sister’s five children. I don’t really think her sister wants her around. She sleeps on the floor and lives out of a suitcase. One night Jenny and I took her home. She was at work and a friend brought some cocaine and she did a couple lines. Then she took a shot of something that had amphetamines in it. She was acting strange and continued to say that she didn’t feel right. So we paid her bar fine and took her home in a taxi. We had to struggle with her because she wanted to go back to her friend. She begged us to go back. We kept asking her to please not go back and to come home with us. After much talking and telling her that it Is not good for her to go back, she came with us. We met her family. Her sister and some friends were sitting around. They made jokes about her being a drunk. We could literally see the arrows being shot into her heart. We have introduced her to Jim and he is going to follow up with her interest to leave the bars. It will be hard for her to leave because she has been there so long. Some women become addicted to that lifestyle. But we are praying for her and I believe she will leave. She is searching. I know she wants more and I think she is close. And I know God is working on her. He put her in the path of Jenny and me.
So God is being His amazing, incredible self in Thailand. And I fall more and more in love with Him daily. Please continue to pray for the women and men in the bars, the Well, the Christians in Thailand and those that are searching.
**This was written a couple weeks ago…I’m in Cambodia now!
