go missions las vegas 2008 (2)

on saturday we had some lessons that prepared us for talking to people about God, and what to say and how to say it. we also got to practice what to say with other people on our team. they also talked about the engle scale which is just the alphabet written out. a's are people that have never heard about God, and the gospel. and w x y 's are people who have heard about God, but havent given their lives up to God. and then z's were us; the Christians, the people living their lives for God. They told us that many people hear the gospel between 4-16 times (or some crazy number like that) before they become a Christian. so even if we didnt see results of people turning to God, our conversation might have helped push them a little bit further along the engle scale. they also reminded us that even though people might not want to pray with us, they might be reminded/encouraged to take the time to pray, and might have a connection. i thought that was really helpful, and a good reminder.




on saturday we also did casino intercession in our small groups that we were placed in (a group of about 6-7 people) and we were given a sheet and a certain casino to go in. on the sheet it was just a couple of things to do while we were in the casino, and to pray for certain people (workers, waiters, janitors etc.) but they wouldnt know that we were praying for them. we were also told to watch people while they were playing the slots, and see if they were laughing/smiling. this was interesting because it was fairly dificult to find anyone who looked like they were having a good time.

after supper we did surveys. we were given a clip board with paper that had a list of questions to ask people like 'do you believe in a god?' 'if you do, what do you think he/she looks like?' / 'if no, why do you not believe in a god?' and questions like that. surveys were a bit hard to do because most people were walking around, and people didnt want to do the surveys. i was with annie for this, and i think we were both fairly unmotivated after asking quite a few people. we did get to talk to some people, but we were still shy about going up to people and asking them if they wanted to do the survey.

on sunday we went to a church way out in lv, kinda near the mountains i think. it was the nicer part of vegas with a lot of desert, and no casinos (that i could see) which was really nice. the church that we went to was called 'destiny church' and theyve only been open for about 2 months. we made up about 1/2 the congregation. i really liked the church and the people there and the pastor are doing a lot for the church. it was nice to be there.

us outside the church, it was in a school gym

we all look really clean. i think for some people this was the only day they took showers. honestly. (me not being one of them)

after lunch we did ABC street intercession which was walking the streets by the new ywam base. its in the 'ghetto' (as sam, one of the ywam leaders called it) and the las vegas government or whatever you call it, is trying to shut down the only exit from the highway that gets to this area of the city. its fairly run down, but this area had SO many churches. we went around in our small groups, and when ever we felt the need to pray we would stop and pray for what God wanted us to. i liked doing this, and it really gave us the opportunity to see the side of vegas that many people dont talk about/know about.

that night we also did the 'cross walk'. we split up into 2 groups and walked back and forth on the strip, in opposite directions. 2 people at the front of group would be carrying the cross, and everyone else would be behind, about 10 feet. we'd stop people in our 2x2 partners (mine was annie) and ask them what they thought about the cross, and what it made them think about. me and annie, well maybe me more, got really into this, and always ended up having to run to catch up to the rest of the group. we had a couple of good conversations with people, and saw some peoples differing views on it. people couldnt stop commenting on the tiny wheel that was at the end of the cross, which was fairly annoying. haha.

(above)getting ready to walk the strip

(below)walking with the cross (i love ryans face in this one haha)

i liked the cross walk more than i liked the surveys. it only got better as the week went on. after every 'activity' we did, we would get together to discuss everything that went on, and what we thought about it. we also got to share with the rest of the group about the conversations that we had with people. some people had bad experiences with the cross walk, so we got to discuss those to, and try and forget all that bad experiences, and move on.