Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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My month in Chaing Mai, Thailand was like none other on the World Race. Aside from the new culture, amazingly cheap food, awesome night markets for shopping, and unique people; for once I wasn’t supposed to look and talk like a missionary. I wasn’t even allowed to say that I was on the World Race or that I was working with our organization, Lighthouse in Action. I was simply being with the people, people who I normally wouldn’t hang out with. The bar isn’t my scene. I’ve never lived in the slums. I loved spending time with them, listening and learning about their lives. I enjoyed just being myself and having fun, not having to talk about myself in the sense of my life of helping people and sharing the gospel. I’m afraid that sometimes that scares people because they just don’t understand it. I was a tourist who happened to be very interested in making new friends, treating them well, and finally when the opportunity presented itself, “I know Jesus…and you can know Him too.” 

 

I spent hours upon hours of intercessory prayer for the girls in the bars and the children in the slums. Thanks to some loyal supporters, I was able to take some of the girls and ladyboys out on dates, away from bar street and all the customers. The children on slum road absolutely blessed me with their smiles and beautiful hearts. I had many moments where God brought me to tears because I felt His love for them. Here are a few highlights from the month and ways that you can be involved through prayer:

Nick is a character. She is so much fun and loves to talk. She spends all of her time working at the bar. She is in her forties and seems to feel that she has outgrown the work, as most of the other girls she works with are in their twenties or younger. But, Nick feels she has no other place to go, nothing else to offer. Nick came to our open mic night that my team hosted at our cafe. There, she jumped right in and sang her heart out! That night we introduced Nick to the new program called CHANGE that Lighthouse in Action is starting in May. They are working on getting a new building to house, feed, and educate girls who want a better life. This program will open up opportunities for jobs such as being a chef, translator, waitress at the cafe, and more. It will even allow the girls to learn to speak and write English so they will be more qualified for jobs. The best part is that it’s a step by step spiritual walk for the girls, many of whom have ever only known bowing down to Buddha. Please pray that funds for the building will come in ($122,000) and that Nick will take this opportunity for CHANGE.  



 
Ann and Oye are young girls who work on bar street. They actually live at the bars. Neither speaks much English. Yet, they loved being around the girls on my team. They came to one of our open mic cafe parties. We had tons of free food and drinks that were provided by our teams’ financial supporters. Although I’m not a fan of touching other peoples feet, I chose to wash and give foot massages. That was definitely a first for me, but I enjoyed that time of serving them. I know they do not get it much. They are used to the type of “love” that involves only taking. Ann and Oye are buddhists, but with the ongoing friendships that my team have made with her, we are all praying that those seeds that were planted this month will be watered and fruit will come from them. I constantly have to remind myself in this ministry that I am here to do only my part. Jesus has their hearts. He won’t stop pursuing them just because I had to move on from Thailand.


 

I met a man in one of the bars. He was older, I’m guessing late fifties or early sixties. He was from Arizona and this was his fifth trip to Chiang Mai. I asked if he was married. I don’t know why I would ask a question like that because he was sitting with a Thai girl from the bar and was obviously trying to keep her interested in him. He said he was long divorced and had two sons who are in their early twenties. He bragged about them for a long while and I felt really sad for his sons. If only they could see where their father was and the drunk condition that he was in. He said something inappropriate to me which made me realize that my time talking with him was overdue. I got up in left, realizing that this man was broken too-trying to find love just like everyone else, to fill a void that only Jesus could fill. You see, when I first got to the bars I was quick to judge, to blame the men. Maybe this man had his heart broken in that divorce many years back and has spent his whole life searching, yet never finding what it is that he actually needs. God softened my heart. This man from Arizona needs Jesus just as much as the Thai girl sitting next to him. Pray for men of God to be sent to Chiang Mai to take the seat that I as a woman cannot have in this ministry.

Bow and Mow are mother and daughter. Bow’s story is so inspiring to me. Four months ago Bow was rescued from the bars by Lighthouse In Action. She now has a job as a translator for the slums ministry we do with children. I was able to spend three days a week with her, and together we worked to teach the children English and play games with them. Bow has so much energy and passion. Before I was even told her story, I saw Jesus in her and the way she loved the children. Her face and smile had a unique glow about it, the kind that radiates Holy Spirit. I was able to take Bow and Mow out for an entire day of fun, swimming, bowling, and fun at the mall. They seemed almost overwhelmed by our generosity and I was so grateful for the people who blessed me so that I could bless them. While at the pool, Bow read her Bible. It was her eleven year old daughter’s first time in Chaing Mai. Mow lives in a bad environment with her grandmother, and Bow hopes to be with her daughter more often and make both of their lives better. Bow struggles with the decision of being with a man she isn’t married to and doesn’t love, Mow’s dad, just so that she can have a family for Mow. Please pray for Bow and her new walk with Christ, for her family, and for her influence on other girls in the bars that she is now trying to help because she has seen the light.




The slums children are like any other kids when it comes to needing attention and love. They are so precious. To walk down the roads where they live is like walking in Africa. The conditions are poor. The kids wear the same clothes everyday. They build forts out of cardboard. Of course, the boys build their own awesome fort and the girls fort is “no boys allowed!” Pray that these children will not be taken away and made to work on bar street, where children stay up into the wee hours of the night selling roses. (They cannot sleep until they sell them all!) Pray that they are not taken into slavery, either for sex or for begging on the streets. (A child was recently taken from the slums. The kids have seen a man in a white van trying to get the kids to come with him. It is common for children to be stolen and their eyes to be removed. They are used as blind beggars.) Pray that people are continuously sent to love on these children.


 








This month in Chiang Mai, Thailand I learned that everyone is looking for love, and if they don’t know Jesus then they are looking in the wrong places. Life isn’t fair. It isn’t easy. Often those who are hurt turn around and hurt others. Many people are numb to real love because no one has ever shown it to them. It often begins in childhood. Jesus is fighting for them. He sends us as light to the dark places. He’ll never give up on them.


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