Why can I look at a guy and know he is a bad guy and still love him. How can I still choose to love him when I know his thoughts?
Going to the red light district in Pattaya was a time to choose to love. I had to choose to love even when it can be hard.
I have never in my life ever been to a place quite like this. It is called walking Street in Pattaya City, Thailand.
One of my teammates described it as “Sexual Disneyland”. I would say that is a perfect description.
Let’s just say the entire city of Pattaya has an atmosphere different than most. Night Club after Night Club, Go Go clubs, bars, alcohol, drugs and women. People selling sex like it’s ice cream. What flavor would you like tonight?
As we were praying and asking the Lord where to go in Thailand all 4 of us had this feeling in our heart that we needed to go to Pattaya. We ended up staying there for about a week. We wanted to go to the walking street and pray for the women.
None of us really knew what it would be like. We heard it was pretty heavy from some missionaries in Cambodia, but did not truly know until we were there.
When walking down the street the first night it was a little overwhelming. It was Sensory overload. Lights, Music and people everywhere. There were so many men walking the streets. You could see in their eyes the desperation, their emptiness, and the loneliness in their hearts. While walking down these streets for 4 days there was not a day that I did not feel sadness. I could feel my eyes getting tears every night when we were there. I felt the fathers heart. It is broken and my heart became broken for the lost. The ones that are searching for love and happiness. We walked down this street and prayed every night.
We ended up finding a bar that was not a club and a little quieter where we could play pool at and get some sodas. We ended up making some good relationships with the women working at the bar. We ended up going every night and at the last night we got them some Roses and prayed for them.
While being at that bar I Saw things I have never seen before in my life. Women standing in the front waiting for men. Luring them in anyway they can. Once they make a deal the woman and guy go off and come back in a half hour.
My heart would sink as girl after girl would go with these men. Do they think that is what they are worth? They are worth so much more. My heart and my teams heart was really for the women.
But then God put this new outlook on the men. God said , “these men are my children too. They are hurting just as much. Their heart needs healing as well.”
How can you love someone when you know what they are doing is so bad?
God then reminds me that I Sin too. I can’t Judge him, just like I can’t judge those women or anyone for that matter. I just need to love. Show love in everything I do.
So that’s what we did. We showed love to everyone around us. With a smile, prayer, or even just an acknowledgment.
We ended up meeting some amazing people in Pattaya. We ended up sharing stories, talking about religion, talking about travel and just about life. We stayed up until 5 am one night talking with 2 guys from India.
As I look back at Thailand, being in Pattaya was probably my favorite time. Don’t get me wrong, in the moment I hated Pattaya and wanted to leave so badly. But looking back at the testimonies we had and relationships we made it really was the most impactful. Even though we are only four girls walking around, we are for girls that are BOLD and full of God and his love. So we are able to change the atmosphere in a moment. We are able to encourage other women and show value in themselves. We are able to show no judgements to men and to show Gods love just the way they are. I think Pattaya was a little brighter those four days we were there. That is just because we brought the love of God everywhere we went.
