Cambridge, MA
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This report is a continuation of yesterday’s story and comes to us from team leader Marissa with our team in Cambridge, MA:
The first conversation I had was with a very good-spirited man who identified himself as a “Jewish believer [in Christ]” (he didn’t say “Messianic Jew,” but it sounded a bit like that to me, in my non-nuanced understanding). He attends a non-denominational church and was very well-studied (he knew the Bible extremely well!). It was a very pleasant and ecumenical conversation. I learned from him some things I did not know about connections between the Old and New Testaments – as a Jewish believer, he was very knowledgeable on this! We gave him a rosary and a pamphlet on how to pray the rosary. One of my fellow evangelists explained how we pray for Mary’s intercession, not to her as a deity. Our new friend was very receptive to the idea of the intercession of the saints. At the end, I prayed aloud for him, which felt surprisingly natural. I’m really grateful to this new friend of ours that he was the first person I encountered – his joviality and receptivity made me optimistic for future encounters on the street! It also felt affirming, as someone still fairly new to praying out loud, how he murmured things like “mm-hmm” as I was praying. (I understand this is fairly standard practice in Protestant circles to say things like, “Amen” or “mm-hmm” to denote agreement as others are praying.)
At the same time I was having this encounter, three other evangelists were having a different encounter with a woman. It was recounted to me as follows. The evangelists asked her whether she needed prayer for anything. She thought for a moment, and as she was sharing her prayer intention, the tears began to stream down her face. She had a good long hug with one of our female evangelists as she cried. The evangelists prayed with her. I don’t know any details of this woman’s situation, as the evangelists decided to keep that private (a very mature judgment call, I believe). The woman had grown up Catholic and expressed that she feels connected to God reading Scripture, at which point, one of our evangelists offered her a new Bible, which she accepted. (She was also given a Miraculous Medal and rosary over the course of the conversation.) The female evangelist who gave the hug ended up getting the woman’s number. She also invited her to visit the nearby parish, where the two were able to pray and continue the conversation. On their way to the parish, as the woman passed by my half of the group, she said something to us like, “Thank you so much for what you’re doing here.” It was so sincere; there was a depth to the way she said it that made me think something big had happened for her that day. Thanks be to God! Please pray for her!
After a little over an hour in the cold, we decided it was time to move into the T station, where it’d be warmer. (Boston-Cambridge calls its metro system “the T.”) We had a couple rather entertaining, lighthearted encounters there, as well as some deeper ones. The first lighthearted encounter came with a man to whom we gave a rosary. He already knew how to pray it. He had a good sense of humor. The T was free yesterday, so as a stream of people came down the steps and escalators, he helped us out by announcing, “Free rosaries, free T!”
Praised be Jesus Christ!