Let this day, June 22; go down as a day that wreaked me like never before. We sit as a team in our little church/home to debrief: all on the verge of tears. Sadness and confusion are the words I use to describe my emotions. Just before this moment we walked home silent on the dark beach hopelessly trying to process what our eyes have just seen.
Tonight was a night we all felt specifically called to do. Tonight we walked on a road clearly claimed by the devil to bring our sprit of God and pray. Bangla Road is the heart of our town, Patong Beach. Walking down this road in the day when it was nearly dead broke my heart. But seeing it tonight in all its glory left me with emotions that really have no words. We stood on the beach across from the entrance to Bangla and prayed before going in, “God we thank you that you go into the dark places and that You are here.”
Pounding music, bright flashing lights, vendors, stumbling drunks, are the images that initially fill my eyes. Girls, girls and more girls. All wearing as little as they can. Some dance outside with signs for drinks, others shove menus of the holdings of their upstairs rooms.
We have walked down this road before, but now in the night it is a completely different place. I noticed some poles before, but now there are hundreds, lining each of the bars along the road, all matched with a girl dancing for her worth. A young man slaps his waitress’ butt as she walks away; a middle-aged man grabs a waitress fiercely around her waist pulling her towards him. A 20 something videos a woman shaking her butt in his face. This is sex-tourism at its finest. Buying and selling humans for the pleasure of others like nothing I have ever seen.
This whole road is lined with bars, all holding the same thing: women who feel no worth and men and women who don’t see their value. The bars are all open they’re huge too. There are no closed doors. The bars don’t even have doors. Nothing is secret. Nothing is hidden.
By the time we get to the end, I can barely breathe. Tears fill my eyes and hardly stay inside. We walk back down praying more. More. More. More.
Caged women dance above the street. The church member with us says, this club, “Seduction,” is owned by the Russian Mafia and it is a well-known fact that young girls are trafficked there.
Many places have shady upstairs. If this much evil is in the open, how much more is put away? I walk back and notice the young man from earlier has a 10-year old looking girl and a woman with him; it looks to be his wife and daughter. The girl sits on a stool at the bar at the base of a pole dancer. There are so many families and children here. I am overcome with anger. How could you bring your children into this? There is absolutely too much to take in.
We meet up with the rest of our team across the street on the beach to pray. I stand on the shore of Patong Beach, one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen, only 20 steps away from THE ugliest place I’ve ever seen. As I listen to the waves crash against the rocks I have hope. Here I see beauty and God’s creation is evident. But God’s creation is behind me too: His sons and daughters who He very much loves and is not done pursuing.
This whole time our sweet Thai friend and housemate, Yaya, is with us. Today she is very happy because she celebrates four months of walking in freedom. Four months ago she was a dancer in these same bars but now she is living at the church and is passionate about the Lord.
We walk back home, away from all the lights and noise and as I begin to process, I am filled with hope. I keep remembering what Yaya had just said after we finished our walk. She said, “I feel sad for what I have seen, that this was my life. But it’s okay. Jesus has saved my life.” This situation here in Patong, on Bangla Road, seems utterly hopeless, but 4 months ago, so did Yaya. If God can captivate her heart and break the chains binding her, He can do the same for the others here too. Our God brings light to the darkness. Bangla Road is utter darkness. But HE is there. And He is going to move and change this whole town.
