We wake up for Morning Prayer!
We head to lunch after and team up in pairs to complete the needed tasks of the day. Jonathon and I are in charge of how to get to Dong Tow. We’ve been asking every single person we meet about it, and no one seems to know. All we’ve heard is Bus 16. There is also a national park near Dong Tow called Ben en. So we often ask for that as well.
Even at the bus stop, no one seems to know. So Jonathon and I decide to get uncomfortable and just get on the bus! With no preparation, and no supplies, we hop on! The bus is empty so we sit separately from each other. Then within seconds it fills up like crazy: A lady sits next to me that has a beautiful baby, and a drunken man sits next to Jonathon. This man will NOT stop talking to us; he stares at us deeply and talks in Vietnamese. We tell him we do not understand, but he keeps talking. He seems upset that we are on the bus.
He is very violent, and smacks Jonathon, grabs his sweater several times and gets right in his face. The bus workers were trying to help, but we were trying to just show him love, and even though he could not understand us, we were speaking truth into him and telling him he does not have to stay where he is, that God can help him through his struggles. He gets even more upset and violent, Jonathon is trying to remain patient and I just begin to pray and sing out loud to try and keep Jonathon sane and change the atmosphere a bit. It continues to be rough through the rest of the bus.
The woman next to me is clearly irritated with this man. We keep trying to protect the baby from his swinging arms. I switch seats with her because the man stood up to let kids sit down by Jonathon. The woman took my hoodie and held it up to the window; I rigged it up to block the sun for the baby. The man just continued to glare at us and talk to us even from across the bus. The kids get off and then he sits back down, turns to me and starts saying something to me, and all I could say was, ‘you can’t say that to me’ I have no idea what he was saying but I knew it was not ok. Jonathon felt very ‘bruised’ after the ride and felt exhausted. The environment was very heavy.
We get off the bus and the husband of the woman who I was helping offered us a ride into the park. We hesitantly accept after he said it would not cost anything. About 10k later we arrive at a damn where it overlooked some of the most amazing nature I’ve ever seen. The drive in was gorgeous. Water, plants, mountains…beauty.
We get dropped off and after rough communication with kids at the park and our driver, we find out the last bus leaves for home at 7. The man then rubs his fingers together for money… what do we do? He can’t speak English and he drove us there… so we paid him an amount that he was not happy with, but we did not have anything else. We walk up to a bathroom and snack shop and see a peacock and pheasants. Jonathon goes to the bathroom and we begin to walk back because we are nowhere near Dong Tow and we do not have many other options. We look at a map and decide to just head back for the day.
On our walk back, several people invited us into their homes and we decided to go into each home that invited us. It ended up being three all together. The first woman was amazing; she gave us tea and cookies and told us through actions that she had five children. We sat for a bit and smiled, then explained we needed to make the bus. Their grandmother was a sweet woman, possibly the oldest woman in the world, with three teeth, and only gums where her three teeth were! So cute, but crazy looking too. Throughout all of this we were praying for a ride back, but were just going to walk until it was provided.
We stop at the next house because it was one of the kids I was talking to on the bus! She invited us in, and we entered the house, there were sunflower seeds all over the floor that I was stepping on with my bare feet! They gave us tea, sunflower seeds, and strawberry candies. Sunflower seeds always remind me of my dad, he loves ’em!
Then they give us Halida, the local beer, to which I gulp down quickly because we really were running late especially if we have to walk the rest of the way. I felt a bit warm after that, especially because I had only eaten Oreos that day.
I stop to pee in the woods after all these beverages… luckily I had some tissue J
The last house we went into was not as lovely… it’s best described as a trap. It was full of children and the people around were very loud and obnoxious. We were being courteous and drinking our tea, eating some nasty piece of sugary dried carrot. I see a pregnant lady and smile, saying I LOVE YOUR BELLY! Then this woman looks at me and through body language asks me if I was pregnant, I shockingly say no, especially because she was assuming that Jonathon and I were together.
She tries to push our faces together and we quickly start getting ready to leave as nice as possible. She grabs my chest twice as we are trying to make our way out. There were a lot of inappropriate things happening to us while being there, so we were just trying to leave.
Walking out was like a mob of people surrounding us, touching us as we were leaving. It was like that scene from The Little Mermaid when all the little things start grabbing Ariel. It was shaking my spirit, and then a boy kissed my face. I was praying through it all, knowing that I was covered by the blood of Jesus and knowing that it was fine. After we are offered a ride immediately and we get to the bus station at 6:10. The man drives off, with no awkwardness about money or anything and we feel blessed to be going home. We have great conversations on the way home, pray, and then safely arrive.
Our team prayed for us, prayed against any spirit of lust, and anything that could have shaken our spirits. We both showered and felt rejuvenated and ready to go again.
It’s great to know that I have a team that will fight for me, and fight for each other. We prayed the night before this happened to be uncomfortable and to go to the hard places. A quick turnaround. Salley, who is well educated on trafficking and things in that department, thought we ran across some sort of weird brothel. We pray that the light of Jesus would fall on that place.
We have a day of rest, then we embark on a three day (or longer) journey to Dong Tow, bringing only our day packs. The hotel is keeping our big bags here for free. Thank you Lord. We plan on tenting and surviving on what’s provided to us. Our team was told at debrief to read Matthew 10 in the message, so we’ve been reading that often.
Matthew 10:16. Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove. (The Message)
<3
