There and Back Again...(and Hopefully There Again)

"And thus it was: a fourth age of Middle-Earth began. And the fellowship of the ring, though eternally bound by friendship and love, was ended. Thirteen months to the day since Gandalf sent us on our long journey, we found ourselves looking upon a familiar sight. We were home. How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand--there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend, some hurts that go too deep...that have taken hold.--Frodo Baggins: Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien

I never thought coming home would be so hard. It's crazy to think that almost exactly two weeks ago I was scared to leave home (first mission trip and whatnot), and by the time those two weeks were over I was scared to leave the world I found and go back home. It's not because I was hurt by the trip and what I witnessed over there, it's more so that my heart was so profoundly touched by what I saw—the utter darkness and brokenness and evil that I saw at the very beginning of the trip, followed by seeing and experiencing the love, joy, healing, and hope that is the reason Destiny Rescue exists. Even thinking about it now, I'm completely overwhelmed.

Back to the Beginning

When I saw Destiny Rescue offered mission trips, there was no question of if I would go. I signed up the moment I saw the link on their website. I have been donating money to DR for nearly 5 years, ever since they first came to my church in 2008. My heart broke when I learned that trafficking of children was a thing. Finally, I had the chance to actually do something with them.

          Sure, during the fundraising process and the long wait until I left, I had second thoughts and doubts about whether or not I should cancel and throw in the towel. But God provided so incredibly (I raised over $3500 in 3-4 weeks), that I had no doubt in my heart that this trip was exactly where He wanted me to be. So with all my nervousness, I trusted Him and on Monday, July 29, flew almost 24 hours from Cincinnati to Atlanta to Tokyo to Bangkok to see what He had for me. And I'll never be the same.

A Step Into Hell

Our first day in Thailand, we made the trip from Bangkok to a city called Pattaya. Pattaya is known to be the "sex-cation" capitol of the world. In this city alone there are about 20,000 brothels. I'll let you do the math on how many people that means are trapped in trafficking. The most accurate description I can think of comes from Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

          The whole point of our day in Pattaya was for us to witness a place called Walking Street. Walking Street is a part of the red light district in Pattaya. It’s about a mile long stretch of road dedicated entirely to prostitution and bars. This was also the scariest part of the trip for me. Even going to get dinner in regular parts of the city, there were women at almost every bar calling out and grabbing me (at one point, I had about 5 girls grabbing my arm at the same time, pulling me in different directions.)

          It was heartbreaking, to say the least. The walk through was maybe about a mile long, but it felt like forever--bar after bar after bar, displaying almost every theme of perverted sexual fantasy in the book. It was quite literally a step into hell. Walking through, seeing these girls that are just trapped was one of the most sobering experiences in my life. It was here that the mission of Destiny Rescue became real. Even though many of the girls were laughing and yelling and flirting with the hundreds of guys that walked through, when you looked them in the eyes, there was no life or joy. The experience was so real and sobering, but everything you saw was absolutely fake. No girl grows up dreaming of doing this.
          It was the kind of place that made you disgusted to be a human, and ashamed to be a man, being lumped together with all the other men going there to use and abuse these girls.

Rescue

The entire rest of the trip was dedicated to seeing the hope and restoration that is why Destiny Rescue exists. The next day we went back to Bangkok and visited our first rescue home. Six girls lived there, cared for by three women. The juxtaposition of these two experiences—Walking Street followed directly by the rescue home—was one of the most profoundly impactful moments of the trip for me. Seeing that there really is a life, hope, healing, and even joy after all the darkness that we witnessed at Walking Street was so powerful.
          At first, the girls there were all pretty shy (the language barrier didn't help much either), but they quickly warmed up to us and were so sweet and welcoming, even to the point of making lunch for the whole team. Dana, one of the members of my team, was also awesome (as always) and brought some nail polish to bless the girls and paint their nails. After lunch and nail painting, the girls took us out to a park across the street and taught us how to play their version of dodge ball, which was so much fun.
          These laughs and smiles were the real deal. That is what we're fighting for. That is the hope we have for every single girl still trapped.

The Chiangs

Those were just the first two days. The rest of the trip was spent between two cities: Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. It was in these two cities that Thailand stole my heart. It wasn't the place at all though. The cities are so dirty compared to the incredibly blessed lifestyle that I'm used to. Thailand is hot and humid all day every day. We were there during the rainy season and the drainage system there doesn't work well, so the streets were flooded some days. Even living there for two short weeks wasn't easy. Sure, Thailand is beautiful to look at, and has some really cool attractions (and the food was AMAZING), but it wasn't the place at all. It was the people I met while I was there.

The volunteer staff over there is amazing. I met some of the coolest, most passionate people while there. They have a vision for Destiny Rescue to have rescue and prevention homes in every single country where child sexual slavery exists. They have a vision to double the number of rescues every year and have rescued 100,000 by December 31, 2020. They are constantly working every day to do everything they can to see the child sex slave trade come to an end within our lifetime.

More than anything though, it was the rescue girls and prevention kids I met during my time there. Going into those rescue homes, I was nervous. Being a man, I felt I would look to them just like one of the men that are the very reason they were trapped, used, and abused. What I saw and felt and witnessed completely took me off guard. At first, they were always very shy. The language barrier always made things a little bit difficult. But in the end, the words didn't even matter. What mattered was the fact that we were there for them, whether it was to teach them English, to play games with them, or even just sit with them. What mattered is that we were not only showing them our love for them, but we were also showing them the healing love of Jesus.

It's purely because of Him that I was able to connect with Napah, one of the rescue girls in Chiang Mai. Because of Jesus, I was able to sit with her and play worship music on the guitar, while she sang the words in Thai. I got to experience God in a new way. He's so powerful that language barriers don't even matter when it comes to worshipping Him. He's so glorious that he completely transcends that and meets people during worship, no matter whether they understand each other while worshipping or not.

It's because of Him that I was able to connect with Esther, another of the girls at the Chiang Mai rescue home, and have a paint fight with her mere minutes after we met. It's because of Him that she was able to trust me after a day of knowing me and jump on my back and pretend I was an elephant, pulling my ears to make me go different directions.

Aftermath of the paint war

Esther

          We got to bless Esther and Napah and the girls at the Chiang Mai rescue home by pooling our money to take them out for the first time in three months to an amazing day of bamboo raft rides, ox drawn cart rides, elephant shows, and elephant rides.

Elephant ride with Napah

If you were to walk into one of these rescue homes without any knowledge of what the place was, you would have absolutely no idea of where these girls had come from because of the sweetness and happiness and joy these girls have. Jesus' love is so powerful that he's restoring their hearts and their innocence, and they're just able to be kids and just have fun again.

We spent time at the prevention homes playing soccer and volleyball and badminton (and getting owned at it every time!) with little boys and girls, like Fil (I think that's how her name is spelled), a sweet, but attitude—filled little girl who really knows how to butter up a westerner like me, or this precious little boy, whose name I didn't catch, that came up and just wanted a lap to sit on and someone to swing him around and toss him up in the air.

Me and Fil

          Destiny Rescue not only trains the girls to make jewelry to make a living, but also to work as hairdressers, to make wallets, purses, bags, shirts, and to work in the Destiny Cafe as baristas and cooks. And let me tell you, these girls are so professional, and the work they do is stellar.

          One of the saddest stories I heard came from one of the ladies working at the Destiny Salon. One day before work, she asked her girls what their dreams were. Not one of them had an answer. The evil done to them had stripped them of that, stripped them of any hope for a future, stripped them of their destiny.
          Destiny Rescue is helping to give that back to them.
          That's what it's all about.
          That's why when I left Thailand and came back to the US, I left my heart behind.

The End (or is it?)

And now I'm home, and I'm in that exact same place as Frodo was at the end of his journey--how to pick up the strands of an old life, when in my heart I understand that there really is no going back. These experiences have gone so deep, have taken a hold of my heart, and I would never take any of it back. There is truly no going back to the way things were before, the way I saw the world before, the person I was before. Leaving Thailand was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and now I just have to find ways to continue doing this work from afar--sharing my experiences, spreading the word, sponsoring my new friends so that they can continue their journey of healing.

There are just three final thoughts I want to leave you with. The first is from Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

The second is from Isaiah 61:1. "He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and opening of the prison and of the eyes of those who are bound."

The final is from the story of my own personal hero: Spider-man. This is a lesson he learned the hard way, through losing someone he loved as a consequence of not taking action: "With great power comes great responsibility.”

I may not be a superhero, but if I have the means to do something to save these girls, then not only do I have the moral obligation to do it, but I want to do it with all my heart. I don't know where I'm headed, if I'll be working with Destiny Rescue in my future or going back to Thailand (I know I hope I do), but what I do know is Jesus has a plan for these girls. They have a future and a destiny. The injustice being done to these children must stop, and I'll do whatever I can to help this happen. Let's put an end to this once and for all.

God is good. His love is the most powerful thing in the universe. Hope is real.