Wow, first let me apologize. It has been two weeks and I have yet to write a blog.
Jumping right in, I'm in Thailand now as most of you may already know! Chiang Mai, Thailand to be exact. Thailand has been a breath of fresh air compared to the battle fought in Haiti. 🙂 At first sight, Thailand seems very modern. Really, it looks very much like the U.S. except there are way more Thai people. Also interesting is there are a lot of tourist here. It is very common to walk down the street and see many western and European people vacationing or backpacking.
It's very easy to like this place and feel comfortable. All is well here except for one thing.
“Thailand is perhaps one of the most famous destinations where a good percentage of tourist money is spent on the sex trade. The country, also known as "The Land of Smiles" is notorious for being a place where "free love" is bought and sold openly. However, in Southeast Asia, the massage parlors lining the streets are nothing more than fronts for thriving prostitution. Unlike many of the massage parlors in the United States, these businesses often populate their staff with unwilling victims of human trafficking. The fact that prostitution is illegal, but "tolerated" (and sometimes regulated) probably contributes to the ease with which these activities occur. Nonetheless, the women choosing to enter the profession do so often because other jobs provide very little money. This casual ideology is perhaps what fuels the underlying sex industry in Thailand.”
This is a pretty hard fact to swallow.
This month my team and I are working with Lighthouse in Action. It is a ministry that is intentionally building relationships with people while showing and living the love of Christ. There are three sides to this ministry. Wongen, Love Acts, and X-life.
Wongen is building intentional relationships with university students in the area.
Love Acts is intentionally loving on the men, women, and children who work in the bars in Chiang Mai's red light district.
X-life is living and working with the Thai people in the local villages doing day to day life with them.
This month I am working with Love Acts. Each night half of our group goes out to the bars while the other half stays back and intercedes for them. A couple nights a week I go out with my partner Justin and we pray for the Lord to direct us.
Justin and I have to come realize that the Lord has put us on a path to love a particular group of people known as ladyboys. In a nutshell, they are men dressed as ladies and only seek straight men. That may seem pretty straight forward but when you look into it further you discover that their reasoning behind it could be motivated by several different things. This could be anything from needing to support their family to just not knowing who they are.
Please be praying that we would be sensitive to God’s leading and obedient as well. Also, that we are able to show the love of Christ to each person we come into contact with.
Lastly, PLEASE just take 5 minutes to check out their website and see more of what they are doing!
Sorry this is more of an informational blog. I wanted to bring you up to speed on what I'm doing….stay tuned to for another blog this week with a little more heart in it. 🙂
Quote Source: Guyhto, A. (2009, November 30). Most Popular Sex Tourism Destinations. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/most-popular-sex-tourism-destinations-4953446.html?cat=23
