Since I have committed myself to Christ, I have always said that nothing about Christianity is comfortable and it shouldn’t be. However, in the past, my discomfort came in the form of conversation with nonbelievers or being persecuted for being the way I am. I have come to realize that for these four months, I am experience discomfort physically. There is nothing comfortable about being here. There is nothing that makes you feel at home and there is at no one point that you can possibly predict what is going to come next in your day or week. The comfort that I experience when I am...

Feelings of hope finally broke through as Natalie, Shelley, and I walked into the newly remodeled Freedom Bar on Thursday night. As we entered, we were greeted with eager smiles from girls in dresses the same as ours, aka tourist dresses. For us, that was clue number one that these girls were completely new to this place and this industry in which their lives are beginning to become entangled in. Clue number two was that the girls new less English than any other person we have come across in Patong’s bar district. Clue number three came when Shelley ordered iced tea and the girls did...

As you approach Bangla Road, you are bombarded with not only swarms of people from every ethnicity, but also club music in every direction so loud that you cannot hear yourself think, flyers being thrown at you advertising "Ping Pong" shows, and woman dressed in barely anything in front of bars or on the corners alone batting their eyelashes and crossing their fingers to find the man of their dreams. And we have not even started walking down the street yet. As you begin walking down, lights are flashing and people are either brushing by you in a hurry or are stopping in your path...

Your walking down a crowded street, people pushing and asking questions like if you want cigarettes or girls every three steps. You fight to just get down this 100 yard street that holds more than 200 bars.  You have the stench of vomit and alcohol, that was tried to be cleaned with bleach smell invading your nose. Everything is so loud you can barely hear yourself thinking….your ears pounding, you begin to hear your heart beat. You stand and watch these women with empty eyes trying to make a living for just one more dance or one more night. Some and most are numb to the fact...

Have you ever wondered why God loves some people? This has been a recurring thought for me this week. How could God love that man when all he does is objectify, disrespect, and abuse these women? How could He love that bar owner when he/she sells out 5 to 10 girls a night and doesn't care who's self-esteem gets hurt or if they get hurt physically. As we worked the bars this week, every time I would see a man groping one of the women that work there, I would be filled with anger and all I wanted to do was lash out at him. This happened quite often and I would try to remind myself...

February 3 2011        Picture this. Music pounding. Lights flashing. Getting bumped on every side. The smell of sweat and alcohol. This is Bangla. Everywhere you look you are bombarded by horrific and heart breaking sights. Even though are ministry isn’t mainly on Bangla Road we still pray and pass through it when we walk to our street. On our street it feels as if they are trying to be more discreet about what is going on but on Bangla everything is out in the open. No one tries to hide anything. The girls stand there and it feels like they are crying...