Ahwatukee, AZ

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The following report comes to us from team leader Phil with our team in Ahwatukee, AZ:

Through God’s grace, our Ahwatukee team was able to make our first outing on Saturday, the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. A big thanks to Mark for joining this team! We were able to set up right outside of the Ahwatukee Ironwood library for the first time.

The Jehovah Witnesses were set up as usual and ready to evangelize as the library opened up for the morning. It was a blessing to show a Catholic presence to the local public, since for many years traditionally you would only see faithful Jehovah Witnesses present outside the library on a Saturday morning. But I must say that Brenda and Tom with the Jehovah Witness team were very hospitable to us, Brenda was even kind enough to take our posted picture.

We stayed for 2 hours and were able to give away a couple of rosaries and a couple of Miraculous Medals. It was a joy to see the smiling faces of those people who received our gifts. It was also great to receive many types and colors of rosaries from the St Paul Street Evangelization store, as part of the team start up kit. The variety of rosaries makes for a great display presentation, and brings joy to people in being able to pick out a unique handmade rosary.

As we were almost ready to leave for the day we were approached by Nelson, a Christian that loved to read his Bible, who thanked us for sharing the Good News. He shared with us that many years ago when he was a child, a Catholic priest told him it was a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sunday, and also that no one outside the Catholic Church could be saved. Unfortunately the priest did not explain the 3 conditions necessary to make up a mortal sin, or the many other factors that go into the statement about no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. This truth, though incompletely explained, had bothered Nelson for many years. He finally came to the conclusion that the priest had lied to him. We explained to him that the priest did not do a good job of explaining what he was trying to convey. The gentleman wore a nice cross and was also an evangelist himself. He gave us a small laminated card that he passed out to evangelize. The card had a poem titled, “For A Brighter Life” by Harold F. Mohn. Also, it quoted Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, But the word of our God stands forever”. He took two Miraculous Medals, one for himself and one for a friend of his. I hope to meet this gentleman again sometime, to give him a fuller explanation about what the priest said to him many years ago, that he never forgot about.

I am very thankful for being able to be part of the Tempe, Arizona SPSE team. It was very helpful to be able to learn street evangelization from Sean Kelly and his team. Sean was very supportive and helpful to me in starting this Ahwatukee team, and I am very thankful for his assistance and encouragement.

Praised be Jesus Christ!