Hello!
We have had quite the week over here!! On Wednesday we were able to get some girls out with the help from our friend Liz, from the bar we had gotten kicked out of. It was one of the girls birthday's and we were able to take her and her friend out to eat. We went to eat at a place we hadn't been before, so we didn't know what to expect. We let the birthday girl decide where to go and of all places she picked Italian food! She likes trying new things and she wanted to try this with us! So we ate pizza and pasta a first for both the girls which was great to experience. We then took them to ice cream. We secretly told the women working that it was her birthday, asking if they sang there. Minutes later the ice cream came out with a candle on it and we got to sing to her! She was so thankful for it all. We really were so happy and thankful for being able to hang out with them both!





Friday quickly arrived where it was time for the open house/goodbye party. We invited many girls from the different bars that we had been too. We were super excited to see who would come. We all spread out and picked up different girls.

Some girls waiting to eat!


Girls excited to eat Ann's green curry!

Everyone getting ready to play some games!
Some of the girls playing a game


We had such a fun day. Around 35 girls ended up coming; this was a day for a us to be able to pay the bar fines and get the girls to come. Although some of the girls have heard, this for many of the them was the first time to hear about Beginnings. After playing the fun games, the house mom explained to the girls what Beginnings offers them if they are willing to leave the bars. It was so great to see the girls out of the bars and just hang out with them in this environment. For us as a team it was amazing to see the turn out from all the relationships that we have built here this last month. After all the fun, games, and talking the girls were allowed to leave or hang out. Many of them took a tour of the house and some stayed behind to talk to the house mom about Beginnings. Even though this was a goodbye party we are still excited for the last few days that we have with the girls.


Jess, Amy, Kelly

Sorry it has been a little while since we have posted! Since Amy's post a lot has happened. Kelly and I we able to go do outreach at Soi Cowboy also the next night. It was the first time for the both of us to go do outreach at night. It was hard having to sit back and watch, while not being able to fully communicate with the girls. Although there was little we could do, it was good to be able to see the two girls from the home being able to make new connections.

Due to a Buddhist holiday our teaching and outreach was limited this week. We were able to play tourist this weekend and explore more of Bangkok.

We went to the Evangelical Church of Bangkok on Sunday which is an English speaking church. It was great getting to hear a sermon we understood and singing familiar worship songs. We met different missionaries that are here from the States and got to share with them about Beginnings and why we are here. The community was very welcoming and we enjoyed a challenging yet encouraging sermon on Submission using scripture from 1 Peter 2.

Amy and Kelly got to reconnect with the friend Amy mentioned in the previous blog. They paid her bar fine and took her out to dinner. They got stuck in a rain storm which made things interesting getting to the restaurant but they eventually got there after waiting out the rain. Amy enjoyed getting to talk with her friend one-on-one and to get to know her a little better. It was encouraging to see her smile and to get to show her love for one night. She is a sweet girl that we will never forget.


Today we got to pay our first bar fines to take some of the girls from a bar out. We arrived a little early to pick them up, and they were so cute and all ready to go. We originally were going to take 3 girls with us, but another girl there seemed interested when we talked about our outing so we asked her to come along too. When we asked her if she would like to join us, her face lit up and she pulled out her socks showing us she was ready to go bowl! We took the girls to eat lunch at a big food court first where we all had Thai food to a few floors up and went bowling! We were the first ones there so we had the place to ourselves for awhile. With a little difficulty figuring out our sizes we got our shoes, which are totally cooler then American bowling shoes! We went to our lanes, picked out our bowling balls, and were finally ready to start! It started out a little rough since none of us had played in a while. But it was so fun to mess around with each other and joke about our bowling talent (or lack thereof). The girls and us had fun coming up with funny ways to bowl to keep us laughing. We all took pictures and videos to document this experience. Sadly our time eventually came to an end when we all had to leave. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part but at least this time we were able to tell them we'd see them soon : )

Last night I was able to do outreach at Soi Cowboy, one of the main red-light districts here in Bangkok. Although I had been to this red-light district before over the Christmas trip this past December, the scope of depravity and sexual brokenness I witnessed last night still shocked me. Seeing women and young girls being prostituted & exploited by bar owners, pimps & western men isn’t something I’ll ever get used to seeing. Although it was pouring rain last night, business did not slow down like I had expected it would. As I walked down the soi in the pouring rain with one of the Thai girls from Beginnings, the reality of the situation really hit me. The reality that in just that very night nearly 3,000 women & young girls were being exploited & prostituted in that 1 red-light district alone. The reality that women & young girls were being forced to stand on stages or street corners “selling” themselves for a mere $24 for 24 hours to Western men seeking to fulfill their twisted desires. I was hit with the overwhelming sense that in the face of such an enormous & complicated problem with thousands of men as devoted “followers”, what good could 1 girl from America & 1 girl from Thailand really do? If comparing numbers, the odds were stacked against us. As I was praying & walking down the soi, God reminded me of what he always reminds me of when I start asking this question…That my mission isn’t about the large numbers at all, it’s about “the one”. As Sharon Kohn, a lawyer from IJM so perfectly states:

“While there are millions of women & young girls victimized every day, our work will always be about the one. The one girl deceived. The one girl kidnapped. The one girl raped. The one girl infected with AIDS. The one girl needing a rescuer. To succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one. And more is required of us.”

As we walked into one of the gogo bars to do outreach, I knew more was required of me at that moment. As we sat down in the bar, I scanned the room & prayed God would give me an opportunity to reach out to just one girl while I was there. After nearly 20 minutes & several unsuccessful attempts to connect with different girls, I was about to suggest we go to a different bar when I suddenly locked eyes with a girl in the bar whom I recognized from the Christmas party this past December! I knew she remembered me because as soon as she saw me she literally jumped off the stage she was standing on, ran to where I was seated & hugged me! It was such a beautiful moment of hope & light in the midst of such a dark night! To see such a strong response from one girl I invested in, for just one night over 6 months ago, made me realize the power in allowing Christ to show his love through us to just “the one” person he has placed in our path. The girl & I talked & reconnected & other girls I recognized from the Christmas party eventually came over as well! I hope to continue to build on these relationships with the women at this bar as I allow Christ to show His love through me!

Please be in prayer for these relationships! That God will continue to build & strengthen them & that He will continue the good work He began in their hearts over 6months ago.

- Amy

God is in control

As you know this week we started our outreach. It was great in the beginning of the week where we had great connections with different girls so quickly. Thankful as we are for those, we did encounter some challenges too this week. We went to two different bars we had not gone to yet. We quickly started conversation at the first one and ended up staying for a while. One of the girls that Amy was talking too had an interest in stopping by Beginnings and seeing what it was all about. When we went back to get her the next day she didn't come to work that day at all. As disappointing as we are, we realize that it is out of our hands and God can still use the initial connection that we had with her. We went to just stop by at a bar we made connections at a few days before to just say hi to some of the girls. Although we had been well received for the first few days we visited the bar, this time the bar owner was there and was confrontational in asking us to the leave the bar and not return. We were all caught off guard and a little discouraged because this was a bar we had strong connections with.



Even though it was a slightly discouraging and disheartening day, God gave us the encouragement we need through fellowship with other believers. We were delighted to go to the opening night of a coffee shop that's owned by Bonita's American friend, that ministers to transgenders. This ministry is unique and much needed here, as most organizations reach out to women. The environment was warm and welcoming as if it was a piece of home right here in Bangkok. We are excited to see how the Lord will use this ministry.



On the way home, Bonita took us on a detour down Soi Cowboy, one of the main red light districts we have seen here. Even just walking down the street we were confronted with reality of how vast and explicit the sex industry really is here.





"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." Ephesians 6:10-11



We are excited for tomorrow because we are going to church with the girls from the house. Please be in prayer for us as we encounter different challenges and that we may be strong and stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Outreach and Teaching Has Begun!

We began teaching English and Outreach yesterday and already have seen God at work in so many ways. Elizabeth and Bethany, two women from California are here helping us teach English so we each have one student we are focusing on at the moment. This individualized attention has been great for the girls as they each have different needs and are on various levels of understanding. We are all discovering the challenges that arise when you are dealing with a tonal language that doesn't use punctuation or articles. We have eagerly been trying to learn Thai while helping the girls with their English which has given us a way to connect with them.

Our first outreach led us to a bar where Amy was able to reconnect with a girl she had built a relationship with on the December trip. This initial contact made for a smoother connection to meeting other girls in the bar. I don't foresee any of us having a career as professional pool players but there is still hope for us before the end of July : ) It was challenging at first coming up with small talk that could be understood but thankfully Amy's friend knew English fairly well and could translate for us.

Today Jess and I explored another bar in which no connections had been made yet. We were nervous at first but we knew God had us in His hands and would show us the way. As soon as we entered we were approached by a girl who knew English very well. This is a fairly new bar and many of the girls had just begun working there. We were relieved to not have to experience much awkwardness as two girls quickly connected with us and started in on what led to a very pleasant 2 hour conversation. God was able to break down many barriers as we felt like we had already known these girls. We all joked about being terrible at pool and laughed at our mistakes. Conversation and interacting came very naturally with these girls and we left feeling so encouraged. We learned so much about them in just a short time and have already planned to take them out for one of the girls' birthday in 2 weeks.

We are finally experiencing true Bangkok weather as it has felt over 100 degrees the past couple of days. We are praying for rain as that tends to cool things down here. But until then we try to stay near our fans as we try to acclimate to the heat.

Thank you for all your prayers! We feel so blessed to be here.

Please continue to pray with us as we further the relationships we have begun forming with these girls.

Kelly (with a little help from Amy and Jess)

Sa-wat-dee-ka (Hello)!

We thought it would be nice to let you guys know what we have been up to since we have gotten here. We have somewhat adjusted to the time. Although we have been waking up a few hours before our alarms!

Since there is a big election here, most of the girls had to go home to vote. So although we are fortunate to have some of the girls here to talk to, most of them have been absent.

We met up with Jessica's friend from school that is from Thailand. Ben and his sister took us around to see different parts of Bangkok and to eat some great food! When we got back we were tired from all the walking and shopping so while we were sitting in our room talking some of the girls at the house came into our room and we all ended up talking for a long time. We were trying to help them with their English while they were trying to teach us some Thai words. We learned practical words like Hello, good job, good night, you're welcome and we also learned fun words like pretty, crazy, beautiful, cold, hot, and sleepy. It was much enjoyed but we need to keep up with our Thai vocabulary to remember! This was our first opportunity to get aquatinted with the girls and learn more about them and their interests. We really enjoyed it and are so excited to hang out and learn more about them!

Today we were all excited to experience Leena and Ben's church. It is a Thai Christian church, but they fortunately have an English translator. Since we are not completely able to find our way around Bangkok, Ben came to the house to pick us up. We ended up walking which is always fun. We took a "short cut" through the park which ended up taking a lot longer then expected. We ate quickly and headed to the church. We had to sit in the section where there were headphones for us to listen to the translation of the service. Despite the different languages being sung during the worship service, we were all worshiping the same God. It was amazing to experience such a welcoming community of believers. We all felt so blessed to be there!

After church we went to a thai restaurant, owned by one of the church members. We not only got to eat with some of the members of the church, but we got to cook the food right in front of us. We ate a lot, including some cow tongue, intestines, raw fish, and seaweed salad. We are now prepared to be on fear factor!

We are excited for what tomorrow entails for us: seeing all the girls and to begin teaching english.


This is us at the church



This is us in front of the church

Jess, Kelly, & Amy

July Team is here!

Hello everyone!

Well Kelly, Amy, and I are all here and safe!

After a long journey of interesting airports, tunnels that look like aquariums, Kelly getting sick on the plane, Amy handling the sickness of Kelly, airplane food, long delays in the Tokyo airport, trying to get in touch with people in Thailand with the lack of a phone and internet, getting to Bangkok where Amy lost her computer cord, hearing and seeing a beautiful thunderstorm, waiting for our luggage for longer then an hour, finally after our long adventure we got to the house.

We were welcomed by the sleepy house mom, since it was 4:00AM, and headed up to our room. We were not that sleepy, naturally, so we all decided to unload all of our stuff. We finally decided by 5:00AM, that is was time for us to get some sleep. So with our fans on we fell into a deep deep sleep. And by deep sleep we didn't wake up until 2:00 PM. We all felt a little bad as we wasted the day away. We all quickly got ready and went out to talk some of the girls in the house. After a long trip it was so great to see the reason we are here. We all have talked and all mutually know we are blessed to be here. We got to explore the streets a little and exchange our money. We then walked to Bonita's and Roy's apartment for some time to talk and a great Mexican soup. We also had Dragon fruit, Mangosteen, Mango, and Watermelon. After a fun night and great talks we had reached the lateness of night and were off again to the Bangkok streets. This time we walked alone on the streets which made us feel adventurous and a little just a little nervous, but we made it back safely. We are all blessed to be here and can't wait for what opportunities God has in store for us next.

Jess