This month of ministry is very different from the past five months. To give you an idea of what I’m up to this month, I’m going to describe an average two days working with Lighthouse in Action in Chiang Mai, Thaialnd, to you.
Our team is living with another team from our squad, and our two teams alternate which ministries we do each day. What we are not doing each day, they are doing so that someone is always covering all of the ministries.
Day 1
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
These days have a later start to the day because the nights before we’re often out until 1am.
4:00 pm– Leave for the slums. We are visiting the local slums every other day, playing with the kids, helping clean up the area, and meeting people. Many of the children from this neighborhood are forced to sell flowers at night in the bars, exposing them to much more than they should ever see at their age. Sometimes they are even forced to sell themselves. Lighthouse in Action has been partnering with Compassion International to get some of these children scholarships to attend school and have the hope of a better future. More soon to come about this ministry in another blog…
Cartoon, one of my favorites. So precious!
Cartoon’s sister, I still can’t figure out her name…
6:00pm– Return from the slums and go eat dinner somewhere (Side note: I LOVE Thai food!)
8:00 pm– Have team time and then have the rest of the evening free
Day 2
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
9:00 am– Wake up, get ready for the day, eat breakfast
10:30 am– Leave for the WonGen coffee shop
11:00 am– Arrive at WonGen. The people who are working at the coffee shop for the day stay behind and help serve food and drinks while the rest of us go to Chiang Mai University during their lunch hour to meet students and invite them to come to WonGen to practice English and hang out with us.
We help waitress and do dishes at WonGen
Chiang Mai University cafeteria during lunch…not always this crazy, but this was part of the hazing rituals for new students – they had to dance greet every senior on campus.
1:30 pm– Those who went to the university return to WonGen for lunch.
4:00 pm– Head back to the Lighthouse Guesthouse for some down time
6:00 pm– Have dinner as a team
7:00 pm– Team time
9:00 pm– Meet as a team for a time of prayer before we head out to the bars.
9:30 pm– Leave for the bars with our wonderful translater, Orn. We spend about 2-2 1/2 hours in the bars, building relationships with the girls and ladyboys. Five people from our team go to the Kitty Kat Bar every time, and two go to the Rabbit Bar.There are many more blogs about this coming, but it has been so great to build relationships with the girls in the Rabbit Bar, where I am. We’re getting pretty close with a couple of girls in particular, and even met them for lunch yesterday. Its heartbreaking when your conversation is interrupted when they girl you’re talking to has to leave to talk to a client, but we’re trying to see both the women AND the men through God’s eyes, and just be examples of His love to everyone we meet.
“Love at a reasonable price.” – spray painted on the wall of the Kitty Kat Bar
12:00 am– Return to the guest house and have a time of debrief about the night and prayer as a team before bed
This is pretty much what our lives are like right now. We are loving this month, and we know that God is doing big things in the lives of the people we are ministering to. Please keep us in your prayers, especially between the hours of 8 am-1 pm at home on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, as those are the times that we will be out in the bars here in Thailand. The more that we can be covered in prayers for protection and knowing what God wants us to say, the better. It’s our prayer that many of these girls and guys can see something in us that inspires them to want freedom, and that God will show us what to say to help them find it.
“The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
~Isaiah 61:1
(Disclaimer – this blog was adapted from my teammate’s blog. The pictures, the conclusion, and the general idea of the blog are Emily Tuttle’s. I just added in my own thoughts)
