What will you be doing in Thailand?? This is a question I was asked quite a few times before I got to Thailand, and up until last week I was unable to give a good answer. The way Adventures in Missions works is that they like to leave a lot of unknowns so as to leave room for God to work. (Hence my last post) However, now that I’m here, and we have started our ministry, I can tell you all a little bit more about it. We arrived in Chiang Mai about a week ago and are staying at a guesthouse run by Lighthouse which is the ministry with whom we are partnering. The biggest aspect of what we are doing is just being present, building relationships with people to show them that they are valued individuals. Thailand is not a place where you can just walk up to someone and share the gospel. The nature of their Buddhist religion makes it so they will accept what you say without really believing it as sole truth. The Thai people I have talked to who have become Christians say that they have done so by simply watching the actions and demeanour of their friends who are Christians. Thus, our main focus is just relating to people and loving them so that Christ can shine through us.
There are a few different instances in which we are able to connect with people. The first is working/hanging out at Wongen Kafe, which is run by Lighthouse. This kafe is across the street from Chiang Mai University, so during the week we walk over at lunch time to sit and eat in the cafeteria there just to hang out with students, invite them to the kafe so they can practice English, teach us Thai, or whatever else depending on God’s leading. The majority of Christians in Thailand found their faith during college, so this is a very crucial time for the students to find the love of Christ. Another ministry outlet for us is going to the slums a
nd playing with the kids or talking to the women there. The final aspect of our ministry is bar ministry. Around 9 p.m. we head out to the bars. We have split up into smaller groups to go to different bars, but each of the smaller groups return to the same bar each time so that we can build relationships with the girls working there– aka the prostitutes and lady-boys. (Yes, lady-boy is the correct term for the men who want to be or have been turned into women.)
The bar ministry and the slums have been the most heartbreaking parts of being here. Watching the children fight over the attent
ion from us with such desperateness shows the real lack of love they receive. This makes me wonder where they might end up as they grow up. Often times it is the kids from poor, broken families that end up working in the bars; then of course getting to know the girls who are currently working at the bars breaks my heart because there are such strong spirits of desperation and hopelessness among them. They are there, not because they wanted this, but because either they were forced to go into prostitution, or because they don’t know anything else. This is why I am so eager to show them that they are valued individuals who are loved and called to a higher purpose. When I look at their lives and where they’ve been, I can’t help but wonder whether I would very likely be in that same place had I not been raised in a loving, Christian, American family. One of the girls I have become friends with is a mere 16 years old and has never been to school because her family moved from China and she has no Thai ID. It’s no wonder she’s in the bar. If I were her, I wouldn’t think I had a choice either. She is just one example of many who make up the reason I am here: to bring hope to the hopeless and to love the unloved.
