Heart Surgery...

Disclaimer: Because I am a slacker and haven't updated you since I left the US three weeks ago, I now have 3 weeks of adventures to blog about...



I landed in Bangkok on May 14 after about 30 hours of traveling. I was so thrilled to be here!! I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel in Pattaya. After my bags were loaded in the car, I waited patiently for the driver to unlock the door when he gently reminded me that my door was on the other side. Oops! (First sign of culture shock?! Nope! I started laughing and so did the driver. Silly foreigner!) I was glued to the window the entire time! The driver knew a little English, so he was giving me a tour the whole 2 hours we were in the taxi. It still didn't feel real. I couldn't believe that I was finally in Thailand.



After getting settled into my hotel room, my friend Denise and I decided that we were going to explore the city. We made it as far as the coffee shop across the street. After ordering our drinks, a man from Georgia, named Jon approached us and asked if he could sit and talk with us. I was stoked to make a new friend! After talking for a while I asked Jon why he was here in Pattaya. He said, "Things are cheap here." Hmm...I wonder what that could mean?!? After inquiring about what kinds of things are cheap here, he bluntly told me that everything is cheap here. The clothing, the food, the taxis, the women. He asked me what I was here for. I said, "I'm here to spread the love of Jesus Christ with people living here and visiting here. Jesus came to free us from our slavery to sin. I'm here to tell people that they can have a new life, one with no bondage or slavery." I wish I had a camera at that second, to take a picture of his face. =) He asked if we had a game plan or an idea of how we would approach the people we were hoping to save. We told him how we would be taught and equipped during the morning sessions, and then we would go out during the afternoons and nights using everything we had been taught. He kept asking questions about why we would want to travel across the world. We kept explaining to him that God had asked us to, and since we are obedient lovers we bought tickets to Thailand.
(It was a little more complicated than that...but I didn't want to tell him the saga of the past 5 months of my life. Haha!) He asked a lot of questions about the religious side of everything. We were able to have an amazing conversation with him about how it is all about a relationship with Jesus and not a set of religious rules. He opened up and told us how he had been raised in a religious home, but never decided to follow that path for himself. Denise and I were able to talk with him and just share Jesus' love with him right there, in a coffee shop on the corner of Soi 8 in Pattaya, Thailand. He wasn't radically changed or anything, but he did smile. When he left the coffee shop he said, "I"m not sure about what ya'll are preaching, but there is something different about you. Its like there is a light coming from you. Its the first time I've seen that light in years. Please keep shining that light. Good luck on the streets."


After that conversation, the Lord started doing heart surgery on my heart. I had come to this place with judgement for the men who are here to take part in the sex industry. I have no place in judging them. The Lord took away that judgement and replaced it with compassion. I was able to see the men here as sons, who are looking for love and acceptance and are willing to pay any monetary price for it. I had eyes to see the men as the Lord saw them. I had a simple, yet surprising revelation. The men need the love of Christ just as much as the women! He died to save the men and women. He cares about their souls and hearts just as much as He does for the women.

This revelation started what I think has been (and will continue to be) the most life changing experience I have had thus far.