The Team (minus a few very important members... someday we will get a picture of ALL of us! hehe):
Anyway, here is Laurie's note... enjoy!! You will be so blessed by it!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAST NIGHT'S AWESOME PROSTITUTE OUTREACH!!!
by Laurie Ishii
Wow. I'm still recovering from last night. Lol!!! Yesterday was a very long day/night. I went to lunch with a friend and she dropped me off at another friend's house we were proceeded to go all around town, last stop being Home Depot and then home right before everyone was coming over for pizza, gift bag's and prayer!
Our time of prayer was such a blessing (as well as the food and fellowship of course). This is my own personal belief but it's my heart to do more than just go out on outreach/ministry. I believe for us to be a tighter knit group, or "family" that it is important to have fellowship (and food of course lol) so that we can get to know each other outside of just doing ministry. Basically, we are putting our lives on the line every time we go out on the street in the middle of the night - it is important that we are in unity, even be willing to lay our lives down for one another out there.
There are a number of people that we meet and pray for as well as pray for each other - and we also do a lot of praying during the week, either together in person or on the phone. PRAYER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, THE "LAUNCHING PAD" OF EVERYTHING WE DO. :)
Last night after praying and making gift bags, we headed out.
We got on the track around 11pm. We didn't see girls right away, but it wasn't long before we noticed one here, another there, standing against a wall in the shadows or on a dim lit corner.
The first girls we approached were S*** and T****** walking an adorable stray doggie one of them had found. Ar first they looked at us very sceptically, S*** may have even appeared a bit scared. We introduced ourselves and when we asked them if we could pray for them, they both said YES! So we all held hands and prayed together. We gave them gift bags and they thanked us.
There were quite a few girls we saw after that while driving up and down the track but there were a few that really "stood out" - because either we got to connect with and/or pray with them.
There was Cr****, who said that she was 22 but did NOT look that old and who also looked about 4-5 months pregnant. I asked her if she had a pimp and she said he was her boyfriend, that she was "different from the other ho's because they don't get to keep their money. I get to keep my money. I just bought a house." Sad. She did say that eventually she wanted to stop turning tricks; she said something about hoping that having a house would change things... she let us pray for her before we parted ways.
As we walked down the street, we noticed a guy standing on the sidewalk (obviously a pimp by the way he was dressed and his "croc's" - shoes). There were girls across the street and a runner "spitting" at them. We approached this man, A****** and handed him a pimp track. We introduced ourselves (it was me, Everett and Lindsey) and I felt compelled to tell A****** that God didn't call him to be pimping, in the game... I can't remember exactly what I said but basically told him he was created for destiny, to be a leader, that he is leading people in the wrong direction and that he is to be a world changer and to lead people in a positive way. I asked him if he knew Jesus and he said he didn't - all three of us (Lindsey, Everett and I) went on to tell him how much Jesus loves him, he died for him, how God wants a personal relationship with him etc.
It was awesome!!! The Lord was totally ministering to A****** and we must have talked to him for at least 20 minutes or more. He shared with us that he wanted to be a professional comedian one day - he was always funny growing up but that his dad beat him whenever he cracked a joke and it kind of quenched his dream... he said that it seems like every time he starts to get somewhere or move forward something happens to mess it up... he said that he was supposed to go to Hollywood but instead he ended up on the track... I said "That's because God wanted us to talk to you!!!!"
We were able to pray with A****** and we could tell that he was very touched. The crazy thing about the whole thing is that there were girls all around us - I mean, for this guy to let us talk to him, to let us PRAY FOR HIM IN FRONT OF THE PROSTITUTES... that is humbling! Everett even overheard a girl say something about us talking to A****** about Jesus!!!
What an awesome, DIVINE appointment!!! A****** knows a lot of the same guys (pimps) I still talk to on the phone every now and then - they older "mack" pimps. We exchanged numbers and he even said he might check out church when he's in town again. (He's from outta state).
It is also awesome to know that Jen and Johnny are in the car interceding for us while we are talking to people.
The next ladies we saw were across the street from A******, two were standing by the bus stop, another sitting on the bus bench. We asked them if we could bless them with a gift bag, and one of the ladies standing said, "No, we don't want nothing from you guys, what are you doing out here anyway, you need to go away etc." She was pretty angry. :(
The lady sitting on the bench said, "You don't have to be mean to them, they're being nice - I'll take one" and stuck her hand out. The angry lady said, "Oh, you're out here to bless the ho's." She looked at us with disdain and I looked at her in the eye and said, "I WAS A HO. I love you and we want you ladies to know that Jesus loves you and you are special to Him. Please let us give you this small gift and bless you" handing her a gift bag. She kind of made a frown and said, "Well, I guess I can take one for my kid." :) (Yay! Praise God!)
After that we drove around a bit more and one of the girls we call "America's Next Top Model" (because she's so strikingly beautiful) had been texting me off and on through the night and we wanted to see her but she wasn't going to be out until 2am. Then a friend of mine who I am praying so hard for to come to know Jesus - he text me and man, he needs a lot of prayer, the enemy is really trying to keep him from coming to Jesus, beating him up with guilt, shame and condemnation. Anyway we saw another girl and this time Jen C, Lindsey and Everett went to talk to her while Johnny and I stayed in the car and I texted back and forth between two people at the same time. (Multi-tasking lol) Jen didn't turn the car or the lights off and after about 15-20 minutes a police car shined a spotlight on us! Lol.
I got out of the car and they asked what we were doing, I told them that we were just waiting for our friends who were talking with a girl about Jesus on the corner. The cop in the passenger seat said, "Well you guys are gonna get run up by some gang bangers if you don't turn your car off." I was so into what I was doing texting that i didn't even realize the car was still running!
It was great though, Jen, Lindsey and Everett were able to talk and pray with a woman, Sh**** who had just gotten out of prison and she was crying and they exchanged numbers.
By this time, my bladder was about to explode and we got back on the freeway and headed towards home. :) The whole night was amazing, the Lord is moving in such a powerful way and it is so encouraging to see people's lives touched!
The first time we saw the girl we call "America's Next Top Model" - she wouldn't even talk to us. She took a gift bag from us but didn't say a word - she almost looked like she'd start crying. The next time we saw her, she said that she'd read my story (tract) and was surprised that I used to be a prostitute. We exchanged numbers and now we text quite often - this morning we talked on the phone. We know that this young lady is going to come to Christ!
Serving Jesus is the most exciting, REWARDING life there is. Don't get me wrong, we may not see immediate rewards - but our treasures are stored in heaven. Just seeing something as small as a girl going from not talking to us to saying hi or taking a gift bag from us after weeks of having her not acknowledge us is a big thing!!! It may seem like a small thing to some but to us it is great progress! :)
What a privilege it is to know Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment