Month six: Thailand.
I would call this, if anything, the month of the unexpected.
Originally, my team was supposed to be in the Northern part of Thailand working in a girls’ orphanage. But after some (unexpected) last minute changes, we ended up on the other end of the country, working in Phuket. Now, Phuket is known for some of the most breathtaking, tropical white sand beaches in the entire world. Not a bad gig for the month, right?
But here’s the deal: Phuket is also one of the most notoriously sex-trafficked areas of the world. Bars full of women line the streets of the red-light districts, offering themselves night after night, in such a blatant way that it’s practically…well, in all reality…a tourist attraction.
Our goal for the month was simple: get into the bars, minister to the women, and connect them with a local organization that can help get them out of the sex industry and into self-sustaining, self-affirming lifestyles and trades. Offer them a way out, if they wanted it. They could participate in English lessons, get trained in hotel management, learn to make and sell jewelry…and hopefully, begin to live lives that reflect their true value and purpose.
I have to admit…I was beyond intimidated at first. But again, the unexpected happened. It wasn’t fear or rage or even pity that filled me when I walked into those bars…it was love. God’s supernatural love. Every time I stepped into that environment, I couldn’t get over the way he loves these women…and these men. And he loves them wildly. He thinks these women are beautiful, yes, but not because of what they can offer. He doesn’t want anything from them. They are his daughters. He loves them. He wants them to know love. Plain and simple.
So I got to spend the month just loving on lovely women. Teaching them English on-on-one, encouraging them, coming into their nights and offering them friendship, wanting to give instead of take. And it’s amazing, even (dare I say it?) unexpected, how a little bit went a very long way. I remember one night, playing Connect Four with one of the girls I visited regularly, who barely spoke any English. Our conversations usually consisted of “hello, how are you,� some hugs, and my attempts to ask questions that she was unable to understand or answer. But tonight, as she was poised with her chip, getting ready to deal the death blow to my pathetic attempt to win, she suddenly looked up at me, sighed heavily, and reached across the bar to embrace me. She laid her head down on my arms, and just rested there for a moment before she lifted up her head and continued to play (and win, of course). It was something so simple, but at that interaction, I sensed God’s deep pleasure. She didn’t need my words. She didn’t need anything I could offer. She just needed to be loved, and not by me, but by the God of the Universe.
I could go on and on about all the ways, big and small, that God rocked my world in Thailand. But for now, I will just say this: because of that place, because of those women, I know God better. I sense his heart more deeply. It’s planted something in me that I can’t ignore. And that…to say the least…is unexpected.
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(Speaking (again!!!) of the unexpected…our route has changed! Check my homepage for the final 5 countries we will be visiting…and be praying along with us as we decide between Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand for month 10!)
