Before embarking on this trip, Thailand was one of the countries I looked forward to the most. Having finally gotten to spend an entire month there, I can say without a doubt that I loved every minute of it. In the beginning of the month, our squad got together and we had some time to debrief, basically allowing us a couple of days to rest and process our first month. It was definitely a much-needed time to refocus and regroup individually and with each other before starting our next ministry.
People who follow my Instagram or have seen my Facebook pictures might assume that I was on vacation. Yes, I got to ride elephants, play with tigers, dive off cliffs, and drink smoothies everyday– but those were mostly taken during my off days (one day per week.)
We were in Chiang Mai, also known as Thailand’s rose of the north, a prominent sex tourism destination. During tourist ‘high season’ every November to March, the numbers can swell to nearly 25,000 prostitutes as visitors crowd Chiang Mai’s bars, nightclubs, massage parlors, or karaoke bars. Our team lived just two blocks away from the red light district, a much frequented row of bars, nightclubs, massage parlors, and karaoke bars where bodies are sold and exploited every day.
These streets are filled with women and men who believe the lie that they are not good enough, that they have no value, and that the only thing that they have to offer are their bodies. They sell themselves to survive. A majority of them do it to support their parents and siblings in the rural villages where they are from, and others simply believe that money is the one thing that will fix all of their problems and make them happy.
We worked with an organization called Lighthouse In Action– http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/. This ministry has a three-part vision of a village outreach/monk chats, bars, and cafe (Zion Cafe).
The first ministry is the village outreach where we teach English and play games with children in a nearby slum area. Through this ministry, we want to share the love and hope of Jesus with the children that are deemed “hopeless” and be able to establish a relationship early with these kids, as prevention is the key to fighting the sex trade cycle. This first ministry is paired with monk chat ministry where we simply go into Buddhist temples and chat with the monks there, build relationships, and share the gospel.
The second is the bar ministry where we form relationships with the men, women, and children, and minister to them simply by showing them love and spending time with them. We demonstrate the love of Jesus by showing them that we are there to love them– not by just our words, but with our actions. We do prayer walks in the mornings and afternoons, speaking truth and light and life over the areas that we will be going into in the evenings. We all gather to pray and worship God together for an hour before setting out. One team stays behind to pray and intercede for the team that goes out.
My team focused most of our time during the day in the Cafe. We worked alongside several Thai girls, some of whom have come out of the bars. We served customers, helped in the kitchen, and just got to hang out and build relationships with the girls. We also got to do some side projects like painting the rooms, developing marketing strategies to help increase the awareness of the cafe, and go out to the village by Laos to pick and shuck corn for two days.
As all of you have probably seen, liked, and commented, I’ve had a lot of fun in Thailand– but what really made me fall in love with Thailand is working with this ministry and seeing the love that God has for Chiang Mai. If you want to learn more about the amazing woman behind this ministry, check out Emmi’s story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQacdkYccRw&feature=youtu.be. And if you want to learn more about her ministry, check out the Lighthouse in Action Promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgBAxuiHqgI&feature=youtu.be
Please continue to pray for her and this ministry and the area of Chiang Mai.
