Weeks 5 & 6!

Hi Friends and Family!

This is likely one of my last few newsletters of the summer, and yet I think I am just starting to wrap my mind around the fact that I am even here in the first place. Ella and Emma are both leaving a week before Liberty and I, so the mood has definitely changed in the past few weeks as we start to have more and more conversations about leaving and saying goodbye. Suddenly “I want to do that!” has changed to “we need to do that before I leave.” Even though I still have more time here, starting to process their departure has made it feel like I am leaving soon too. I think because of that, these were the first few weeks that I started to really miss home and feel ready to head back. I wouldn’t describe it as full blown homesickness, but every day I do get more and more excited to be reunited with my family and back in New York.

On the brighter side, there have been so many wins and exciting things this past week that I am so excited to share with you!

Experiences!

Rahab

Last Wednesday we went on another visit to the bars, this time in the evening, when the red light neighborhoods look totally different. As we walked through the streets, we saw a lot of bars and restaurants with what looked like tons of girls waiting in line outside, kind of like what you would see before a concert. I even said “oh wow, what’s happening there?” thinking it was just a really popular place. Bethany explained to me that the girls aren’t waiting in line to get inside, they are waiting outside until a customer chooses their assigned number and pays for their time- a much sadder reality than what I initially pictured.

We went to a different bar than I had been to before, and this one definitely seemed more “showy.” The whole time we were at the table talking with the women, I watched younger girls in barely any clothes handing in their timecards for the night, which was a really heartbreaking picture. While we were there we got to talk with three different women for a little over an hour. Each woman had children and family in Vietnam that they had left so that they could come to Bangkok and find work in the bars. They were telling us how they get to visit their kids once or twice a year, and I couldn’t imagine what that must feel like. One of the saddest parts to me was that one woman had initially worked in a coffee shop in Bangkok, but when the shop closed and she couldn’t find any other job, she felt like she had no choice other than working in the bars.

While we were there, we were able to tell the women about an outreach event that Rahab was hosting on Saturday. I was so thankful that we got to attend, and it was amazing to see two of the girls we had met on Wednesday there at the event. Overall, anywhere from 20-40 women attended, and we played games, sang songs, listened to a message about God’s love, and broke into small groups.

During the worship I was just reminded of God’s grace and love for us. I have no clue what the night before looked like for those women, or what that evening ahead would look like, but there they all were, being able to laugh and have fun without needing to put on a fake smile. Even if it was just for two hours in the afternoon, they had the opportunity to hear about God’s love and be in a safe environment. How sweet is the Lord? He encounters us even when our circumstances are messy and we don’t have it figured out.

Opportunities to Witness

These past two weeks we also saw lots of fruit in being able to have really intentional conversations with various Thai friends that are unbelievers. I shared a few newsletters ago about M and how thankful I was for her honesty in explaining aspects of Thai culture to me. She and I grabbed dinner this week, and during our time together our conversation turned to the topic of identity. She shared how growing up she didn’t know who she was and was trying to make everyone else around her happy, but that just left her confused. I was able to talk about how similar my story is, and then I got to share a little bit of my testimony with her and explain how freeing it has been for me to find my identity in Jesus and not others’ expectations. While I’m not sure how much of that resonated with her, I was so thankful for the chance to keep building that friendship and for the opportunity to connect with her more and share the little pieces I could.

This week we also saw fruit in an area we have been praying over for weeks- F and Y came to church!! Emma and Ella were sharing their testionies (and they both did incredible- thank you for your prayers!) and so F and Y came to listen and support them, which was the sweetest display of friendship. We took communion after their testimonies, and so not only did F and Y get to hear the stories of how God has personally worked in Emma and Ella’s lives, they also got to hear the full gospel message and witness the beauty of communion. I was in tears for most of the service, and afterwards F came up to me and told me “I love it here. Everyone is happy and crying, and it is so nice.”

After the service we all had a meal together (something Deeper Life does the first Sunday of every month) and it was so cool to see F and Y interacting with so many members of the congregation who they have met before. It was a tangible example to me of why the team here does ministry the way they do. By inviting Thai people to game nights and dinners to hang out with us, if they come to church on Sunday they already have many familiar faces, making it way less daunting. Oui, one of the long term workers, gave F and Y a Bible, and Emma and Ella were able to underline and share the verses they had included in their testimonies. I got to sit nearby and listen as Oui explained the Trinity to them, and the idea that we are saved by grace through faith. As she was telling them “it’s not about making merits, or earning God’s favor” I watched as they nodded their heads and a light seemed to go off in their minds- I never want to forget that moment.

BUT GOD ISN’T DONE! After church, the interns and F and Y all went out to dinner, and while we were at dinner F noticed Liberty’s phone case, which has a Bible verse in it and then a little sticker with 9 stick-figure drawings. He read the verse out loud in English (and we got to help him with some of the trickier words) and then he asked about the pictures.

A little backstory: Liberty had been in a class this past semester focused specifically on sharing the gospel cross-culturally and one of their projects was to tell a Bible story with a specific cultural context in mind. Another girl in the class (Emma’s sister actually!) made the sticker as a way for all of the students to remember the stories they had studied in class.

The awe in F’s eyes, his desire to understand and learn more; it was all amazing. He just has so much curiosity in him and I am so eager to watch as the Lord keeps bringing him in. At the end of Sunday night, F and Y both said that they plan on coming to church next week, and we are hopeful that this will be a continued trend.

Praises!

• F and Y came to church!! Even days after I am continuing to just celebrate what a big step forward this was and for all the conversations we were able to have afterwards.

• The successful Rahab outreach and the seeds that were planted through that event.

• So many great conversations with various people that allowed us see the ways God is already at work here, and get to step into it. It is such an honor and a privilege to have that opportunity, but also to know that He doesn’t need us, we just get to take part in it!

• A restful beach day with beautiful weather that allowed all of us to take a deep breath and unwind for a little bit!

• The fact that the little moments have continued to go smoothly! There could have been so many more hiccups and roadblocks, but in all honesty, all of my time here has continued to be smooth and I am so thankful for the Lord’s protection in that!

Prayer Requests!

• Diligence to lean in during the last two weeks here, especially when our team gets smaller and we miss Emma and Ella. Pray that despite those goodbyes, we still try to intentionally invest in our relationships here.

• Pray for the women that Rahab works with and that they would be able to find hope for a life outside of the bars. Pray for their safety and that they can continue forming relationships with the Rahab staff.

• We have had a wave of COVID going around our church family, and I unfortunately caught it as well. Please be praying for quick recovery for everyone and that no one else would get sick.

• Pray for me as I prepare to share my testimony on Sunday and that the Lord would make it clear what parts of my story to share, and give me the words to say to give Him glory.

• Pray that God would continue to build curiosity in F, Y and M, that through our conversations and friendships, they would want to learn more about Jesus and would have the courage to ask questions.

Thank you for all your feedback on these newsletters, your prayers and your encouragement! It has been so beautiful to start to look back on my time here and see how faithful God has been in all of it, and I know that as time continues to pass, I will have more and more lessons to unpack. Thank you for being along for the whole journey!

With so much gratitude,

Kaitlyn