The sex trade industry is real.
We walk into it every night.
It's no longer something on the pages of a book or the homepage of a humanitarian website.
We breathe in it's smoke, see its flashing lights, hear it's raging music, and feel its spiritual oppression.
At 9:30pm, after preparing ourselves through nightly prayer and worship, we take the long walk down Bangla Road.
It's a single street here in Phuket, Thailand, that's home to over 200 bars and 1,000 women.
And everything you see is for sale.
Women. Food. Ladyboys. Clothes. Alcohol. Cigarettes. Sex.
It's all for sale.
And yet we walk in the knowledge that you can't buy any of the things people are really searching for here. You can't purchase love or put a dollar sign on respect. So we do our best to bring those things that people are truly looking for. We want to bring hope, love, freedom, a purpose. We want to bring Christ.
So we find a bar with as little men as possible, pull up a stool, and order a Coke. We play Jenga and Connect 4 with the bar girls, praying that we can communicate over the music and through the language barriers. We find out their name, and about their families. We ask them if they like what they do, if they want to leave. And if conversation goes well enough we invite them to visit Self Help and Empowerment (S.H.E.), the organization we are serving with this month.
I leave at night often wishing we could bring the girls home with us. Hating the fact that I know they'll probably go home with a customer tonight. Wondering if I'd done enough, said the right things, shown them something different.
But we're encouraged.
Just last night two women showed up with their belongings. They were moving in! They left the bar. They were done!
As I was eating my cereal this morning one of the women walked into the kitchen, flashed me a smile, and said good morning. It was almost overwhelming... knowing that she will no longer wake up next to strange man, or with a raging hangover. She won't have to put on a shirt that shows too much and shoes that make her calves scream in discomfort. She wont have to try and wave down every man that walks by the bar, secretly dreading the moment one sits down, the moment she has to pretend she wants him half as much as he wants her.
Those days are over for her. Instead of waking up with a customer she wakes up to do devotionals. Instead of working at a bar she works making jewelry and baked goods. Instead of learning how to mix a drink she's learning how to speak English.
Her future brightens with every morning she wakes up here. Her life is changed forever. And I know that after this month, so is mine.
Love you sweetie, praying!
Finally got some lengthy Internet time!! That story was absolutely amazing, and I can't wait for you to experience more of that this time around. You are going to be able to bring the freedom that you experience to the people who need it the most. Know that I'm praying for your ministry and your support raising. God will provide for and amaze you!!
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