The first night of ministry in the Red Light District here
in Chiang Mai, our contacts recommended that we just prayer walk down and
around bar street and get a feel of the area the first night. So we did just
that and there was one bar in particular, Paradise Bar, which I knew I had to
come back to.
The next night when we went out for ministry my team and I indeed
went to Paradise Bar and met a LOVELY woman named Milk. Milk just turned 44
years old, (we celebrated her birthday with her) she has four children, two
older daughters that take care of themselves and two 15-year-old twin boys whom
she has to feed and provide for. Her parents are also elderly and she cares for
them as well. In her broken English she shared with us all about herself and her
life that first night we met her. She used to be a masseuse but now she has bad
hands so that is why she is working at a bar. Her smile was contagious from the
moment we met her.
We always tell Milk how beautiful her 
smile is and one time
she said to us, “I started smiling when I was a baby and I will never stop
smiling.� She is absolutely the most precious woman ever. Whenever we’ve gone
out this month we go see Milk and play endless amounts of dominoes and connect
four with her, both of which she is really good at and she usually beats us. We
love spending time with Milk but in her broken English and our almost
non-existent Thai we cannot carry on conversations too well. So every time we
go we play games with her while praying over her in silence and just trying to
show her what true love is about. She told us that every night she waited for
us to come see her.
Last night we had the wonderful blessing of a translator
that went with us to the bars so of course we went to see Milk. We played some
games with her as usual and while doing this Angela and I were praying about
what the Lord wanted us to share with Milk and sure enough it was His Love.
Last week Milk had her birthday and I got our contact, Emmi,
to translate a small note I had written for Milk from English to Thai and the
words the Lord gave me in that note were all about His love for Milk, about how
much He loved her and that it is okay for her to accept the Love He has for her.
So after a few games of dominoes we told Milk that we wanted
to talk with her. We started talking about different things, telling her we
were leaving soon and that we had truly enjoyed getting to know her. We
encouraged her about how smart she is and how beautiful her smile and her heart
is. And then we just started telling her how much God loved her. She asked us
why He loved her; she wanted to know some reasons why He loved her?
Angela
started telling her about the first night that we were in Chiang Mai and we
were praying to God, asking Him to lead us to the person He wanted us to meet
and how God had led us to her. Her eyes lit up and the Love of the Lord was so
present and heavy at that small table, at a bar, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Now I
know that Milk has felt the Love of the Lord and I’m confident that He will
continue to pursue her.
I wish I could say that my team and I saved every prostitute
and trafficked girl in Chiang Mai this month but we did in fact show them what
God’s love and healthy relationships look like. The Lord loves these women and
He also loves the men buying as well. He is redeeming their lives through His
Kingdom people. People that are not afraid to leave the familiarity of
something they’ve always known, people who are not afraid to go into dark
places, people who are not afraid to do battle against the enemy. Where might
the Lord be asking you to go?
