Hey y'all,

It was a good day for our SPSE Greenville team to be in Anderson, SC! Most of the morning the sky was covered in clouds and there was a cool breeze. Later the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds to stare us down with its hot gaze. Ernesto and I found the first available concrete table and set up. Most of the outdoor tables are first come first serve and cost $12 a day. We see some of the same people there every week selling the same type of items. We also see others who are selling items for the first time. One gentleman told me that he was thankful to us for sharing our faith even though he was not Catholic. He said he doesn't remember seeing anyone out there sharing their faith. I was under the impression that maybe others would do the same. He said they don't usually set up a table, but just walk around passing out tracks or pamphlets.

Here is a report of all we met today:

We got to talking to JJ whom we have met before on a previous outing. This time he looked down and was not very talkative but hovered around the table for sometime. He asked if he could take a Bible and of course we gave him one. He said he wanted to read it. Ernesto and I gave him advice on how to begin reading it. Ernesto also gave him information on a daily Bible study podcast put on by Fr. Michael Schmitz through Ascension Press. I gave him our pamphlets "The Bible Alone?" and "The Truth of the Bible". He also took two Rosaries and Miraculous Medals with the pamphlet "How to Pray the Rosary". He said he was going to give a medal and Rosary to his fiance. This is when we found out the reason for his solemn affect. I asked him for her name so we could pray for them. He said they need a lot of prayer. He said she is very troubled right now and he believes her demons are coming back to torment her. I felt inspired to ask if she had suffered some sort of trauma and he confirmed that she was both raped and molested as a child. I told him I would offer a nine day Novena, explaining the first Novena when Christ just before His ascension into heaven commanded his disciples to pray in Jerusalem until the promised Holy Spirit came which was nine days.

PLEASE JOIN ME IN PRAYING THIS NOVENA (catholicdoors.com/prayers/novenas/p04003.htm) FOR JJ'S FIANCE (NAME UNKNOWN)

Afterwards, a Hispanic lady named Cristina said she was Catholic. She wanted to take a pamphlet on how to pray the Rosary and thanked us for being there. We then met Agnes, an Irish Catholic from New York. She said she was baptized at St. Paul's in New York City. Her father was a eucharistic minister at St. Patrick's Cathedral. She said she is a parishioner at St. Joseph's in Anderson, however she has not been going to Mass because she says she works and has a lot going on. We encouraged her to get back into Mass. She took the pamphlets, "Why be Catholic", "How to Pray the Rosary", and I gave her a St. Patrick Irish Rosary (left over from our time in New York when we passed hundreds of these out at St. Patrick's Day parades).

We then met Viana and her daughter, Hispanic Catholics from Spartanburg who go to Mass at Jesus our Risen Savior. They took a glow in the dark Rosary and the pamphlet "Como Rezar el Rosario". She said she realizes that being close to God is important, otherwise if we are not bad things will happen. A young Hispanic couple named Josalin and Jose stopped by. They both took Miraculous Medals and Josalin took a Marian prayer card for pregnant mothers. They are both Catholics from Mexico and now live in Anderson. Jose said he was a seminarian in Mexico but had to leave because his parents had to make a difficult choice between funding his sister's education and his. Seminary was just too expensive. He is now married and has a five year old who was at home. They wanted to know where they could go to Mass so we gave them contact information for St. Mary's of the Angels in Anderson which has a Spanish Mass. Ernesto relates what he told them in Spanish: "I told them how important it is for us to give our lives to God and He will make sense of our difficulties and our lives will improve. We will still suffer, as Jesus is good and very close to the Father, but still suffered for us, but we need to stop being so afraid of suffering and start being afraid of living without God, since He made us for love and His love heals."

Two men from Honduras, who are Catholic, took two Rosaries, but said they don't go to Mass. I had encouraged them (Ernesto had to translate) to go to Mass, saying that not only do we owe God our worship for all the good He does for us, but because He wants to give us Himself in the Mass so we can grow, becoming better people. Ernesto also encouraged and exhorted them. I then went to the restroom and while I was gone Ernesto had an interaction with Mark Work: "Mark Work is 42 and from New Jersey. There he went to a Catholic school but after moving here when he was only seven was surprised at the lack of Catholic Churches where he lived. He said he used to put on a snake show until an Eastern Diamondback bit him three times on his face, sending him to the hospital. He said he has had a lot of surgeries from various accidents. He took a glow in the dark Rosary and two books, "Rome Sweet Home" by Dr. Scott Hahn, and "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?" by Carl E. Olson. I encouraged him to go back to Mass and worship God weekly. He seemed very interested in reading all about it!"

God is good!