A=ah B=buh C=kuh ...and all that english mumbo jumbo ;)

One of the amazing ways the Lighthouse in Action builds relationships with the girls on the red-light district streets is by teaching english. This is relatively new and we are one of the first few teams to really head it up. It started with one massage parlor and 2 girls and is now up to 2 massage parlors + 3 bars + some randoms who joins in = about 30 girls!! Each of those girls had a folder where we keep track of their progress as well as their personal lives. Looking at those folders everyday amazing me. Those folders not only represent students but amazing relationships that are being built. Our goal is to teach english but our main purpose is to show them the LOVE OF CHRIST, through our genuine love and actions of care towards them. Having this time in the afternoons to teach english really gives us a chance to get to know the girls deeper so that we have solid relationship already built when we go into the bars at night. So many of the bars are welcoming us to come teach their girls and really being open to us talking with them and knowing more about their lives. I am falling in love with my students, they are amazing individuals and I have really really really enjoyed teaching them :) I was a bit skeptical at first because I am not a teacher haha and I didn't even know how to go about teaching my own language but we start most of the girls on phonics just learning the alphabet letters and sounds and so on into months, dates and time, as well as basic dialog. One of my students is *Moon she is a 36 year old mother with an adorable nine year old son *Finn. Sometime he sits in on the lessons too. I love being able to see them interact and learn together. He is learning a bit in school as well so it fun to watch him help teach him mom :) To us the alphabet is so basic, but to them its the beginning of everything. The beginning of potentially finding another job, and just being able to communicate more effectively with the foreigners. *Moon started with not being able to speak any english and not even being able to read or write Thai. She is very basic but has learned SO fast! I love this part about teaching, being able to watch their progress.. its so amazing to watch them "get it." She knows and remembers (which is the tricky part haha) all the alphabet letters and sounds, can sound out/write three and four letter words, can hear the various vowel sounds in words, knows the days of the weeks and can do basic dialog. Seems simple, but for two weeks of learning and knowing NOTHING to start with, she is WAY ahead of my other students. Remembering the sound that each letter makes and being able to put the sounds together to form words is very tough for them. 

*Moon has really been opening up to me, and through a translator, has told me a lot of her story. She essentially trafficked here when she was 15. A man came to her village and told her parents he has a good job in the city that would pay well, a daycare job. (one of the biggest forms of trafficking looks like that. Men will go into the poorest villages and bride the parents to send their daughters into the city for work). She was brought to Chiang Mai and basically dropped into the red-lights.. never ever seeing her family again. Her father has since passed. She started working as a "go-go" in the strip club doing shows and then, in addition, began working at a bar. Over 15 years later she is still doing that exact thing. She also told me she has another son, one that is three years older than *Finn.. but his father came one day and stole him and she never saw him again. With tears in her eyes she told me .. "I am not lonely anymore, I have *Finn." He means the world to her. I love this precious women with all my heart. I want so badly to see God's love and to see something brighter for her and her son. I want her to know that there is a different life outside the life in bars that she has known her whole life. I want her to experience freedom. She has been "enslaved" in a sense since she was young. I bought her a bracelet the other day for all her hard work, I have a similar one that I wear. She also wears a a bracelet that a monk gave her when she was young, like a buddhist good luck charm. I hope and pray that my bracelet can be a different symbol, a symbol of genuine love and affection that can come from a complete stranger because of Christ's love for her. 

In my last post I mentioned *Butterfly Bar and *June and *Sam that work there. They also started doing english with us!! It's so great because it provides a great "in" to start really pouring into this dark bar. The other girls there are really warming up to us too. I love teaching *June and *Sam, they are 20 and 18 and it feels just like hanging out with friends :) Their english is decent enough that we can talk. I have gotten really close to *June and been able to really pour into her. She has opened up a lot and trusts me so much. I'm thankful for the private talks we have had where i've been able to speak TRUTH into her. They are both huge Twilight fans and so we are hoping to be able to take them out to the movies sometimes this last week before I leave :) :) Below are some pictures of us teaching.. you can also read on Bethsaida's blog (http://agendalove.com/2011/12/05/1-massage-parlor-1-bar-modern-day-miracles/) . Our days are busy as we sometimes teach from 11am-4:30 pm! and then the slums till 6 and the bars at night! eeeek haha! long days but grreeeaattt days! :)