Week 2

I apologize this post is so lengthy: I feel as though I need a table of contents. Read it in its entirety and perhaps you can vicariously come to Vegas with me, to both the classroom and the Strip.

Here's a picture of the entire student and staff body for the August 2011 Abolitionist DTS!

I haven't really provided much information or resources on human trafficking, so here is an informative and short video on the reality of using humans as commodities.

It's a 5 minute education. Click on it. Watch it.

Phil Gazley, our speaker last week, introduced us to oft-overlooked types of exploitation such as sub-contracting and refugee warehousing. At-risk and runaway kids are at a high risk of falling prey to exploitation from pimps/traffickers, but so are internally displaced persons (IDPs), immigrants, refugees and asylees: people groups that don't typically come to mind when we think of human trafficking. One common location for trafficking is at truck stops: the pimps bring their girls to the trucks at night to knock on the doors and offer their services. Our team may do an outreach one weekend to truck stops to make the truckers aware of Truckers Against Trafficking, an organization that brings awareness to the fact that these girls are being exploited.

 Hearing God's voice was the topic this week; a subject that many of us had to wrestle with because we all struggle with doubt. Of course, we want to hear from God, but it's so easy to become distracted or to not take the time to just be still and listen. Our speaker this week, Paul Childers, from the awesome ministry PhotoGenX, taught us about aligning our hearts with God's so that we can better hear from Him.  We also discussed the Sex and Money film project PhotoGenX recently completed on domestic sex trafficking. Check out the Sex and Money film trailer. Don't be content to be ignorant on this subject.

On a lighter note, we students have discovered a lovely artsy coffee shop that is our new hangout spot on the weekends and evenings. It's only a half-hour walk from our base and is a cozy place to read or get wifi.  Its atmosphere reminds me so much of Asheville.

Last night we went out on our first "outreach" to the Strip. I admit that I have a very negative connotation with the term "street evangelism" due to the many (poor) examples I have witnessed, so I was skeptical when I heard we were going to witness on the Strip. I was not about to stand on a street corner and yell to the passerbys that they are sinners going straight to hell and God hates their lifestyles. Ugh. Those methods are so repulsive. Our intention was to just talk to people, to demonstrate love, to be a listening ear to the lonely. After an hour of prayer, we were sent out two-by-two on the streets.  I wanted to see Las Vegas as God sees it. I didn't want to be distracted by the lights, the drinking, or fear. I saw how God is madly in love with each person in this city: the girl stumbling with her two-foot tall margarita glass, the man rapidly grabbing in desperation each porn advertisement on the street, and the prostitute waiting in the hotel.

I had been to the Strip only once before, and that was in the daylight. Let me tell you, the Strip evolves into an entirely different creature at nightfall. There were young children out, at 11:00, walking about with their families. I don't understand those parents that take their kids to Vegas. I would not want to have to explain to my child why a scantily-clad woman is dancing provocatively on a giant television screen in front of us, or why the street is littered with hundreds of cards of topless women. (On a side note, porn and sex trafficking are undeniably linked and so much more needs to be done to expose the connection between the two.)

We walked across the street from the fountains and paused to scan the crowds, praying for God to direct us to the right person to seek out and talk to. We were drawn to the men, and even women, handing out the porn cards on the street and desperately wanted to talk to them. Most of them were Hispanic and knew little English. (Never before have I wanted so strongly to be fluent in Spanish!) Ari and I stopped and prayed aloud for these individuals, who were doing this job because they need the money it provides. Even if we were able to talk to them, we'd soon be told to leave because we were interrupting them. Ari, my partner, felt God tell her to turn to her right and say hello to the person next to her. We then spent the next 40 minutes talking with a woman who shared with us much of her life story. She believed God had falsely answered her prayers, and because of the grudge she's holding against God and the abuse she's suffered, she's hurting. She originally agreed when we asked if we could pray with her, but near the end of the conversation when we again asked, she became very hesitant and changed her mind, telling us she believed praying was "BS."  Since she regularly comes to that area of the Strip, I hope that we get to talk with her again. Maybe, eventually, she will allow us to pray with her. Building relationships takes effort, and I can be patient. Even though we spent all our time talking with only one woman, while thousands more hurting individuals milled past us, I did not feel as though we wasted our time. The simple fact that we cared for her and talked with her brought her so much joy.

Jake, Arielle, and I last night on the Strip!