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...