So today was my first day with the Survivors Campus Life
Team doing activism. It was an awesome first day! The team arrived
a little before 9 a.m. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We were
told there might be rain, but fortunately the rain never came.
The team split up so we could cover more of the campus. Jayne and I went to work with Uncle Don (Don Blythe's) group Project Truth. Kristina, Mary Rose, Sarah, Brianna, Vincent, and Sarah D. went off to a populated sidewalk on campus. Jayne and I set to work handing out literature a little bit away from where Project Truth had up their signs. I was surprised at the amount I was able to pass out in the time, seemed like so many people were taking them.
Coming from a campus like Liberty University I can honestly say with all the stuff they pass out there it seems like I could barely ever get anyone to take anything. So I was very encouraged by the amount of both men and women taking the literature from us. Just about a hour and a half after I got started a older lady, perhaps a professor came up to me and told me she was from Lynchburg. I was so excited to meet a local all the way in Las Vegas! She then proceeded to tell me "Well I am fully supportive of a women's right to choose and I’m so sorry that you’re so narrow minded and uneducated”. I was so taken aback by this, but as she was walking away I called to her that I didn’t think I was at all and that if she’d like to talk I’d be there later if she’d like. So that was pretty discouraging, not going to lie, it’s never easy to be called ‘narrow minded’ or ‘uneducated’ especially when you’ve spent hours researching what you’re trying to witness to people about.
So I went back to handing out literature and was able to talk with some different students there. My Liberty University sweatshirt I was wearing actually seemed to attract some people who had visited the area. I talked to one young man, who seemed to be a social activist of sorts. So we got on the topics of politics and he mentioned he had a lot of stuff he was outraged about. I asked him if he was registered to vote and he said “No, I’m not, I just don’t see it happening cause I’m so fed up with political crap”. I told him that I knew it was hard to deal with all the back and forth and slandering of others and not knowing who to believe. But if we don’t value life at it’s beginning then doesn’t that throw every other thing out the door. We talked for a quite awhile and I found out he was president of a social justice group on campus. It overall was a really enlightening conversation, I always try to keep myself open to listening to others. It goes back to being taught that “people don’t care how much you know, til they know how much you care”. I hold onto that, I tried making some connection with the people walking towards me, whether that was talking about the weather or something else.
One of the best parts of the day was the fact that I got to hear Uncle Don talk, Kortney (Kortney Blythe Gordon who was killed back this fall in a car accident and was a pro-life hero and mentor of mine) had talked so much about her Uncle Don and all he has done in the pro-life movement. It was a bit emotional for me, because she was so much like him, you can see her smile when he smiles and hear her laugh in his laugh. But it was great to remember her and all that she had done to inspire so many of us.
So one of the encouraging conversations was with a young man named Josh, he came up to the signs, just looking at them stunned. He told us he grew up Catholic but never realized what abortion looked like and what it did to a human life. He told us his girlfriend was 9 weeks pregnant but she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep it. So I talked with him about the options they had, and told him the best thing he could do was bee supportive right now and help provide as I was sure his girlfriend Heather was probably really scared right now. We brought him over to talk to Diana (She and her husband, and their little girl) who is post-abortive and would be able to help give Josh some information and advice. He said he’s going to try to come back our second day with Heather on his lunch break so she could talk to us. I’m really praying they come back, I’d love to talk to her, while I’m not proud that I have a pregnancy scare in my past I really think it has helped me see that these women just need love and help, not condemnation.
We also were able to visit a local high school in Las Vegas and pass out some literature to some students. Their reactions to the posters showing an aborted baby were exactly what they should be. Some students said “There’s no way I’d ever do that”, others came up asking about the baby and commenting on what it looked like. I was really happy to get some literature in their hands and hope they read it and ask questions.
This was such a great day, and we’re so blessed with a great host home that’s a Godsend. I’m so excited to kick off this adventure of being a full-time Missionary for Life.
The team split up so we could cover more of the campus. Jayne and I went to work with Uncle Don (Don Blythe's) group Project Truth. Kristina, Mary Rose, Sarah, Brianna, Vincent, and Sarah D. went off to a populated sidewalk on campus. Jayne and I set to work handing out literature a little bit away from where Project Truth had up their signs. I was surprised at the amount I was able to pass out in the time, seemed like so many people were taking them.
Coming from a campus like Liberty University I can honestly say with all the stuff they pass out there it seems like I could barely ever get anyone to take anything. So I was very encouraged by the amount of both men and women taking the literature from us. Just about a hour and a half after I got started a older lady, perhaps a professor came up to me and told me she was from Lynchburg. I was so excited to meet a local all the way in Las Vegas! She then proceeded to tell me "Well I am fully supportive of a women's right to choose and I’m so sorry that you’re so narrow minded and uneducated”. I was so taken aback by this, but as she was walking away I called to her that I didn’t think I was at all and that if she’d like to talk I’d be there later if she’d like. So that was pretty discouraging, not going to lie, it’s never easy to be called ‘narrow minded’ or ‘uneducated’ especially when you’ve spent hours researching what you’re trying to witness to people about.
So I went back to handing out literature and was able to talk with some different students there. My Liberty University sweatshirt I was wearing actually seemed to attract some people who had visited the area. I talked to one young man, who seemed to be a social activist of sorts. So we got on the topics of politics and he mentioned he had a lot of stuff he was outraged about. I asked him if he was registered to vote and he said “No, I’m not, I just don’t see it happening cause I’m so fed up with political crap”. I told him that I knew it was hard to deal with all the back and forth and slandering of others and not knowing who to believe. But if we don’t value life at it’s beginning then doesn’t that throw every other thing out the door. We talked for a quite awhile and I found out he was president of a social justice group on campus. It overall was a really enlightening conversation, I always try to keep myself open to listening to others. It goes back to being taught that “people don’t care how much you know, til they know how much you care”. I hold onto that, I tried making some connection with the people walking towards me, whether that was talking about the weather or something else.
One of the best parts of the day was the fact that I got to hear Uncle Don talk, Kortney (Kortney Blythe Gordon who was killed back this fall in a car accident and was a pro-life hero and mentor of mine) had talked so much about her Uncle Don and all he has done in the pro-life movement. It was a bit emotional for me, because she was so much like him, you can see her smile when he smiles and hear her laugh in his laugh. But it was great to remember her and all that she had done to inspire so many of us.
So one of the encouraging conversations was with a young man named Josh, he came up to the signs, just looking at them stunned. He told us he grew up Catholic but never realized what abortion looked like and what it did to a human life. He told us his girlfriend was 9 weeks pregnant but she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep it. So I talked with him about the options they had, and told him the best thing he could do was bee supportive right now and help provide as I was sure his girlfriend Heather was probably really scared right now. We brought him over to talk to Diana (She and her husband, and their little girl) who is post-abortive and would be able to help give Josh some information and advice. He said he’s going to try to come back our second day with Heather on his lunch break so she could talk to us. I’m really praying they come back, I’d love to talk to her, while I’m not proud that I have a pregnancy scare in my past I really think it has helped me see that these women just need love and help, not condemnation.
We also were able to visit a local high school in Las Vegas and pass out some literature to some students. Their reactions to the posters showing an aborted baby were exactly what they should be. Some students said “There’s no way I’d ever do that”, others came up asking about the baby and commenting on what it looked like. I was really happy to get some literature in their hands and hope they read it and ask questions.
This was such a great day, and we’re so blessed with a great host home that’s a Godsend. I’m so excited to kick off this adventure of being a full-time Missionary for Life.
No comments:
Post a Comment