Christmas… a time of year to celebrate the coming
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A time
to celebrate family and friends… to share life’s most blessed gift with those
we love most. Christmas, a time filled
with more special memories than any other.
This Christmas… would be one I’ll never
forget.
Our ministry this month?.… rescuing women enslaved
to the sex industry… rescuing men enslaved to sexual desire.
Our location?…
SHE Ministries, Phuket, Thailand.
All thirty-six of us would be on the mission
together. Each night we alternated, half
of us would go to the bars, half of us would stay back to pray… a couple others
and myself were on full-time prayer duty.
We call them bars… people call them bars… but that’s
not what they are. They are hubs for
lonely, depressed, addicted and confused men to come and fulfill their desires
and fantasies at the expense of others. They
are an all-too-powerful money making machine that entices women (and men) into
a lifestyle… a lifestyle of selling themselves, their sacred possession, for
income…
Our goal entering the bars was primarily
relational. Culture made this easier
than it would otherwise have been… for each bar was fitted with its own set of
games, from hammering nail games, to Jenga, to believe-it-or-not, Connect Four. This was like their form of small-talk with an
added get-to-know-you quality… prostitutes would readily enter into both competition
and conversation…
Most girls worked in the same bars consistently,
which made it possible for our teams to build relationships and have ongoing
conversations with them. The girls would
further be asked to go out to lunch, and ultimately be invited back to SHE
Ministries; a safe haven for women of the industry to experience a love that
values them for more than what their bodies provide. At the ministry center women can find
accountability and fellowship, create income apart from sex by making jewelry
and baking cookies, and they will have the opportunity to hear the gospel
message and be discipled.
So this was the context in which we would
celebrate the season…. Little did we know, Santa, umm… Jesus, had a few gifts
up His cross.
The wonderful Ashley and Chelsea were nominated as
our Christmas committee… they did an incredible job… shout out to them!! Christmas wouldn’t have been the same without
their effort.
To begin with, we had some AMAZING peeps on the
squad hit up the kitchen. And when you
haven’t had sweets in, forever, they taste ten times as good… oh my gosh! I think I hit my knees in worship as I let a
peanut butter and chocolate cookie dissolve in my mouth!!
Decorations were a blessing. My two favorite?…we had those crazy awesome
snowflakes that you used to make in elementary school, they surprised us with
those and taped them all over the windows… and then we had a couple little plastic
Christmas trees placed around the center.
One night we had a gingerbread house competition between
teams. Well, being as humble as I can,
Agape Life Song dominated the competition.
A night of fun and laughter… a release from the weight of ministry… and
at the end as we were cleaning up, someone put on their little computer
speakers a version of “Silent Night.� I was
caught in my tracks, kind of just stopped moving. The Christmas Spirit broke through into my
heart and brought a little tear to my eye.
I was wondering if I would ever even feel that this Christmas. A nice surprise!
I mean everything is so UNLIKE any Christmas I’ve
ever experienced. Its incredibly hot… we
can only dream of having more fans!… I’m with a bunch of people I’ve only known
for a few months in a country far on the other side of the world where no one
speaks English… none of the friends,
none of the family that I am used to are around. Different for sure? But was God still there, absolutely!
Each person had a homemade stocking made (folder
turned stocking) with his or her name on it.
People could drop little treats or encouraging letters in them through
the weeks.
Christmas Eve?
An outreach to the community. We split
in teams and carried cookies around the streets, inviting people back to the center,
where we sang songs and fellowshipped. Many
of the kids came back, and for a few hours it was just perfect, a place of hope
and light… nobody speaking the same language, but everyone rejoicing with
smiles and laughter. It was
beautiful. It was Christmas.
Later on I had settled down with a few others to
watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.�
As the clock struck midnight, exchanged and received a gift or two (kind
of like back home when mom and dad would let me open just one on Christmas
Eve).
Christmas morning?
Wow! Our teammate Heidi is
AMAZING! So, she had been asking us
earlier in the month what some of our family traditions were. I didn’t think anything of it, but turns out
she was scheming. So she creates this
Christmas breakfast with a little something included from each of our
traditions… my contribution… cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, which went
nicely with the homemade eggnog and homemade eggnog French toast!!
It was a little too close to home for me. It wasn’t long after that all my resistance
broke and I began to cry there at the table.
My tears spanned a range of emotions…
At first I was crying with how frustrated I was that this didn’t feel
like Christmas, then I was crying because of how much I missed my family… then
that turned to how thankful I am for them and how much I love them… it was
about that time that “Amazing Grace� came on, and at once I began to feel how
undeserved I am to have such an incredible family. And how often I take them for granted? Gratitude filled my heart. I love you family!!
Then we joined the rest of the squad for some Christmas
songs and then the clincher. So everyone,
in a huge circle, closing their eyes and promising not to look, wait as an
envelope and a cup of hot chocolate is placed before us. As we open our eyes we find in the envelope a
letter from back home!! What a
surprise!!? My family had written me
messages and scanned it in… sending it to our Christmas elves… who had sneakily
printed them out. The first message I read
was from my Dad. More tears.
Then we gathered together and did our Secret Santa
gifts. But with a little twist. To introduce the names, superlatives were
given for each person and we would all guess who it was. Mine was, “most likely to build a staircase
to heaven.� Everyone got it in unison…
for whatever reason I have built and worked on more stairs this trip than I ever
imagined. Here’s my latest work…
Then for lunch we all went to a nearby park with a
lake. Honestly, the thing couldn’t have
felt anything more like a July Fourth celebration. Picnic in the sun with burgers and more
treats than could possibly fit in my stomach.
I’m such a slave to my taste buds!!
And soda on ice!! Praise the
Lord!! We also had some worship out at
the lake. So good… so peaceful.
Later on went to see “Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn
Treader.� Which was weird cause the
whole time I was in that dreamy place somewhere between waking and sleeping…
despite the ice coffee I flew down 4 escalators to retrieve. But I got my second wind and after a stressful
trip back home, was ready to try and make some skype calls!!
This was my highlight for sure!! Got to see my family back home, everybody!
It was awesome!! How I wished I was
with them? And got to see my family away
from home, in Savannah, the Wheelers!! How
I wished I was there too!!?
It was a heavy month, but amidst the darkness, the
light of Christ prevailed. The Christmas
Spirit reached not only our hearts but touched the lives of several
prostitutes, tourists, and even bar owners (one owner let us come and do praise
and worship during the night!!).
“The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.� —Jn 1:5
So all in all… Christmas? Same. Same.
But Different.
To get a better picture of the prostitution ministry,
please see my squad mate lacey’s blog…
http://laceymalcomson.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-pit-of-hell
