Royal Oak, MI.
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The following report comes to us from virtual school student Maria in Royal Oak, MI:
A few students from our School of Evangelization in MI went out to practice sharing the Gospel recently. We all gathered in Royal Oak one Saturday morning and started evangelizing. However, I moved across the street from Randy (teacher) and Michael (classmate) to be less obvious and stood near the crosswalk, looking like I was minding my own business.
Two couples and a little girl came close, so I greeted them, “Hi! I’m Maria; I’m here with some friends today and we’re just trying to spread God’s love. I was wondering if there’s anything I can pray for?” Realizing that might’ve been the wrong thing to start with for a group, I said, “I realize that might be kinda awkward since it’s a group of people and you might not want to share something personal, plus you just met me…” They seemed to be amused and kind of agree, so I tried offering a Miraculous Medal (although I only had one left). So I said, “I’m so sorry, this is my first time out here doing this”. They were very sweet and gracious. One guy, whose name was Joe, said something like, “That’s okay, I think that’s great you guys are doing this. Thank you for being out here. Where are your friends at?” So I motioned to Randy and Michael across the street. He then asked what denomination we were. “Oh, we’re Catholic,” I replied. “Oh, okay,” he said in an unaltered tone of voice.
Then I described how SPSE was founded, because Protestants were evangelizing but Catholics weren’t. Then he said, “Ohh, you’re gonna put a wedge between me and my friend here.” Startled, I said, “Oh, are one of you Catholic?” The other couple (Lou and Jen) slowly admitted that they were, so I thought I should at least say something to the other couple to exhort them to Catholicism. So I tried to make sure I wasn’t making anyone feel awkward and briefly gave my testimony (the more I learned of the Catholic faith, the more it made sense). Then I asked if I could say a quick prayer with them and they welcomed the idea. I prayed aloud with them, mentioned each person’s name, and we prayed that God may lead Joe, Linda, Jen, and Lou, and Joe and Linda’s daughter into the fullness of faith and lead us into all truth.
Praised be Jesus Christ!