Pastor Lu

Once we had settled into our hostel in Change Mai the guys and I went out for some coffee and time with God. It was then, Bible and journal open pen in hand, that the Spirit of God spoke clearly to me. He reminded me that I had a phone number with of a Pastor who lived in Change Mai. This number I had was really nothing I had paid much attention to. Several weeks before I spoke with a friend of a friend who new this guy who ran an orphanage in Change Mai and I ended up with his number that way. I never thought we would actually use it or meet up with him, but keep it just in case. Well, it became powerfully clear to me in that moment that I was to drop everything I was doing and give Pastor Lu a phone call. So I did and it radically changed the next few days for us.

I remember struggling to find a phone that would work to call the cell number I had written in an email but finally got through using the phone back at our hostel. A woman answered in Thai (I think) and Pastor Lu was promptly handed the phone. Immediately Pastor Lu tells me that I have been on his mind that morning and after I invited him and family to dinner that night we hung up to get ready. Pastor Lu was to pick us up in an hour so the guys and I freshened up a bit and waited. After an hour passed I went to the front desk to ask if my friend Pastor Lu had called and they promptly said no. So, I went back to wait some more. Something about the interaction with the front desk though felt wrong or out of place. They seemed frustrated with me for asking. So, after another ten or fifteen minutes passed I asked them again. At that point they said that he had called several times for directions but they could not seem to help him. Again they seemed very frustrated and unwilling to help much. So, they guys and I began to pray. I believed that the enemy simply did not want us to meet Pastor Lu and our hostel was not being helpful. So, we went to the street and began to look for him. A sea of multi-cultures swarmed the street and since we had never met pastor lu or seen a picture of him. We had no other steps to take but to pray one last time. We looked up and saw a man coming toward us wearing slacks and a button down shirt (international pastor garb). I went up to him and asked "are you pastor Lu?" "Yes, are you brother Matt?" What are the odds? God had a plan for us here.

Chiang Mai

Following our first few days in Bangkok we boarded an overnight train North to Chiang Mai. As far as inland experiences go the train was a wonderful way to see the jungle and various landscapes of northern Thailand. We spent hours talking to a new aquaintance named Change. We discussed Thailands social services programs and their fight against the well known child sex trade. So wonderful to hear a natives perspective on his own country. Change actually stopped off at an outlying town just south of Chiang Mai and he kindly asked if we would help him off load his motor cycle which he had purchased in Bangkok. We were all to eager to help until we realized that there would be no ramp involved. We were to lift it off of the train! So, me and my bad back plus three young men lifted a roadster style motorcycle off of a train in Thailand. Who gets to say that! By the way, my back is fine.

Once in Chiang Mai we began to walk the streets in search of that perfect hostel. You know, the one that would let four guys sleep in a room for two. After about an hour we found it. Julie's Hostel (found in our handy lonely planet travel guide) was nestled back in an alley and was home to many hippie's and European travelers. Almost everyone there was white, which says two things loudly: 1-It's probably safe and 2-this is a tourist area. The good news is that Julie's hostel is located in an awesome part of Chiang Mai. Coffee shops and massage parlors were at every corner. Chiang Mai was full of eco tourists and European adventerers. I don't think I have ever seen such a mass mix of culture in one place before. Americans, Europeans, Burmese and Thai filled the streets and yet Chiang Mai still held a since of authentic Thai culture. From it's architechture to it's night street markets Chiang Mai hits the top of my travel experience chart I think.

The guys and I grabbed a coffee later that afternoon and I remembered a contact someone gave me before I left the states of a pastor who ran an orphange in Chiang Mai. I wasn't sure if I would call him or not when I was first handed his number, but all of a sudden I felt moved to give him a call.

Our First Few Days: Bangkok

Among many of Thailand's blemishes, the largest in my opinion is its well known sex trade. Exploiting the poor and broken women of a community for their bodies is one of the most retched things I can imagine. The thought of this kind of oppression has bothered me greatly since I first encountered it several years ago on the island of Saipan where sailors would come in for shore leave to partake in the "local experience". I suppose I have a great desire to rescue women who believe they have no other choice, who have been sold into this form of slavery. Most of all my heart breaks over the countless children who have been forced into this dark corner of social capitalism. So, when I found out that Bangkok was home to one of the largest and oldest Red light districts in Thailand, I felt that's where we were to begin. With hearts full of compassion and hearts fixed on Christ, Christian, Evan, Andrew and I walked the dark alleys of Pa tong Square.



I have never experienced anything quite like it. The streets were lined with "go go bars" and clubs. Tall buildings discolored by years of dust crowded the one lane roads. There was almost no room to walk between the traffic and people on the sidewalks. Men approached us every couple of minutes trying to sell us someone. We quickly learned that the only English they spoke were the words they were taught to say to men who came to Pa tong for only one thing. Apart from that they simply couldn't understand why we were there. We had come that night with surveys in our pockets with the hopes of speaking with tourists in that area about their faith, but ended up sitting across from the bars at a Starbucks in prayer. How can we rescue these women? God what would have us do? To enter back into the ally would be to step back in that dark corner of Thailand. To try and convince sinners of their wrong doing in the midst of them engaging in it. To be subjected to more pornography and solicitation. It was overwhelming. We sat there for ten minutes or so in prayer. Seeking direction. After some time, we decided to leave, taking with us the experience and sorrow of Pa tong. Someday I believe we will find a better way.

Thailand

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to surprise three of my friends in Thailand. Early on during the planning phase of their Thai visit Andrew, Christian and Evan needed a bit of structure added to this leg of their round the world trip and of course I jumped all over it. I contacted multiple ministries in the interior with no leads or invites to partner. It became clear to me over a period of a month or so that God was asking something of them much more than just an orphanage visit or working alongside missionaries. He was calling them out on their own, in a foreign country, to teach them something unique. During this planning phase I was approached by one of the family members who had this crazy idea of sending me to Thailand also to surprise them and walk alongside them as they discover what only God knew was before them. I then began to put together what soon would be become the trip of a lifetime.