Sugar Land, TX. Here are excerpts from a report coming from Marta, of the St. Laurence SPSE team: “On Saturday, October 3, Michelle and I went to Oyster Creek Park in Sugar Land, Texas at 8 am. At 10 am, Maria joined us for 30 minutes.

Many people were at the park that morning. It seems that The Fort Bend Boys Choir was having a walk-a-thon. Joggers, walkers, moms and dads, boys, and grandparents were walking by and it seems that every one of them had a destination in mind, which did not include stopping by our table.

Michelle and I were standing by our table, talking and enjoying the good weather. We began the morning with a prayer. A couple of people had stopped by, and it seems it was going to be a slow morning.

A woman about 60 years old approached me directly. As I looked at her, it seems she was very upset: ‘Why do you say that God send Jesus and that Jesus is God… You made an idol of Jesus…’ – she said, ‘Allah is One.’ and she lifted up her head and began to pray to Allah out loud, looking up, and it seems asking Allah for forgiveness…

I said a quiet prayer in my heart for God to put in my mind and in my lips the right words to say.

‘We pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ – I said. – ‘God is one.’”

After Marta explained the Trinity to the best of her ability, the woman’s eyes softened …

“Then she said: ‘I do Yoga and I positioned myself like this…’- and she took a position with her arms and body. I fell to my knees, bowed my head and folded my hand and said: ‘We pray like this.’
She then prostrated herself on the floor, like you see the Moslems in the Mosques on TV, with hands and feet folded under the body. … [Then] I prostrated myself on the floor facing down with my feet together and my arms extended forming a cross on the sidewalk like when the Catholic priests are ordained. Somehow this woman and I had connected. She was a teacher and I said I taught as well. … Her husband approached. She took a paper with the information of the Catholic Church in the area and said: ‘I may come by sometime to talk about Islam to you and you can talk to me about Catholicism.’

I have a right knee that is recovering from a torn meniscus and a sprain MCL so every time I went down on my knees I needed help getting up- maybe that served to break the ice.

After that incident I thought, ‘Enough excitement for a day…’ Not so, my dear, not so…

A man in his forties approached from the left, and sat sideways on the bench next to us. I got the impression that he did not want the passersby to see his face.

He asked me: ‘How does someone become a Catholic?’… I heard the question and thought: ‘That question can be a double edged sword. Let’s be careful.’

‘Well’ – I said. – ‘You can go through the procedures at Church or you can begin to ask: What questions do you have?’

‘I have Catholic friends’ – He said – ‘that when I ask them, “Are you going to heaven?” they answer: “I hope so.”’ ‘We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and we are assured salvation.’

I said: ‘Jesus paid the price, we are safe and redeemed, but as Saint Paul said (Cf. 1 Corinthian 9:27) “that I may not fail after I have run the race.” We have faith but we need to show our works like it says in the book of James (Cf. James 2:18), if I have faith I need to show it by my works.’”

Marta continued talking to him, answering his questions about Catholicism, and found out that he was a Baptist minister.

“He was intensely listening to me, with pure blue eyes open to what I was saying like a grandson listening to a grandmother. I recommended him to read in its entirety the Confessions by Saint Augustine and if he like to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church for more information.”

Michelle also commented on the day: “We were evangelizing from the moment we finished opening prayer… It was truly a great inspiring experience. Unbelievable to say the least. Marta was being challenged that day. However, with the Holy Spirit inside her, she seemed to breeze through it all!”

Thanks, Marta and Michelle, and Maria! Keep it up! And as for you, will you join them? Get involved with one of our teams, or start your own team!