Hi y'all,

Mason and I headed to the Barnyard this last Saturday to do another SPSE outing. Paul showed up as well. We passed out Gospel cards and a pamphlet I had made a while back explaining the real meaning of Halloween or All Hallows Tide from a Catholic perspective. It includes the intercession of the saints, purgatory, death and salvation with a proclamation of the Gospel and invitation to repent, believe, and join the Church.

Here is Mason's report:

"Tiffany is a non-catholic Christian and is involved in a local faith community. She just lost her son Karl in a motorcycle accident and was asking for prayers. She took a pamphlet on suffering, the pillar of fire/truth booklet, and ‘happiness is living a virtuous life’. I told her we would pray for her and her son.

Lynn is a Baptist who has always been interested in learning about other religions. She took various pamphlets, and discussed many aspects of the faith. I spoke to her about how Christ instituted His church, which is only one church, and gave her a pillar of fire/truth pamphlet.

A couple was passing by both wearing Halloween T-shirts that glow in the dark. I struck up a brief chat and learned that they designed the T-shirts themselves. I gave them an All Hallows Tide pamphlet so they could learn the history behind Halloween along with some other Catholic truths.

Misty just had back surgery and, since that, is not feeling any sensation in her foot. After that surgery, her dog dug a hole and she unwittingly stepped into, breaking her foot. She didn’t feel the pain so it went untreated for a little while. Now she’s in a cast and a wheelchair until it heals. We gave her a pamphlet on suffering, and promised to pray for her.

Ken and Bob are Baptists and were asking us how Catholics can know if they’re going to go to Heaven. I explained to him the need to be in the state of sanctifying grace, and what that is. We spoke about how salvation was dependent on more than just faith alone, but how we live as well; to “run the full race, so as not to be disqualified”. He was also curious about mortal sins versus venial sins, and if Catholics still go to confession. I explained what comprises a mortal sin, and how we are required to confess to God either way, but that those more serious sins need to be forgiven by Christ through a priest, per the special grace Christ gave to his apostles when he breathed on them. He took a pamphlet on salvation, and also “not by faith alone”.

Andre from Columbia stopped by and was thrilled to see our Spanish materials all for free. He took a miraculous medal necklace and some pamphlets, blessed himself, thanked us, shook our hands and left."

Here is Paul's report:

"Spoke for a few minutes with Joe and Judy. Joe told me he believes Heaven is real because he died twice while getting heart surgery and during this near death experience he believes he saw heaven. It was such an impactful moment in his life that he actually teared up telling me about it. Tried to give him a few tracts but he said because he doesn’t know how to read he wouldn’t be able to benefit. Prayers needed for him and Judy.

Also chatted with Tony. Tony used to be a preacher and we talked about a lot of views we hold in common - mostly that you must love God - not just the things he gives. I challenged him “Jesus said if we love him we must obey his commandments. With so many Protestant denominations holding their own view of what it means to obey Jesus - how are we to know what it means to love Jesus?” This gave him pause and he thought about it a bit. Eventually he took some tracts from us and thanked us for the conversation. Hoping that this interaction will cause him to evaluate the claim of the Catholic Church as the one true church that Jesus founded."

And my report:

"Freddy Robinson from McCormic is Christian and goes to an AME church. He took a Gospel card and then asked if there were only Adam and Eve and then two sons where did they find wives? I explained that if we take the Bible narrative in its literal sense Adam and Eve after the fall still had quite a long life. If Eve was fertile when created, they would have had many children, including women that the two sons who happen to be mentioned could have chosen from which was allowed because genetic defects would not have resulted. He then changed subjects to talk about how at his church they had a group of praise and worship dancers who reherse before they come and he believes worship should be spontaneous. He asked if we had praise dances. I told him in European Catholic Churches we do not because of the cultural context but in African churches yes. I explained that worship from our hearts can be spontaneous, but not to disregard preparation and planned organized forms of worship. I gave him the example that it is not wrong for a preacher to prepare his sermon or for a church goer to prepare their appearance in a special formal way before going to church even if God judges the heart. He agreed and understood my point. He came back and said that he knows someone who is a great preacher and preaches spontaneously but does know his Bible well. I explained also that the heart of the issue is outward show for the wrong motives. We can do good things for the wrong reasons, but God judges our hearts. Also it's a both/and scenario - preparation and praise from the heart. I explained the Catholic Church liturgies are formal and organized as Paul said it should be in his first letter to the Corinthians. He also talked about how he doesn't believe women should preach at church and I told him the Catholic church still holds to this tradition from the Bible. We talked about other subjects like prayer. Mason gave him a pamphlet on the virtuous life and he talked more about his personal interest in wild game. Now of course we found something in common, me being a hunter and all. And I learned something new. After your skin a racoon for eating leave a paw on it so you know someone isn't sneaking you a house cat. Apparently when a racoon and cat are skinned you can't tell the difference. We didn't get into the difference in taste but logically they must taste the same too. So next time I'm out ordering racoon I'll remember to ask the chef to leave a paw on it!"

Peace,

Caleb