Slum BLOG Millionaire

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. " Mahatma Ghandi

Yesterday we arrived after a long 11-hour bus ride in Pattaya, Thailand! Our time at Lighthouse is now over, and I am going to share a little bit about the ministry that we did there.

Lighthouse is an umbrella organization that has many ministries under it. During my two weeks at Lighthouse, I participated in many different ministries, including prayer walks through the red light district and the village home stay that I shared about in my last post, but my main focus was on the slum ministry. Every day we would go out to the slums of Chiang Mai and play with the kids. The goal was to build relationships with the kids and the parents that would show up occasionally to check out what was going on.

One reason that so much prostitution occurs here is because it often seems like a better option than living in poverty trying to make it in another career. Short-term teams come in and fuel this ministry by bringing in waves of missionaries that play with the kids and serve as good role models and friends. There are translators and full time Thai staff that come every day as well to build a long-term connection with these kids and parents, which is great, because it bridges the gap. I had a lot of fun showing these kids the love of Jesus and building relationships. This is the kind of long-term investment ministry that us short-termers might not see the fruit in, but it was an amazing experience just to be a part of fueling this ministry with the hopes that each of these kids might know Jesus some day.

We saw a lot of violence in these kids. They would frequently hit each other, their parents, and even us at times while we were playing. One little boy in particular hit me several times one day while we were playing and I simply stopped passing the ball to him and sat down, showing that I was sad. He came up to me and put the ball in my face, telling me to take it, but I shook my head no and motioned with my hands that it was because he hit me on the head and that hurt me (even though it didn’t) I then said (and the translator told him) that “you should not hit people to get your way even if it seems like it works. Hitting only makes people sad.” He then thought about it for a second and gave me the sweetest little hug. When he pulled away he greeted me with a wai (the traditional Thai greeting of bowing with your palms pressed together in a prayer like fashion) and said “thot” which is the Thai word for sorry. It was definitely the most adorable and sincere apology I had ever gotten from a child. I then continued to play with him and for the whole next week you could tell that he was very intentional with me about not hitting. There was even a time where he raised his hand to do it and when I made a sad face, he put it back down and gave me a hug.

I learned a lot here about the importance of just bringing a Godly presence wherever you go. Every day I would prayer walk into the slums and prayer walk my way out. We would pray over the children and speak truth into their lives with the help of a translator and when one wasn’t available, we did it anyway. We would teach them to sing “Jesus Loves Me” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and pray that these songs would stick. I especially loved to look these kids in the eyes and just say, “Jesus loves you and he has a beautiful plan for your life”.

I pray that this truth would be accepted by each one.

Village Home Stay

The past week and a half I have been working with a ministry here in Chiang Mai called Lighthouse In Action.  I highly encourage you to watch this video to see what I am involved with here.



I have been mostly involved with the slum ministry and bar ministry, which I will write about in another post soon.  However, I had the amazing opportunity of going out to a rural village two hours outside Chiang Mai to stay with a local family and help them in their everyday life.  Myself and two others from our team excitedly volunteered and went out, ready for adventure!  We had a translator come along named Pi Bing, who we had the pleasure of getting to know throughout the trip!  (In Thailand you say "Pi" in front of people's names, especially older ones, as a sign of respect.)  She is hilarious and kind and I feel so blessed that she was able to come with us!

The family we stayed with consisted of a married couple, Pi Ci and Pi Aaron and their two children, along with the six children they have taken in. These children are either orphans or in less-than-ideal home situations and their parents allowed them to come and live with Pi Ci and Pi Aaron. The kids come from a neighboring hill tribe, where pimps often frequent to buy children and women to prostitute them out in the city. The parents often consent as it is a source of income that is greater at times than the work they are doing in the village. Pi Ci and Pi Aaron (as well as Abba House and a few other "safe houses" in Thailand) are doing what they can in their power to prevent that from happening. They developed relationships with the parents of these children that were "at risk" and are bringing them up in a safe, christian home, with the hopes that these children can learn valuable skills and grow up to become not only good citizens but also Godly influences wherever they go. Pi Ci hopes that when they are adults they will want to return to their village and reach out to others that have been in similar situations.

During our time there, we mostly played games with the children, loved them, taught them English, and helped with homework.  I have been developing such a heart for the orphans of this world and children that are mistreated, and I absolutely LOVED getting to know these kids for this short time.  We went to a nearby creek and hot spring with the kids on Saturday and it was a blast, as well!  These children welcomed us from the start and their joy was contagious!  You can tell that they are now safe and loved.

We also worked in the rice fields for a day with the villagers.  It was an incredible experience that I will never forget!  I can't say that we're very good rice farmers, but I think they appreciated our help, or at least our comedic relief.  I can't even count how many times I heard the word "falang" (foreigner) interspersed with laughter, but we were certainly laughing as well.  At one point, I saw a spider the size of a quarter crawl into my pant leg and I screamed like a little girl as I did a whimsical sort of shake dance.  That certainly got a lot of laughs, but hey, it was going into my pants!  What's a girl to do?

Me, at the end of a day's work in the rice fields

Working in the fields also gave me a more personal understanding of how this work is difficult, which is why some see prostitution as better work with more pay.  The goal of Lighthouse in having this opportunity for us is so that we can positively influence these families in rural settings to seek other options instead of allowing their children or themselves (either knowingly or unknowingly) to enter into prostitution.  We work alongside them so that we can build relationships and help out as much as we can.  We definitely learned a lot and had a good time doing it!

I am so thankful for this opportunity and I miss these kids SO much already!

Abba House

We have been on outreach for four weeks now and it has been quite the adventure!  The past two weeks were spent at Abba House, a home for sex trafficked boys and at-risk girls.  Our time there consisted of:

Teaching English

Teaching Bible studies

Having a fun field day when the kids had a day off school

Having a nail painting/facial party with the girls

Sharing testimonies with the kids and teenagers at Abba House

Sharing testimonies with men at two different local drug rehabilitation centers
Prayer walks through the red light district

Along with the events and ministries mentioned above, I specifically worked closely with the four youngest girls (ages 9-11) and taught their English class.  It quickly became the best part of my day and I had such a blast with these kids and was so sad to leave them after two weeks of working with them and getting to know them.

I feel as though my mother heart has grown three sizes since being in Thailand, and it almost broke it to leave these girls.  It's made me think of how many other children there are out there in the world that don't have a place like Abba House where they can be fed and kept safe and loved.  There are girls and boys as young as 5 and 6 years old that are being trafficked every day, and it breaks my heart.  In contrast I think back to my own childhood and upbringing in a privileged home, being constantly fueled by so much love from my parents and community as I was free to be a child and do things that children do.  I have such a burden on my heart for the children in the world that don't have this and I have been thinking and praying about how I can take action.  In Kona I was starting to feel as though God is calling me to be a mother to many.  This could mean many different things on the vast spectrum including anything from being a teacher, (which was the original plan), to adopting children someday, to opening and finding homes for these children around the world!  I don't know what God is calling me to yet but I choose now to trust and obey him in each step.  If you would like to know how you can pray for me, I would really appreciate prayer for clarity in the area of what God is putting on my heart about motherhood, as well as what I will do after I come home in September.

So far I am thankful that I am getting to see a lot of different ministries and experience a lot of different things, but it is getting harder to leave each place after I develop relationships with people and have established myself there.  I am incredibly thankful for my time at Abba House and I pray that it continues to be a safe and loving environment for these kids!

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but the ones below were taken while I had the chance after English class or at the girl's night we hosted.