Talking To Male Sex Tourists

It is never a dull night ministering in the red light districts in Bangkok. Each night we bathe in prayer and worship before entering into the streets. We go in groups of three, with surveys asking questions such as: "How often do you come to this area?" or "Where are you from?" We also carry follow-up packs with us that have information about STD's in Thailand, a story about a bar girl, a story about a sex tourist who both came to know our Lord Jesus Christ. We have collected valuable statistics from taking these surveys from the Westerners down there, but we mostly use them as a toll to engage in further conversation with the men.

My first night taking surveys was amazing. We were standing on a sidewalk close to a bar, engaging a few men in conversation, but never for too long before they went on with their night. Twenty minutes into our night, a man came out of the bar and approached us, asking to take our survey. He was a very friendly chap, and after he was finished with our survey, he remained talking to us for quite some time. James is his name, from the United States. Oddly enough to me, he used to be very involved in the church, leading youth mission trips, leading a small group. But, he has been disillusioned by the church, believing most a hypocrites, unloving and judgmental. But, the amazing part is, James is totally open to hearing our stories and asked for all our testimonies, and asked tons of questions. God is so amazing because we have seen him several times over the past few weeks and he always come and talks to us. Two of our guy students were even able to grab dinner with him one night, had fun, and answered some of James' questions. We are continuing to pray for James that he would find his way back to the arms of the Lord, and see His true character, and forgive the Christians that have portrayed God in a bad light.

A part from James, God has given us many good conversations, however, as I am sure you can imagine, some not so pleasant ones. But, no matter how the night goes, we believe that because of Christ, we are a light to all we encounter even if they just pass us by. God will never quit pursuing His lost sheep, and if we can be even a small part of bringing them back to the Shepherd, we will do what it takes. We still have a few nights left working with the MST Project, so keep checking back for more. If you are interested in more information regarding the MST Project, check out www.mstproject.com.

Praying Over the Red Light Districts

To be honest with you, we thought when we arrived in Bangkok that we would be ministering more to the women in prostitution than the people that buy these women. But, lo and behold, we are and have been working with a ministry for the past 3 weeks that deals with the "consumer" strictly. Each night, we meet at 6:30 for an extended time of prayer and worship because this kind of ministry is pretty intense. For almost the entire first week we were working with MST project, the Lord led us to do prayer walks to each of the three main red light districts in Bangkok- Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy & Patpong. We felt God leading us to anoint (discreetly, mind you) the entrances of the go-go bars, clubs, and love hotels with oil and pray as we walked. God even led us to stand in the middle of these red light district plazas with oil on our hands and pray over the streets. The passerbyers must have thought we were crazy- several of us crouched in the street praying while the rest of us surrounded them praying and singing as well. We got a lot of weird looks and several comments of "What are they doing?" But I even overheard a man say "Hey, I think they are praying."

There was one point where we were in Soi Cowboy, having anointed our feet with oil to walk the streets, about seven of us stood in a line side by side and marched forward while praying like an advancing army pushing back the darkness. It was then that I felt the Spirit of the Lord so strongly upon me and the rest of our team. It was as if I could feel the powers of darkness creeping back, frightened by the light we gave off.

The MST Project, only having been going for about a year now, had never praying walked with anointing oil before, but the founder, Chris Lenty, really felt to do this with our team. We all felt as a whole that bonds were beginning to be broken in Jesus name through our prayer walks. God is good, yeah?

Fast Facts:

Bangkok red-light districts

10% Agnostic

25% Christian

21% Atheist

26% Expats

74% Tourists

54% European

30-49 - Avg. age

Outreach in Tak, Thailand

Out in the boonies in Tak, Thailand, there are huge bugs, tarantulas, lots of fresh fruit, green land everywhere, vast mountains, banana trees, palm trees, lots of rain, but nestled about 40 miles from Tak, is a relatively small Lisu tribe community. These are the precious people group our team of ten students, two leaders, and one translator have been ministering to the past two weeks. We have been staying with the family of the local Christian pastor in this lovely community. Nine of us girls share a small, but cozy room where we all lay side by side on the floor catching some much needed Zzzz’s each night.

Our days are mostly spent teaching English at a poorer school up the road a bit from the pastor’s home. It has been a fun and interesting experience teaching English. We all divided into teams of four persons to teach various grades. My team had all the young kids, which was fun for me. We had the 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes keeping their attention was difficult, but we mixed it up a bit by teaching them silly, but useful songs like “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”. Many of our students are kids from the orphanage, which we are also working with. It is great to be able to make good relationships with the kids, and all of these kids have stolen our hearts. If we could, we would each take home two or three of them. J

Yesterday, we spent our morning hanging out with these beautiful Thai orphans. We walked, and skipped, and ran with them down the road to a little store and bought them all ice cream, then preceded in some fun and competitive games of ‘Duck, duck, goose,’ and ‘Simon says.’ The kids loved it, but it was a hot days, so I think we wore them out. When we got back to the orphanage, many of the kids collapsed at the dining table. It was a great day for us all, and we will have a similar day with them once again before we leave Tak.

It is definitely the simple life here. People just enjoying each other’s company, playing games of soccer and badminton, working in their gardens, and cooking delicious Thai food for their families. I have very much enjoyed our time here, however, I have come to realize I do enjoy the crazy, city life much more, but it has been great to be out in God’s beautiful creation with beautiful Thai people. We have been able to see and experience many breath-taking things such as: hiking up waterfalls, fishing in beautiful lakes, catching crazy bugs, seeing big, beautiful butterflies, holding the hands of many of many Thai children, praying for individuals and seeing our prayers answered. God has been so good to us in this trip, and it’s not over yet!!!! We have one week left here in Tak, before returning to Bangkok. Check back for my next update!