To Build a Wall

“You shall have sons and daughters but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.” Deuteronomy 28:41, NAS.

One poor family from the Isaan area of Northern Thailand had a problem. Their land was in a floodplain and every year they were flooded out. They decided that the best way to solve this problem was to build a wall. They decided the best way to finance this project was to send two teenage cousins to Bangkok to work as bar girls.

The girls didn’t really want to sell their bodies to build the wall, but what else could they do to help their families? They had no other job skills, and their family was okay with them using their bodies to finance building the wall.

When summer missionaries met these girls in the bar and offered them an alternative to the Bangkok sex trade, they were interested. They left the bar and went to a safe house called the Well. At the Well, they are learning job skills that will hopefully lead to a better employment situation.

After spending three days at the Well, the girls were confused. They asked the staff, “How can you worship a God you can’t see?”

The staff lady replied, “But you can see God. He is Jesus. We can read about the life he lived and see what God is like.” While the financial burden of these girls has not been solved, they now have hope of helping their families without having to sell their bodies to do so. When you look at the plight of so many bar girls, it becomes evident why a wall of hopelessness seems to barricade these girls from hearing and receiving the Gospel.

Pray that:

Christian employers in Bangkok will give these girls an opportunity to help their family without continuing in the sex trade.

More bar girls will make the leap of faith to leave the bars and hope for a better life.

God will tear down the wall of lies that keeps many girls trapped in the sex trade.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.