Post Thailand Letter

Dear Family and Friends  

I followed God’s call to the Northwest about three years ago.  I’m still not certain the kind of work God has called me to do here vs. any other city in the country or for that matter in the world.  Last Christmas 2009,  I was making my plans to move to Austin to pursue my MBA at the University of Texas in Austin.  I hadn’t secured admission nor had I taken my GMAT yet.  I began feeling desperate in the Northwest as my days began to run together into one big mush resulting in minor impact in the end.  Still uncertain if I should stay or if I should go, I moved into a temporary living situation with a friend. This would at least give me until May to listen and better understand God’s call on my life.  During this time of reflection God effectively rocked my world.  In March I went to Thailand and by May I found greater purpose in life.   God has shown me my call is to help end Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia.

I have been back from Pattaya, Thailand for almost four months.  I would have written this sooner, but I honestly didn’t have the words to bring this together.  I’ve needed this much time to process all that has happened.  I was sick with a bad cold when we left Seattle on Friday,  March 12^th, 2010. I was determined God wanted me to be in Pattaya at this time.  I persevered through nearly 22 hours of travel time.  Many of you have had the pleasure of traveling while being sick, so I’m sure you know the joy that I experienced.  Honestly, it was joy! I had joy that I was on my way to a new adventure God had for me if I persevered through the discomfort and the pain, that God would meet me and use me the way that He wanted to.  

I fixed my eyes on James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  We arrived in Pattaya on Sunday afternoon and headed straight to church.  I felt like all I wanted to do was collapse in bed and sleep the sickness away, but I persevered… at least until after dinner.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go down the famous

Walking Street

with my group on the first night because I decided it would be better for me to get a good nights sleep.  Hopefully I would wake up refreshed and without sickness in the morning.  Glory be to God I did wake up a new woman on Monday morning!

The first few days, the team and I got a feel of the city.  We met with the missionaries that have been living there for many years doing Gods work.  All of them filled us with hope when they shared their stories of the kind of change that has already occurred in the past five years; yet Pattaya still has far to go. The main missionaries are a married couple that head up Bridges to the Nations in Pattaya, Thailand.  They told us of their first outreach to the women and men working as sex slaves in Pattaya.  They held a banquet for what was expected to be about 50 people.  Their plan was to treat the women with dignity while treating them to good food.  While they were hosting the meal they told their captive audience how much God loves them.  A little over 150 women came to the event.  At the end of the night, the pastor gave the women an opportunity to hand their lives over to Jesus Christ at which time every person stood up to do it. The pastor said, “Oh no, no. You must not understand the impact this has.”  So he explained again and offered another opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Again every woman stood up.  He assumed they still must not understand, so he told them to all sit down and he explained again the impact of making Jesus their personal savior. They all stood up one last time.  Each and every woman accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.  This was about 5 years ago.  As the missionaries were telling us this story, I realized how thirsty these people are for the Living Water that Jesus provides for us all.

While I was in Pattaya, I felt so close to God.  While in this closeness I finally figured out what Jesus is all about. We visited the slums, which were surprisingly clean!  The slums I’ve been to in the past were in Mexico and they were putrid.  The only way people could work was to go into the dumps and find recycled goods.  The slums in Thailand (although I’m sure there are more that are worse off) were actually a happy place.  There were kids running around with white powder on their faces to keep the bugs off, old women supervising the children’s playtime and young men getting ready to go to their jobs.  All in all, it didn’t seem so bad.  Sure, they didn’t have the comfort of air conditioning, a memory foam mattress, or even clean clothes, but they were full of joy.  They were beautiful. They welcomed you with open arms despite what you were wearing or how your hair was done.  This is such a far cry from our warped Western world where many make judgments on the types of shoes you wear, how your hair looks, or even if you have nice teeth.  In the slums, they received you however you are.  They met me where I was at. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are many reasons why it’s not healthy for people to live in the slums.  Poverty is by no means glorious, but like everything else, there are two sides to the coin.  This became apparent to me when I saw some young girls, no older than 10 years old.  They were beautiful and just coming into their developing bodies. They were prey to be swallowed by this city.  It’s not uncommon for “bar managers” to come into the slums and recruit girls to come with them to the city for a job.  These slums weren’t even 15 min away from

Walking Street

(the street that encompasses all that is evil in Pattaya).  It was as if they are sitting ducks.  In the next few years, they will unfortunately and most likely find out what this once sleepy fishing village has turned into.  

If I were one of these girls I would go into the city as well.   Simply because I wouldn’t know anything different then the promise of money so that I could buy my parents a more secure house.  The sound of the bar manager’s offer would sound worth it.  That is until the damage is done when they are robbed of their innocence.  I can understand why these girls have chosen this life for themselves.  When I was there age, I would have done the same exact thing.  The only difference between me an them is that I was lucky enough to be born into a family that was not only able to protect me from such evil, they educate me and empowered me to be an advocate for “the least of these”.

For the first half of the trip, I was filled with such despair for the city.  I HATED the white men that were there proliferating the pain that these girls felt.  Literally, everywhere you looked, there was a fat, disgusting white man with a beautiful little Thai girl on his arm.  I prayed for God to show me what my purpose was for the city and asked Him why he had sent me to a place that seemed so far gone.  It took me some time, but in the end I realized that these men are just as hurt as the women they are hurting.  What’s the saying? Hurt people hurt people!

In America, Europe, Russia, wherever these men are from, they are a simple Mr. Joe Shmo, no one important. Maybe they are married, maybe they are single.  I have grown to understand that more likely then not they don’t feel like kings in their everyday life.  When they come down to Pattaya and buy a beautiful girl who is excited to get taken care of, he probably feels like a king! It takes very little money to entertain himself and his girl he purchased. The girl feels like she is going to be taken care of for at least a day or two… if not forever (or at least that’s they hope).  I can see how the man feels like a MAN!  He is able to PROVIDE for this girl and make her smile.  Who knows if this is possible in his everyday life.  Most likely it is not.  It was with this realization that I started to see little glimmers of hope for the city.

There were many places of impact that I saw throughout this trip, but the impact I feel worthy of noting in this letter is how invaluable it was for me to go on this mission team vs. the business team at this time. From a business perspective, I could see how so many models were malfunctioning and abusive in Pattaya.  All it would take is a little capital and someone with business sense to come in and fix it all.  I learned that a fix isn't a fix unless God is in the center of it.  It's so easy for me to take God out of the picture when it comes to business because the only business I’ve experience has been on very secular level.  

I've been on fire for Microfinance for a few years, but I haven't really taken into consideration that God should be in the center of that process for there to be real hope.  I’m not suggesting instituting a prostilization aspect of microfinance in Pattaya.  What I am suggesting is exhibiting an unconditional love for these people who have so much potential that goes far beyond business is business.  Jesus hung out with the prostitutes, the money lenders, the tax collectors, those who were “unclean”.  Whether each of those people eventually came to accept him is unknown.  What is known is that he LOVED on them in a way they’ve never been loved before.  Those people were accepted with all their pain, hurt, scars and everything else.  This trip altered my prospective from, “here, let me fix this for you” to “okay God, do your work here and let me be your hands.”  I have grown to realize when God is at the center, the most important and influential thing is Love.  They will see Jesus’ love in their lives and hopefully come to know Him and his redemptive power.  The people rescued will have their hope restored, but most importantly, they have the promise of redemption through Jesus.

These women and men who have been exploited for money have such deep wounds that can only be healed through God's love and redemption through Jesus' blood.  This all became apparent to me when our group visited a hair salon owned by the Tamar Center (the center reaches out to the girls and boys in the bars, offering them a different way to make money) on Soy 6.  It was being run by two women who were rescued out of the bars Pim and Kay.  They shared their story and deep pain with our group.  Each of them opened up their hearts to us and showed us their pain.  Each had tears in their eyes.  Each shared the new hope they have found in Jesus.  I was filled with hope for the city again.  They each ended their stories with praise to the Lord that they have a new life.  Kay said it so well when she said, "I'll never go back to my old life.  God is all I need.  God is enough."  My heart was full.

I’m now preparing for my second trip to Thailand.  In the past four months, I’ve been working with a business team to construct a business education/training center in Pattaya.  We have constructed a business plan, financing plan, curriculum, and a secure model that will hopefully be able to be planted anywhere in the world.  Realistically this has been my second job outside of Costco, and it has been my joy to work with this team.  I am only 24 years old and I’ve never created a business, much less written a business plan, curriculum, or planned a major fundraising event.  It’s all happening and it’s all of God’s handiwork.  He has put such an amazing team together who tirelessly has been working on this project ever since we returned  to American. Glory to God!

I want to thank you for your support.  Many of you have been praying for me on my new journey and some have even provided me financial support.  For this I thank you from the bottom of my heart! I’m going on for another mission trip November 4-14^th.  I ask for your prayers again as I prepare for this next trip.  I will be sending out a formal “fundraising” letter, so if you feel prompted to give, please let me know.  All financial gifts are tax-deductible and will go toward my airfare, travel, hotel, and food.  I’m planning on hosting some fundraising events in the future, so if you would like to participate in them, please let me know as well.  

Additionally, my group is hosting a fundraising dinner Saturday, October 2^nd, 2010 at the Hollywood Hills School House in Woodinville.  I will be sending more information about this event later.  If this is something you would like to participate in, I would love to see you there.  The money raised through this fundraiser will go toward the business center.  I know that God wants me to return to Thailand and I know that God will provide the finances, strength and health however He sees fit to provide.  What is most important to me are your prayers on my behalf.

Thank you again for your love and support!  God has truly blessed me by allowing me to be in each of your lives. Thank you again!

In His Unconditional love and Peace,

Collyn Leigh Eppel