UPDATE ON OUR FAMILY AND GASPARILLA!

Hello All,

I haven't done an update in awhile and thought maybe you would like to hear where we have been up to. If you follow any of my family member's blogs, you are aware that we recently preached the Gasparilla Festival in Tampa. Some of the men from our home Church were able to come down, along with friends from Sopchoppy, FL, Brooksville, FL, Buffalo, NY, and Chicago, IL.

The night before Gasparilla we went out to Ybor. It was a pretty quiet night there. We didn't stay late as we knew we would be on the street most of the day Saturday. Saturday morning we took a busload to Tampa for the Gasparilla Parade. There didn't seem to be as many people as previous years. I am not sure if this was due to more Police Officers, or perhaps the rain expected that afternoon.

We had some very interesting conversations. One being a woman who approached me because I was holding a sign about women being keepers at home. She could not believe I would choose to stay home. Then she said we could not survive on one salary, and that we MUST be on welfare. When told we were not and that we had a family of 8 total she asked if my husband made 100,000 a year because that was the only way we could make it as you need to make 15,000 per person per year. AMAZING! We then told her it was easier when you don't purchase alcohol, cigarettes, cable, etc. That is when she finally got mad and walked off with her girlfriend.

I was asked how much money we were paid for holding signs like that on the street. I responded with, "If you know someone who will pay me to do this, please let me know." I was also asked if I would sell my sign that said women should be keepers at home. He even promised to walk up and down the street with it. Of course we had the normal responses of cursing and vile talk, along with throwing food, beer, and beads at us. And people say America is not that bad.

That evening we went back out to Ybor. This was not a quiet night. A woman tried to spit in my husband's face and when I stepped in between them with one of our signs she punched the sign into me twice before dodging into a bar. Then we had a young man confront my husband who kept saying that he was a Christian. Needless to say the truth came out after a conversation with him and he took off with his friends to a gay bar. We did have some trouble with the police until a supervisor came out and said we were fine and to leave us alone. This was a really vile night. A young man flipped his hand in my son's face and knocked his cap off. We also had a several good conversations that night.

We will be doing Spring Break soon. Please continue to pray for us and safety on the street for our family and for other Street-preachers also. We recently received news that 2 street-preachers were gunned down in south Florida. It is getting worse out there!