Detroit, MI
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This report comes from team leader Mark with our Eastern Market team in Detroit, MI:
Three evangelists—Bill, Bob, and Leonard—joined me at Eastern Market last Saturday. Leonard is a recent convert received into the Catholic Church this past Easter Vigil. He has previous experience with relational evangelization and giving away Miraculous Medals, but this was his first time doing street evangelization. Since there were four of us, I suggested breaking up into two pairs. Bob and Bill opted to stay at our table while Leonard and I grabbed handfuls of supplies and walked around the market.
Being a team leader and veteran evangelist, I was quick to offer advice and feedback to Leonard. While we can approach almost anyone, some people are much more approachable and more likely to have a meaningful conversation. You can quickly tell by someone’s body language how receptive they might be. For example, there were three times when I noticed somebody was sitting alone on a bench. I approached them every time, was able to have a meaningful conversation, prayed out loud with each individual, and each accepted sacramentals and/or pamphlets. Meanwhile, there were 100 times when someone was quickly walking past us, avoiding eye contact, and didn’t respond to our offers. I say this not to discourage anyone from approaching, but to have reasonable expectations about how the approach might turn out.
Leonard and I reached the other side of the market and we were nearly out of supplies. I decided to turn around and head back to the table and regroup. We gave away the last of our materials halfway back. By the time we got back to the table, it was almost time for the end of the outing. We stayed for about ten more minutes before Bill had to leave. We said our closing prayer and thanked God for the good work done that morning.
Praised be Jesus Christ!