Last Night's Outreach!

Coping and Pasting again. Hey... it's the thought that counts right? ;)

My turn to blog about the outreach again! Yay!

We wanted to make it an earlier night than usual so Jen, Johnny and I met up around Laurie's around 9. We had the weirdest experience driving out to the 7-11 as we had traffic literally stopped for ten minutes for... bicycles. A LOT of them. We approximated about 200. It was nuts! They just kept coming! I am kicking myself now for not grabbing my camera because it was quite a sight. My silly love for Pollyanna then had me quoting, "Two hundred bicycles! Four hundred Chinese lanterns!" ...it was funnier in my head. Oh well... ;)

We got to 7-11 and our doorman was back. I feel like I haven't seen him in a long time so it made me especially happy and encouraged to see him there. We got coffee and prayed for God to go before us tonight, for divine appointments, for Laurie, Daryl, and Julia who weren't with us, and of course, for the bicyclists to be safe.

At the track, things were very slow. We drove up and down the track three times and saw a total of four girls, and got to talk to two.

The first girl was I***** who looked like she might be pregnant, or it was just the dress. She said she has been out there for a year and before had herself on craiglist. She said she told herself she would only be out there for a year so this was her last night. She looked excited when she said it but we could tell she was scared and unsure even as she said it. A runner walked by to ask her if she was doing ok. I racked my brain for a few minutes trying to figure out where I had seen him before. It was M******* whom we had met almost two months ago, my first time out. Daryl was given a word of knowledge for him about going back to school to be an electrician. I***** had said she didn't work for a pimp but just had some guys who watched her, but once I figured out where I knew M******* from, I doubted it.

We saw another girl on a payphone and she didn't look too happy. We decided to walk up and hand her a bag, just in case she was just acting like she was on the phone. I had actually seen her before too my first night. I don't remember her name but she stuck out to me because of her glass eye. She took the bag and then as soon as she got off the phone, she took off down a side street.

At one point we parked and just started walking. There was a Spanish church having service on a corner and it sounded like so much fun! About a block down we saw a girl so we went to go talk to her. S*** said she had been out there a few years now. She was sweet and told us to be careful out there on the streets. When we asked if there was anything specific we could pray for, she said a change in her life.

Sometimes when we pray with girls, they are so distracted or scared or something, that they don't really seem to listen to anything we are praying. They are watching for johns or their pimp, or whoever. S***, on the other hand, was intently praying with us and said amen to agree with things being said as we prayed. Afterward she made some sort of comment about staying close to Jesus. It is humbling when you realize that we ourselves can know Jesus and have an intimate relationship with him, and yet we can all fall into sin so easily and so fast. We all need His grace.

The last girl we saw was walking super fast down the street. We pulled over to decide if we should try to turn around and race far ahead of the street from her so we could catch her. Right then she was stopped by a car. We got out and watched and prayed that she wouldn't get in. She did. I think that's the most heart breaking thing we can witness when we go out at night.

Whether it's 15 girls... or 4... it is still a fruitful night. God had us out at that time and place for a reason... for I***** and S*** if not for anyone else. Even if we only talked to one girl the whole night, it is still worth it.