It's crazy that I just left Seattle a week ago today! A lot has happened as seems to be the case. Myself and 15 others have been in Bangkok, first staying at a YWAM base, and now at a hostel in central Bangkok. The first couple of days we're fairly restful, with good chunks of time in the afternoon to rest and get over jetlag begin adjusting our eyes to the many sights and sounds of bangkok! We've had the delight of enjoying thai food, including 'chicken on a stick' as depicted in the photo.
and have been seriously blessing (& surprising!) various missionaries and staff we meet through prophetic prayer. Yesterday, a long-time staff at Nightlight thanked us after our time of worship and prayer together. They usually pray for an hour before going out to the bars. She said usually she’s ready to give more to volunteers then to receive, and ready to get out there to the bars. But tonight, “I’m experiencing such blessing being prayed for and soaking in the presence of God during this worship time, that I don’t want to leave! I’m so blessed by this time and you all!”We’ve worshipped in the middle of a park, prayed with Thai women waiting for customers in the broad daylight where every block they are waiting to be picked up and taken to the many hourly motels, prayed last night in bars where women were dancing for w
hite foreign customers, and tonight prayed for healing at a community block party we helped put on! Much to the amazement of all, a number of people were physically healed and we got to feed around 300 people! A number of bad knees & backs, one elderly woman’s sight was almost fully restored, and about 5 deaf people got some if not all of their hearing back! It was beautiful to watch their faces change as they either started to hear or see for the first time, beginning to blink their eyes anew without glasses or start making sounds and shocked by the noise of it. One man described warmth he felt rising in his chest upwards to eventually reach his ears—and pop! His ears were opened! The two ladies in the photo with me were completely deaf and began to hear for the first time! For those who know me, this is definitely not my ‘usual’ mode of operation—worship and prayer. But I am oh so grateful.
Seeing the older wh
ite men walking hand in hand with young Thai girls has been just as disturbing as I thought it would be. Selling sex is insanely prevalent and expected. In some neighborhoods, it is Thai women servicing Thai men. Other blocks or areas there are ‘lady boys’ waiting for men, and then there are the redlight districts that are flooded with foreigners. Some of these districts are for Western men, with Thai girls dancing on the stages—like the one we visited last night. At this hotel, a couple men were eyeing our two tables of 20 mainly white women who were about to go out to the bars that night to meet the girls. One American even came up and asked if we were working (in other words, working as prostitutes).(This photo is the jewelry made by the women at Nightlight. I can't post photos online, but can show you when I get home!)
I’ve got much more to say about this prostitution-filled world. But this is the taste for now. Thank you and please keep praying. Today we visit a couple of churches, and Monday head to Pattaya.
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