Our ministry this month looks a lot different than we thought it would. Being on an all girls team, we expected to be working in the bars, building relationships with the prostitutes in the red light district. Then we found out that we would be working at a coffee shop instead. Many girls on our team were very disappointed, but, once we did a little more research, we actually got excited. Once we actually arrived and got to meet the owner, Emmi, we fell in love with the ministry. I want to take this opportunity to tell y’all about it, so you can know the amazing things that are happening here in Thailand.
Emmi has an organization called Lighthouse in Action. There are three ministries that operate through that- Wongen, X Life, and Love Acts. Love Acts reaches out to the girls and ladyboys working in the red light district in Chiangmai. She sends teams out to the bars to build relationships with those people that are ignored, to show the unloved that they are profoundly loved and valued, not just by the missionaries, but by their heavenly Father.
X Life has a preventative mission. Teams go and work in the village where Emmi was born. Many of the children in these sort of remote villages end up working in the bars. So the teams go and live life with these at-risk families and share the Gospel through their actions. They work in the rice fields, live with host families, and love on the people of this village, where Emmi’s father still lives.
And then there’s Wongen- where we’re working. This is a coffee shop right across the street from Chiang Mai University. The heart behind this café is for young Christians living in a country that’s 96% Buddhist to have a safe place to come and experience community. Wongen is an ideal place to study, read, or just hang out with friends. There is game night every Wednesday, and an open mic night every Friday. There is also the opportunity for one-on-one English tutoring. Our job here is to go and build relationships with the students at CMU. We go over there for lunch almost every day and tell them about Wongen. Our main task is to invest in them for the short time that we are here, so that they might ask themselves what is different about us, and by doing so, come to know Christ. We also invest in the students by teaching them English.
Thailand is an amazing country. I’m excited to be part of a ministry that has such a personal approach to spreading the Gospel. Instead of thinking about how to attract the masses, Emmi’s heart is for getting to know the individual- showing one person that he or she is important. That’s a ministry that I love being a part of.
To learn more, visit the website: www.lighthouseinaction.org
