Operation Extreme Love, Pattaya, Thailand - Day 5, Friday

Today I was part of a team of just 5 people (Celia, Corey, Curtis, Marion and me - and Pu, our interpreter) who were permitted to join in with Hand to Hand in a visit to two prisons in Pattaya. We met in the lobby at 09h45, and off we went. At the prison we met Tanaya Hudson, a precious girl with a very big heart for the poor and suffering. You can read her blog here: Tanaya in Pattaya


Prisons are sad places. These were no different. In the first prison, mainly Cambodians arrested because they did not have the right papers to allow them to be in Thailand, there was a woman with 2 small children. The baby was so sweet, smiling all the time and trying to interact with us. Poo, our interpreter, did not speak much Khmer, and mine was limited to ‘Hello’ and ‘My name is...’ – I couldn’t remember anything else. I hope that our love and concern got through to her. There was another lady with her in the cell; she too was Cambodian. We managed to communicate a bit with signs and our bits and pieces of language... she was a Christian. We prayed with them all, and gave them food and water and toiletries. Meanwhile, in the cell opposite, Curtis and Corey were chatting with the 12 -15 men, again Cambodians, who were together in a cell slightly larger than a bathroom. One man said he had a very sore throat. They prayed for him and the pain went away. They then shared about the love of God, and immediately all the men prayed to receive Christ. It was quite astonishing, and way beyond any of our expectations. When we left, they were excitedly chatting amongst themselves and starting to read the Bibles we had given them. Hope in dark places....

At the second prison, another 4 men asked for prayer. Corey and Curtis then ended up talking with a Czechoslovakian for a while. I prayed with a woman who was just sobbing. Poo tried to find out what was wrong but she was so upset that it was hard to piece the story together. It seems that she was with a friend and that the friend was arrested for something, and that she was arrested as an accomplice, but that she had not been involved in the crime at all. And she had a child in hospital, and she was desperate to find out what was going on. She had been in prison for 4 days. Heart-rending stuff; the kind of thing that makes you feel rather helpless, because there is soooo little you can do! But God, hey? We prayed and asked God to help her though we could not. Later, Pu cried and cried. Poor Pu has been doing a lot of crying this week. She has such a tender, loving heart. I found visiting the prisons very tough emotionally. Although they are apparently better than some of the other prisons in Asia, they were hot, stuffy, cramped and uncomfortable. And there are often even more prisoners in one cell; one of the Hand to Hand volunteers told me that he has been there when the cell is so full that the men cannot even sit down. And to see children there is hard. Better that they get to remain with their mothers, I know. But still..... We returned to our hotel in a rather sombre state of mind, although we were very grateful to have participated in the ministry and to have seen people come to Christ and be encouraged. 

Claire and I tying a tricky knot

The afternoon was very relaxed. We spent it making jewellery to give to people on our bar outreach that evening.  It was good to have time to chat with each other.Craig turned out to have some great design ideas, and he made two really pretty items, one symbolising royalty, and another symbolising the love of God. 


And then it was off to have supper at our by now very familiar food court.  I had my favourite noodles and chicken. 

After supper we split off into our teams. Our team went down a side street we had not yet been down. We wandered past a couple of 
bars, praying and asking God to show us to whom we should give our little gifts of jewellery. 

The men hard at work

We walked past one bar where a middle-aged ladyboy was the mamasang in charge of the girls. She caught my eye, but we continued walking. After a while, one of our group said: “You know, I really think we should talk to the mamasang...” It turned out that a few of us had had that thought. So we turned around and went back. She asked what we were doing in Thailand, and I told her my by now much used story about God asking me to come to Thailand because He loves Thailand and He loves the Thai people. And then we said that we had been asking Jesus to show us who to talk to and that we had seen her but continued walking, but that then we felt that we should turn back and talk with her, and so here we were, and we wanted to tell her that God loves her very much. 

Pattaya

She was amazed, and said that she had noticed us, and wondered why we had turned back. She said that people often look at her, make eye contact with her, and then walk on. This increased the feelings of aloneness with which she struggled, feeling that no one cared about her or what happened to her. I said that God cared, a lot. She again said that she was very lonely. We asked if we could pray and ask God to help her with this loneliness; she said yes. We then asked God to be with her, and that she would feel His presence in her life, and that He would show Himself to her as the Friend Who never leaves or forsakes us. She was so touched. It made the whole evening worthwhile! We hugged her and gave her a bracelet and off we went, on down the street. 

Lek is the smiling lady in the white dress

A little further on, we came to a bar, and there we met a wonderful lady named Lek. Some of the team already knew her... but I did not. Before we left the UK, I had bought a Dior perfume, and I had been given another perfume by Dior, a sample, in a beautiful box. I was very pleased with this, but as I was about to use it, I felt God say: ‘No Cathy, it is not for you!’ I was a little surprised, and asked Him why not. I then felt that He said it was for someone in Thailand, and that I should take it with me, and that He would show me who it was for when we got there.... So I took it along with me, and as the days went by, I began to feel a little concerned that I would not find the person it was for, as it was by now near the end of the week. (‘Oh ye of little faith’ and all that!) So on this particular evening I had tucked it under my arm, hoping that I would find the person it was for – I told Craig that if we didn’t find her while we were out with the team, we should maybe go looking a bit afterwards as well. Anyway, we met Lek. And as I did so, I felt such light in her, and I also heard God say: “The perfume is for her because she is a sweet fragrance for Me in this place.” I asked if she was a Christian and she started laughing and so did everyone else, because she is well known as a Christian. It turned out that she was married to an Englishman and had lived in Luton, in the UK, for a long time. I gave her the perfume and told her what God had said to me. She was SOOOOO blessed! She hugged me and hugged me and when she looked at the perfume she just beamed – because it just happens to be her favourite perfume. Isn’t that amazing? She needed the encouragement, as she has been trying to sell her bar for three years now, and has not yet been successful. I said that I felt that maybe Jesus asked her to wait this long because of her being a fragrance in a rather smelly place, a light in darkness. She said she knew this, but that it was hard. Before we left, we prayed with her that her business would be sold soon.

Chatting with people on the beachfront

Later, we ended up at the beach, where we spoke to a lady who was sitting there – she had a very sad face. We asked her if she was ok, and she said no, because she had just left her job and she did not know what to do. She thought she would have to go and work in the bars. She said she was anxious about her children. We asked if we could pray with her and she said yes. We prayed for her to get a new job and to have provision for her children, and then Stephen, one of our team members, said he thought she needed a hug and she said ‘Yes’ and he asked if he could hug her and she cried and he cried and she said that she had never experienced this kind of love. And we told her about the love of God and how He asked us to come and share His love with her. And then Craig asked if she had three children, and she said no, she had two. And Craig said ‘Are you sure?’ and I have to admit that I felt a bit annoyed with him about it, because she should know how many children she has, and if she says she has two children, then she has two children! We talked about a few other issues to do with her children, and then Craig asked again... ‘Are you sure you don’t have three children’. And she said no, she had two children. And then she was quiet. And then she said ‘Actually, I have three, but one died just before birth and I had to have surgery to remove him, and this is so painful to me... I don’t want to talk about it’. The Craig said that he knew this because God had told him, and that this event had hurt her so much and that it was still hurting her, and that He wanted to heal it. More tears, needless to say.... and then we prayed for her and she said that it felt much better. And we tried to encourage her not to go into the bars. And we prayed for her protection. And Stephen gave her what money he had.