When Reality Hits You

Red Light District in Bangkok

Reality hit Josh and I that we only have a few more weeks here! Life goes by way too fast! For our last month in Thailand Josh and I are spending time working with a few other organizations that help people recover after leaving the sex industry. We are honored to be able to get to know these brave individuals who are seeking a new life of freedom! This past week was very eye opening to us. We spent a good chunk of the week with an organization called the Dton Naam Foundation (Source of Water). Dton Naam seeks to help Thai 'lady boys' and women get out of the sex industry, but much of their focus is on helping lady boys. They offer a program that provides counseling, job training in a coffee shop, art theraphy, and discipleship.

When Josh and I first walked into this ministry we could feel that it was a safe place for people to heal, grow, and discover who God made them to be. During the week we had the opportunity to get to know the young guys that are in the program. Josh and I helped out in the coffee shop, ran errands with the Thai staff, and also got to learn more about the guys stories. The life of a lady boy is heartbreaking- filled with much abuse and abandonment. Often times these boys are sexually abused at a young age, they are made fun of by the tough boys in school and are labeled as 'lady boys'. Drug and alcohol addictions are common. I remember my first trip to Thailand I saw a young boy who was 9 years old out in the red light district. He was high on drugs, dancing in the street with the other women. He was only 9 years old. This was one of the hardest things I saw. These boys grow up not knowing who they are and the reality is these young men are maybe the most marginalized people in Bangkok. Not too many people are working with these young men and often times the Christian rehabilitation centers choose not to take them in. The other reality is, these young men are created in the image of God; therefore deserving of love no matter what they are struggling with. This week our eyes were opened even wider to the fact that we need more people to walk with the hurting. There is a massive need of God's people to rise up and move into the darkest places!

This week I had the chance to meet two mom's of these teenage boys. The truth is that the pain these boys face goes much deeper than just the boys- it affects the whole family. I met one mother while doing home visitations in Klong Toey, Bangkok's largest slum. We spent part of the day cleaning and helping around their small home. We sat and prayed with the mother on her little bed. She opened up to us realizing how desperate she needs hope and healing like all of us!

The second mother came into the coffee shop right as we were about to close up. We could tell that she was shaken up. A few nights ago we actually ran into her son while doing outreach in the red light district. Her son is 16 years old. When we saw him was intoxicated, he cried, and told us he left home and had nowhere to go. This mother's son has an ongoing battle with addiction and he has recently relapsed and headed back to the streets. This mother is a believer, so we sat around the table and listened to her story. We prayed with her as she cried. Our prayer that night was that God would woo her son and bring him to a place where he knows and feels God's love.

Here in Thailand, the reality is there are a lot of people without hope. Jesus himself told us,  the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The other piece of this truth is that God has told us:

* To go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28). 

* We are told that we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). 

* We are called to comfort others in their afflictions (2 Cor. 1:4). 

We are praying what our response to this truth should be. We pray God will rise up an army of saints here in Thailand that are committed to the marginalized and seek to comfort them so that they will know the reality of God's enormous love.