40 Days for Life - Day 15 Update

Wow!  God is continuing to do amazing things, and is answering our prayers!  He is faithful!

To start off here's an update from the 40 Days for Life HQ - since 3/1/17 they have had 98 reports of women making last-minute decisions to save their babies before their scheduled abortions!  98 precious babies will be born!   And 98 women have been spared from abortion! Praise God!

Monday 3/13
Updates from Ann and Cassie; our Monday prayer volunteer leaders!
Ann- "On Monday, it seems all went well! More pro-life people are having the courage to step out and pray outside Planned Parenthood. We had 2 pro-choice ladies join us after 2PM - 4PM. We did not communicate with them, but prayed for them. Our 4PM group had an older gentleman come and talk with them.  I'm unsure what was spoken, but will try to find out."
Cassie - "I was there only at noon to 1:00. We had about 3-4 people praying per hour. Everyone with cheerful hearts! I can tell you that a gal from the Church on Sandra Ave walked by and said her entire church is praying for us. I simply thanked her. But maybe I'l give them a call and see if they can help us fill Thursdays.
Also, my friend had a long conversation with a young man and girlfriend. He was not hostile at all but needed more info on abortifacients  We were glad that God brought Him there!"

Thank you SO much Ann, Cassie and all of your wonderful St. Mary's and St. Joseph's prayer warriors!  You all are amazing!

Tuesday 3/14 
Tues morning started out with Pastor Bill and four of his faithful Jackson Prairie AG prayer warriors from 9AM-1PM. I can't tell you how blessed and grateful I am to Pastor Bill for taking so much time out of his incredibly busy schedule to come and pray for so long.  And you know what?  Carl, one of the gentlemen, just had 5 hours of Kidney Dialysis that morning but still wanted to come!  He stood, talked and prayed with us for about 45 minutes!  I was AMAZED and blown away by these four gentlemen who stayed for such a long time! Also a sweet older lady bought us some coffee, and said she is praying for us at home, but because of her Chemo treatments she couldn't join us outside. Pastor Bill prayed for her; and I'm asking you all to keep her in your prayers too!  Thank you Pastor Bill, John, Richard, and Carl; you all are very inspiring to the body of Christ.

John, Richard and Pastor Bill. I forgot to get Carl in a photo since he came a little later. :-( 

At about 1:30 the gentlemen left and sweet Mrs. Kast showed up soon thereafter- broken toe and all!! We prayed for a while together, and then at about 2:30 the first pro-choice lady showed up. :-) (She was the first lady that came on Frid. with the sign "Pray to End Judgement") Mrs. Kast went over to talk with her for a while and the lady was more open with her then she had been with anyone else Mrs. Kast listened to her personal story and her opinions on abortion.  Mrs. Kast also was able to share her story as well as brought up some good points. At one point the pro-choice lady said something to the effect of "God can forgive women who have aborted."  Mrs. Kast responded, "Absolutely! God loves to forgive, heal and restore broken people ... and  He loves you and desires to have a close relationship with you."  (I'm not quoting verbadum...but that's a brief summary.) :-)  This seemed to surprise the lady as if it wasn't the answer she was expecting. The conversation ended well, and Mrs. Kast joined me again and we continued to pray for her!  Praise God!

Dawn and Mrs. Kast :-) 

My dad and brothers showed up at 3:00! At that point another pro-choice lady showed up with her rainbow colored umbrella and the signs "Free will" and "Look in the Mirror" (??  I wish I had asked her the meaning of the mirror sign!)
After her, another young smiley lady showed up with the sign "More Birth Control = Less Abortions"   My dad graciously, respectfully, and kindly engaged in conversation with all 3 of the ladies as much as they were willing. Surprisingly, the rainbow umbrella lady was the most willing to talk, and my dad said she was very open to hearing and discussing pro-life points. After about a 1/2 hour conversation, she stayed for a little while longer and then headed back to her car and drove off. Let's all keep her in our prayers, that God will open her eyes to the Truth and that she will come to know Him as her savior.  For privacy, I will not share her name.:-)

The rainbow and green/black umbrellas were those of our visitors. :-) 

My Dad then talked a little more with the "Pray to End Judgement" sign visitor. :-) She had written on the other side of her sign. "Jesus didn't shame women, so you shouldn't either"  My dad oppened with agreeing with her sign and then asked if she was familiar with the Bible story of the woman caught in adultery. She wasn't and seemed interested in hearing it.  Dad told the story as she listened...leading into saying that Jesus graciously forgave that woman, as He has forgiven all of us broken people, yet Jesus also told her to "go and sin no more." 
This lady in particular has been harder to speak with or get her to open up, but that's OK.  Other than hearing her side of the issue, my dad didn't engage much more with her. I noticed though, soon after they ended she flipped the sign back around. :-)  Let's pray that the kind and compassionate interactions my Dad and Mrs. Kast had with her will be the first step in reaching her for Christ. Pray that she will dwell on the truth spoken to her!

The smiley young lady with "More Birth Control = Less Abortions" was quite the hoot! :-)  She was so energetic; waving and smiling at everyone driving by. I got a kick out of her and we laughed a lot along with her! Later on, her and I were able to have a fun conversation about where we grew up, what we like to do, what we hope to do with our lives, Chinese food, telling jokes.. and whatever else that would come to mind!  She was easy to engage with, but was very pro-choice in her thinking.  My dad had a great conversation with her and brought up some good points to her.  She would turn towards the street and "smile and wave" whenever my dad made a good point that she couldn't answer. :-)  After some time of silence, she brought up that she was grateful we were "so chill"  for pro-life people as she had been spit on by pro-lifers at the march in Olympia.  I told her that while some people on both sides are dis-respectful the vast majority of pro-lifers are just like us.  It was interesting, we continued to get the usual 1 finger waves and shouted vulgarities even while the pro-choice ladies were there... and she seemed actually quite surprised to get that treatment from her own side. The people driving by didn't always realize that the 3 ladies in the middle weren't part of us. :-)

Let's keep praying for these women, that God will continue to work within them and open their eyes to the truth! What a wonderful opportunity this is to love them, get to know them, speak with them if possible and pray for them! God is answering our prayers!

Handsome Bro's!

That evening we had several more brothers and sisters join us on the sidewalk! As we all were beginning to pack-up, Mr. Taylor, myself and my brother Kyle had a divine appointment with a young teen-age couple. They were both very respectful and we were amazed at how they were so willing to listen, ask questions and talk.  Mr. Taylor did an EXCELLENT job presenting the truth of scripture and Jesus' love and redemption to them in a very gracious and loving way. Thank you Mr. Taylor! What a blessing it was to have you there with us just then, and I know God set-up that appt. in His timing and sovereignty! Pray for them that they will seek to learn more about Jesus, and make responsible and mature choices!

Wow, it's been so amazing watching God work in and through you all as He answers our prayers! To God be the glory, great things He has done! 

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins."
(Collossians 1:13-14) NASB