Free Prayer

Monday afternoon we went to the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) location about 15 minutes from the strip. My cousin Tricia (cute brunette right above me in the picture) is on staff there for the summer. Youth groups come during the summer for a week at a time and spend the days and evenings doing outreach ministries in Vegas. We spent a couple of hours with Tricia and the group and had the opportunity to participate in the Free Prayer outreach that they were doing that afternoon. We went to Freemont, the older Vegas strip, and split up in pairs around the area. We approached people and asked them if there was anything that we could pray about for them. Most people were really receptive and welcomed the chance to talk to us. There were quite a few people who saw the sign and even approached us to ask for prayer or to talk. Steven and I spoke with two homeless guys for awhile who knew a lot about the Bible. As I was speaking with the man, I noticed one of the young YWAM staff next to us surrounded by two bicycle police officers. They had his hands behind him, were checking his pockets and patting him down! They had seen him place his hands on a guy to pray with him and thought it was a drug exchange. When they checked him out and didn't find anything, he explained to them what was happening and they let him go. They said there were several drug dealers in the area and wanted to make sure we were careful. After talking to the police officers, it turned out that they were both Christians and were happy to hear what we were doing. Once we returned to the base, we could only stay a little bit and then had to head out. That evening we ran into the group again in front of the Bellagio and in the Miracle Mile Shops as they were doing their survey method outreach. I'm so proud of Tricia and the ministry that she is doing there. She is very passionate about it and the kids that are getting to participate.