I actually loathe this Disney song. When I go to Disneyland with family or friends I try to avoid the Small world ride at all costs. After getting stuck on that ride for a good thirty minutes when I was 8, I never want to hear that song again. Yet ironically this is the song that has been going in and out of my head this month in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This month we and two other teams are working with an organization called Lighthouse in Action. This organization was started by an amazing woman named Emmi who had a vision to minister to Chiang Mai and the people that come to the city. Her ministry is divided up into three areas.
1. Love acts is the ministry focused on the bars and the girls in the red light district. We do prayer walks in the morning and afternoon, showering it with prayer and preparing the way for the groups that will be going out at night to shine the light. At night we go out into the bar areas, form relationships with the girls and just love on them.
2. Ex life is the ministry focused on the slums, particularly the children in the slums. The goal of this ministry is to go love on the kids and show them that they do have worth and there is hope for them. The ultimate goal to stop the sex industry is to cut it off at the root and many of the girls are bought out of the slums at a very young age.
3. Zion Cafe is where everything comes from. It is the home base and where a lot of the funding comes from. One team works in the cafe, loving on the staff,(who isn’t always Christians) and helping to keep this place running smoothly. A lot of people come in to learn and practice English so this team has the opportunity to share the love of Christ through teaching
So how does this ministry connect with the small world aspect. Well, when I heard about the three ministries I was really excited for all three of them, but the Zion Cafe sounded awesome to me. It reminded me a lot of the work I did when I was working in a Shelter City Christian Youth Hostel in Amsterdam. I loved that ministry and would always love to go back. Well, my team ended up working the slums which is a fantastic ministry that I love. But I still felt a tugging in my heart that there was more hear than just working in the slums and with the bar girls.
The Hostel that I worked at in Amsterdam!!!
A couple of days ago I was randomly looking on Instagram and I saw that one of my friends from the Youth Hostel I worked at was in Chiang Mai! I messaged him and we were able to get dinner that night. Taylor is an amazing person and has a great heart for Thailand and the Thai people. After a great dinner of reminiscing and catching up on life, I brought him back to Zion and introduced him to Emmi. Taylor is hoping to eventually a youth hostel in Chiang Mai and use the hostel as a ministry, providing jobs to ex bar girls and just brining God’s love to Chiang Mai.
As Taylor explained this to Emmi, Emmi exclaimed “that’s what we are doing here.” It turned out that she wants to open a Christian youth hostel above Zion Cafe. She said she wants to emulate the Shelter Hostel in Amsterdam. In shock I told her, “You know I use to work there” and she responded “and that’s why you are here this month, to help me.” I was stunned. But at the same moment the Lord whispered, “see, this is why you are here” Its so exciting to see how the Lord works and how he places specific people in places at specific moments. Taylor is now going to do some electrically work for Emmi while he is here in Thailand for the month and they will hopefully be able to help each other in ministry later down the road.
For me, I don’t know what all these connections mean. I am just so excited to share my wisdom about the Shelter and to see how the Lord is going to use that to build Zion into a fruitful Christian hostel. I have always been passionate about the traveling community and ministering to travelers and its just crazy I get to continue to live these dreams out in Thailand. It is a small world after all!
Taylor and I in Amsterdam 2011 Taylor and I in Chiang Mai 2013
Prayer requests
health for our team
productive ministry
continue to discover God’s heart for Thailand
that we as a team can continue to grow and love each other well!
