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. =)

I sat down and wrote the following for those who are interested:

People who would like to be involved with After Hours (ministry to pimps and prostitutes) should be prepared to be asked a number of somewhat personal questions…

It is of the utmost importance that people who want to be a part of this type of ministry that you are actively involved and accountable to a home church and are WALKING IN SEXUAL PURITY. If you come out of a lifestyle of drugs, pornography, prostitution, or any other type of sexual immorality (that definitely includes sleeping with or even living with your “fiance” boyfriend/girlfriend – we do not want to have even the appearance of evil 1 Thessalonians 5:22) We require that you have been out of the lifestyle, are accountable to your church and have been consistently serving and walking with Jesus for AT LEAST 2 YEARS. We may ask for references from your Pastor/church leadership as well.

Anyone who would like to come out on outreach with us must attend a 2 hour training class as well as sign a waiver. Some of the places we go to our pretty ghetto and dangerous. We want you to count the cost, know where you are going and some of what to expect BEFORE going out with us. On average, we have about 20-30 people attend the class, and MAYBE one person (if even that) will actually end up coming on outreach with us. On average, 2 people out of about 100 who attend the training will still be interested in coming on outreach with us.

After attending the training, we do an informal interview. We want to get to know you a bit before going out on the “front lines” with us.

The reason we are so “strict” about who goes out with us is because we do not want to cause anyone to stumble. We let you know up front what they may experience out on the street – everything from half naked YOUNG girls to gang members to homeless drug addicts. We experience a lot of darkness on outreach and we realize that not everyone is called to this type of ministry.

The training is very informative and even if you don’t go on outreach with us you will walk away viewing both the pimps and prostitutes in a different way. We encourage everyone to take the training class and then pray! If you feel like the Lord is leading you to join us on the streets, please contact me laurieish@gmail.com and we can talk!

God bless you and we totally appreciate your prayers!!! Thank you!

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. (Saying things to them, not spitting saliva lol) 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 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 outa state).

It was 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 such a privilege it is to know Jesus.