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I arrived at PRESCOTT JR HIGH with thoughts of the years of harassment by an elderly man (admitted he was pro-abortion) who was the owner of the corner house where I usually stood. There was so much trouble the previous year by the vice principal of the school and an irate mother in addition to the elderly man and his wife that I decided to move up the street. I parked my car in a shopping center close by and stood in a shady spot (the weather was warm) waiting for the kids to come out. There seemed to be an unusually large number of students. I managed to reach just about all of them. One kid yelled: “I’M JEWISH!” (I knew he was joking) in response to the Christian material I was distributing. A girl with a smile on her face offered to distribute all of my literature for me for five dollars. “BUT I’M DOING THIS FOR NOTHING” I told her. One boy said to me: YOU WERE HERE LAST YEAR, WEREN’T YOU?” I could then overhear him telling a friend that his mother had confronted me last year. (I remember him as the boy who looked so embarrassed as he sat in the front seat of his mother’s car when she was yelling at me.) A woman (she had a name tag attached to her dress indicating she was from the school) approached me in a belligerent manner. “YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T BE DOING THIS!” she glared as she stood inches away from me as a means of intimidation. She was a large heavyset woman. “WHY DON’T YOU CALL THE POLICE,” I suggested. “THEY WILL TELL YOU WE HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO DO THIS.” “I KNOW YOU DO,” she answered. “BUT YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T BE DOING THIS.” There was intense anger in her voice. “WHY ARE YOU FOR ABORTION?” I asked her as she was walking away. “HOW CAN YOU KNOW THAT?” she responded not looking back. After the kids stopped coming out, I turned around on my way back to my car and picked up a few packets that had been thrown away. I then noticed a gathering of students at a food wagon parked in the parking lot and approached them. I immediately got into a discussion as I offered them the literature (just about all of them had received it) and I talked about the thousands of abortions being done everyday in this country. One boy responded by saying: “I KNOW ABORTION IS WRONG. DO YOU KNOW THAT IT IS ILLEGAL IN MEXICO?” A girl looked me in the eye and asked me why I had to stand here in this heat and do what I’m doing (an obvious veiled criticism). “I LOVE GOD – THAT’S WHY!” I answered. My response took the wind out of her sails. There was no sign of the elderly man that day. HE LOOKED LIKE A SATAN WORSHIPPER I was on my way to the COLLEGE OF THE PACIFIC in Stockton. I not only missed the turn to Highway 5 that day (took the alternate route – 99) but had inadvertently left a bag of literature behind me. Fortunately, I did have about 250 packets in my car. The only opposition that day was from an older male student. As he came toward me, I was immediately struck by his uncanny resemblance to Anton LaVey, Satan worshipper. His strong pro-abortion position was soon evident in the way he returned the literature to me after hearing me say it was “pro-life.” It was as though the material didn’t leave my hands. You could count to two and it was back in my hands. - 3 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-MAY-JULY 2005 AN INTERESTING DAY AT DAVIS HIGH I arrived a half hour early at DAVIS HIGH in Modesto in the beginning of April as I parked my car across the street from the school and began to leaflet the cars along the street. I kept my eye out for the busses that usually park along the street as I leafleted (one woman bus driver had been giving me a bad time in previous years and I wanted to avoid her.) The busses finally arrived and as I made my way toward them, I handed the packets to every student coming toward me. I then stood beside one of the busses (I had looked inside the bus as I passed by and from a distance the woman inside the bus looked like someone else). I then started distributing literature to the kids boarding the bus, suddenly realizing this was the same woman AGAIN!! She started taking the literature from the kids sitting in the bus telling them they didn’t have to take it. She finally came out with about ten packets in her hands and gave them to me. She stood there trying to stop the students from entering the bus with the literature. Of four kids boarding the bus, three of them said they wanted the literature. “YOU’RE EXCEEDING YOUR AUTHORITY, MA’AM,” I said – she gave me a questioning glare as she re-entered the bus. She then closed the bus door and moved the bus up the street several feet. I continued to distribute literature to the kids coming out of the school. One girl (her hair dyed with a purple streak) came up to me and started talking. She mentioned the colored nail polish she wore saying she didn’t realize the manufacturer of the nail polish had a bad reputation. “THAT DOESN’T CHANGE THE NAIL POLISH,” I said. (I think that encouraging comment opened the door to her next remark). She told me that her mother had died when she was eight years old – that she used to go to church and then everything changed. She told me that she thought a lot of churches were phony. “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE IF YOU GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY?” she asked. “CHURCHES MIGHT NOT BE PERFECT, BUT THEY DO GOOD,” I TOLD HER. “THEY GIVE YOU GUIDE LINES FOR LIVING YOUR LIVES” – I mentioned the Bible. Then she told me she was a virgin. I told her that was “great.” “STAY THAT WAY” I said. “YOU’LL BE GIVING YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND A WONDERFUL GIFT ON YOUR WEDDING DAY.” I then turned around to reach more kids walking by and she started walking away. “HAVE A GOOD LIFE!” she called out to me. All the while I was talking to the previous girl, another girl, a pretty brunette, was standing there listening. She had refused the literature. Apparently, she needed a ride home as she called out to the driver of a car she apparently knew who told her he couldn’t give her a ride. I then approached her saying, “DO YOU NEED A RIDE? I’LL TAKE YOU HOME,” I said. (A young man standing there said “GOD BLESS YOU” to me.) As we walked to my car, she told me she would never have an abortion. As we drove to her house, she told me about a report she had done on Jehovah’s Witnesses for school. The question was whether it was right for them to deny a blood transfusion for their children. While she sat in the car, she took a couple of packets out of my tote bag sitting on the floor of the car and put them in her purse. “I HAVE TO DO WHAT I’M DOING” It was an almost springlike day in late February. My goal that day was one of the main parking lots of MODESTO JR COLLEGE EAST across from a school entrance. Immediately I noticed a white truck driving back and forth. “IS THIS A SECURITY CAR?” I asked myself. I figured if it was, maybe he would leave for a while and give me a chance to leaflet this parking lot. After he had driven away and after I had reached close to 100 cars, there he was walking toward me with a little fire in his eye. A small - 4 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-MAY-JULY 2005 man (about 5’5” he made up for his size in arrogance – arrogance being true for most security people.) He immediately told me to stop what I was doing. He held a microphone in his hand talking to me and the school authorities? at the same time. “YOU’VE DONE THIS BEFORE!” he barked. “HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?” I asked him. “I REMEMBER YOUR STATIONWAGON,” he said. “I CAN MAKE YOU REMOVE ALL THIS MATERIAL FROM THE CARS, YOU KNOW,” he said. (“THAT I WOULDN’T BE DOING,” I said to myself). I then asked him if he was pro-abortion. “NO, I’M NOT,” he said “BUT THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. I’M HIRED BY THE SCHOOL AND I HAVE TO DO WHAT I’M DOING.” “I GUESS I COULD SAY THE SAME THING,” I answered. “I HAVE TO DO WHAT I’M DOING.” I told him it was my legal right to leaflet this parking lot but that I would do as he said and leave. He then said this was private property. “ISN’T THIS A STATE COLLEGE?” I asked. “WELL, WE GET SOME FUNDING FROM THE STATE BUT IT’S STILL PRIVATE PROPERTY.” The law is this: ANY PARKING LOT WITH ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC IS CONSIDERED A PUBLIC PARKING LOT AS FAR AS DISTRIBUTING LITERATURE IS CONCERNED. “SOMEBODY IS LYING HERE,” I SAID I parked my car a half block away from the front of BEYER HIGH SCHOOL and began leafleting the cars parked along the street. I kept at eye on my watch to make sure I would be standing at the right exit when the bell rang. This time I decided to offer the literature to parents who were waiting for their kids. About a dozen cars were parked there all occupied by parents. Since the weather was mild, most of them had their windows rolled down – two of them refused the literature. As I walked up to the spot where I usually stand, I could hear a male voice shouting at me: “ ABORTION IS RIGHT!!” (In obvious opposition to our leaflet, ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE GOD SAYS IT IS). One young couple accepted a packet and then returned tapping me on the arm saying they didn’t want it. A few minutes later they were back again. This time they wanted to engage me in conversation. The boy wanted to know why I wasn’t giving both sides to the issue. I told him that God made TEN COMMANDMENTS, not ten suggestions. “ONE OF THEM IS ‘THOU SHALT NOT KILL’” He Gave no answer. I talked about our sin problem – that was why Jesus Christ died on the cross, that a girl who has an abortion may think she has the right to do it, but that she will have to face God one day. We got on the subject of Jesus being God and the boy said He was only “the son of God.” “ARE YOU A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS?” I asked. “NO,” he answered. “WELL,” I told both of them: “I’VE EXPERIENCED JESUS CHRIST COMING INTO MY HEART AND I KNOW HE IS GOD!!” The young man mentioned telling the kids about the condom and birth control. I asked him why he would want to encourage them to do something wrong? “THAT’S CALLED ‘FORNICATION’ IN THE BIBLE,” I told them. He seemed to have some knowledge of the Bible as he nodded his head. The girl began to talk about receiving the literature last year and her mother becoming very angry about it when she brought it home. In fact, she had called the number on the literature. She then told me how “this woman” (that would be me) had been rude to her mother, telling her that all the kids at Beyer were having abortions and that she thought her daughter was “a slut.” “SOMEBODY IS LYING HERE,” I told the young girl. “WHY WOULD THIS WOMAN SAY SOMETHING RIDICULOUS AS THAT?” (Little did this girl realize that I was the woman her mother was referring to and that her mother had made up a crazy story in order to impress her daughter in some way.) As they began to leave, the girl finally said that she agreed with a about everything I was saying but that it was important for us to tell the kids not to have sex (she implied that she was a virgin.) I opened up one of the packets and showed her a new flyer I had added to the material: “THE BEST BIRTH CONTROL FOR TEENS (self-control otherwise known as ‘abstainance’). I asked her if she wanted one. “OH, NO, “ she quickly said, “MY MOTHER WOULD BE UPSET IF I BROUGHT THAT HOME.” As they walked away, I told them that I had enjoyed our conversation, and they both said they also had enjoyed talking with me. “NO ONE IS ‘FREAKED OUT’ BY OUR LITERATURE” Ripon, a very small city just five minutes north of Modesto, is an annual target for me. The past few years I have experienced little or no difficulty with school personnel, etc., but this particular Thursday afternoon would be different. I parked my car across the street from the school in street parking and proceeded to leaflet a small parking lot of students’ cars. When I was almost through, a large man, heavy and tall, approached me with a threatening air: “YOU’RE ON SCHOOL PROPERTY,” he barked. “WELL, I COULD ARGUE WITH YOU AND SAY THIS IS A PARKING LOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND THEREFORE WITHIN MY FREE SPEECH RIGHTS, BUT I WON’T,” I said as I immediately walked to the sidewalk area. He yelled at me once more as I started leafleting the cars parked along the street. (The school had blocked off a portion of the street and claimed it as school property.) I went back to my car and waited for dismissal time – 2:40. As I walked over to an exit where I usually stand, no one came out at 2:40. I asked a young man walking by why this was happening. “OH,” he said, “THEY’VE SET ALL THE SCHOOL CLOCKS FIVE MINUTES BACK SO THE KIDS WON’T BE LATE.” (I was really amused by that – first time I’ve heard that in all the years I’ve been distributing literature). Soon the students started coming out. There were several who said they agreed with the pro-life position. One girl said “GOD BLESS YOU!” as she accepted the literature. I noticed a girl, literature packet in hand, going back into the school. She had a slight smile on her face. “OH,” I said to myself, “SHE’S GOING BACK INTO THE SCHOOL TO TELL ON ME.” When I started back to my car, I was soon confronted by a policewoman about 30 years old as she pulled up beside me. “WE’RE GETTING COMPLAINTS ABOUT YOU,” she said “THAT YOU HAVE BEEN FORCING THE MATERIAL ON THE KIDS AND THAT THEY ARE ‘FREAKED OUT’ BY THE LITERATURE. “I’VE BEEN TO HUNDREDS OF SCHOOLS,” I said. “THIS WAS PROBABLY A CALL RECEIVED FROM SOMEONE WHO IS PRO-ABORTION. (I told her about the girl I saw going back into the school.) “WELL,” she said, “WE HAVE TO RESPOND TO EVERY CALL WE GET.” I told this policewoman we have a legal right to distribute literature on the public sidewalk.I showed her the California Attorney General’s statement about our legal right to distribute literature at the schools and asked her if she wanted to keep this copy. She refused it, but she seemed to then drop the idea of whether I had a legal right to be on the sidewalk distributing materials. She then asked me where I lived. I told her I didn’t think that was relevant to the situation. “I’M JUST MAKING CONVERSATION,” she replied. She asked me where I was headed for next. I evaded the question. She talked about following me when I left, and I told her I couldn’t see any reason for her doing that. This policewoman then started looking at the literature packet. She was surprised to read that the birth control pill can cause an early abortion. She started asking questions about “a person using the condom, etc.,” who is married. (I thought to myself: “SHE’S OBVIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT HERSELF”). I was glad she was being educated on the subject of birth control – what an unusual circumstance!! She made a comment about a woman having rights to her own body. I told her she had been bitten by the women’s lib bug. She smiled. I then told her there are two bodies. “THE BABY IS A PASSENGER IN THE WOMAN’S BODY.” “THAT’S RIGHT” she surprised me by saying. I told her abortion is against God’s law – THOU SHALT NOT KILL. “JUST AS WE DON’T HAVE A RIGHT TO ROB A BANK AND DISOBEY TRAFFIC LAWS, WE DON’T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO TAKE THE LIFE OF AN INNOCENT CHILD.” Just before our conversation ended, another policewoman showed up – she was about 45 years old. “THIS IS WHAT SHE’S PASSING OUT,” the first policewoman said to her. I told both of them that the reason why I distribute literature is that I love God. That was the last remark I made as I walked away. As I pulled away from the curb and turned my car around, I noticed the first policewoman was behind me for the first block and then she went on her way. I thought to myself: “IF SHE TOOK MY LICENSE NUMBER, SHE WILL HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION ABOUT ME THAT SHE WANTS.” “DOCTORS ARE NOT ALWAYS RIGHT” Summer school had started early at MODESTO JR COLLEGE EAST, so I decided to leaflet cars on a Tuesday morning in May. As I approached an attractive woman about 30 years old, she was sitting on a raised wall close to the school doors with a large binder on her lap. She immediately began talking about abortion as I handed her a packet. She told me it was up to a woman to choose if she had a hard circumstance. I told her that God does give us a free choice – to choose Heaven or Hell. “OH,” she commented, “I DON’T THINK GOD WOULD SEND YOU TO HELL OVER AN ABORTION!” “YES, HE WOULD IF THERE WERE NO REPENTANCE,” I said. Then she admitted that she had had an abortion 1 ½ years ago, and she went on to explain the details. She said they found out there was something wrong with the pregnancy after the abortion and that the doctor said if she hadn’t had the abortion, she would have probably died. “I GUESS GOD WANTED TO KEEP ME ALIVE,” she said. “YOU SEE I HAVE TWO WONDERFUL CHILDREN WHO NEED ME.” She glanced upward as though she were thanking God for her children. I told her that doctors are not always right. It is up to God whether we live or die and that she had to get back to the real issue: HER DECISION TO HAVE THE ABORTION. I told her that abortion is sinful and that she had to tell God she is sorry and promise never to do it again. “THE ABORTION IS GOING TO BOTHER YOU UNTIL YOU ADMIT WHAT YOU DID WAS WRONG AND ASK FOR GOD’S FORGIVENESS.” I told her that women have a lot of trouble dealing with abortion afterwards and cited the example of an 80-year-old woman still talking about an abortion she had when she was 20 wondering whether God had forgiven her. I told her that what I was saying to her was out of love. I had talked to many women who had had abortions, and, again, “YOU MUST ADMIT YOU’RE WRONG AND ASK FOR GOD’S FORGIVENESS.” I could see she was starting to get impatient with me as she kept glancing down at the binder in her lap, finally saying she had to get back to it. We were interrupted by three girls (she apparently knew them) and I walked away leafleting cars as I went. “SO WHY DID YOU THROW IT AWAY?” The weather was pleasantly warm as I parked my car a short distance away from one of the school exits at MODESTO HIGH and began leafleting cars. I approached three boys parking their car along the street. Two accepted the literature and one refused. After a half hour of walking, I circled back to the spot where the boys’ car was parked and as I approached it, one of the boys was standing there next to a packet which had been thrown in the gutter. “AH – AH – AH!” I said in jest. “I CAUGHT YOU! SO WHY DID YOU THROW IT AWAY?” Apparently, I got the right boy as he looked sheepishly at me and probably in order to save face, he started talking. “DO YOU REALLT THINK ABORTION IS WRONG?” he asked “EVEN IF IT’S JUST AT THE BEGINNING?” “WELL,” I answered, “IF THE BABY ISN’T ALIVE AT THAT STAGE, WHY ARE YOU KILLING IT? JUST WAIT NINE MONTHS AND SEE. GOD DOESN’T MAKE MISTAKES. ALL LIFE IS IMPORTANT,” I said. After a few more exchanges of words, I started to leave and handed him another packet. He looked at me and said with a sincere tone, “I’LL READ IT.” Soon I was at the school exit where the kids started coming out. A girl stood a few feet away from me and told me she was definitely against abortion. “HOW CAN A WOMAN HAVE AN ABORTION? I COULD NEVER DO IT!” “I AGREE,” I said to her. She was apparently waiting for a ride as she stood there quite a while as I distributed literature. After I had given the material to three boys, they stood near me. Then they began offering the literature—they had picked up a few discarded packets—to students passing by. They were smiling all the while, and I wondered whether they were playing a game or whether they were in earnest. I finally said to them: “ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP ME?” They said they were. I told them how important the literature is, mentioning that we have a hot line for pregnant women, and when they receive our literature and I call them back, at least 40% of the time they have changed their minds on the abortion. I told them that it is a wonderful feeling to be instrumental in bringing a new life into the world. - 7 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-MAY-JULY 2005` |
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“I WOULD BE AFRAID TO SAY WHAT YOU’RE SAYING” I stood on the corner crossing of DAVIS HIGH in Modesto and waited for the kids to come out. They gradually exited from the school. Just about everyone accepted the literature except for two boys who looked at each other and then both refused it. “TOUGH GUYS. HUH?” I joked as I walked away. I soon realized that several packets were being thrown on the sidewalk – some of them were torn up. I began to pick them up and was helped by two nice girls who handed them to me after they were through. That day I was distributing a new leaflet on moral purity: “THE BEST BIRTH CONTROL FOR TEENS – God is pro sex! He invented it! – To be enjoyed within the correct framework”. One girl seemed a little shocked as she opened up the material and stood in front of me. Laughingly she told me that this didn’t apply to her. “IT DOESN’T HURT TO BE REMINDED,” I told her. After I was about through for the day, I noticed a small gathering of students standing across the street near a bus stop. As I approached them (some were making graffiti on the fence they were standing next to) I could see that they were all black students . All of them – about six – accepted the material except for one girl who immediately said: “I DON’T WANT THAT! I WORSHIP SATAN!” At first I thought she was kidding and then saw by the expression in her eyes that she meant it!! “I WOULD BE AFRAID TO SAY WHAT YOU’RE SAYING,” I told her. “GOD CAN STOP YOU IN YOUR TRACKS!” After a few more sacrilegious remarks by her, I said: “GOD HAS THE POWER! NOT SATAN!” As I looked at the faces of the kids standing there, I realized that there was a definite respect for me – for what I was saying about God. They looked at me slightly in awe as I turned and walked away. “SOMEONE PUT YOUR MATERIAL ON MY DOORSTEP” It was a crisp fall day in October when I drove the two-mile stretch to MODESTO JUNIOR COLLEGE EAST. I parked my car on a side street instead of the college parking lot where I usually park my car because I saw a security truck driving in that area. Every once in a while I handed the material to a student walking on his way to classes. One young man as I approached said, “WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?” When I handed him the literature packet, his whole demeanor changed. “I’M PRO -CHOICE!!” he said as he refused it. “DO YOU MEAN PRO-DEATH?” I challenged him. “THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS PRO-CHOICE. THE BABY DOESN’T HAVE A CHOICE!!” He didn’t answer me as he continued to walk toward the classroom. One female student with an Irish? accent told me she was definitely pro-life! I could hear someone walking behind me as I leafleted the cars parked along the street. I turned to confront a young man who handed the literature packet back to me without a word. After leafleting close to 300 cars, I started going back to my car and noticed a vacant windshield wiper. As I approached the car, I could see it was occupied by a young couple. The girl sitting next to the driver had the literature packet in her hand. She smiled at me as she held it up. I wondered whether there was a possible pregnancy there. As I was about to give the material to a woman in her mid-fifties, she volunteered the information that she couldn’t have anymore children. I told her to save it for a pregnant girl. “IN MANY CASES IT SAVES THE BABY!” “THAT’S A GOOD IDEA!” she replied enthusiastically. “I’LL DO THAT!” I emptied out my tote bag at a business school parking lot where I just happened to park my car. It looked like they were registering students at the front entrance of the school. Since the parking lot was sparsely occupied, I planned to return. Two days later I received a phone call on our hot line. “IS THIS VOICE FOR THE UNBORN?” the female caller asked. “YES, IT IS.” “DO YOU DISTRIBUIE LITERATURE AT HOMES?” “NO, WE DON’T.” “WELL,” she said, “SOMEONE PUT YOUR MATERIAL ON MY DOORSTEP AND I’M VERY UPSET” she announced as she hung up. “THESE ARE THE TOUGH KIDS” I SAID TO MYSELF It was my second visit to BEYER HIGH in a week. This time I waited near the tennis courts as the students exited from an opening in a metal fence. Just about all of them accepted the literature. I noticed some of the kids reading it intently – particularly one girl apparently waiting for someone to meet her. As I turned around in the direction of the tennis courts, I began picking up some of the discarded packets. I was soon joined by a girl student who handed them to me afterwards. “THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THAT WAS NICE OF YOU!” I said to her. As I stood there, two teenage girls came walking into the school area. They had a double stroller with them. I asked one of them if the toddlers in the stroller were twins. Apparently, each girl was the mother of one of them. When I mentioned abortion, one of them told me in no uncertain terms that she was against it. The fact that they had their babies spoke eloquently for their pro-life stand. When the kids stopped coming out, I made my way to the city park adjacent to the tennis courts. From a distance I could see a gathering of students around a picnic table. “THESE ARE THE TOUGH KIDS,” I said to myself as I drew near. When I got there, I was immediately confronted by a boy who asked me what I thought of Seventh Day Adventists. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?” he asked. “YES,” I said. “THEY BELIEVE IN SATURDAY WORSHIP INSTEAD OF SUNDAY.” The boy then told me he was raised a Seventh Day Adventist but doesn’t practice his religion anymore. This exchange of words, which was listened to by about ten kids sitting around the table, opened the door to further conversation. A tall young man immediately began to say that there was nothing wrong with abortion because there were too many people in the world anyway. I told him he was wrong about that. “JUST LOOK ON THE INTERNET AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT THE WORLD’S POPULATION IS DOING DOWN. IF IT WEREN’T FOR IMMIGRATION HERE IN CALIFORNIA, THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF EMPTY HOUSES.” I said to another young man who stood there listening. “DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?” I asked the tall young man who had said there were too many people. “NO,” he said, a little hesitantly. “WELL,” I answered, “THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE GOING OFF THE DEEP END ON THIS SUBJECT. DO YOU REALIZE YOU ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOU ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD?” I asked. The look he gave me convinced me that I said something that impressed him – something he probably had never heard before. He then talked about Christians killing people if they didn’t practice Christianity. “THAT WOULD BE WRONG,” I said, ‘BUT JUST BECAUSE A PERSON CALLS HIMSELF A CHRISTIAN DOESN’T MAKE HIM ONE. THERE ARE MANY CHRISTIANS WHO GO TO CHURCH EVERY WEEK AND THEN DON’T PRACTICE THEIR CHRISTIANITY DURING THE WEEK.” I told him that abortion kills over 4,000 babies everyday in this country. I mentioned Congress outlawing partial birth abortion and President Bush signing it into law. “DO YOU KNOW THAT KERRY IS FOR THIS?” I said as I held up the pictures of the partial birth abortion in the literature I was handing out. “TELL YOUR PARENTS TO VOTE FOR BUSH!” One of the students asked me how many babies do you think you’ve saved. I told him I had been doing this for many years – “GOING ALL OVER THE PLACE TO CITIES LIKE SAN FRANCISCO AND SAN JOSE. I WOULD GUESS THOUSANDS,” I answered. We talked about the guilt that girls and boys too feel over abortion. I mentioned passing literature out to boys who refuse it and then have this guilty look which tells me they’ve been involved in an abortion. After talking for about ten minutes to these kids, I told them that I enjoyed talking with them. They all had friendly expressions on their faces. The tall young man who said he was an atheist extended his hand to me and warmly shook my hand. THE MONDAY BEFORE ELECTION DAY It was November 1st, the Monday before Election Day. At 8:00 AM I made my way along the outskirts of MODESTO JUNOR COLLEGE EAST, my tote bag full of literature. I decided to combine some politicking along with my pro-life literature distribution as I encountered several students parking their cars along the street and heading for their classes. A young male student said he didn’t agree with my abortion stance as we began a ten-minute conversation on the pros and cons. As we talked, he looked at his watch several times, apparently concerned about being late for class. “MY MOTHER COULD HAVE ABORTED ME,” he said, “AND IF SHE DID, WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT HAVE MADE TO ME? I WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN IT,” he said. “I’M SURE YOU’RE NOT SORRY YOU WERE BORN,” I answered immediately. “YOUR MOTHER SHOULD NEVER HAVE TOLD YOU THAT SHE WAS CONSIDERING ABORTING YOU,” I told him. I talked about my relationship with Jesus Christ – how it was the most important thing in my life. “IT BRINGS LOVE AND JOY INTO MY LIFE,” I said. “THAT’S WHERE IT’S AT! THE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST IS ALL IMPORTANT,” I let him know. “I’VE NEVER REALLY THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST,” he answered. After about ten minutes of discussion, a girl approached us, apparently one of this young man’s classmates. “LET’S WALK TOGETHER,” he told her. We were standing near the cross light as the girl made a comment about children being born into the world without love. I told her that Jesus Christ brings us LOVE – “A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM BRINGS YOU LOVE!” The signal changed and they walked off to class. As I handed literature packets to students who were coming to class, I said to all of them: “VOTE FOR BUSH!” The enthusiasm for Bush was overwhelming! Of the dozen or so students I made this comment to, they all said they were voting for Bush. One young man said: “YOU HARDLY EVER SEE A KERRY BUMPERSTICKER ON THIS CAMPUS.” After crossing the street, I approached a section of the campus with cars parked along a named street. I started leafleting and after a while a middle-aged woman approached me saying that distributing literature there wasn’t allowed by the school. “THE LITERATURE MESSES UP THE CAMPUS,” she announced. “WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT?” I challenged her, “A LITTLE MESS ON THE CAMPUS OR THE ABORTED BABIES THAT ARE BEING THROWN AWAY IN GARBAGE CANS?” She made no comment as she walked on. I was confronted by another woman who hailed me from a distance. We talked about the candidates. When I told her that Kerry was a below “C” student at Yale, she was shocked! “BESIDES THAT,” I said, “THAT WAS THE END OF HIS EDUCATION. HE DIDN’T GET ADMITTED TO HARVARD OR GRADUATE WITH AN MBA.” Then this obviously brainwashed woman started in on Bush’s so-called inability to speak. ”THAT’S JUST NOT TRUE!” I said to her. “I THINK I’LL VOTE LIBERTARIAN,” she finally said. “DON’T WASTE YOUR VOTE!” I said as I walked away. I approached the car of a man in his early fifties getting out and on his way to class. He immediately became angry as I tried to hand him a packet. “DON’T GET MAD AT ME” I said jokingly. “I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU TO VOTE FOR BUSH, BUT I CAN SEE IT WOULDN’T DO ME ANY GOOD,” I said. We started an intense argument in which he shouted at me as he locked his car. I shouted back telling him: “YOU’RE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! THAT MAKES ABORTION WRONG!” He yelled some further remarks as he was walking toward the college which were unintelligible. All in all, I was impressed by the students at MODESTO COLLEGE. There was a predominance of conservatives there! MY GIRLFRIEND IS PREGNANT It had rained earlier in the day but the rain finally stopped. The sky was blue and the air crisp on an early November day as I parked my car along the street and headed for a school exit with my tote bag chuckful of literature. I thought of a previous visit to MODESTO HIGH when I had been standing in the same spot where I now stood. I was under a barrage of harassment, but I stood my ground until the last piece of literature had been distributed. The students came out in droves. There were security people there, but no one bothered me this time. One boy read aloud the statement, ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE GOD SAYS IT IS, and began to argue about the poor girl in trouble. “YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN GOD?” I quickly asked him. “I BELIEVE IN GOD,” he answered me. “WELL, WHAT ABOUT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?” I asked. “THEY’RE TEN COMMANDMENTS, NOT TEN SUGGESTIONS – ‘THOU SHALT NOT KILL’ is one of them. He looked at me with a frustrated expression and stopped talking. There were so many kids exiting in that area that I completely ran out of literature. As I started walking back to my car, I had picked up a discarded packet and then handed it to one of four boys. They were crossing the street next to me. “SAVE IT FOR A PREGNANT GIRL,” I said to him. “WE DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO’S PREGNANT,” he answered. “MY GIRLFRIEND IS PREGNANT”, another boy said walking beside him. “SHOW THE LITERATURE TO HER,” I said as he took the literature packet. I encountered two more security people as I walked. One of them had a literature packet in his hand. He looked at me and said, “HELLO!” as I proceeded back to my car. Later on the LIFE LINE phone rang about a half hour after I returned home. I could tell immediately from the tone of voice that it was a complaining parent and not a pregnant woman looking for help. She launched into a tirade of complaints about someone shoving the literature into the hands of the students which included her son. “THEY’RE CHILDREN!”, she said. “THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE TO SEE THOSE PICTURES. IT’S UP TO ME TO DECIDE WHAT HE’S GIVEN TO SEE.” “YOU’VE GOT A RIGHT TO YOUR OPINION, MA’AM,” I said. “BUT DO YOU REALIZE THAT WHEN YOUR SON GOES TO PUBLIC SCHOOL, YOU LOSE CONTROL OVER HIM FOR THE WHOLE DAY? DO YOU TURN OFF THE TELEVISION SET AT HOME?” After some more exchanges of words she told me she was going to call the police to see whether she could stop what we’re doing. I thought to myself: “YOU’RE GOING TO FIND OUT THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE AT YOUR SCHOOL.” |
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“I REMEMBERED THE TWO PREVIOUS YEARS OF HARASSMENT” As I traveled to PRESCOTT JR. HIGH, a short distance from my Modesto home, I remembered the two previous years of harassment by an elderly man who lives in a corner house adjacent to the school. He stood there near the sidewalk after the kids had been handed the literature by me, encouraging them to toss it away in a nearby garbage can which he had provided for them. Just before I left for the last time, he admitted that he was pro-abortion. When I arrived at the school, I couldn’t park my car in my usual parking place (across the street from my harasser). There was a “no parking” sign there put up by the City of Modesto. The “no parking” hours coincided with the school dismissal time. (It looked ridiculous because there were never any cars parked on that street.) It was obvious to me that the City of Modesto had received encouragement from the elderly man. After I had parked my car around the corner, only a few minutes elapsed before the elderly man came out again. He started off by asking me whether he was going to have to pick up all this literature again. This time I asked him why he didn’t mind his own business. He replied: “THIS IS MY BUSINESS. THIS IS MY HOUSE YOU’RE STANDING NEXT TO.” A few minutes later the man’s wife? came out and she joined him in his harassment of me calling me a “bitch”, which remark I made no response to. They stood there about 30 feet away from me standing guard near the garbage can which they had put there while I distributed literature and began to encourage the kids to throw away the literature packets in the garbage can – only a few kids listened to them. After a while a woman pulled up with her son next to her complaining about the literature with an angry face. When I told her she was harassing me, she became belligerent and threatened to get out of her car and “SHOW ME WHAT HARASSMENT REALLY WAS!!” - 3 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-AUGUST-OCTOBER 2004 I had a conversation with a young girl after I handed her the packet of information. She stood there looking at the couple with the garbage can and seemed a little confused about what was happening. She mentioned being a Jehovah’s Witness. I told her that I knew Jehovah’s Witnesses were against abortion. Finally, when I said that ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE GOD SAYS IT IS, she gave me an understanding looked and walked on. As I stood there, I could hear a woman yelling at me saying that it wasn’t legal to give this information to minors. As I walked back to my car, I could see the woman who had harassed me from her car standing in conversation with the elderly couple. Apparently, one of them had called the police which I happened to overhear as I walked by. When I reached my car, I could see a woman walking toward me in my rear view mirror. Not wanting anymore confrontation, I started up the car and was about to take off when the woman who had harassed me from her car blocked my exit by parking directly in my path in the middle of the street!! The woman I saw in the rear view mirror came up to my car, asking me to roll the window down, which I did. “I’M THE VICE PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL” she disclosed. “I KNOW YOU BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU’RE DOING, BUT I’M ASKING YOU TO STOP DISTRIBUTING LITERATURE TO THESE KIDS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY.” “THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK ISN’T SCHOOL PROPERTY,” I told her. Then she said, “WHY DON’T YOU COME INTO MY OFFICE AND WE CAN DISCUSS THIS MATTER FURTHER.” “NO,” I answered. “THERE IS NOTHING TO DISCUSS. WHAT WE’RE DOING IS WITHIN THE LAW, AND WE HAVE BEEN DOING IT HERE IN MODESTO AND MANY OTHER PLACES FOR YEARS.” I told her I was about to leave (the woman blocking my path had driven off). She started walking away in the direction of the school. That night I received a phone call from an irate woman. She immediately complained about our materials being given to her 10-year-old daughter?? I told her that wasn’t the age we were distributing literature to – junior high students are 13 and 14 years old. “DOES YOUR DAUGHTER ATTEND PRESCOTT JUNIOR HIGH?” I asked her. She immediately became defensive saying that was “HER BUSINESS.” I asked her whether she knew that her daughter could get an abortion without her knowledge or consent. “THAT WOULD BE GREAT!!” she answered, “IF SHE NEEDED ONE!!” “OH, SO THAT’S WHY YOU CALLED” I said in disgust. “YOU’RE FOR ABORTION!” I said as I hung up. A SCHOOL MADE UP OF MINORITIES I arrived at FRANKLIN HIGH in Stockton a little earlier than planned. It was about twenty minutes to the hour and the kids would be coming out at 2:01. I parked my car a half block away from the front of the school and relaxed in my car. The houses around the school were all in bad shape. Weeds in front of the house where I sat were a foot tall. Discarded items were lying around. I noticed a broken window had been covered with plastic, indicating that there was little money available at this house. I wondered why the home owner (or renter) didn’t at least pick up the discarded items around the house. Then I noticed to my surprise four small puppies cavorting among the tall grasses playing with each other in apparent oblivion to the chaos around them. The mama dog then appeared on the scene. I thought to myself God has created new life – charming to behold – no matter what the background or circumstances. About five minutes before dismissal time, I armed myself with a tote bag of literature and walked to the front of the school waiting for the students to come out. (I passed two parked police cars on my way.) This is a school made up of minorities – Asian, Hispanic, a few black. Once in a while there was a white student now out of place in this setting. The students had a respectful air as I handed them the packets telling them to save it for a pregnant girl – “YOU MIGHT SAVE THE BABY!” They came out from several directions making it difficult for me to reach all of them. I noticed there were many students really studying the literature as they stood there – the ones probably waiting for a ride. I handed the packets to several couples and wondered as I handed it to them if I was saving a baby already conceived. - 4 - “WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD TURN INTO A FIASCO. . .” As I pulled up to the area behind DOWNEY HIGH SCHOOL in Modesto where a string of busses were parked in the past, I saw there were only four busses there and wondered what was about to happen. This behind-the-school area always has me a little nervous beforehand – the fear of the unknown. I knew I was going to have to take some stand on reaching the kids who come out past the sidewalk area – beyond my reach. I prayed and left it in the hands of the Lord Jesus. The students began to come out almost immediately, and I ventured onto the area beyond the sidewalk. I was immediately confronted by two security guards who were very familiar to me (one older man had been working there for several years and the other younger man I had had a semi-friendly conversation with in front of the school a few months earlier.) The older man, obviously the one in charge, told me in a polite way – even a smile – that I had to move to the sidewalk. I inched closer to the sidewalk as he left and was then confronted by the other man who wasn’t as nice telling me in no uncertain terms to move to the sidewalk area. “I THINK WE HAD A CONVERSATION A FEW MONTHS AGO, DIDN’T WE?” (hoping to get him on my side). “I DON’T KNOW,” he snarled. I then told him that I would move onto the sidewalk because I didn’t want to cause trouble but legally I had a right to even go on the campus. He then pointed to a police car parked a few yards away from us and rudely told me to tell it to the police. What I thought would turn into a fiasco that day had the opposite effect. (“GOD IS ON MY SIDE” I said to myself.) Several of the school busses were late that day, which meant they pulled up one by one, giving me the time and opportunity to approach all of the students boarding the busses on the sidewalk. It was interesting to watch these kids as they waited to get on the busses. They bunched up in front of the bus doors practically standing on top of each other. Soon the younger security man told them to line up, one behind the other. He spoke with authority in his voice and they listened to him. The students just about all had a good attitude. Very few refused the literature. One boy gave me an understanding look as he thanked me for the packet he said he had already received. Several of the kids who I had missed asked for the literature packet from the bus windows As I stood there waiting for the next bus to arrive, the security man asked me, in a friendly tone this time, if I had reached everyone. He was obviously feeling guilty over the bad time he had given me. For the rest of the time I was there, he stood just a few feet away from me. I asked him why so many of the busses were late, and he said some of the schools had had early dismissals and the busses went to these schools first. I noticed many of the kids were reading the material – obviously very interested in its contents. “YOU’RE GOING TO FIND OUT THAT JESUS IS GOD” I traveled to BEYER HIGH in Modesto in the middle of March, thinking it would be the last time this semester as I had already leafleted several exits in strategic places. This last time was directly in front of the main entrance to the school. There was a stop light in the area where I stood forcing the students to wait at the crossing, giving me an opportunity to reach more of them. Everything went as usual. A few of the kids refused the literature, some tossing it on the sidewalk. Then there was an outburst on the part of a tall, heavyset boy who was obviously guilty over an abortion. After he had gotten out of a car stopping in front of the school, he stopped to attack me verbally over my right to distribute literature at a school. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS IN FRONT OF A F------ING SCHOOL?” he demanded. “THIS ISN’T AN F----ING ABORTION CLINIC OR ANYTHING!” he said. Immediately a girl standing by, who apparently knew him, told him to shut up. “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO TELL HER TO STOP!” she said. “SHE HAS A RIGHT TO HER OPINION!” I told the young man that one of the reasons I was there was that many high school kids are getting abortions. The girl agreed with me. After a few more expressions of the F-word, the boy walked away toward the front of the school. I stood there for a few more minutes until the parade of kids coming toward me had died down. After picking up some of the packets of literature that had been torn up in pieces, I crossed the street and walked over to a gathering of students waiting for a city bus. I approached two black girls standing there and offered them literature. “WE’RE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES,” one of them said. “WE’RE AGAINST ABORTION AND WON’T BE NEEDING YOUR LITERATURE. BESIDES,” she said, “WE DON’T AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU ARE SAYING IN YOUR MATERIAL!” “GIVE ME SOME SPECIFICS,” I told her. “THAT COMMENT IN THERE ABOUT JESUS CHRIST BEING THE GOD-MAN. HE’S THE SON OF GOD, NOT GOD!” “I GUESS YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO YOUR OPINION,” I told her, “BUT ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU’RE GOING TO FIND OUT THAT JESUS IS GOD!” I approached a group of four girls standing nearby and offered them the literature. I told them to save the material for a pregnant girl. “WHEN I RECEIVE CALLS ON OUR HOT LINE,” I said, “WE SEND OUT MATERIALS TO THE WOMEN WHO CALL. DO YOU KNOW THAT ABOUT FORTY PERCENT OF THE TIME THEY CHANGE THEIR MINDS AFTER READING THE LITERATURE?” I said. “THE LITERATURE IS POWERFUL! THAT’S WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO SAVE IT FOR A PREGNANT GIRL. YOU MIGHT SAVE THE BABY!” They all looked at me as I spoke, with a respectful attitude. I asked all of the kids standing there if they had already received the literature when I was in front of the school. Just about all of them except for one or two kids had already received it. After picking up a few more discarded packets, I made my way back to my car. As I approached a corner crossing, I observed a male Chinese student studying the literature. As I walked toward him, a car pulled up. “I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU READING IT!” I said as I approached him. He flashed a bright smile as he entered the car (apparently driven by his mother). Later that evening I received a phone call. This time it was someone calling for her younger brother who received the literature. “I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO THE LADY WHO DISTRIBUTED MATERIALS AT BEYER HIGH,” she began. Not wanting to admit that I was the same woman, I hedged at the question and asked her to repeat the name of the school. “WELL,” she added. “WE’RE CHRISTIAN BUT WE DON’T CARE A F---- WHAT YOU THINK, OKAY?” “WELL,” I said as I hung up. “THANK YOU FOR THE ‘NICE’ LANGUAGE.” It always pleases me to receive calls like this. They tell me that I’m not wasting my time. The literature is making an impact on someone’s life!! |
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I stood near a crossing at OAKDALE HIGH (in Oakdale – 10 miles from Modesto) reaching kids coming from three different directions. No materials were thrown on the sidewalk, and most of the kids were respectful and seemed very glad to get the literature. Soon a stocky man in his mid-fifties approached me with the remarks: “SO YOU ARE DISTRIBUTING MATERIALS. THAT’S FINE. YOU SHOULD NOTIFY US FIRST BEFORE YOU GET STARTED IN CASE WE GET CALLS FROM PARENTS.” “I DON’T REALLY HAVE TO,” I answered. “I KNOW,” he said, “BUT THE GIDEONS DO IT AND IT IS HELPFUL.” I didn’t give him an answer as I thought of the trouble it could cause if I did. I later got into a conversation with a friendly young man standing in front of the school – apparently waiting for a ride. When I mentioned that abortion really wouldn’t be wrong if it weren’t for our eternal destiny – Heaven or Hell – he gave me an answer about the “celestial kingdom.” I then asked him if he was a Mormon. “YES, I AM,” he said. “WE’RE CHRISTIAN TOO,” he added. I talked about the importance of paying attention to what Jesus taught. “WHEN JESUS SPOKE TO NICODEMUS, HE TOLD HIM HE MUST BE BORN AGAIN,” I said. “THAT MEANS PUTTING AWAY THE OLD MAN AND CHANGING INTO THE NEW MAN. WHAT JESUS SAID IS IMPORTANT,” I said. “WE MUST CHANGE IN ORDER TO GO TO HEAVEN. GOD IS HOLY AND WE HAVE TO CHANGE SPIRITUALLY IN ORDER TO STAND BEFORE HIM IN HEAVEN.” Our conversation was friendly. When I left I told him we weren’t exactly on the same wave length – but we agreed on some things. “I KNOW MORMONS ARE AGAINST ABORTION,” I said as I left saying I enjoyed talking with him. The stocky man continued to stand a few feet away from me as I distributed literature. A few minutes later he was joined by two other men – both stocky, like peas in a pod - and about the same age and size. They all continued standing there – WERE THEY ALL WATCHING ME?? When the rush of students had subsided, I crossed the street and went back to my car. I HAD A FEELING OF UNEASINESS I had a feeling of uneasiness (was it fear?) as I made my way to MODESTO JR COLLEGE EAST. This feeling was the result of an auto accident I had experienced, and this was the first time after the accident that I had leafleted a college parking lot. I began my day by parking in the first available place near the college and proceeded to leaflet cars as I walked. My destination was the main college parking lot across from the school. After I had been busily engaged for about 15 minutes, I realized that most of my strength had returned and I began to feel better. One car that I leafleted had a sign in the rear window: “DO NOT FEAR” (God is telling me something,” I said to myself.) I handed a literature packet to a young man on his way to the school as he was crossing the parking lot. A few minutes later he came back and started asking questions. He wanted to know whether there was an initiative or something coming up. (I felt the literature had favorably impressed him, and he was looking for a way to help.) I told him there was going to be a national election coming up and that President Bush is pro-life and his opponent, Kerry is anti-life. “KERRY?” he questioned – the name was apparently new to him. I told him that abortion is a big, big issue and that the population is going down all over the world. A man in his late thirties sitting in his car beckoned me. I approached him telling him the literature was pro-life. “BE SURE YOU VOTE FOR BUSH!” I said. “KERRY IS PRO-ABORTION.” He gave me a nod saying he understood what I was saying. One very pretty young girl sitting in the driver’s seat of her car looked like she was about to cry (her lower lip was trembling) as I handed her the literature. I thought she was going to refuse it but she said nothing. (“IS SHE PREGNANT?” I said to myself.) All the while I was leafleting the parking lot I had my eye out for school security coming at anytime to eject me. It never happened. As I walked back to my car, leafleting cars as I went, I put the last packet on the car parked behind me. As I pulled away. I could see the bumper of the car parked in front of me: “GOD IS PRO LIFE” a bumpersticker read. “WHAT WERE THE ODDS OF THAT PERSON PARKING DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY CAR?” I thought afterwards. God does work in mysterious ways. - 7 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-AUGUST-OCTOBER 2004 The Birth Control Pill, Norplant, Depo-Provera & IUDS are all Abortifacients! An abortifacient is a substance or device used to induce an abortion. One of the primary ways the Birth Control Pill, Norplant, Depo-Provera & IUD’s work is by killing the child shortly after conception and the woman won’t even know – A Silent Abortion. Ask your doctor to look it up. Source: AMA (Christian Action News – 12/03) |
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It was breezy 70-degree weather as I parked my car at the golf course and park across the street from CITY COLLEGE in Sacramento. One of the first cars I leafleted had a dried single red rose on the dashboard. (My mind immediately went back to past memories of Rose Binns, one of my helpers who had a penchant for roses which included a devotion to St. Teresa – a staunch Catholic – she mentioned St. Teresa many times and always “suspected” she was bringing roses in our path as we distributed literature.) After leafleting close to 600 cars, I handed a packet to a young man standing by his car with a gas can about to put gas into his car. When I handed him the literature packet, he accepted it, and we immediately got into a discussion on population. It was his opinion that even though all immigration stopped in California, the population would level out at one point. “HEY,” I said. “IT’S THE INDIVIDUAL THAT’S IMPORTANT HERE. YOU AND I ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, AND ALL THE BABIES THAT ARE BEING ABORTED ARE TOO. THAT’S WHAT MAKES ABORTION WRONG!” I asked him if he was a Christian. “I WAS RAISED A MORMON,” he said, “BUT I’M NOT PRACTICING IT NOW.” I let him know that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of counterfeit religions which are drawing us away from the real truth which is in Jesus Christ. I mentioned the 333 prophecies in the Bible about Christ. He said all religions think they have the truth. “THAT’S RIGHT,” I said, “BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUTH. THAT’S IN JESUS CHRIST!” I told him about my born again experience years ago in a library where I met Jesus for the first time. “I STOOD THERE WITH TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE AND WAS COMPLETELY CHANGED FOREVER. JESUS GIVES ME THE STRENGTH TO DO WHAT I’M DOING TODAY. I’M FAR MORE COMFORTABLE AT HOME, AND THERE’S ALWAYS A STRUGGLE TO STAY AT HOME RATHER THAN GO OUT AND MEET PEOPLE,” I told him. “I’VE HAD MANY CONVERSATIONS WITH COLLEGE STUDENTS LIKE YOU. DO YOU REALIZE THE ABORTION ISSUE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE GOSPEL?” I said. (I had given him a tract on “THE NEW BIRTH”) If WERE JUST HANDING OUT RELIGIOUS TRACTS, (I had given him a tract on “THE NEW BIRTH”) If I WERE JUST HANDING OUT RELIGIOUS TRACTS, YOU WOULDN’T BE GIVING ME THE TIME OF DAY.” He looked at me with an understanding expression on his face and said he agreed with me. “THE SUBJECT OF ABORTION OPENS UP THE DOOR,” I told him. As I talked to this young man, I thought to myself –“the fact that he’s putting a gallon of gas in his car indicates that he’s short of money – this keeps him humble and causes him to open his heart toward God.” ”YOU’RE A NICE YOUNG MAN,” I said to him as I was about to go on with my work. “I REALLY ENJOYED TALKING TO YOU.” He gave me a sincere look and said he, too, enjoyed talking with me. “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” I asked. “JOSH,” he said. “MY NAME IS MARIAN” as I extended my hand. He felt a little embarrassed to be shaking hands considering he had been handling gasoline. “THAT’S OKAY,” I said with a smile. As I left, he told me he would read through the packet of information I gave to him and also the religious tract and would pass the packet on abortion to a pregnant girl if the occasion came up. He wished me well in my efforts encountering young people. - 7 - VOICE FOR THE UNBORN-MAY-JULY 2004 |
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National Pro Life Legislative Newsletter Excerpts Real Life Stories Our Sidewalk Visits To Junior Highs, High Schools And Colleges
Click on "Sidewalk Visits 17" for latest additions.
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As I drove past THORNTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL in Fremont, I felt a pang of guilt. It had been a few years since we had last distributed literature on teen pregnancy and abortion at that school for one reason or another, and our visit was long overdue. A week later we waited at the crosswalk near the public bus stop to where we knew a large amount of the kids would gravitate. As they came out in singles, pairs and bunches, we began to distribute literature to them as they crossed the street to the other side. A large group of them began to congregate at the bus stop, and a question-and-answer session began to take place. As we had just distributed literature a few hours earlier at a high school lunch break, we immediately noticed what a difference a couple of years makes in the attitude of youngsters. There was still a touch of innocence in these thirteen and fourteen-year-olds. This could be seen in the nonaggressive manner in which they accepted the literature and the embarrassment some of them showed at the idea of their being sexually involved. One stood out from the crowd with her smart mouth and overeagerness to ask demanding questions. She said she was Catholic and believed in God but ridiculed the idea of abortion being wrong and sending her on the wrong road all to Hell. I JUST GOT THROUGH TALKING ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES LAST NIGHT TO A STUPID CCD TEACHER ON THE SAME SUBJECT, she remarked. After I commented that God says abortion is wrong, one young boy asked me whether I had ever seen God. YES, I'VE SEEN HIM. . . IN A SPIRITUAL WAY, I answered. IN FACT, JESUS LIVES IN MY MIND AND HEART AND GIVES ME THE COURAGE TO GO AROUND TALKING ABOUT ABORTION. I stressed the importance of not having sex until they were married because God says it's wrong. YOU'LL HAVE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE IF YOU DO, I said. LOOK AT WHAT AIDS IS DOING TO THE HOMOSEXUALS. THATS GODS PUNISHMENT FOR SIN. WHY ARE YOU STANDING HERE AND TALKING TO US? one young girl asked. THE TEACHERS WON'T LIKE IT. YOU'RE BRAINWASHING US. I HOPE THAT'S TRUE, I responded, laughing. I HOPE AT LEAST ONE OF YOU KIDS GETS BRAINWASHED BY WHAT I'M TELLING YOU I went on to tell them about the physical effects of having an abortion: 9-10% sterility and 30% chance of not being able to carry your second baby to term. As I talked, there were at least a half dozen of the youngsters standing and staring at me, saying nothing but drinking in every word. When the bus came, I commented to the young girl who had called her CCD teacher stupid that I hoped she would think about what I had told her. SURE, she said, I'LL THINK ABOUT THE STUPID THINGS YOU SAID. IF YOU CALL EVERYTHING STUPID WITHOUT REALLY THINKING ABOUT IT, YOU'LL NEVER LEARN ANYTHING, I commented. As the kids walked toward the bus, one young boy who had stood quietly by while the debate was going on, raised his hand in a friendly gesture and said, SEE YA! That evening the colored pictures of abortions were shown on television to millions of people as a result of our visit to THORNTON JUNIOR HIGH. |
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THE TRUTH IS INDEED STRANGER THAN FICTION Our goal in educating the youth about teen pregnancy and abortion of the San Francisco Bay Area, has been given a tremendous boost these past few months by none other than the pro-abortionists.The reason for this help is indeed a moral phenomenon - the blindness of those who do not know God. Our most recent experience was in our own city of Fremont when we distributed literature at THORNTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL. Within the hour angry parents apparently called Channel 7, one of the "big three" TV stations in San Francisco. We received a call from Channel 7 at 4:30 PM (we had been at the school for their afternoon dismissal) asking us to send a representative to appear on TV the following day. This time we declined the offer, after being told that they were putting our material on TV. We told them our material would speak for itself, And speak for itself it did!! On the 5:00 newscast the following day, a close-up view of the DID YOU KNOW colored pictures of abortions was shown to a viewing audience of several counties and several million viewers. Why didn't Channel 7 realize that they were giving us free advertising and also that they were doing the same thing they were criticizing us for - showing the pictures of abortions to our youth? I wonder how many other junior high school students saw those pictures (sure the whole student body of THORNTON JUNIOR HIGH watched just to see their school on TV). Our only explanation: SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS. A week later we received a copy of the PLANNED PARENTHOOD newsletter published in San Francisco. Our October 11tth picketing of the PLANNED PARENTHOOD open house was covered by them with a photograph of our picketing: Three signs were easily discernible - ABORTION HARDENS A WOMAN'S HEART; ABORTION TODAY, GUILT FOREVER and LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME (with a picture of Jesus). In September a picture of an aborted baby with the words ABORTED BABY DISCARDED IN HOSPITAL BUCKET and 5 WAYS TO KILL AN UNBORN CHILD was printed on the front page of THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN, the Berkeley newspaper that reaches the whole Berkeley campus and thousands of others. This was the result of distributing literature at BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL and U.C. BERKELEY -and the SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS of one pro-abortion newspaper reporter. PRAISE THE LORD! |
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Last-minute plans were made by VOICE FOR THE UNBORN for the picketing of PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S twenty-fifth anniversary party in Hayward, California. According to the DAILY REVIEW newspaper (two days before the event), Mayor Alex Guiliani was one of the invited guests who planned to attend the affair. We decided to focus our attention on the mayor. The morning before the party we left a message with Mayor Guiliani's secretary that we planned to use his name on our picket signs if he didn't change his mind about coming. About an hour later the Mayor called stating that "since he represented over 100,000 people, he couldn't let his personal views interfere with his decision." He stated that he was, of course, a Catholic and against abortion. During a five-minute conversation, we made it clear that we were in the process of painting our signs, and we didn't agree with his hypocritical stand (we mentioned Pontius Pilate as an example of a public official who couldn't take a positive stand and was remembered for this throughout history). The conversation was ended with our asking him "to pray about it." We didn't hear from the Mayor again. During the day we made one large sign (3' x 6') with the words "MAYOR GUILIANI AND PLANNED PARENTHOOD CELEBRATE OVER ABORTION" and four others which included one with the words "MAYOR GUILIANI & PLANNED PARENTHOOD - BIRDS OF A FEATHER". From 15 to 20 picketers responded to our last-minute phone calls, and we were there to greet Mayor Guiliani as he walked in. As the Mayor was engaged in conversation with a DAILY REVIEW reporter, we snapped his picture. He was later quoted as saying: "I REPRESENT 102,000 PEOPLE, NOT A SMALL SEGMENT. PLANNED PARENTHOOD SUPPORTERS ALSO ARE MY CONSTITUENTS. WITH THEIR LITERATURE, THEY ASSIST YOUNG TEENAGERS AND COUNSEL THEM ABOUT SEX. MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT SHOULDN'T ENTER INTO IT." The paper also stated: "GUILIANI SAID HE HAD TALKED TO HIS PRIEST BEFORE GOING TO THE EVENT, AND THE PRIEST HAD TOLD HIM HE HAD A DUTY TO HIS COMMUNITY AND HE HAD TO DO WHAT HIS CONSCIENCE DICTATED. "I AM A CATHOLIC," THE MAYOR SAID. "I RAISED MY FAMILY (WITH THE IDEA) THAT IF YOU BECOME PREGNANT, YOU HAVE A BABY. BUT I'M NOT A PERSON TO INFLICT MY MORAL VALUES ON SOMEONE ELSE." The morning newspaper revealed that Guiliani not only was present at the celebration, but was a speaker at the event. On the front page appeared a picture of our picketers carrying the clearly identifiable signs: MAYOR GUILIANI AND PLANNED PARENTHOOD - BIRDS OF A FEATHER, PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHORT FOR MURDER, INC., and ADOPTION NOT ABORTION. FRIENDS OF MOTHERS & BABIES (VOICE FOR THE UNBORN) was quoted as saying: "HE SAYS HE'S A CATHOLIC. HE SAYS HE'S AGAINST ABORTION. HE'S SPEAKING FROM TWO SIDES OF HIS MOUTH. HE DOESN'T HAVE TO COME HERE AND HAVE A PARTY WITH THEM." The street on which PLANNED PARENTHOOD was located was a narrow one, which made the signs highly visible, with cars whipping by at least one every three seconds. Thousands of people had a chance to view our signs in addition to the people reading the DAILY REVIEW and ARGUS (two local newspapers with a combined circulation of over 50,000). The day ended with four local policemen showing up (called by a pro-abortion bystander who used as an excuse the fact that some of our picketers had stepped off the sidewalk to hold up their picket signs.) The policemen all had a friendly attitude. Two admitted they were pro-life. They seemed to enjoy the situation, not seeming to mind that their boss, the Mayor of Hayward, was being put on the carpet. |
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 ANTI-ABORTION LITERATURE DOES SUCH STRANGE THINGS TO PEOPLE We arrived at CUPERTINO JUNIOR HIGH just in time, parked the car and began to approach the kids coming out of the school. (I'll have to confess as we drove up to the school that I almost hoped we wouldn't make it on time - as there is always so much "fireworks" at these junior highs.) Rose Binns and I walked to the sidewalk on the right side of the school (avoiding the immediate front because of possible easy confrontations with the school administration) while Luz Otico took the opposite side. After a few minutes of distributing literature to the seventh and eighth graders who all accepted the literature, although a few questioned our pro-life position (we told them that 4,000 babies die everyday in this country), I noticed a tall man - long and lanky - approaching me from several hundred feet away. "TROUBLE IS ON THE WAY," I thought as I continued to distribute literature and exchanged knowing glances with Rose standing across the street. He soon caught up with me and said with an angry tone in his voice, "YOU'D BETTER TELL YOUR COMPANION TO STAY OFF SCHOOL PROPERTY OR NEXT TIME SHE'LL GET ARRESTED. I THINK WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS TERRIBLE - EXPOSING THIS DISGUSTING MATERIAL TO THESE YOUNG KIDS. I'M THE SAME RELIGION AS YOU, BUT I WOULDN'T THINK OF DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING." "WHAT RELIGION ARE YOU?" I asked him, implying that no religion should be for abortion. He didn't answer me as he walked away in the parking lot area. (When the three of us got back to the car, Luz said that the teacher had demanded that she leave the parking lot area in which she was distributing literature and threatened to have her arrested if she didn't comply with his order. Luz moved to the sidewalk. Later he confronted her again with a second warning of arrest. Luz said, "YES SIR, WHATEVER YOU SAY, SIR.') Leaving Luz and Rose, I walked back to get the car, made a U-turn and started to pick them up. Immediately a car pulled up directly behind us and began to honk noisily - at least a honk a second. I turned around in amazement and immediately recognized the teacher who had confronted us. He had one of his students with him. Before Rose got into the car, she went up to the honking car and offered the driver some literature, not realizing who the man was. The teacher threw the literature in Rose's face and then Rose saw who he was and got into our car. As we drove off, I turned around. The man continued his childish behavior by making a sign with his finger at us as he extended his arm out of the window. By then we were convulsed in laughter over the thought of Rose innocently offering the man our pro-life literature, thereby infuriating him all the more. Anti-abortion literature does such strange things to people!! |
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Adeline Choi, Luz Otico and I worked in the San Jose area on Friday, May 16. Our first school for the day was MISSION COLLEGE near Great America Amusement Park. It was just one huge parking lot in front of the school stretched out in a wide expanse of several hundred feet. We leafleted the whole area. Our next target was BELLARMINE COLLEGE PREP., a boys' school about fifteen minutes away. We got there a few minutes before the 12:30 PM dismissal, not knowing it was the last day of school. Luz and Adeline walked to the corner, and I stood in front of the parking lot area. I had a large supply of literature and began to distribute it to the boys "to educate them about teen pregnancy, abortion and pregnant teenagers", coming in droves across the parking lot and from a building across the street. In a few minutes a large man (I wondered whether he was a brother or priest) approached me and asked me whether I had asked permission to distribute literature there. "YOU DON'T NEED PERMISSION TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE ON THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK," I answered. "I DIDN'T SAY THAT," he spoke in the tone of voice of a teacher correcting his pupil, "I SAID, DID YOU ASK PERMISSION?" "NO, I DIDN'T," I said to him. "WELL, YOU'RE CERTAINLY NOT VERY POLITE," he said curtly. "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SAVING LIVES HERE," I countered, "NOT ABOUT POLITENESS." I continued to distribute literature. Later he took one of our packets of literature and dumped it into a garbage can, making sure I saw him do it. His last words to me were: "YOU'RE NOT VERY POLITE, MA'AM," as he walked toward the school. Later a second individual, obviously a school official, approached me asking in an angry tone what I planned to do about the five or six packets of material which had been thrown on the ground. "WELL, I PLAN TO PICK THEM UP WHEN WE'RE THROUGH, ALTHOUGH I'M NOT LEGALLY REQUIRED TO DO IT," I said. (Later a priest in his clerical garb asked one of the boys to pick up the material.) After the steady onslaught of boys was about over, a small group of them began to ask us questions about the material. (By then Luz and Adline had joined me.) "WHY ISN'T IT OKAY TO LIVE TOGETHER IF YOU REALLY LOVE EACH OTHER?" one of the boys asked. "BECAUSE GOD SAYS IT'S WRONG," we answered. "WE DIDN'T MAKE THE RULES, BUT GOD SAYS FORNICATION WILL SEND YOU TO HELL. DO YOU KNOW WHAT FORNICATION MEANS?" "OF COURSE, I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS," the young man said a little testily. One student said, "I AGREE WITH THIS PART OF THE LITERATURE (POINTING TO THE PRO-LIFE PART) "BUT I DON'T AGREE WITH THIS." (POINTING TO THE LEAFLET ON PREMARITAL SEX, LIVING TOGETHER, AND THE HAZARDS OF THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL.) We stressed the importance of purity for a happy marriage to these boys, mentioning that a premarital sexual experience causes real trouble in marriage. I mentioned to one of the boys that the way to stay pure is to pray - pray to Jesus. We told them what one psychiatrist had mentioned - that a person will even experience flashbacks of previous sexual encounters in the marriage bed because they leave an indelible mark on our minds, never to be forgotten. We went into the subject of AIDS, saying how dangerous it is now to be involved sexually. As we left, the boy who had asked us the most questions said he had enjoyed talking with us very much and appreciated our being there. During a good part of the conversation, the large man who had stressed politeness stood by, silently listening to our conversation. |
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