Sharing this account as an encouragement; also humbly asking for prayer for the Lord's continual blessing on my feeble efforts to make Him known to others.

(Fri. Mar.15th, 2013)
After work I headed out to downtown Long Beach, CA at the usual Friday night witnessing spot on 5th St and Long Beach Blvd. My friends Tony and Blanch met me there around 5pm. When I first got there I was by myself setting up a table with gospel tracts for people to grab as they walk by. In front of me was a man who in the past has shown much hostility toward the gospel message being preached. I was concerned and cautious because he had a serious, upset look on his face and he seemed to have some kind of metal weapon hanging from his shirt in a small bag, like a switchblade or something. So I prayed silently for protection from Satan and for the Lord to rebuke the devil in Jesus' name. After Tony and Blanch got there the man left shortly thereafter, for which I was very grateful.

We then started taking turns preaching the gospel with amplification. As one of us would open-air preach the others would hand out tracts and talk to people one to one. By God's grace we were able to preach for about three hours without any hindrance! Many police patrol cars simply passed by and looked at us and left. A few people stopped by to grab tracts from the table and listen to the preaching, as well as talking with us one to one and praying with us.

At one point a man and woman stopped to hear the gospel message for quite a while. They were both homeless. Toward the end of our time there I was able to engage them in conversation. The man appeared to be broken over his sins, admitting he had been doing things that were not pleasing to God, particularly smoking marijuana. He appeared to be under heavy conviction from the Holy Spirit, at some points having tears welling up as I shared Christ with him. The woman also appeared to be open to the gospel and humbled, though not as much under conviction as the man.

At one point the man reached into his pocket, showed me a small container of marijuana and a marijuana pipe, and then handed them to me, asking me to dispose of them. So I put them in my pocket, hoping and praying I would not be caught with them before disposing of them (As soon as I got home I disposed of them). At the end of our conversation I prayed for them and offered them a meal from McDonald's, which they gratefully accepted. It was a glorious day of proclaiming the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ! To Him be the glory for the great things He did!

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Oracio