Laurie Ishii and Daryl Bargy

What a blessing last night’s outreach was. I pretty much expected it to be, considering what an annoying day I was having lol. I met with a young lady earlier in the day and while we were finishing up – I started getting another horrible migraine!!! I didn’t think I’d be able to make it on outreach at all. But praise God, I had one last Imitrex left…

So, our friends Richard and Elaine were coming up from San Diego to go out with us at midnight. Johnny and Lindsay made it to Hollywood at 11:30ish. Richard and Elaine made it in awesome time and we set out – 7-Eleven and Food-4-Less where we prayed.

I texted one of the young ladies we have developed a relationship with to see if she’d be out, and she texted me back that she was staying in because there was a lot of vice out lately. (Vice deal specifically with narcotics, prostitution, illegal gambling etc. not traffic tickets and such) So at first I was kinda not expecting many girls to be out since this young lady works pretty regularly and she knows what’s going on out on the track.

We drove for a while after getting off the freeway, and saw a girl in the parking lot of a gas station… she was with a guy (she said it was her birthday) – we briefly talked to her and gave her a gift bag, and after we got back in the car, we decided to strategize a bit before we ran into another girl. Because Elaine and Richard had specifically come up to come out and learn a bit more of ministering to the girls (Daryl and I had gone down to SD last summer and did a training and then took them out on a track down there) – we decided that I’d take them out and Johnny and Lindsay would stay in the car and pray.

It wasn’t long before we started noticing a girl here, a girl there. We spoke with and gave a gift bag to one girl named T*** and she’d seen us before… and then we noticed across the street, a whole group of girls and a back up of cars (what is called a “John jam”) waiting to get a girl. We walked over to where the girls were – these girls I hadn’t met before and they weren’t familiar with me either. I introduced myself and Elaine and Richard introduced themselves and we gave each girl a gift bag. A couple of pimps drove by – one wouldn’t take a pimp tract – the other stopped and waited till I walked over to his SUV and gave him one. He said his name was Pimp C.

By this time when we were walking back towards the car – there was a group of girls (5 to 6 girls) down the street by the car and Johnny and Lindsay were talking with them, giving them gift bags. It was pretty “busy” all at once (considering that I didn’t expect many girls to be out) and Elaine and Richard were trippin out on how much action there was on the street in the middle of the night. Elaine was so excited that she said they’d have to find a busy spot like the one we were at down in SD.

Side Note: Now – the fact that Elaine was all excited about what was going on said a lot. This is what I mean about there being a difference between people who are called to go out on this type of outreach – and people who may or may not necessarily be called to be out there. Not always, but many times, some people who have been out with us have become fearful, disturbed or broken (hopefully we’ll all be broken for these men and women but not to the point of being in tears while trying to interact with them) and some people, see multiple possibilities, are excited and pumped up. The ones who are excited and pumped up are usually the ones who last coming on outreach with us.

Seriously, after doing this for going on 6 years – I can tell you that it is almost a prerequisite that people who’ve been coming out with us at any time of length – will have crazy stuff happen (spiritual attack – everything from losing keys, getting a sick, almost getting into an accident, getting lost, arguing with someone etc.) will happen the day of outreach. If they are quick to give in to these types of occurrences on outreach day – they probably wont last very long. Most times (not all) if they’ll push through – they’ll be blessed to find out that they’re stronger than they thought they were – God strength is made perfect in our weakness. =)

I’m usually the opposite and push myself (still learning boundaries lol) when I need to learn how to rest because of all of my health issues and then I’ll end up flat on my back for days. I feel “guilty” (but Jesus is teaching me balance lol) if I am sick and have to stay in bed and as soon as I feel even the slightest bit better, I’m up and running around when I should probably be resting.

Back to outreach… anyway… we saw two girls and a hood-rat (one of the girls from the ghetto, usually dress kind of hoochie or ganster) and her boyfriend at the bus stop. One of the girls was really funny. She asked us if we were giving away condoms (no – we do not give away condoms and the reason for that is that we do not want to condone what they are doing) and if we’d give her a ride. Elaine’s car was packed and we couldn’t fit another body in it but she let us pray for her.

Anyway… although it was “busy” last night – it still isn’t anything compared to what we’ve seen out there before… years ago in Hollywood there were probably 3-4 times as many girls out on the track – and as many, if not more – pimps and runners. We’ve seen it a lot busier on that particular track as well.

After this (and we’d only been out there for almost an hour) we decided to head back toward Hollywood and stop by the “tranny track” where all the transsexual prostitutes work. There were quite a few out there, as usual… after that Elaine and Richard needed to head back – 2 hours back to SD. It was such a blessing to have Elaine and Richard out with us, and I pray that what they experienced last night will inspire and encourage them, that God would give them insight, dreams and vision as they start their own outreach to pimps and prostitutes on the track in San Diego…

Ok now the rest of this is more for me and for those who are interested in this type of ministry… Daryl and I were talking earlier about having a quarterly training for our leaders. For the last couple of years – things have been pretty “mellow” out on the track. We haven’t had any real confrontational incidents (well, a few of us have but not within the past year) and I have usually been there. I am SO GRATEFUL that we now have a small team of people who can go out without me (or Daryl) so I can take a break and the outreach wont have to be put on hold.

Also, because there have been more people who are interested in coming out on outreach with us, we feel that it’s important to periodically have a training for our leaders. This will include roll play in different scenarios – to have a plan – “just in case” certain situations occur.

Such as: (I don’t necessarily see this happening, but it definitely is a possibility) What if… let’s say that Johnny, Jen and Lindsay are out on the track. A pimp and a runner come up on them and use a taser on Johnny (electrocute) and they start grabbing Lindsay into their SUV. How should the situation be handled?

Another situation: What if a pimp starts spitting at Jen, speaking obscene – saying disgusting, left handed compliments and degrading things. Jen is obviously uncomfortable, and the pimp is getting louder and more obnoxious… how do the other people on the team diffuse the situation? (Similar things like this actually have happened, but not quite to this extreme).

Here’s another: A girl (prostitute) is now out of pocket – and her pimp comes over and starts to beat the crap out of her. We are a few feet away. (This HAS happened out there before) How should we handle the situation?

One more: A crackhead approaches – gacked out of his mind, paranoid and sprung. He is obviously unpredictable, unstable and he asks for money – he says to give it to him, or else he’s gonna take it. How do we handle it?

People don’t realize the dangers and possible scenarios out there. I realize that every situation is different and we can’t say that there is a certain way to handle each situation… this is why it is SO VITAL that we be sensitive to the Holy Spirit…

Last night I realized the importance of staying on top of things, being alert and not become comfortable to the point of becoming careless – when Elaine and Richard and I were talking to prostitutes and I tried calling Johnny a few times and was unable to get a hold of him. I have usually been pretty anal about each team always making sure to keep each other in eye shot – in communication with each other and not going ahead doing anything without letting the others know. I’ve noticed how easy it can be to become a bit too confident, or casual after doing this outreach for a number of years. It is so important for us to remain humble, totally reliant on Jesus, aware, alert…

Sorry this is so long. As I was writing, I began thinking of more and more situations and began reflecting on some of the things I have already seen and encountered, and needed to get them down while it was “flowing” lol.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. =)