My Night in a Bar

Last night, I went to a bar in Pattaya with my friend, Monica, who is a volunteer with the Tamar Center. She was going to visit some of her friends who work in the bar. Their names were Moon, Aom, and Noot. All of them were around my age. Aom bought us sodas when we got there. They were sweet and talkative. We played pool and laughed together. They seemed like normal 20-something girls who like to hang out with their friends. Except their lives are not normal. They are there for men to have sex with them. While we were there, men looked them up and down like objects. While we were there, Moon went to go talk to a guy, who seemed like he was a former customer. She spent about 30 minutes with him at the bar, and then he left. The girls tried to get guys walking down the street to stop in the bar. This is their life everyday. This is what they feel they have to do to earn an income. Two of them talked about going home to see their families, taking care of their sick parents, and wanting to buy a new house for her parents. Maybe there are other ways for them to make money, but maybe not. And maybe any other option wouldn't be enough to provide for their parents and other people in their families too. Whatever the reason, no one should have to feel like this is the only option. This shouldn't have to be the only option. These girls are beautiful creations of God, and not objects, like the men that sleep with them see them as. 


When I see these girls with the foreign men, it makes me sick. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. It shouldn't have to be this way. But this is reality. I know that God sees this, and I know that he cares. He loves these girls, and they are his treasures. I don't understand why this has to continue to be reality, but I am hoping for a day when this evil will stopped and the world will be restored to how it was intended to be. 


I read Psalm 145 this morning. 
"The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy."


Monica told me about the spirit rituals that these girls do in hopes that men will be attracted to them. In hopes of getting more customers. She also told me that Moon has been reading her Bible when she comes to her house, and that Monica gave her a Thai Bible of her own. Pray for these girls with me, for evil to be overcome and for God's truth to stand firm.