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The choreography of a coincidence. 
 

I know I shared about the day we came to Chiang Rai, but I didn’t tell you of all the other wonderful God-incidences!  (sorry this is long, but the stories are good)

 

Northern Thailand working with Eden house there were so many times when God just surprised us with his provision and gifts.  On the second day at the Eden house Audrey asked if any of us would like to sleep in the house in her two sons old bedroom.  Shanda and I jumped at the opportunity and when I got in the room I looked at the bedside table and there sat The Alchemist, the book I had been trying to find every time I went into a used bookstore.  It just lay there as if God had placed it there to remind me that he delights in giving me my desires and that he just wanted to see my smile when I stood there in utter thanksgiving as I picked up the book and began to read the fascinating story that unfolded on the pages, where page after page quotes of wisdom spoke to me. 
 

The next morning I ran on a treadmill that just happened to be in our room.  I love running.  Running has always been this intimate time with the Lord and I, where he raptures my heart and we have these great in depth conversations and He deeply speaks to my soul exactly what I need to hear.  It is strange that in this place of intense physical activity, heart beating fast, breathing in rapid rhythm, I am catapulted to a place of complete serenity and peace with my heavenly Father.   The day started off brilliant and I left the room feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.  When Shanda and I reached the school house where the rest of the team was staying Vern had brought us coffee and came to share stories with us until the afternoon.  Then, that evening we had a time of worship and celebration for the three girls who’s Birthday’s were that month.  The girls sounded like angels with their soft high voices.  Then, we had brownies and ice-cream.  What a day, huh?

 
The next day was just as dazzling. We had asked Vern and Audrey how we could serve them while we were staying at the house and they had come up with a couple things that we could do.  To our amazement they were things we were talented and gifted at.  They needed someone to fix and paint their bikes that were all rusty and no longer working.  Just so happens we have a certified bike technician on out team, Johnny and Josh was his assistant.  They wanted someone to paint a mural in the girls rooms and Shanda and I were so excited as we both love art.  Marissa and Stephanie worked on cross-stitching bookmarks.  I love that God used our talents to help serve them.  Over the next couple of days we all gladly enjoyed our tasks and how excited the girls were when they saw their bikes and newly painted room.
Pictures of murals, bikes, and cross-stitching. 
 
 
One day we took a trip to Myanmar to pray for God’s Kingdom to reign in that country and for some of our team members that were working there.  Once we reached the bus station we took a red truck to the border.  The man driving the red truck was very strange and drove insanely slow while on the phone.  Your probably wondering what the significance of telling you that is.  Well, once we crossed the border we were met by another man who was well dressed and insisted that we take his tuk-tuk around town.  He would not take no for an answer and followed us everywhere we went.  Even to the point of driving alongside of us and parking his tuk-tuk to walk next to us in places he could not drive.  Eventually I just asked him if he wanted to come with us and not soon after we decided to take him up on his tuk-tuk tour.  While hanging out with him we found out that the man in the red truck who drove us earlier called him to meet us at the border.  He was a government official hired to be our spy while we were in Myanmar.  So we became friends after he realized we were just tourists. 
 

Our tuk-tuk in Myanmar – tagged!

The girls’ stories at Eden house: (not using their real names – I just made  up new names)
 One of the days Vern took us to see some of the girls’ villages and shared their stories with us.   They have such incredible testimonies of being rescued from such horrible circumstances and chaos to a place of restoration and hope.  This is what we are all called to do right!  We are called to go into places of CHAOS and turn it into EDEN! 
 

Hannah’s story –
Hannah’s story is one of loss.  Her mom and two siblings were murdered by their next door neighbor in a fit of rage one night while in an argument with his own wife over the volume of the television.  He killed his wife and children and then came into Hannah’s home and killed her mom and siblings, then went into the woods and shot himself being burdened with guilt and in utter disbelief of what he had just done.  Hannah was alone and scared that night in the dark as she witnessed this brutal act of horror and she wept and wept in complete hopelessness. 
Hannah was so young and she had already lost so much, but more loss came around the next corner in the form of a police officer and took her brother.  Her brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time and a simple answer to a question valuing his worth is what killed him.  The police officer asked him what tribe he belonged to and he answered, “Akha.”  That was his last breath as he was shot and killed.  The Akha tribe is viewed as the lowest class in Thailand and most of the time they are not given Thai citizenship.  Hannah being from this tribe was basically told she was invaluable in this world and was unable to even conceive of what HOPE could look like. 
At about this time Hannah came to live at the Eden house where she has a loving family who constantly encouraged and cared for her.  But, with all the loss in her life it was extremely hard to trust her new parents and sisters.  It was hard for Hannah to get close and want to open up her heart again for fear that loss would once again take those who mean the most to her in her life.  Hannah and Vern have had a very tumultuous journey of closeness and distance over the 9 years she has been at Eden house.  But, now she is on a gradual uphill climb towards trust and opening up. 
Recently, Hannah went with Vern to visit her home village.  When they entered her sister’s home she was skin and bones folded up in the corner as if out of a horror film.  Her sister had a combination of AIDS and Tuberculosis and Hannah was visited by loss once again as soon after their visit her sister passed away.    Her sister was a believer, which made the sting much easier to handle.  Hannah bounced back pretty unhindered from this loss. 

Hannah’s story is no longer one of loss.  She has continued to open up her heart to Vern and Audrey and she shares life with 32 other sisters.  Through the Eden house God has answered her prayers for a family and she has been given value as she now has Thai citizenship after Vern and Audrey filled out document after document and fought for her “value.”  Now she is filled with hope for her future, because to go to college you must have citizenship.  Hannah is highly intelligent and creative.  At 20 years old she has decided that she either wants to be a nurse, or a missionary to Korea. But, she wants to go to college first and is excited about this opportunity.  She has a wonderful and bright life ahead of her thanks to the Eden house.  If anyone is reading this and wants to help Hannah continue her education, please go to the Eden house website and contact Vern and Audrey. 
 

Esther’s story:
Esther’s mom is an evil, lazy woman.  Twice, Esther was sold, as a child, to men for sex by her mother for 20 Baht (this is approximately 70 cents).  Esther, however, is a warrior and she waited until the men got really drunk knowing that if they were inebriated enough that it would impair them and then she might have a chance to escape.  Both times her planned worked and she fought off the men and got away.    It is a miracle that she got away because she would have been infected with AIDS as one of the men her mom sold her to had the disease. 
Esther’s village is about 65% infected with AIDS.  Esther’s sister at 16 and infected with AIDS was the village prostitute living in a hut built by UNICEF.  She would have men and boys lined up at her hut collecting 20 Baht per trick and infecting them with the disease.  These men were paying for one night of pleasure and getting a lifetime of sickness.  She was infecting so many people in the village with AIDS that eventually the Mooyaban, or the town chief, forbade anyone to have sex with her because of the drastic spread of the sickness.  Esther’s sister was pretty conniving and hungry for money so she called a meeting with the Mooyaban and told him that she had a dream and in her dream mice came in her body and ate all the sickness inside of her and she no longer had the disease.  Because of this lie she was able to go back to prostituting herself in the village. 
Esther’s mom recently asked her dad permission to get pregnant by another man so that she could take the baby to Mehsot, the border town between Myanmar and Thailand, so that she could beg on the streets.   Her mom is smart and conniving and knows that having a baby with her on the street warrants more money because people are compassionate towards babies.  She had her baby and went to Mehsot and now Esther has a 5 year-old sibling. 

Esther did not end up like her mother, or sister.  Eden house provided hope and another way of life other then begging and prostituting.  
 

Rahab’s village:
Rahab came from a very dangerous village.  One night the police came and raided the entire village arresting all of the men except her brother.  They dug up the floors in the homes and discovered millions of pills, of opium or heroine, which comes from the hidden poppy fields all over the region.  There is a huge drug trafficking ring that runs between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, or better known as the Golden Triangle.  Vern told us to look at the roofs of the houses in the village when we got there, because the roof told the value of the house.  Some were made out of dirt and bamboo, but others were made out of teak wood and cement.  He explained that the average family made about ninety US dollars a year and that amount of money could never justify the wood and cement roofs.  This is a sure sign that the homeowner is involved in the drug trade. 

The drug trade is so rampant in the area and most of the time the police are involved by either taking bribes, or even helping hide and escort the drugs to the next location. 
 

Interesting things that I learned:
*Twins are seen as demonic by the village culture and upon their birth they kill them using ashes to choke the babies.  They have to kill the first-born first and then after the baby is dead the mother can then birth the next child into his or her death. 
*Children in the culture are obligated to give 20% of all their earnings to parents until the parents die.
*There are hotels that have tarps on three sides of the parking spaces to disguise cars from passers by so that men can get away with prostitution and cheating on their wives without their car being recognized. 

*Spirit swings and spirit gates:  Each village entrance has a spirit gate, which is made of an archway of wood and a man and woman carved of wood with exaggerated private parts.  Each village also has a spirit swing which is used in a girls “coming of age” ceremony.  When a girl is of age to marry (about 16) she stands on the spirit swing in the night swinging until she hears a voice of one calling in the dark.  She then chooses if she wants to follow that voice and goes and lies with the man that night.  Then, arrangements are made upon the following day for their marriage. 
 
Destiny Rescue:
At one of Destiny Rescue’s three homes for children in Chaing Rai I met this beautiful 9 year-old girl who captured my heart.  This little girl was rescued from child sex trafficking.  She had a different presence about her, a loss of innocence, and she was constantly seeking attention and affection.  She came and stood in front of me with her makeup stained face, sweeping her bangs across her face to cover one eye and peering at me with the one that was uncovered as if asking me, “Do you see me?” and “Do you think I am beautiful?”  She grabbed on to my hands and looked into my eyes with this pleading cry and lovely smile. 
I am so thankful for ministries like Destiny Rescue for saving girls like her from the abuse and rape of countless men, most of the time 12 times in a single night.  The horror of this money-fueled industry just haunts me.  And, now this industry has a face for me and that face is this precious little 9 year-old girl.

Over the past few weeks I have learned so much about child trafficking and I am so overwhelmed and want to unravel all these webs of pain in these children and women’s lives.  How do we end this catastrophe?  Why is it okay for children to be sold?  I don’t understand any of it, but I have realized that MONEY TRULY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. 
Barry at Destiny Rescue shared with me a story that haunts him.  One day on route to an outskirt village they discovered a container and as they opened it they were horrified at what they saw.  The container was packed full of children peering out in desperation and confusion, scared of the men that entrapped them in this dark confined space.  A wave of hope came over Barry and his team as he thought of rescuing all of these children and he immediately called the police.  When the police arrived Barry let out a sigh of relief, as he could almost taste the children’s freedom.  But, the events that unfolded diminished all hope.  Once the police arrived instead of arresting the men, the police took a large sum of money from the traffickers and came to the back of the container and shut the door on the innocent helpless children.  Barry just stood there unable to do anything and in utter frustration and anger. 

Money is what not only enslaves the girls, but it also can rescue them.  Interesting that either way the sex traffickers win; they get money.  They either get money from selling a girl for sex, or they get money from selling her to someone who is willing to pay the money to rescue her.  How do we stop this tragedy of injustice?
 
Pictures of the tribal ladies: