I grab both — one for hydration and the other out of curiosity. Major credit cards accepted. Tons of these cards are handed out daily. Many are discarded and strewn along the four-mile-long stretch of glitzy, over-the-top casinos, strip clubs and bars. Nothing is subtle in Sin City. It lives off the illusion of winning as well as vice.
The top-line entertainment acts and other attractions lure folks there. It all but implores the visitors to shed inhibitions, if not leave their morals at home. And Minnesota, according to cops there and here, is a leading exporter of teens prostituted in Las Vegas. A study by Las Vegas police found that of juveniles arrested for prostitution from to came from Minnesota and other states. She runs her 5-year-old ministry out of a nondescript office near the Strip. She also keeps tabs on scores of others.
She preaches God and Jesus without judgment. She headed to Las Vegas with a man who courted her and whom she thought she loved. He turned out to be a pimp. At the same time, she thought she could change her pimp into a dutiful husband. Like Las Vegas, she gambled on the illusion of winning — and lost. Her first spiritual awakening occurred when she was beaten, hog-tied and stuffed in the trunk of her Mercedes-Benz by her pimp in reaction to rumors that she planned to leave him.
The man ultimately heard her and let her out. She eventually escaped with the help of a deep-pocketed client. She beat the cancer but began abusing drugs. She reached out to Jesus again. She has kept her word. The ministry is her calling, she told me. This is what joy is — helping others in the best way she knows how. She visits the local juvenile detention center.
Sometimes, a dozen prostituted young girls are in there. Sometimes there may be no more than two. She goes to counsel and spread what she believes is the Truth — God loves us, whether saint or sinner.
