Ok, so
I've been living in Cali for almost 3 months now. I've been
a lot of places and definitely seen
a lot of "interesting" things. But i gotta admit, Venice Beach definitely takes the cake. From the minute we step on the walkway behind the beach, my girls Doreen &
Genger tell me that i may see some things that may be
surprising, so i should just brace myself. Even though they told me this, i realize now i
wasn't mentally prepared.
We were able to find some french speaking
people which was great
bc we there to preach primarily anyway. We'd asked this one
African woman if she spoke french and she said she
didn't but the store owners next to her did. And we thought, "SCORE!". So we head next door and just our luck
they're some beanie selling,
rastafari looking dudes and their shopped smelled of weed
and incense. I would have sworn they were
Jamaican instead. Regardless, since the woman said they spoke french, we figured we'd give it a go. So I say "
Bonjour" to one older guy and he responds in french n i was kinda shocked but kept talking and said in french, "we're Jehovah's Witnesses and we're sharing a Bible message with
people who speak french" n old dude is like "oh i know who u are, but no thanks". There was a younger guy with him who walks over n looks at the magazines we're holding and asks "r u selling those?" n we say "no, we just give them to
ppl who we know r going to read them" n he says "
I'll read them" n we give them to him and leave
bc i
don't think our lungs could hold anymore of what their air was giving.
So we keep on walking n a guy comes up to us, trying to get us to let him take our picture n he'll print them n put them in a frame for us for just $10. And we of course say no n try to keep it moving. But dude is RELENTLESS. "Oh come on girls,
your really pretty. U can put the dark skinned one (
Genger) in the middle to balance it out. It'll be real nice" And we say no again. Then
homie says "U guys r really well dressed to be out here. I know who u r. Gimme a second." And i say as a joke, "If u guess right
i'll give u a prize" And he says " oh,
i'll get THE prize?" n i say "no, A prize" (if u follow where he was trying to go) So he says "Yea i know, yo
u're Jehovah's Witnesses." So i say "
That's great. And for getting it right here's an Awake." And the guy just wont go away and keeps talking and talking about everything and nothing. Some of his
convo was quite
inappropriate and blush-inducing (Us having "thunder thighs" came up, much to my
embarrassment). And after talking to him about his quite confusing life for over an hour, we some how end up walking back to our car with him still talking to us and good
ol'
Genger carrying his table for him
bc his hands were full.
Sometimes i wonder how these things happen to me and my friends, but then i remember we're witness and prob tolerate
alot more nonsense than most just to get Jehovah's good news out there.
So today's lesson kids: U never know how someone will be affected by
your service so treat everyone like a potential sheep in Jehovah's flock.
Much love to all