There’s a short, mellow song by Rosie Thomas called “Death Already Came and Got Me“. Sounds depressing, but I like 2/3rds of the lyrics:
And who am I supposed to be?
Everybody seems to see except for me.
Who cares anyway?
‘Cause when it’s over, it’s all over
And what you gained, you throw away.
And will my love ever find me?
All my life all I’ve craved is to be seen.
Who cares anyway?
‘Cause when it’s over, all that matters
is the love you gave away.
Everybody seems to see except for me.
Who cares anyway?
‘Cause when it’s over, it’s all over
And what you gained, you throw away.
And will my love ever find me?
All my life all I’ve craved is to be seen.
Who cares anyway?
‘Cause when it’s over, all that matters
is the love you gave away.
Monday night I went back to the bar to visit again and heard that Nam’s birthday was April 20th. Later, she came up to me and showed me her ID. I looked down and there was a picture of a young man who looked probably 15 or 16. Nam is a “ladyboy” who works at this bar as a prostitute and turns 19 this year. (Lady boys are men who have or have not, had surgeries to become women.
Some of them have the female body parts, some do not. Some only dress
like women while others, it could be hard to tell that they are not
women.) All night I thought about Nam and wanted to find a way to bless her on her birthday.
Some of them have the female body parts, some do not. Some only dress
like women while others, it could be hard to tell that they are not
women.) All night I thought about Nam and wanted to find a way to bless her on her birthday.
Unfortunately now that I’m at the end of this crazy adventure in missions, I’m also getting to be really low on funds. A lot of my
thoughts lately have been about our final debrief. What kind of fun
stuff can I treat myself to? Will I be able to enjoy my last little
bit of fun with the squad but not really have the money to do a lot of
things? But then this month and these friendships at Shamrock Pub turned my
world upside down. More and more, my thoughts have turned to: how can
I bless these workers? What can I say to turn their lives around?
What can I give or leave behind that they’ll remember? What will they
remember about our team there? I’ve been asking God to please multiply all resources so that I could bless everyone at that bar before I left. And then I saw the cheesecakes…
thoughts lately have been about our final debrief. What kind of fun
stuff can I treat myself to? Will I be able to enjoy my last little
bit of fun with the squad but not really have the money to do a lot of
things? But then this month and these friendships at Shamrock Pub turned my
world upside down. More and more, my thoughts have turned to: how can
I bless these workers? What can I say to turn their lives around?
What can I give or leave behind that they’ll remember? What will they
remember about our team there? I’ve been asking God to please multiply all resources so that I could bless everyone at that bar before I left. And then I saw the cheesecakes…
oh so good: brownie, raspberry, cherry and blueberry cake for all!
At Wongen, Nook (Emmi’s sister) makes amazing cheesecakes. I spent some food money to buy an entire tray and got them decorated for Nam to have a birthday cake at work. (Like with Nan, if I can make even one night different…it’s enough to make real change happen.) I managed to get there just before Nam did and Mai, the owner, and I were able to hide it so we could surprise her later.
Mai made a sweet drink, decorated the cake with candles, turned off the loud, raunchy music and the entire bar sang “Happy Birthday” to Nam. She loved it all! I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough cake for everyone…but God answered my prayer. Everyone got to enjoy some cake and felt full! There were big pieces still leftover that we were able to give to some street kids that come into the bars every night to sell flowers. And after two kids had pieces that filled the palm of their hands, there were still some good bites left.
I know God was pleased to see that smile
I got to see this small group of people really enjoy a time of celebration and sharing instead of another night of competition over the next customer that walks by. The rest of the night we played pool, snakes & ladders, connect 4, mazes, etc. It was such a night of laidback, fun and games–a nice birthday party in the heart of the red light district.
let’s eat!
God is just blowing me away out here. Each time I just step out in faith and let go of what I tend to hold onto…He takes that act of generosity and faith and multiplies it so that many are blessed–and He gets the glory. 🙂
At this point, it won’t matter what adventurous things I do just before I get back to the States…all that matters is the love I gave away.
To my supporters:
I pray that you especially know how grateful I am for your generosity through prayers and financial gifts this past year. This is just another example of how the funds I’ve received from you have been prayed over and mulitplied so that many others are blessed. It’s no small thing you did, whether you’ve been giving $1 or $1000, you made this happen too. As you can see…I want to finish this Race strong. I now lack just $404.50 left to be fully funded!! Your participation in my ministry has already proven fruitful. I’m asking you to help me end this trip 100% funded in the next 9 days. I’m excited about updating you to celebrate God’s provision!
Let’s Race!
-Marissa
