Boise, ID
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The following story comes to us from team leader Lucy with our team in Boise, ID:
Interest in the Rosary continues. So, thank you again for your prayers for the Boise Catholic street evangelization effort.
The non-Christian sect had their pamphlet rack in “our corner” again, for the 3rd week out of the last 4. It seemed, though, to be a smaller meeting this time. Also, a comic convention was going on in the main convention center, with lots of people in costume heading that way. So, we ended up setting up near the north spoke in an area of temporary shade. The temperature was in or near triple digits again.
A year or so ago, during the heat of the elections, a 35ish man had stopped at the table to yell at us. At that time, it came out that the man hated his father and, since his father was a Christian and held certain political beliefs, the man therefore hated Christians and certain politics. Though we had nothing political on display, the man conflated the political and the religious. During last week’s session, he showed up again. And once again, spittle flying, he shouted and cursed, jabbing his finger at us and threatening to flip over the table of Rosaries. He told us he had been thrilled by the tragedy at the Mass in Minnesota the previous week, and said he hoped the same thing would happen to all of us. Screaming and raving, he naturally attracted a lot of attention in the plaza. While we waited for him to wind down, a tall teenage boy walked up to engage with the man. However, this resulted only in the man’s redirecting his rage from us to the boy, keeping the man wound up. We thanked the now-trembling teen, but encouraged him to move on and not get caught up in the man’s craziness. When the man finally stormed off, several people approached to see if we were okay. One was a man in a costume saying he was “just a humanist helping humans”. Also approaching us was a 25ish couple (who had passed our table earlier and declined a Rosary). They said that, though they didn’t believe in God, we didn’t deserve to be treated that way. We thanked them for their kind words and carried on. Pray that Satan’s grip on the angry man will be broken.
A pair of young people, who had met just moments before at the comic convention, responded to our offer of a Rosary quite differently. The young woman declined a Rosary, saying that she was a Christian but that the young man might take one. The young man, sweating profusely in a costume, did indeed want a Rosary, saying he “had always been interested in having one”. He wondered if it was okay to wear the Rosary, and we said it was because it might encourage those who saw it to pray. It seemed, though, that he believed all religions are basically the same. Chuck pointed out that Jesus was the only one who died for us. In the meantime and after hearing how Christ-centric the Mysteries were, the young woman decided to select a Rosary, too. Later, we saw the young man crossing the plaza, heading back to the convention on his own. Pray that the young lady remains steadfast in faith and that the young man places all his faith in Our Lord and Savior.
Praised be Jesus Christ!