Boise, ID
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The following story comes to us from team leader Lucy with our team in Boise, ID:
We try to communicate God’s love for each person. So, thank you again for your prayers and other support for the Boise Catholic street evangelization effort.
The non-Christian sect, which rents the sports arena twice every six months, had set up their pamphlet rack in our usual spot, which Nancy discovered when she arrived at the business park. She told the two men stationed there that she was Catholic, that we’d have a table nearby, and that maybe we could discuss religion. In the small talk that followed, the older man said he had “worked all over” and that he was an engineer. The younger man never said anything, but stood and smiled. When the rest of the team arrived, we set our table up across the park, on the other side of the fountain. We did this for several reasons. First, people often mistake that group as fellow Christians and we want to avoid making this look true. Plus, part of our unwritten agreement with the business park, and in return for being allowed to set up our table there for free, is that we won’t interfere with groups who’ve rented the plaza. So, Nancy went back to tell them we weren’t going to be next to them, after all. The older man wasn’t there, and another man was standing with the same young man. They just said, “OK.” Then, during our session, many of that group’s attendees walked by us during their breaks. Several, especially women, seemed afraid to make eye contact with us, even for long enough to say, “No, thank you.” May God bless them and lead them out of their bondage to lies and the fear of being ostracized by their fellow religionists, and into the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Two boys in their mid-teens stopped at the word “free” and came to the table for a Rosary. When asked if they were familiar with the devotion, the taller boy said he’d “heard of it.” Asked if they were Christian, he said, “I’m trying to be”, and the other said, “Half my family is Christian.” So, I gave the first boy a copy of the Good News/kerygma pamphlet and went over the Rosary devotion with him as a way for him to get to know Jesus better. She looked him in the eye and told him that he’d find out that Jesus loves him. His manner seemed to soften a bit at that. Meanwhile, James talked with the other teen. May God draw them both to Himself and the full life He designed for them.
A tall, thin man, wearing dark clothes and headphones and walking “furiously fast” said, “no” when asked if he would like a Rosary. With perhaps a wistful smile, he added, “Everyone here hates me.” Nancy called to him in reply, “We don’t hate you” and then, louder, “Jesus loves you!” May God heal the man’s heart and let him know that there is still hope.
Praised be Jesus Christ!