Pattaya Day 2- Lonnie's Lens

It's hard to believe the day has come already for our team members Chris, Sherry, Mark and Cheryl to participate in the Pattaya Praise Event. There first session to lead worship was at 6:30 pm our time, on Thursday evening the 15th, at the Bali Hai Pier. It's a very busy place with what seems like thousands of tourists being bused in to walk around and go out to the end of the pier. I was not actually out there to see what all the attractions are, i just know that there are bus after bus that come in to drop off people. The cool thing is that they all have to either walk right by the area where the worship team is playing or they can at least hear the music from pretty much anywhere on the pier. Most of them looking through the fence to find out what all those crazy people are doing inside there with that loud music. :) Our group had to overcome some minor obstacles before it was there time to play. One of which Cody and I helped out with by  taking a car taxi back to the hotel which took 20 minutes to get a piece of equipment that was needed and then taking a motorcycle taxi back to Bali Hai, which took 2 to 3 minutes. 

It was like being on Amazing Race. Anyhow, our team lead an awesome time of worship at Bali Hai and then we left there to go to Tamar Minsitries which sits in the middle of Soi (Street) 6, which is probably the most popular street in Pattaya for Prostitution. We all knew that it wasn"t going to be easy and that it was a very spiritually dark place, but it was the prayer cover that helped us get through it without any real issues at all. It's even hard to explain the sites, feelings and emotions as you walk down this street, but God had a purpose for us to be there and we were amazed at how he protected us as we set up right there on the street corner and worshipped our hearts out for 50 minutes. We started at 9:00 pm and finished up at about 9:45 or so. Everyone on the street had to pass by where we were and alot of the men that were there to pick up women would actually stop and listen as well for a few minutes. Some would even walk down the street and then come back. We literally had prostitutes within 10 yards of us, who just sat in their chairs or stood along the streets and watched. They had nothing else to do because they didn't have any business while our groups were there playing. When the light comes on, the darkness goes away. Some of them would even start dancing or clapping along with the music. I saw a couple groups of men go into the bars and as soon as they sat down, they literally got right back up again and walked out. The only explanation for that was that God was all over the place. The Prostitutes at some of the bars that we could see from where we were standing would actually run out in the street and grab guys to try to pull them into the bar and these guys would pull their arm away and keep walking. Praise God! There has been alot of prayer going into this event for months and months and God has shown us that he hears our prayers and he is making a difference in Thailand. Tomorrow night 3 more bands are going back to the same area and I'm praying that business is slow once again.:) This 4 day Praise and Worship event will have a positive impact on the city of Pattaya and it's awesome to see and be a part of what God is doing there. There are several other locations in the city where different bands are playing each afternoon and evening, so I hope we will be able to find out all the different experiences that each band had in the places they were playing at. Some of them were going to be in some pretty popular bars that had given permission for them to come and play. I don't think the owners knew what they were opening themselves up for. :) Thank you for your prayers. - Lonnie