Grace makes Beauty out of Ugly things

I keep trying to write an overall trip blog. Not going to happen. There is too much to tell and so many faces to share their stories all at once. So I am going to start with one story...

Bua & Som - they work at Glamour Bar in Patpong district. They were standing outside drawing in potential customers as we were prayer walking the streets and stopped to chat. I got to share with them the redemption story and how Jesus see's them as the pearl of great value (mt.13:46) that the fisherman sold everything he owned and bought that 1 pearl because he saw the value in it. How Jesus gave up everything He had, His life, for them because He sees their worth!

I love the U2 lyric - "grace makes beauty out of ugly things." Prostitution is ugly, Trafficking is ugly, the red light districts are... ugly. Bua and Som happen to be two of the most beautiful people I met there inside and out. Our friendship started by talking outside the bar. Each night we made sure to stop by and see them at work, but as our team left at the end of our trip, my teammate Sarah and I had a few extra days in Thailand to visit the friends we had made.

I had been questioning on the trip how effective I was in bar ministry, or rather, questioning how to be more effective in bar ministry with these girls in the amount of time given. So as I was praying througout the week the question kept popping into my head "where are these girls during the day?" Yes, most likely sleeping, but if they work 7pm to 2am and sleep til 1pm in the afternoon, they still have a good 6 hours before work, so how do I find them then? I was sharing this with Sarah as we walked to Glamour bar and outside was Bua and Som and so I took the opprotunity and said "hey, lets go have lunch together tomorrow, ok?" and they lit up and said "yes, yes, have you tried...." and so began their quest to take up to some spicy thai food haha! God provided right away the answer to my prayer, to hang with them outside the bar!


We met the next day and just got to be girls! They took us to the largest mall I have ever been in, 8 stories! We had some food (which we were not fans of haha), and some coffee. We talked about girl things like favorite types of stores, colors, boys we like, and yes, even Twilight! Its a universal language "girl talk", no matter the language barrier girls can always argue who gets Edward and what color is best in a scarf! We got to ask more about their work, their families, and what they want to do in life... Som, would like to be an airline stewardess, but it is so expensive she may never get too, she was married and he was not nice, and she is now a butterfly. Free. Bua, is only 21 and has a 5 year old son who lives with the father, she wants to be a receptionist. Dreams seem more simple there, maybe because they come at so high a price?


I was so blessed that day to see them be who they really are, dress in their normal clothes and talk about dreams! We started a friendship that will cross oceans, cross borders, and if the Lord permits, share in eternity with them. It was a lot of seed planting but the Lord knows who will reap that harvest if not Sarah or I, maybe another saint. Pray for them and their friend Ning who joined us later that day. Bua shared she reads english better than she understands it talking so I took the opprotunity to write out the gospel for her to read and share with Som and Ning.

Those girls are reminder to me of how grace makes beauty out of ugly things...

Love Without Expectations

Ministry is hard here.

It’s easy to start a trip like this with thoughts of grandeur and the need to resolve and defend. Quickly we find it’s more about the simple expressions of love that speaks volumes of who you truly ar. No one has ever been able to show me the love of Buddha. No one has ever been able to share with me how he died and rose again for me. No one has ever been able to tell me that he created me to worship him, that I was not created to be sold.

I look in so many eyes of women, young girls, children, and ladyboys and see no hope that anyone and any god can save them. I would even go so far as to say that I see some of that same desperation in the men who frequent the bars as customers. It just wears differently on them.

This is life, no less, no more. Which is why I believe simply loving on them without expectations is a huge testimony of how God loves us and calls us to share that love. No other god loves like that!

So when we walk the streets of Pat Pong, we walk with a purpose to be light and show love. We smile, say, “Sawatika”, give out friendship bracelets, and share however God leads us. Taking the time in a bar just to hear a girl’s story can be so powerful when it seems like most of her life revolves around pleasing others, why would we care?

Again, it’s simple, relational ministry. Are we moving mountains? Maybe not yet. But that’s the Lord’s job, not ours. We are called to worship, to be a Light, to love at all times… even to the men. The heart of our Savior loves both the women and the men equally … and so should we.

The gospel is not for the “cleaned-up, ready-to-go” soul. It’s for the broken, the lost, in need. For the girl forced to sell herself in a bar in Bangkok to the girl in Phoenix, Az waiting for the one man God has for her. In His eyes, we are the same, a daughter of the King. That’s what Love does.

I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself – Jeremiah 31:3

little Pong

I planned to blog more here but time did not permit, nor has my mind have time to process all my thoughts, so I'm down to my last night and thought I would share what's been the highlight of my time here and will blog about the other things later. Thank you all for your prayers and support, they are felt in abundance!


1 john 3:18 "dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other, let us really show it by our actions."

this verse sums up our trip, if not our lives. bar ministry can be sensory overload to say the least. dim lights, bright lights, loud music, smoke, incense, girls dancing, inappropriate surroundings, etc. its a lot to take in and more importantly a lot to try and NOT take in all at the same time. one night we divided into teams of two and prayer walked the streets of patpong. that night we not going to go into the bars, but just talk to the girls working outside the bars, the street vendors, and those that sell "sexy shows". my teammate Sarah and i decided after walking and praying we would sit at one of the outdoor, corner bars and see who we could talk too. as we sat there we saw a little girl who we assumed was the daughter of one of the men who sells "shows" sitting on a dirty wood flat trying to put together a bracelet we gave out earlier in a ministry gift bag we made for the kids. she was having trouble so we invited her over to sit with us so we could help her and buy a her a coke. well, where there is one kid, there are more just around the corner.... so twelve kids later haha we introduce to you "little Pong" our red light district version of VBS. before Sarah and i knew it, we were sitting at the bar with 4-6 kids at a time making bracelets, drawing pictures, playing an absurd amount of tic tac toe, and singing Jesus loves me. my bar ministry just took a drastic turn!

the people did not know what to make of this! what foreigners choose to sit at a bar with kids and just play with them and buy them cokes? these are the kids of the vendors, show sellers, dancers, and some vendors themselves (the kids who sell items, I was just told by Rahab Ministries today, are more then likely the kids who are also sold underground). it does not seem to happen here, there is no ministry outreach to the children of Patpong, these kids are inundated with so much darkness that to me the real question is, how could we not? to allow them a little space to just be kids and distract them from the surroundings was a amazing blessing for me and a game changer for the rest of my trip. the smiles and laughter they expressed was answer enough for me, God blessed Sarah and i with so much joy to just "be" there with them and play and draw despite the language barriers.

the first night the surrounding adults gave us looks of uncertainty, but were curious as to what we were doing and would come up to the table and smile while keeping a watchful eye on us, the second night they warmed up a bit and stayed and asked our names, by night 3 and 4 we were welcomed by them shouting our names across the streets of patpong to say "hello Rachael!" and shake hands, even our bar maid was showing us to what table we could use and bringing more chairs for our growing VBS! by our last night, heartfelt goodbyes and tears as we send the kids back to what they know, long nights from 7pm -2am and only God knows what else. i could do this every night, this would be my ministry here, the effectiveness of simply showing love, His love by our actions with these kids opened so many doors to share with the adults and be a light. even the western men stopped and asked if we were teachers or if we worked here and if not, why we would sit here and play with these kids? my only answer is because its what Jesus would have done, simple, relational, real. light casts out darkness, that's what little Pong did, in a place where it seems only darkness reigns, The Creator allowed us to take over the night to bring Him glory, let your light so shine before men.

on that corner for just a few nights our friends stopped selling sex shows around us and allowed themselves to enter into the joy these kids were having and i am amazed and humbled at the work of the Lord. watching these little ones and how the adults reacted to us showed me that maybe the best defense again trafficking or selling yourself is to end the cycle before it begins, red light ministry with the kiddos!

"Jesus love the little children, all God's children everywhere. red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children everywhere."

ps - please pray for Bap and her friend in the picture above, they more than likely are trafficked underground.


In His Love,
Rae