A lot has happened since we arrived in Pattaya. On Monday morning we went to the Tamar Center where Katherine, one of the Tamar staff members, gave us a bit of an orientation and showed us around the center.

The Tamar Center has a cafe/bakery and hair salon where some of the girls who have left the bars, work. We also met some of the women who make the cards and the jewelry that the Tamar Center sells. These women, who once worked in the environment described by Sammi in “Night Life of Pattaya”, were so full of life and joy. It was such an encouragement being there and witnessing the wonderful things that are taking place at the Tamar Center.

During the afternoon some of the team helped with the English class that the Tamar Center has for the women that they meet in the bars (unfortunately no one showed up that afternoon, but they had a good time of prayer for the girls) and the rest of us worked on preparing for some of the things we will be doing later on this week.

As Sammi discussed in her post, that evening we went to the bars and talked with the women there. We all had different experiences and emotions during our evening, however, I think I can speak for the team when I say that we all experienced in a way God’s heart for these women in the bars (and the men that go there).

After supper the rest of the evening was spent getting some rest and processing our time at the bars as well as preparing for the rest of the week.

On Tuesday we saw a few different aspects of Pattaya. In the morning we worked with the Mercy Center and their prison ministry. After making pbj sandwiches we went with one of the Mercy Center staff members, Tip, to two of Pattaya’s prison holding cells. The first place had four holding cells and we handed out the sandwiches, water and some vitamins. Most of the people in the cells were arrested because of illegal immigration, drugs or theft. In one of the 10 by 10 cells there were fourteen women and children (yes, young children!), who had illegally come over to work from Cambodia.

The prisoners receive one cup of rice a day and no water-and they may be held in these cells up to a week before they are moved to Bangkok where they will go on trial.

Once again, I found myself holding back tears as we left, the image of these small children behind bars still in my mind. At the second prison it was a little cleaner and they seemed to have a better facility. Again, it was a mixture of old and young, men, women and children.

After that we had lunch and some down time in city, mostly spent in the air conditioned mall.

Late afternoon we headed to the Pattaya Slum Ministry Center, where one of the staff members, Angela, took us to a local slum to help with one of the Kids Clubs that they do there. The people in slums collect garbage to sell to recycling companies and will even pull their children out of school in fifth grade so that they can help collect garbage. A lot of the children are sponsored by World Vision and Compassion.

We helped trim and clean the children’s finger nails and made balloon animals before doing a Bible story, songs and a craft (Mothers Day is today, so they made mothers day cards). Following that we handed out suppers for each child.

The rest of the night we had off and most of us crashed around nine getting a long well-needed, nights sleep.

This morning we went to the Mercy Center and played with the children at the orphanage there, which Tina shared in her post “Hello, Everyone..”

This evening we will be watching the Mothers Day parade in addition to do a prayer walk through parts of the city.

Everyone is holding up well, despite the extreme heat and intense experiences. Thank you for your prayers! Pictures to come….

Signing out for today,

Marisa