Right now, even as I write these words, there is a tiny, beautiful woman named Dari* working in a bar in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
We walked into the familiar bar, one of our usual stops for bar ministry, two nights ago when Dari first caught our eye. We’d visited the ladies at this bar several times before and had never seen Dari. She looked…out of place. Dressed more modestly, elegantly almost, in a black top with lace sleeves and a black floor length skirt, just a tiny inch of her little stomach showing in between. To our surprise, she spoke enough English to hold a conversation.
Slowly, her story started to reveal itself.
“I am Dari. I from Cambodia. I been here Thailand four day. My friend help me get better job. He take me from Cambodia to see if I like job in bar. He help me get better job. I stay here one month to see if I like job in bar.”
Immediately, my mind began arranging the puzzle pieces. Cambodia? One of the highest source countries for sex-trafficking in South East Asia. Thailand? Major destination country for sex tourism.
We asked Dari if we could buy her a Sprite. It was clear there was more to talk about.
Dari stood out in the bar not only because of her graceful elegance, but because it was clear she was uncomfortable, nervous, and jittery—think little kid on their first day of school. You could tell how attentive she was trying to be to serve us our Sprites the best she could, get us our check, bring us our change, make sure we were comfortable.
“Have you worked in the bars before?” I asked.
Covering her mouth with her hand in a nervous, little girlish giggle, her eyes got wide, and she said, “No, no this first time working in bar. In Cambodia I work in guest house and hostel.”
For years, I’ve been made aware about human trafficking. Now here I was in a dingy bar in Asia looking into the sweet face of one of its victims.
I could feel the Lord whispering.
Dari, Dari, Dari. I’m right here with you. Don’t be scared, Dari. I’m coming for you. I will get you out. I will come for you.
Right now, even as I write these words, there is a wide eyed woman, my friend Tup*, selling herself to customers in a bar in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This month from 7:30 to 10:30 at night, six days a week, small groups of women from our team have headed out to these bars together to share the love of Jesus with the prostitutes, the ladyboys, and even the bar moms, the pimps, and the customers crowding up and down bar street. It was our very first night out starting this ministry that I met Tup.
Tup doesn’t speak much English. We ended up sitting next to one another at the table and I spent my half an hour there letting her teach me how to count to ten in Thai. In all of my encounters ministering to the bar girls, there seems to always come a critical shift in the conversation: the moment when she realizes I’m not there to purchase her. With Tup, I felt like this happened halfway through our little Thai lesson. Tup started getting really into it, and got up from the table to get a pen and paper so she could write down our lesson for me.
I had just mastered my one to ten’s, when we started getting ready to leave the bar. I remember the very specific moment: I was looking in Tup’s eyes and neither of us spoke for several moments. Yet we so much was communicated. Behind her eyes I felt like she was saying, “You want to be my friend? You care about me? Do you really care about me?”
I smiled, to keep myself from tearing up and said, “Tup, you are a good teacher. You are very helpful and very kind.”
When we got back that night we met with some of our teammates who had stayed behind at the hostel interceding for us in prayer. Did you meet anyone with really noticeable contact lenses?” they asked.
No, I said at first. But later it hit me. Tup. This Thai woman doesn’t have naturally light gray eyes. Her eyes were huge, and incredibly distinct. Of course she had contacts in.
One of the girls had wrote in her journal while she was praying that God gave her an image of a very distinct pair of eyes, masked in fake-colored contact lenses. She’d been praying for this person all night.
I know God was telling us it was Tup.
I see you Tup. I see you in your darkest moments. I see you when you feel ashamed of what you’ve done. I see you. And guess what? Still, I love you, Tup. I love you.
Since that night, Tup’s bar has been our first stop on our nights out for ministry. Each time I ask God that Tup would not be out with a customer, that she would be in the bar, and that He would give us a time to sit and talk free of distractions. Each time, He has answered.
Dari and Tup work in the same bar. Tonight, I went out for the last time and I saw them both.
I went into the night anxious. We only have three days left here. I was feeling attacked by the lie that our time here didn’t make a difference. Taylor and I had to stop and pray as we walked up the street because I started crying just thinking about telling the girls goodbye. Three times now we had tried to make a date to hang out with Tup outside of the bar, and three times it had fallen through.
Please, Father. Please give us time with her. Please let her be there.
Here’s what happened tonight:
We saw Tup first. The enemy was already threatening us as we went out. The atmosphere at the bars had shifted dramatically as more and more tourists have flocked to Chiang Mai for the holidays, New Years, and sex tourism. There was more commotion than normal in the bar, and many more men. More aggressive men. More watching men, old men, and older men, run their hands over girls right in front of your face. More cringing. More breath prayers.
Jesus, keep her safe. Jesus, show that man You’re the only Love that lasts. Jesus, remove my heart of anger toward them. Jesus, where is Tup? There she is. There’s my girl. Off to the left. Thank you, Jesus.
I got nervous at first. This was our last opportunity to see Tup and she seemed distracted. She walked away at first and busied herself at the buffet table. Jesus, please, remove the distractions. Suddenly, I realized what she was doing. She was filling up bowls of soup for Taylor and I! She immediately left whatever she had been doing before we came and led us to a quiet table at the front of the bar away from the men in the back. She got us each the usual—three Sprites—served us some spicy soup, and sat down with us.
In a series of quick events, Taylor talked to a bar girl we’d never seen before who randomly spoke great English. This girl informed us that tomorrow, herself, Tup, and all the other bar girls are going to a temple in Lampuhn to make offerings for forgiveness for “the bad things we have done,” she said. Then, before we even say much, Tup begins talking, more chatty than usual. “Coffee, coffee, coffee. Sunday, Sunday,” she was saying, motioning to us.
Ah, our coffee date! She’s asking about going on a coffee date! My heart jumped. I was nervous how to bring this up again, and here she is eagerly asking for it. Thank you, God! She even went to the length of getting Google translator out on her phone so we could finalize our plans. Sunday. We meet you.
Not much after we spotted Dari and waved her over. She looked so excited to see us and sat down at our table almost giddily. Everything about her—her body language, her facial expressions, her tone of voice—was screaming, “Help me. Get me out of here.”
“Dari. Do you like working here in the bar?” I asked.
She giggled nervously. “Um little bit,” she said, while basically shaking her head no.
“Dari, you don’t have to work at this bar,” I said. Taylor chimed in. “We have a friend who is looking for more employees at her coffee shop and hostel. We can introduce you to her.”
Dari’s eyes lit up. And the next thing you know she was asking us to get coffee. We made Dari’s date for Sunday at 10, and Tup’s the same afternoon at 1.
The power of prayer has rocked my world this month. None of what has happened is because of us. It is only because of the Spirit of God speaking to these women through us. I’m serious. We can barely communicate with them, yet they are drawn in to us. We barely know them and yet we love them. The Father has filled our hearts with the love He has for his daughters. Our sisters.
?I’m asking for prayer over these dates with Dari and Tup. Will you please pray for our time together? That Dari would get out. That nothing, and no one, would prevent her from meeting with us this Sunday. That through a divine rescue, she would see Jesus. That the Holy Spirit would settle over Tup and her soul would be stirred. That she would have a divine encounter with her Father that words and translation are not even necessary for.
The Lord is whispering. I can hear Him.
I see you, Dari. I love you, Tup. I’m coming for you.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
*I’ve changed the girls real names to protect their privacy. If you’d like to pray for these women by the real names they go by, please reach out to me.
P.S. HUGE NEWS! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated to help our ministry this month. God provided $1,000 dollars in a week, which allowed us to make so many people here feel special and loved!
See what else team “Binding Love” did this month serving in Chiang Mai, Thailand with Light House In Action Ministries!
These are some of our beautiful friends we had the honor of taking on a few coffee dates last week!
They are so silly 🙂 This was probably taken two cups of coffee in, and on the eighth round of Uno.
Oh yeah, and fun fact, I rode an elephant at the beginning of the month!
And, we had an amazing time together celebrating Christmas this month. It was warm, beautiful and the purest form of Christmas I’ve ever experienced.
We even got to throw a Christmas party for the Zion Cafe staff and all of our friends from the bars!
Andddd you know what was REALLY cool? One of our teammate’s families paid for our entire team of 14 women to eat out on Christmas Eve at this adorable American 50s diner with amazing food!! It’s a restaurant called, “Butters is Better.” Yes, that’s right. Butters. Is. Better. #America #InternationalPerceptionProbs
And lastly, this month …………………………………………….. I bought these pants!
Thailand, I love you.
CAMBODIA, WE’RE COMING FOR YA!
