A week in Pattaya

Apologies for the lack of blogging over the last while. Our internet during the time in Pattaya was not working too well so we have not been very active online. However we have now arrived in Bangkok for a couple of days so are now able to fill you all in on how things have been going in Thailand.

Our time in Pattaya has been a lot more relaxed than the work in Cambodia, however we have made some great friends and built some good connections and relationships with the people here. Our time was spent working with the Pattaya House Of Prayer, run by an American girl called Jessica Mock. The prayer room is situated in Soi 6 which is one of the main red light areas in the city. It was amazing to be able to spend more time in prayer with God especially after leaving Cambodia which left us both drained physically and spiritually. Indeed Laura was still feeling quite sick towards the beginning of the week.

The first Sunday we arrived we attended the local church which was attended by many of the girls and lady boys who work with the tamar centre, an organisation quite similar to Daughters in Cambodia. The church is very raw, lacking the restrictions of tradition and normality which can exist at times in churches at home. Following the service we spent some time with a large group from the church driving round the city and having a time of prayer and praise on the back of two open air taxi's (Baht Buses). We had many strange looks from onlookers, but was great to pray and carry God's presence into some of the darkest areas of the city.

Monday is the day off for the house of prayer so Laura and I had a very chilled out day. The highlight though was going to hire scooters which we used for the remainder of our time in Pattaya. It took visits to many different shops but I eventually was able to find a shop which had a helmet to fit my larger than average head. Laura on the other hand had the opposite problem as the helmets were all too big for her tiny head. We are both praying that our children will have a combination of both our heads and just be normal. The first few minutes on the bike were ropey to say the least as I wobbled from side to side trying to get my balance. I even had some tourists coming over to me to see if I was ok as I couldnt get my balance. Thankfully I learnt quickly and enjoyed it the rest of the week. God also had his hand on our bikes especially with mine as on the 3 different occasions, while parked in extremely unsafe areas I stupidly left my keys in the ignition while we were away meeting people...I just kept forgetting to take them with me....thankfully the bike wasn't stolen!

On Tuesday and Wednesday Laura was still very sick so ended up staying in the hotel to rest. I met with Jessica and two other friends from Texas called Justin and Alison, a great couple with a great desire to serve God and to live out their lives for him... and great fun to be around too which helps! We spent the two days at the house of prayer and also at language training. This was a class for the 4 of us and a local language tutor endeavoured to teach us many different words and phrases. It's the first time in ages I've sat while someone tried to teach me....made me realise just how tough it is for my pupils at home. I struggled to grasp the language but am now starting to say one or two words. Unfortunately my broad Lurgan accent doesn't make it easy to speak like a Thai person, but I think they get the jist of what I'm trying to say.

Thankfully on Thursday Laura was feeling much better and we spent the morning and afternoon working with an organisation called the Mercy Centre. They do a lot of different things, mainly taking in children that need help and support because their families are unable to provide it at that time and they give the children shelter and education. They also give help and support to families living in the slums and this is what we went to help with. We made up food parcels for the families which consisted of 2 large bowls of rice, a small bottle of oil, a packet of noodles and two tins of fish. For the families this was such a blessing. It is always a really humbling experience but also a heart breaking one as well to see many people that seem to have nothing in life. Yet they work hard for each other and help each other as they live in community. Their houses are run down shacks and there is poor sanitation, yet they tried to present themselves as cleanly as possible and for many of them there were smiles and looks of hope in their faces. Pray for these people. This is a short video of some of the kids there saying good bye to us as we left one of the slums.

On the Thursday night we then went to join the work of another group which are working with foreign tourists in the area. We met the family that run it the night before as we headed for tea with a group of people overlooking the beautiful sea and coastline in Pattaya. I'm told that I can't say too much about what they do but the main aim is that they target a specific group of people and provide them with bibles and literature as a free gift which hopefully many of them will keep and bring with them into their country. It was good to be able to help this family that carry out the work and while it's not the sort of work that Laura and I would normally be drawn towards or one where we would feel alive serving in, it was amazing to see how excited the family and their organisation were as they carried out their work. They knew they had a call of God upon their lives to do this task and they did it with everything they had and with joy, such an example to us. Pray for their work. I can't write more about it but can fill anyone in at home that wants to know about it when we get back.

Friday was spent in the house of prayer again and prayer walking around Soi 6 and the clubs and bars where many of the girls and boys would be offering themselves that night. That night we had a time of worship in the area as well. Outside we could hear the music blasting from the bars and the calls of many of the women trying to attract business from men as they walked past, but inside was great to be with people as they sought God for the situation and to pray for the city. Pattaya needs God and it's an area which we would encourage all of you to pray for. Pray for the local church that they would be united with a purpose to see God's kingdom come in the area and that the light of Jesus would shine in the midst of some dark dark places and activities. We know that God's heart is broken for the people here. Myself, Laura, Justin and Alison then headed out to walk around some of the areas and see if we could get chatting to people. Laura met a young girl outside one of the bars that she remembered from November and they chatted. The girl remembered Laura as well and was thrilled that Laura knew who she was and had stopped to talk to her again. As they chatted I watched many men young and old, prowling up and down the street looking at the girls and seeing which one they would choose to have that night. It was hard and sickening to watch, yet we know that these men need prayer too. For this girl however it was a joy that someone had looked at her with love and treated her with importance and worth. Pray that many of the men and women here would recognise their true worth and find true happiness in Jesus. We also went to one of the bars which laura went to a lot in November and had made many friends. These girls however had moved on to different things but we did get chatting to another girl called Kan. She was an amazingly beautiful girl, smart and intelligent, yet this was the work that she was now in. We chatted with her for a while and promised her we would come back the next night. Laura and I returned on the Saturday night and got chatting with her more. We learnt that she had a 5 year old daughter that lived with her sister and that she only had 2 days off each month but the rest of the time she would work for the bar which owned her. The only way she could get out of working was if someone paid the bar owner for her to be released from work for the night. Laura and I decided to do this for her so that she could go home and rest. The cost to do this was only 200 Baht, which is about £3-4. Even though we could see so much potential in her, it's hard for her to see herself with worth when this is all she is valued at and with how men would treat her. Pray for her and for many others who are trapped in this industry and that they would be able learn new skills which Kan and many others desperately seek so that they can have a different means to make money in a way which gives them a sense of self fulfilment.

On the Saturday morning we also got to spend some time with our friends at a tropical gardens, a beautiful place and so good to spend time with great people again. We even got to ride an elephant, a fun experience, although not good if you're scared of heights. Today we drove around Pattaya for a long time on our bikes before handing them back and coming to Bangkok. Our time in Pattaya didn't seem anywhere near long enough, particularly as we only really got started onto things properly on Thursday due to Laura's illness. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and have made some very good friends in our time there. Our thanks to Jessica for organising everything we did and for being a great help to us each day. Please pray for Pattaya and all the work that's going on there. Specifically pray for:

• Jessica and the house of prayer that God would bless their ministry and that amazing things would happen as they seek God ( http://pattayahouseofprayer.com/ )


• For the local churches that they would be united with one heart and desire to effect change in the city


• Fur the work of Tamar and the Mercy Centre and other great organisations that are seeking to be the answer to their own prayers for Pattaya


• (For more info on Tamar see www.ywamthai.org/pattaya/tamar.html and for Mercy Centre see http://www.mercypattaya.com/ )

"The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10)

• Pray that many of the women and men caught up in the sex industry would be freed and that even for those that have chosen this lifestyle that they would see the hope that there is in Jesus and that the Devil would not be allowed to steal away from them the giftings and potential that God has created them with. Pray that in the midst of their hopelessness and pain that they would see themselves with the worth that God sees in them and that they too might come to live life in its fullness.