What does a bar girl look like coming to a conversation class? What form of transportation does she take? What is she wearing? Does she always look like a bar girl? Or does she sometimes look like a student? As I stood outside the hotel and waited for someone to show up I pondered these questions. I’m guessing they don’t come in tuk tuks or taxi’s. Those are too expensive--Probably not in vans or cars either. I’m fairly sure she is not the women with a scarf on her head. There sure were a lot of them today. I’m pretty sure she’s not the middle aged over dressed woman or the younger nicely dressed one for that matter. Could she be the one in jeans who walked by with that young man who had the oversized purse? Could she be the two that walked in dressed in red lace and white satin painted to the hilt? I watched them walk in. Possibly. They never came back out. Their clothes didn’t exactly match the normal clientele of the hotel. Would it be the young woman in short shorts running across the walk way? I noticed a baby bottle in her hand. I’m pretty sure that is not one of the girls we talked to. What does a bar girl look like coming to a conversation class? Well, the answer to that question is yet to be determined as we didn’t have one show up for Coffee and Conversation today.
What did we learn from this? Perhaps we are on the right track considering taking things slower than faster. I think it’s quite telling that we didn’t even really know what to expect them to look like. We need to get more information about what their life is like outside of the bars, as well as inside of the bars and what their needs are. Thankfully, he is providing opportunities for us to do this. The more I hear and understand about this ministry it doesn’t sound like it has been that successful in this city in the past. Am I discouraged? Maybe a little bit. A teeny, tiny little bit. Because I know God has called us to do this and we are taking one step at a time in obedience to him. I trust that he knows where they were today. He knows the number of hairs on their head. I am grateful to him. Why didn’t they come? Maybe the hotel we picked was too nice for them to come. We can trust him to make clear our next step---Just our next step forward. That’s what we are asking for. I'll let you know when I find out what they look like. I'm guessing she's a lot like you and me.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Moving forward....
We continue to move forward with these girls in fear and trembling. I laugh, as I thought about the other night. There I was....at 10 pm at night--walking down the streets in CM--without my husband, trying to engage people. For those of you who haven't been around me in a long while, I know it's hard for you to imagine that after 15 years of living in Asia and not being able to communicate like I would like with those around me, I have become an introvert. Not only am I an introvert, but I am a Morning introvert--which basically means I get up early and am pretty much down for the count by 8:30. (that means pretty useless) I had a long day of basketball so we were unable to go out until 8pm. The week was full so we decided we couldn't wait for time on the schedule we were just going to have to do it and so 8pm was the time. We needed to follow up with the girls we had taken the gift bags to.
Six of us went out this time. We spent time before praying that God would lead us to ONE person. This time we took small cards inviting the girls to Coffee and Conversation at a nearby hotel on Sat. afternoon. I have to say when we planned on Coffee and Conversation on Sat. our thoughts were one or two people might come. We decided on the hotel because it was easy. We knew the girls would know it and honestly, I didn’t have time to go down there and scope around for another place. We decided on 3pm because I may have another child playing in a basketball tournament until later in the day—probably not—but may.
Three of us stood around the corner praying while three of us went back to the first bar. (never thought I would say that in a post, did you?) We recognized some of the girls as we talked to them. While we were talking, one girl was coming out with someone and tried to come and talk to us. She was one of the ones we had met with before. It was encouraging to us that she wanted to talk to us again. One of the other girls seemed very open and gave us her name and seemed to want to engage us more. We hope she will come on Sat.
We then went back to join our Pray-ers and regrouped and prayed some more. Then we walked down the street, mapping out the place and looking for others. In an unexpected turn of events we were able to invite a larger group who seemed surprised that we would offer this to them. She went inside and asked permission to come and told us they all would be coming.
We also met a lady boy on the street and were able to pray with him for his new business. It was an interesting turn of events when he told us he is a Christian—or was one in university. We need prayers regarding whether to follow up there or not. He gave us his telephone number.
So, here we are….getting ready for Sat. We are planning to meet in the hotel coffee shop because that was the original plan. We will be thrilled to have one show up—remember we prayed for ONE. :> (I know, O me of little faith!) We had to pull some others in to help us since only two of us can be there on Sat. just in case we have more than that. We have a tentative plan but will adjust as needed. We are focusing on conversation…hoping to make it more like an English club than an actual class. Most of these girls have had some English instruction.
One of the other things I keep asking God about is that we are all mom’s-- with other jobs with very little time-- to put into this kind of ministry. We can’t think about it, plan and focus on it all day because we don’t have time to do this. We send up SOS prayers, spend hrs in the middle of the night praying, pray before, during and afterwards and just ask God to move. Not to mention the fact that none of us has studied the language full time or really have very good language. Several of us can spit out words and phrases and one of us can carry on a decent basic conversation. What are we doing? Right now, we are just being obedient, moving forward one step at a time. We know he’s told us to move forward so we are just doing the next thing that we know to do.
Please pray for us on Sat. Pray for the girl(s) who are coming and pray for wisdom and direction for how to share with them. Pray that God communicates clearly through us. Pray that God will already be stirring their hearts and drawing them to him. And, then pray that God will make it clear the next step forward.
Six of us went out this time. We spent time before praying that God would lead us to ONE person. This time we took small cards inviting the girls to Coffee and Conversation at a nearby hotel on Sat. afternoon. I have to say when we planned on Coffee and Conversation on Sat. our thoughts were one or two people might come. We decided on the hotel because it was easy. We knew the girls would know it and honestly, I didn’t have time to go down there and scope around for another place. We decided on 3pm because I may have another child playing in a basketball tournament until later in the day—probably not—but may.
Three of us stood around the corner praying while three of us went back to the first bar. (never thought I would say that in a post, did you?) We recognized some of the girls as we talked to them. While we were talking, one girl was coming out with someone and tried to come and talk to us. She was one of the ones we had met with before. It was encouraging to us that she wanted to talk to us again. One of the other girls seemed very open and gave us her name and seemed to want to engage us more. We hope she will come on Sat.
We then went back to join our Pray-ers and regrouped and prayed some more. Then we walked down the street, mapping out the place and looking for others. In an unexpected turn of events we were able to invite a larger group who seemed surprised that we would offer this to them. She went inside and asked permission to come and told us they all would be coming.
We also met a lady boy on the street and were able to pray with him for his new business. It was an interesting turn of events when he told us he is a Christian—or was one in university. We need prayers regarding whether to follow up there or not. He gave us his telephone number.
So, here we are….getting ready for Sat. We are planning to meet in the hotel coffee shop because that was the original plan. We will be thrilled to have one show up—remember we prayed for ONE. :> (I know, O me of little faith!) We had to pull some others in to help us since only two of us can be there on Sat. just in case we have more than that. We have a tentative plan but will adjust as needed. We are focusing on conversation…hoping to make it more like an English club than an actual class. Most of these girls have had some English instruction.
One of the other things I keep asking God about is that we are all mom’s-- with other jobs with very little time-- to put into this kind of ministry. We can’t think about it, plan and focus on it all day because we don’t have time to do this. We send up SOS prayers, spend hrs in the middle of the night praying, pray before, during and afterwards and just ask God to move. Not to mention the fact that none of us has studied the language full time or really have very good language. Several of us can spit out words and phrases and one of us can carry on a decent basic conversation. What are we doing? Right now, we are just being obedient, moving forward one step at a time. We know he’s told us to move forward so we are just doing the next thing that we know to do.
Please pray for us on Sat. Pray for the girl(s) who are coming and pray for wisdom and direction for how to share with them. Pray that God communicates clearly through us. Pray that God will already be stirring their hearts and drawing them to him. And, then pray that God will make it clear the next step forward.
Basketball Ending
It's been a busy week with basketball tournaments. The JV girls won their tournament in a tight match with CMIS for the final victory. It was a night we will always remember since they lost this same game last yr and had to fight hard to win. It wasn't easy for us mamas sitting on the sideline to watch the girls shooting free throws with tears streaming down their faces.
They were asked to be the fill in team for the Varsity tournament this weekend and will play Grace Varsity girls in the morning semifinals. They had a fun time last night in the last game they played and decided to "play for fun" because they didn't really want to win so they could play our girls in the semi's. They want our girls to win the varsity tournament and did not want to play them in the final game. The varsity girls are better in skill and formation than we are but we hope to give them a run for their money in speed and determination. Last night they did a few funny antics like Starfish during the game. You can ask Savannah about it if you are curious. It was nice to see them playing for fun after the intensity of their last few games.
Our boys won their tournament on Wed. also. We had a big upset with CMIS where we came from behind to beat them. Our boys were not playing in their best form in that first half. One of the guys scored 3 3 pointers in the last quarter. This is Under 13 yr olds! We were astounded! Our Noah got back in his groove the 2nd half of the game and their tall guy only scored 2 points the second half of the game. (Noah plays center) Sage went on to really show his skills in the last game of the tournament. I'm pretty sure his position is point guard. He's the one who takes the ball up and down the court for all of those lay ups.
This basketball gives us a fun, free source of entertainment a few months every year. The boys will have to work really hard to make the team next year since they are moving up to the JV category. There is much competition at that level.
They were asked to be the fill in team for the Varsity tournament this weekend and will play Grace Varsity girls in the morning semifinals. They had a fun time last night in the last game they played and decided to "play for fun" because they didn't really want to win so they could play our girls in the semi's. They want our girls to win the varsity tournament and did not want to play them in the final game. The varsity girls are better in skill and formation than we are but we hope to give them a run for their money in speed and determination. Last night they did a few funny antics like Starfish during the game. You can ask Savannah about it if you are curious. It was nice to see them playing for fun after the intensity of their last few games.
Our boys won their tournament on Wed. also. We had a big upset with CMIS where we came from behind to beat them. Our boys were not playing in their best form in that first half. One of the guys scored 3 3 pointers in the last quarter. This is Under 13 yr olds! We were astounded! Our Noah got back in his groove the 2nd half of the game and their tall guy only scored 2 points the second half of the game. (Noah plays center) Sage went on to really show his skills in the last game of the tournament. I'm pretty sure his position is point guard. He's the one who takes the ball up and down the court for all of those lay ups.
This basketball gives us a fun, free source of entertainment a few months every year. The boys will have to work really hard to make the team next year since they are moving up to the JV category. There is much competition at that level.
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