So, this is a blog written by one of my teammates, Lindsay Fox. She is an amazing woman of God and has become a true sister and friend to me. Here is a little bit of her story on this amazing journey…
So many crazy things have happened in the last couple of days, it’s hard to even know where to start. I have a feeling I’ll have quite a few blogs over the next few days. There’s just no way I can fit everything that happened into one.
Yesterday we had a Christmas party for the girls in the English class, which was also our last class to help out with. As the girls filtered in I saw a new face in the crowd and I realized it was a lady that I had talked to a couple nights before in the bar as she was working – Her name is Put. I invited her to come to class just like I had with many other girls, and she actually decided to show up! It was so amazing to see her there, and the feeling it gave me was just indescribable. She told me (in very broken English) that all of us women were beautiful inside and out and she could see there was something different about us. She asked if I would be there for class on Thursday and I had to tell her no, we were leaving to go back to Bangkok. Her eyes welled up with tears and she pulled a ring off one of her fingers and put it on mine and asked that I please don’t forget her… I told her that was not possible and I loved her and God loved her, then we hugged and parted. I am terrible at goodbyes, and that was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to go through… or so I thought.
That night we went out again for the last time to talk to the ladies working the streets and the bars. We headed out at about 6 pm… usually at that time the girls are putting on their make-up and still primping themselves and not too distracted by trying to catch men yet. I was paired up with a Thai girl who had just become a Christian 6 months ago, and we set off to a bar across the street. Apparently this was the bar that Sage and Jordan sat outside of and ate ice cream and felt compelled to pray over the other day, but I didn’t know that at the time. Anyways, we went in there, walked up and down the huge aisle and finally sat down at one of the bars in the middle. We started talking with one of the bartenders named Sip (pronounced Seep) and before I knew it she was in tears. She hated her job, she hated selling herself to men, she hated her boss. She had heard about God before but always felt like He had no reason to forgive her or love her after all she had done – she had even heard about the Tamar Center and tried to call them about going to church but somehow was never able to get a hold of anyone. She wanted out of her lifestyle but didn’t know how to get away – she owed her boss money and was afraid to leave, and had nowhere to go but back to his place at night. I told her some of my story and let her know that there’s nothing a person can do that is past the point of God loving them. My partner translated the parts she couldn’t understand, and then all of a sudden they began talking a million miles per hour in Thai… I just sat there, smiling and nodding… not really knowing what was going on.
After about 5 minutes of that, my partner looked at me and asked “do you think we should have her come with us now?” and I felt my stomach flip. I replied YES, and so we asked her if she would come with us before her night of work started- that we’d find a way to pay her boss back, and that we had a safe place for her to stay. She anxiously looked around, and then nodded to us. She said goodbye to the girls she was working with, grabbed her purse, and walked out with us. Talk about guts!!
Before I knew it she was swept away by the ladies in charge at the Tamar Center, but not without her asking if she would see me later this week… I had to tell her no. She asked me when she’s going to see me again – I couldn’t think, and so I just said I didn’t know. She hugged me and half stated, half asked “in heaven?” and I sort of laughed and cried and said of course. Then she was whisked away into the crowd, and that was it…
It’s going to be so hard to leave here tomorrow morning. I know my teammates and I have made a big impact on the lives of these women, but that doesn’t make it any easier to leave. These women have touched my heart just as much as I have theirs… and these past few weeks are ones I will hold on to for the rest of my life.
