One night, while prayer walking in Patpong, I met a young woman I will never forget.
For the sake of this post, I will call her “Pretty.” She was standing outside of the bar she worked in, along with a group of women. Out of the group, she was the ringleader, the outgoing, funny and sweet one that everyone wanted to be around. We stopped to talk with her and give her our “friendship” bracelets. She said she was 18 years old and she was Justin Beiber’s girlfriend! She loved my long braids and kept calling me “Jennifer Lopez” as she told me how pretty I was. I said, “Sweetheart, you are the ‘Pretty’ one”.
And she said, “No, I not pretty, I fat.”
Hearing those words from her broke my heart. Although she was not skinny like most of the Thai women, to me she was one of the most beautiful women I met here. I wondered what she must have felt like in a culture where skinny bodies are so celebrated. The women who get the most “customers” and make the most money here are very thin. It didn’t seem to phase “Pretty” though. Her personality was still just as outgoing and beautiful. I made it my business before I left her presence to let her know she was VERY beautiful and that she was loved. She didn’t allow us to walk away without taking photos with us on her camera phone. In a dark place such as the outside beer Garden where she worked, her smile was indeed a light.
As we finished the Prayer walk for the night to head back to our Guesthouse to debrief, I could not get her off my mind, so I prayed. In Patpong, these bars are all fronts for prostitution. Although, I am not 100 percent sure if “Pretty” was one who was being sold, I would not be surprised. I wondered if her insecurities of being bigger than the other girls, actually made her want to be sold to men to feel loved. The next day, my task was to actually go into the bars and do outreach. It was to my surprise when those who were on the prayer walk came back to me with a phone number. It was “Pretty’s.” She specifically said for “Jennifer Lopez” to call her. I am not able to use my phone to call her but I received permission from our team leader to call her from a phone in the Rahab Ministry; located in the Red Light District. I haven’t been able to call her yet, but will before I leave. My prayer is that she will answer, and I can direct her to Rahab Ministry for help getting out of prostitution, and working in the bars. I am honored that God would draw her to me, and my biggest desire is that she will be drawn to Christ.
The next day I was able to visit Rahab Ministry and call her from a landline there. She was SO excited to hear from me and that just warmed my heart. I attempted to tell her about Rahab, but she did not understand me. I then gave the phone to an Outreach worker there who translated some things for me. It was difficult to communicate due to the language barrier, and I was so grateful for the outreach worker. I knew that there was nothing that I could do for “Pretty” all the way in America but pray. It was comforting to know that the outreach worker I connected her with assured me that she would be in touch with her, and would continue to work with her. The outreach worker gave me the biggest, most sincere hug after we talked. I think she was just as grateful for me introducing her to “Pretty” as I was for her. God gave me the peace that surpassed all understanding as I left Rahab that day. I knew that I did what I was supposed to do as it relates to Pretty and I had peace that God would now get the increase through Rahab Ministries. I was simply a “connector” on that day, and was grateful God saw fit to use me in that role.
That evening I was a part of the “Prayer Walk” team just to say goodbye to Pretty one last time. This was SO hard, because I absolutely “hate” goodbyes. Nonetheless, I had to go and I had to go trusting that she is in God’s hands and that the Outreach Worker from Rahab would finish what I started and work with her.
I will never forget Pretty, or any of the other young women we met. Forever etched in my mind is the 13 year old who worked in a bar waiting to be sold, or the 15 or 17 year old girls who were withdrawn and timid because it was their first week working in the bar. I wondered how they would look 5 years from now as their innocence was robbed too soon. I will never forget the young woman in her 20’s forced to work in the bars to take care of her family, or the woman’s whose husband died and she now had to work in the bar to support herself. I will never forget the “Mamasans” who arranged dates for the girls in the bars that they once danced in themselves in their younger years. I will never forget the “Ladyboys” whose identity was in an image to feed someone’s fetish fantasy and also provide for their families. I will never forget the men, broken, who go to the Red Light District in search of fulfillment and controlled by their own lusts…
They need our prayers, not our pity. They need our love, not our disdain.
*Photos by Kristen.
Note from Adventures Staff: Pretty left the bars the week after the May 2013 left and now works at Rahab.
