Ahwatukee, AZ

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

Today, before the sun rose, Rogelio and I set up next to the entrance of a busy desert hiking trail in the South Mountain Preserves. Rogelio found this great location, and this was now our 3rd time at this location. Now that the weather is starting to cool down a little in Phoenix, the activity on the trails is increasing and we have been able to give out many rosaries and Miraculous Medals. We are seeing some of the same hikers from before, and we’ve been able to have some small conversations and start to build relationships.

Today we were able to see God’s grace at work. We saw a hiker coming off the trail wearing a Jesus t-shirt. Eric was excited to see us, and came right over to speak with us. He let us know that he was an evangelist as well, and immediately shared a small tract with me that he had in his wallet. He told us that it is great to see Catholics out evangelizing too, and that he has seen other St Paul Street Evangelists around the Phoenix area before. He wanted to share more info with us and ran to his car and gave us a booklet. Inside the booklet was info on the non-denominational church he attends. I shared with him that through baptism we are brothers in Christ. He immediately responded by telling us that he was baptized Catholic as an infant. He also shared that he loves reading his Bible and thinks he has read it cover to cover about 30 times. I handed him a small information sheet that Rogelio put together, that had info on the local Catholic radio station 1310 am Relevant Radio, and the link to the Coming Home Network website. To our surprise he said he has been listening to the radio station and even listens to some of the Fr Mike Schmitz podcasts. I asked him if I could take a photo of him and Rogelio, because I loved his Jesus t-shirt, and as you can see he was happy to do so.

After Eric left us, Rogelio and I were amazed to see how God was working in his life to bring him home. It seems like his Journey is well under way. I was also inspired to hear about his love for Sacred Scripture. He had shared how he was surprised that not many Christians read the Bible as much as he thought they would. I think his love for the Bible will help to bring back home, as he keeps reading Bible verses that can only be explained in the Catholic Church. Hopefully we will meet Eric again, and can talk more about his faith journey. We really appreciated that gift God gave us in meeting Eric today!

Praised be Jesus Christ!