I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
I’m currently working on my Christmas newsletter, so if you’d like to receive it (and haven’t in the past or have moved since this past spring), please message me!
This fall marks three years since I started going to Thailand. Seven trips (eight teams) that I’ve been a part of. Bangkok no longer feels foreign to me; this is a city I’ve come to love and know a small part as familiar.
And the cool thing is that the people there see us the same way.
*Photos I’m in by Connie Rock.
When we walk into restaurants, shops, businesses, and the Red Light District every six months, we see smiles and hear, “We knew you’d come back! We’ve missed you!” How cool to feel like part of a community on the other side of the world! For me, the biggest blessing was walking into Rahab, our partner ministry, and hearing Prai greet us as we sat down to eat together, “Welcome home. You are family.”
Rahab celebrated their 25th year of ministry this year. It was started by a Kiwi woman (New Zealander) and now it is completely Thai run! I wish all of you could meet their ministry. Their joy is contagious.
So, remember how in June our team threw a party where 17 women came, heard the gospel, and 5 received Christ?
Because of that party, we had so many new opportunities during night ministry in November. The women remembered us from a party thrown 6 months ago! They called out to us and welcomed us over to their bars, introduced us to their friends and co-workers. This allowed us to go into so many new places – including the bar where I met William*. The three women in that picture with our team were at that party.
In addition, we learned that two of the women who accepted Christ in June had left the bars. This time, when we walked into Rahab we saw another woman who was at the party. She’d left the bars and was bringing her friends. She hasn’t accepted Christ yet, but when the women there sang a song for us after lunch, she interpreted it for us… and it was a song about Christ. You could see the transformation in her face and her demeanor. I believe it’s only a matter of time!
*Photo by Connie Rock. Faces blurred for protection.
Also, Beauty was back! Do you remember the girl who left the bars in May 2014 because of a relationship made with a teammate of mine (Jennifer), and started working at Rahab that summer? Earlier this year she left Bangkok and was working as a car saleslady, so we didn’t see her in June. But in November she was back because she’d missed Rahab. And that teammate, Jennifer, was on this team as well. Watching their reunion was so sweet.
*Order of photos: 2013, 2014 by Connie Rock, 2013.
That seemed to be the theme of this trip – seeing how God used past connections and experiences to lead us into new ones in November. We were invited into so many new businesses and bars – welcomed and celebrated as new friends – because of those past trips, which gave us so many more chances to share the gospel and make new relationships… which continued to strengthen our presence in that portion of Bangkok for future teams. For me, this was a confirmation that short term teams can make long term impact on the field. It was humbling to see, to have been a small part of planting those seeds. Being able to see a portion of a harvest, and a continuation of more seeds being sown – beyond cool!
*Big photo by Connie Rock.
It’s hard to hear about what is happening today, the overwhelming, terrible reality of human trafficking. “The Red Light District” sounds so… sinister. But you know what? The name and love of Jesus has been and is continuing to be proclaimed over and over – by so many than just our teams – in that and the other ones throughout the world. And the great news is:
He IS setting captives free!
Thank you so much for everything! Thank you for praying! Thank you for giving towards this trip! Thank you for everything!
