Picture 22: Outreach

Today’s picture was actually taken last night – but it was at about 11ish so I figured that I could smudge it over. It is not a very clear picture, but that is on purpose because it was taken out on the track.

Last night’s prostitute outreach was amazing. We were able to have so many great conversations with some of the women out on the track. One was a little...different.

We ran into (I will call her “sky” for this story). She was really really drunk. When we first approached her she had a hard time making sentences. She wasn’t quite sure that she even really wanted to talk to us. Once we figure out what her name (maybe) was we introduced ourselves and began to talk to her about why she was out on the street. She began telling us that she knew who God was and all about the Bible (I think she just assumed that we were going to try and evangelize her). I eventually asked her what the problem was. Because she clearly knew all about God but was still drunk off her ass and as she was talking to us had began to form tears in her eyes.

Once I asked her that question she immediately became angry. She felt that I was judging her and trying to tell her things that it was not my place to tell her. I’ll admit that most of what she was saying to me I did not really understand because she was so drunk she was slurring her words and did not do a great job of completing her sentences. At one point when I was trying to apologize for whatever I had said that offended her so deeply she said “don’t you judge me JUDAS!” Judas? Um….my name is Julia. I am not sure how she confused those two. But she was definitely taking out her aggression about the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ on me.  We tried to wrap up the conversation pretty quickly after that, but it was pretty interesting/entertaining.

The next woman we ran into (I will call her “sea” for the sake of this blog) was just a wreck. You could tell she was at the end of her rope. Two of our other team members were the ones that actually started the conversation with her that lead to her decided that she wanted to get out of the game. She asked us to call a rehabilitation center and see if they would take her in. This is one of the most thrilling things I have been apart of. She was broken. She was at the end of what she knew she could handle – and we had run into her at the right time.

We got a rehab center on the line and asked if they would be able to take her since she was eager to get help and get off the street. After talking to her for a while and doing a bit of an intake, they decided that they could take her.

But here is the deal. She couldn’t go right away. She had a daughter that was in prison and she had promised that she would visit her the next day. I can understand that conflict and the desire not to disappoint your child. So she asked if the facility that we had arranged for her would take her on Saturday. We agreed, the rehab center agreed, and we all made plans to talk again on Saturday at 4:00p once she was done with her visitation hours.

It is now 7:00p and I have been calling her every half hours since 4:00p. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. I am praying that I am able to get through to her soon. I am praying that she remembers the decision she made last night. And I am praying she has the strength and courage to get out of the game.

Pray with me.