A note from my journal, the first night we arrived in Viet Nam:
“We are in Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam. Entering at night, darkness is accompanied by harsh neon signs. The crowded city is lined with tall buildings that enclose the streets. There is an unsettling echo of piercing horns and puttering engines as scooters, hundreds of them, zip close by in both directions. The air is heavy and unkind, harboring the stench that drifts from the countless hole in the wall kitchens.
(A photo from Matt Snyder’s blog)Down a side street, the noise subsides a little. Ready for the night’s activities, men pass by with counterfeit confidence, some dressed in the day’s business attire, others in silk pajamas with lit cigarettes hanging from their lips. Alcohol reeks and cigarette smoke trails behind. They are in pursuit of appalling pleasure.
Their pleasure is around the age of 18. Dressed as normal as the trendy U.S. teenager, short shorts and tight shirts, the young girls walk in pairs. If I didn’t know any better, it’d appear that they were out for a stroll to the ice cream parlor. The smiles and laughter are deceiving, conveying a surface of innocence, yet their minds must be haunted with what’s to come.It’s our first night here at the hotel. It didn’t take long to find that Satan is a local. In fact, he lives on the bottom floor.In order to get to our rooms, we pass through a gloomy, broken hallway – the first floor. Numbers are taped to the doors on white torn paper in black marker, 1 through 11; a different set-up than the rooms on floors above. It reminds me of a rundown version of a tanning bed salon. Blue neon light seeps from under the crack at the bottom of the doors. But, this is no tanning bed salon.”
To put it bluntly, we live in a hotel full of prostitution.
I don’t think any of our squad, even our contacts here, were aware that the hotel we were staying in was a prostitution center. Part of the reason is that our accommodations became last minute when our original set-up fell through. The government already became suspicious of us when they found out a group of 30 “students” from America were living in one area, an area that was not a campus. By the time we arrived, Plan A was wrecked and we moved to Plan B – a hotel in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City, one that our contacts put together for us ($3/night).
It wasn’t until the first night we spent time on the first floor lobby that it became apparent. Young women would come and go with one, sometimes two men. In and out of those 11 rooms on the first floor, a hallway seen front to back from the main lobby. The women don’t live here, but it does seem that the man working at the front desk is in on the deal. He gets paid, most likely for more than the room, and hands over a key. Two young boys run between the rooms cleaning up and getting ready for the next customer. It is no longer than 20 minutes before they knock on the door to let them know their time is up.
God sent us here. There is no doubt God sent us here to bring light into the darkest of dark places. As His heart breaks, our hearts break. He gives us glimpses of his heart breaking, it’s almost too much to bare. But, we ask for more of His heart, His gives us His heart. We ask for the nations, He gives us the nations. We ask to be broken, this is where we break. We stand firm on the broken ground and claim this territory as God’s Kingdom. Light will reign and darkness must flee!
“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor the brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”Isaiah 60:19
In claiming this territory, we’ve covered the hotel in prayer day and night. In shifts, groups of two take one hour periods between the hours of 8pm and 8am, praying over the grounds. The first night we arrived, groups prayed over each of our rooms.
Family & Friends of the squad – Please rest assured that we are safe. This is not a physically dangerous place. The danger only reigns in the spiritual realm… If we leave this place to suffer in darkness. There is a fierce spiritual battle and we have been called here to fight. We ask for your prayers over our squad, the hotel and the city of Ho Chi Minh.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Isaiah 60:1-3
