Tonight will NOT be just another night on the pole. Tonight they are guests of honor.

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city. We got just a small glimpse of that tonight at our first Christmas party for the girls. For those of you who don't know exactly what our mission is here let me share:). We are back in Bangkok this week to throw two Christmas parties for two of the red light districts here in Bangkok. To give these girls a night of dignity and honor. A night of freedom. A night to be little princesses and play games, receive presents, have the gospel shared with them, and to love on them and pamper them as much as possible. It's the least we can do for these precious girls. The past couple of days we have been doing bar outreach in the pool bars, beer bars, massage parlors, and then at night going into the gogo bars, which are in Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy (two areas of the red light district). The girls here at Beginnings have already been doing an amazing job promoting the parties because so many girls we came across in the bars already knew about it and you could tell by the smile on their faces they were excited to come!

I didn't really know how I would feel coming back after 5 months. I knew I was beyond excited, but to actually be immersed in everything here again was a bit overwhelming at first. A day hasn't gone by in the last 5 months that I haven't thought of these precious girls and the life they have to lead everyday. So going into the bars I was praying that God would take away my fear and my anxiousness. But then go figure, as soon as I walked into the bars and saw their smiling faces coming to greet me and hug me, all I felt was love for them. These girls who live with fear everyday, gave me immediate peace. They lightened my heart. I guess that was God's way of answering my prayer and also telling me I was being silly:). Funny how He puts us in our place sometimes. When I am weak, He is strong.

Soo, tonight was our first Christmas party! There were over 135 girls there! Praise the Lord! We spent most of the day decorating the banquet hall at the hotel and getting everything ready. Seeing the 12 members of our team work together and be so willing to do whatever was needed was amazing to be a part of. We then split up into groups and went to Soi Cowboy to gather up and pay for the girls who were coming to the party. At one point I was sitting outside at a bar waiting for my Thai interpreter, and I saw one of the other groups walking out of a bar...with more than 15 girls behind them! This was quite a sight to see. I had to try my hardest to "save face" as they call it. These beautiful, loved girls were free for a night, and hopefully a lifetime!! Free to be little girls and be filled with laughter, instead of having to worry about pinning a number to their shirt, or dance on the pole. Once everyone was at the hotel, we had games and crafts for the girls to do. Let's just saying playing limbo and musical chairs was quite entertaining:). We then sat down for dinner, which was a feast. An amazing speaker spoke and shared the gospel with the girls and we passed out gifts.

To look around and see all the tables filled with the smiling faces of these girls who were our guests of honor, but are considered nothing but an object in their society, was amazing and a huge answer to prayer.

"The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness, instead of mourning, and a garment of praise, instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." - Isaiah 61:1-4

Thank you to everyone back home for your prayers, your support, and your constant encouragement. Ya'll are just as much a part of everything that the Lord is doing here.

Please continue to pray. Pray for the party tomorrow night, pray for the girls who will be attending, pray that Christ's never failing love would shine through to them, pray for our team's strength, mentally and physically. And most of all pray that God does an amazing movement throughout this city, and this is only a small glimpse of what's to come! Love to you all, and I'll have more updates soon! Also, here's a video of one of the rounds of musical chairs:).