Heart Stories

The Girls of Patpong

 

I looked across the street and saw thousands of people lining Silom Road, completely covering the entrance to Patpong, Bangkok’s infamous red light district. It was early evening, still light out, and I was taking the team to scout and prayer-walk the area before our ministry was to take place the next night. Silom Road has three lanes of traffic each way with a cement median in the center of the road. It’s one of the nicest areas in Bangkok, near most foreign embassy compounds, international businesses and the elite sports club. The road was blocked off directly in front of the entrance to Patpong so people could party.  As we looked across we could see hundreds of people throwing water on each other in celebration of the opening day of the Songkran Festival. Things looked out of control. Truck beds were filled with 15-20 people with barrels of water, hoses and pump-action squirt guns, cruising slowly as they drenched all in their path.  Music was booming and soaking wet people were dancing in the streets. The smell of alcohol was everywhere. Many of the people dancing were “lady men” which are men dressed like females. I had a deep sadness for them. The entrance to Patpong appeared completely blocked. Suddenly I got a huge feeling of inadequacy and was overwhelmed by the task the Lord had sent us to do! Falling on the side of wisdom, I decided our team would not venture into the area that night. Instead we went to the center of the street and stood on the concrete median. The Lord led us to pray, so we began.

 

With eyes closed I began by acknowledging to the Lord that in the face of this enemy I felt totally overwhelmed and feeling impotent; as our prayers escalated I found I was praying in the Spirit and my eyes opened. I looked directly at the view and I saw the victory of Jesus Christ in the area of Patpong and Thailand. I saw Patpong turned into a marketplace for purses and skirts, not young girls. I saw the repentance of every bar owner and customer. We asked God to prepare the way for the following nights when we would enter Patpong and begin to evangelize. We asked Him to prepare the hearts of the people and to open doors for us. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to break through, and then for protection for ourselves.   Soon after that our arms were in the air with palms facing the gates of Patpong. We began to bind the enemy’s stronghold in the name of Jesus and we claimed that Jesus Christ is KING of that area and of Bangkok and Thailand. The spirits would have to acknowledge this in Jesus Name. It was a powerful time of prayer and we knew folks at home were also praying over this. We claimed each and every woman in the place, and each customer who had no business being there.  When we finished our prayer we turned around and left.

 

Early the next morning we took a cab to the wholesale flower market and purchased over 200 individual flower sprays and long stem roses. We had strings of jasmine and rosebuds, jasmine and marigolds, purple orchids and iris, and red, pink and white long stem roses. When we returned to the hotel we got plastic buckets from housekeeping, trimmed the flower stems and placed them in water for the day. Our bathroom looked like a florist’s shop!

 

Mid-day we headed to the central district nearby and picked a well trafficked spot on a stairway in front of McDonalds.  We began to make balloon shapes and soon we had a small crowd!  As we made flowers, fish, bears and hats we got lots of smiles from the people! Each balloon was given away with a smile and a Christian tract written in Thai. We also said “Jesus loves you” in Thai, which is “Phra Jesu rak khun.”  I was making a flower when two young girls appeared, all wet from the festival, smelling like alcohol, and with huge smiles. I gave them each a balloon flower and tract and they went on their way. Halfway down the street one girl ran back and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and a hug. It was great. Businesswomen, cleaning women, moms with kids, teenage boys…everyone wanted a balloon.  Not one tract was denied or thrown away!

 

Finally nighttime came and we were ready to go. We carried the buckets of roses, and bags of jasmine and iris bouquets, along with about 900 Christian tracts. These tracts were printed with contact information for a local Thai evangelical church!  We once again were across the street looking at the massive crowd, and decided to take a side route we had discovered earlier. We had no problem entering Patpong and once inside, what a surprise! Instead of teeming with people it was quiet! Almost every prostitute was sitting around the bars and at the tables with nothing to do! There were some customers, but surprisingly few. It seems everyone was still celebrating the festival and had not yet come in to Patpong for the night!

 

We asked permission of the doorman/ bouncer to enter the first bar and the answer was YES! At this very first bar was the young girl who had kissed my cheek earlier in the day! She ran to the drink bar and pointed to a wooden beam. On the beam she had posted the Christian tract for all to read. It had made it all the way from McDonalds when we were making balloons to the beam in the bar! How exciting was that!  We went to each woman in the bar, giving out flowers and tracts. Then we tied a string bracelet on each woman and held hands and prayed for them one by one. We claimed them for God and we blessed them. It was really awesome. The power of God was so strong it was unbelievable! Every single person we encountered was happy to see us!  We were able to also pray for two bar owners who had come out to see what was going on! We prayed for three customers! The women did not care if they had customers or not…they called us over to get a bracelet and allow us to pray for them. Mind you, all the customers were non-Thai males, and they knew we were Christians. They seemed almost in unbelief that we were there. One mean looking male customer, possibly German, asked me what we were doing there. “Bringing God’s Love” I replied and he could not respond except to say, “OK”. We were smiling A LOT! That night we prayed individually for 230 prostitutes.

 

As the night went on the activity increased. The music started and the dancers began. The “lady men” came out into the streets. We were able to pray for several of them while laying hands on them. After we ran out of flowers and bracelets, we continued to give out tracts one by one to everyone we passed.  At the end of the route I turned around at one point and actually saw at least 50 people sitting down and reading the tracts! When we doubled back not one of them was thrown on the ground. Everyone was reading! That was only and totally GOD!

 

The next day we decided to purchase over 200 snacks and return to Patpong at night as a follow up, handing out free snacks.  We also took 21 books in Thai-a testimony written by a Thai woman who became a Christian, called The True Road to Happiness. We prayed the Lord show us who to give them to. During our walk that evening, 18 prostitutes asked for the book! Please continue to pray that these seeds are fruitful! We also took an American Christian missionary who lives in Bangkok (it was her first time there) and we pray she will become involved in such ministry as Patpong. It was an honor to be there for our Lord.