July 5th, 2003 DAY ONE

July 5th, 2003 DAY ONE

The first leg of our flight was from BWI to Denver. It was almost 4 hours long, but uneventful. We had a two hour layover at Denver, then flew to Las Vegas.

When we arrived at Las Vegas, we were somewhat taken aback. As we stepped out of the plane and walked down the arrival ramp, we were greeted by a wall of slot machines, most of them being used by sad looking people. Gathering our luggage and making the trip to pick up our vans, we found the outside air temperature was 112 degrees Fahrenheit! Looking around the landscape, we saw that most of the real estate belonged to Satan. There were pictures of partial nudity on most billboards, with the other billboards delivering promises of instant riches with the very next turn at your favorite game. The oppressive heat and the equally oppressive spiritual environment left some of us wondering how we were going to win back any of the souls we meet here to Jesus.

Here are some grim statisitcs that Demetrie, one of the workers at Las Vegas YWAM Center, shared with us tonight.

LAS VEGAS IS:

Where 75% of the population of the entire state of Nevada lives

FIRST in the nation for:
suicides,
divorce,
highshcool dropouts,
homicide against women,
gambling addictions (1 in 5 residents)

THIRD in the nation for:
bankruptcies,
abortions

FOURTH in the naton for:
rape,
out of wedlock births,
alcohol related deaths,
all around crime

SIXTH in the nation for:
# of prisoner per capita locked up

IN THE TOP 1/3RD of the nation for child abuse,

DEAD LAST in the nation for voter participation,

10% of Las Vegas residents are alcoholics

OVER 100 PAGES of the Las Vegas Yellow Pages advertize prostitutes

1 OUT OF EVERY 25 visitor deaths is by their own hand.

Grim stats? You bet! They are grim, but not hopeless.

I shared the email that Jason Malnar had sent us the previous evening before our departure with some of the mission trip participants. In it I believe he speaks to every one of us out here in Las Vegas:

"You all are blessed for what you do. And for everyone else, I just went through basic training, and the number one thing I learned and got from it was...if you rely and lean on God, he will for sure help you. If you call he answers. I had to put so much on God to get through that, and he always responded to my prayers, long term and on the spot "PLEASE!" prayers. Whatever you run into while doing God's work, he's not gonna let you falter if you are following him. If you need strength, physically, emotionally, how-ever, if you ask, he will respond and give you what you need to do his work...
1 Timothy 1:12
" How thankful I am Christ Jesus, our Lord, for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him"
That's the attitude you gotta have, God chose you for this trip for a reason, and whatever he wants done, he gonna do through you, and if you need extra strength for that, he will no doubt give it to ya."

Thanks, Jason, we needed that reminder of the source of our strengths and abilities. And thanks to all of those who spent this morning in prayer for the sake of what we are to do here in "Sin City" for Him.

I am not exaggerating when I say that, for myself, it feels that we have literally descended into Hell on Earth. I can acutely sense the presence of Satan and his minions near us. I can also sense the strength of the Lord in us and around us.

I feel it safe to say that we are in for the some of the greatest spiritual battles that most of us have yet to experience.

Please pray for us, right now, and then as often as you possibly can.

Bruce M

Notes:

We are three hours behind Eastern time. When it is 9:00 PM in DC, it is 6PM here in Las Vegas.
I will get the pictures up ASAP, but since our only Internet conection is at the YWAM center, it is most that a day's photos will be available the next morning.

We also have 2 (possibly 3) digital cameras on the trip this year! This will be great as later in the week we will be splitting up into teams. We will call them Cam A and Cam B

CAM A
(clck)
CAM B
(clck)

Thanks for visiting and God Bless. Don't forget to email us!


July 5th, 2003 DAY ONE The first leg of our flight was from BWI to Denver. It was almost 4 hours long, but uneventful. We had a two hour layover at Denver, then flew to Las Vegas. When we arrived at Las Vegas, we were somewhat taken aback. As we stepped out of the plane and walked down the arrival ramp, we were greeted by a wall of slot machines, most of them being used by sad looking people. Gathering our luggage and making the trip to pick up our vans, we found the outside air temperature was 112 degrees Fahrenheit! Looking around the landscape, we saw that most of the real estate belonged to Satan. There were pictures of partial nudity on most billboards, with the other billboards delivering promises of instant riches with the very next turn at your favorite game. The oppressive heat and the equally oppressive spiritual environment left some of us wondering how we were going to win back any of the souls we meet here to Jesus. Here are some grim statisitcs that Demetrie, one of the workers at Las Vegas YWAM Center, shared with us tonight. LAS VEGAS IS: Where 75% of the population of the entire state of Nevada lives FIRST in the nation for: suicides, divorce, highshcool dropouts, homicide against women, gambling addictions (1 in 5 residents) THIRD in the nation for: bankruptcies, abortions FOURTH in the naton for: rape, out of wedlock births, alcohol related deaths, all around crime SIXTH in the nation for: # of prisoner per capita locked up IN THE TOP 1/3RD of the nation for child abuse, DEAD LAST in the nation for voter participation, 10% of Las Vegas residents are alcoholics OVER 100 PAGES of the Las Vegas Yellow Pages advertize prostitutes 1 OUT OF EVERY 25 visitor deaths is by their own hand. Grim stats? You bet! They are grim, but not hopeless. I shared the email that Jason Malnar had sent us the previous evening before our departure with some of the mission trip participants. In it I believe he speaks to every one of us out here in Las Vegas: "You all are blessed for what you do. And for everyone else, I just went through basic training, and the number one thing I learned and got from it was...if you rely and lean on God, he will for sure help you. If you call he answers. I had to put so much on God to get through that, and he always responded to my prayers, long term and on the spot "PLEASE!" prayers. Whatever you run into while doing God's work, he's not gonna let you falter if you are following him. If you need strength, physically, emotionally, how-ever, if you ask, he will respond and give you what you need to do his work... 1 Timothy 1:12 " How thankful I am Christ Jesus, our Lord, for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him" That's the attitude you gotta have, God chose you for this trip for a reason, and whatever he wants done, he gonna do through you, and if you need extra strength for that, he will no doubt give it to ya." Thanks, Jason, we needed that reminder of the source of our strengths and abilities. And thanks to all of those who spent this morning in prayer for the sake of what we are to do here in "Sin City" for Him. I am not exaggerating when I say that, for myself, it feels that we have literally descended into Hell on Earth. I can acutely sense the presence of Satan and his minions near us. I can also sense the strength of the Lord in us and around us. I feel it safe to say that we are in for the some of the greatest spiritual battles that most of us have yet to experience. Please pray for us, right now, and then as often as you possibly can. Bruce M Notes: We are three hours behind Eastern time. When it is 9:00 PM in DC, it is 6PM here in Las Vegas. I will get the pictures up ASAP, but since our only Internet conection is at the YWAM center, it is most that a day's photos will be available the next morning. We also have 2 (possibly 3) digital cameras on the trip this year! This will be great as later in the week we will be splitting up into teams. We will call them Cam A and Cam B CAM A (clck) CAM B (clck) Thanks for visiting and God Bless. Don't forget to email us!