Baby, you light up my world like nobody else,
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,
But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,
You don’t know,
Oh, oh,
You don’t know you’re beautiful,
If only you saw what I can see,
You’d understand why I want you so desperately,
Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe,
You don’t know,
Oh, oh,
You don’t know you’re beautiful,
Oh, oh,
That’s what makes you beautiful.
-“What Makes You Beautiful”, One Direction
I think I just did the unthinkable- posted One Direction lyrics in my blog. But this song was stuck in my head last week. Mostly because one of my final memories of the Red Light District on Saturday night was of standing outside a bar while saying good-bye to friends who work in that bar who we’ve come to care about… while that song was blasting inside, girls saw us singing and silly dancing on the sidewalk and matched our movements… and it turned it a fun moment I won’t ever forget. Ever since then, the song has been in my head… even my dreams. I wake up to it, even if the dream itself is unrelated.
But it’s the truth. These girls don’t know how beautiful they really are. They don’t know their real worth.
I wanted to write something about this in June, but I didn’t know how. Now I know why I couldn’t write it. The story wasn’t finished yet. It still isn’t. But I have more pieces. And I want to share them with you because this is YOUR story of how God has used you in Bangkok through your prayer, encouragement, and support in just one way. I hope this encourages you!
In June, while on a prayer walk with 6 other teammates, we met a bunch of young women working at an outdoor bar in the Red Light District. This wasn’t a bar where I’d spent a lot of time before with other teams because it was always busy and while the girls always accepted bracelets from us, it was obvious we shouldn’t stick around.
June was different.
The young women at this bar welcomed us, brought us cool towels to wash off our faces from the almost 100 degree heat, offered to let us sit and have drinks… talked with us, and asked us to return. The bar manager welcomed us as well- he was the one who brought the cool towels, in fact! It became the highlight of the prayer walk, to stop outside and talk with these ladies who were so beautiful, so full of light and life.
There was one girl in particular who was so …. fun, gregarious, welcoming, hospitable, charming, outgoing, bright, full of laughter, and beauty. In fact, that was her name. The literal translation of her name was “Beauty”.
But Beauty told me, told several of us, “I’m not beautiful. I’m fat, fatter than the other girls. I look different.”
That wasn’t what we saw. And we told her that. One of my teammates in particular, Jennifer, had a sweet relationship with Beauty. She talks about it here in her blog, and the impact Beauty made on her.
Beauty impacted all of us. She greeted me every night with a hug, calling me, “Sister”. Asking how I was. Welcoming me. Wanting me to stay.
My time with the women at that bar I will never forget, for they are heavy on my heart still.
But Beauty isn’t there anymore.
Because of the relationship Jennifer made with Beauty, our team was able to give her the phone number to Rahab, the ministry we work with located directly in the Red Light District.
Not long after we left, Rahab got a call.
This past week, when our team went to meet Rahab, eat with them, share stories with them, and even make jewelry with them… we walked in to hugs, greetings, smiles, laughter… celebration (like always!) and a new, smiling face:
Beauty.
What a mind blowing, oh-God-you-are-so-good, encouraging, incredible moment!
There’s an old story about an old man, standing on a beach surrounded by stranded starfish, throwing them back into the ocean one by one. A young man asks him why he’s doing this, since there are too many to make a big difference. Too impossible to help them all. The old man’s response is to pick up a starfish, throw it into the sea, and say, “It made a difference to that one.”
Every night in this particular Red Light District, there are at least 4000 women. who work in the bars and night clubs. In this particular area, they are essentially free to leave, not “trafficked” in the sense of being imprisoned or physically unable to leave. They are there because they have to support their families, because they can make more money in one night than it takes in an entire week at a factory. Because of this, they are free to leave… because there are always another girls who can take their places. They can move bars, positions, or leave altogether for another job… or another Red Light District.
Because of this, I’ve rarely seen the same face twice in the women of the Red Light District. The vendors, bar staff… those faces remain the same as people work in those positions for years. But the girls… it’s overwhelming how many there are. And it’s easy to ask, “Did I do enough? Did I make a difference at all? Did any girl know that she was loved, that she was worth more than what a man is willing to pay for time with her?” Most of the time we leave trusting but not knowing the impact that we’ve made. Which is true for any trip… and life in general… but even moreso for this location. Conversations in bars (indoors and out) are limited by time, loud music, smoke, activity, lack of common language…. We just pray that God will speak despite all limitations.
But in this, I can say with certainty… by His grace, in Beauty’s story…
it made a difference to that one.
(to be continued)…
