Boise

Country: United States
State or province: Idaho

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Lucy Stamm
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Reason to Hope - 2024-03-17

March 24, 2024

Things don’t remain bleak for long, it seems. So thank you again for your prayers for the Boise Catholic street evangelization effort.

A clean-cut man in his 30s or early 40s stopped to thank us for being there. “Eric” is from a neighboring state. Although Catholicism is the second most-followed religion there, Eric said that Catholics feel persecuted. He is sending his four children to Catholic school to protect them from these outside religious influences. However, he asked for prayers for his third child, an 11-year-old daughter named “Simone”. She is a challenging child and pushing back against any kind of faith. We set him up with a Green Scapular, and encouraged him to pray its prayer with faith for his daughter [“Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death”]. He also shared with us a response he once heard from a priest when asked, “What is the difference between Catholicism and [the dominant religion in his hometown]?” The priest replied, “One of us is right and the other is not.” We promised to pray for his daughter. Please join us in praying for salvation for Simone and for all Catholic children who are doubters.

“Christopher”, a pre-teen boy, came for a Rosary, waiting off to one side until some other people who were choosing a Rosary had left. When the evangelist offered him a Rosary “if it’s okay with your folks”, he hurried to the table and picked up a Rosary. Asked if he were familiar with the devotion, he made a slow and reverent Sign of the Cross. When asked what school he attended, he named a nearby Catholic school. He then proceeded to stand there and silently work through the opening prayers of the Rosary. Once he finished them, e. Lucy asked if he planned to become a priest. “I hope so,” he solemnly replied. E. Chuck then gave him a copy of the prayer card for Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, for those times he had problems in his life. He didn’t know that prayer yet, and gratefully received it. As he left to return to his family at the nearby restaurant, one evangelist got a rash of the God-bumps and wondered aloud if we had just been visited by a future Saint. Thank you, Lord, for all the faithful Catholic children out there. Please keep them faithful, O God, and may their example inspire the doubters.

Two teenage boys on skateboards, decidedly local, interrupted our offer of a free Rosary with a snarky, “I don’t speak English” in a badly accented foreign language. Barely in time, the evangelist remembered how to say “God bless you” in the same language. He called it to their retreating forms, but to no visible effect. Pray for all the mistakenly self-assured out there who are trying to keep religion at arms length, that they may be surprised by the love God has for them.

“Stephen” (FKA Justin) rolled by on his skateboard. This was the first time we have seen him since his long conversation with us a month ago. He said, “No time to stop and talk but I (still don’t like God)” Please continue to pray for Stephen’s conversion.

A family stopped so a couple of the children could get a Rosary. Then the boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old, came back and asked for another Rosary for his father. We let him have one. Then he came back again and asked for another one for his sister. “Is she here?” we asked. “Yes,” he said, pointing to his family group at the other end of the business park. “Then have her come over and pick one out,” we suggested. He left and never came back. 🙁

A visitor stopped to chat awhile, telling us how crowded it had been in the square the night before. Perhaps that’s why we didn’t have many takers for our selection of green Rosaries.

A homeless man on a bike named “Al” stopped for a Rosary. He had grown up Catholic, but now held many of his own theories about faith and church. The evangelist corrected his historical errors, which he accepted without argument, but it did not change his belief that the Bible is incomplete. As the evangelist presented our need for an authority outside of ourselves to guide us, and that we find this through the Church rooted in Christ its Head, he interrupted to talk about various Eastern philosophies. He had to leave but asked if we would be back next week and we assured him we would be there. Pray that Al will put his whole trust in our crucified and risen Lord.

The angry, heavyset, young adult man went by again. Again, at our offer of a free Rosary, he responded through gritted teeth, not quite as politely as last time. “I find it hard to be civil to you,” he said. May God grant him salvation and self-control, a Gift of the Holy Spirit.

A woman stopped to thank us for being out there. She had talked to e. Lucy years ago about joining our team, but things in life didn’t let her do so. Still, she was very happy that we were still coming to the street week after week, year after year. May God bless her for her encouragement!

A young-adult couple were riding their bikes to the river to go fishing, but stopped to pick out a Rosary apiece. The man, sporting a long black beard, was Christian but said he had little familiarity with the Rosary. So, the evangelist presented the how’s and why’s of the prayer and encouraged them to pray it together when they got to the river. Pray that they are united in Christ.

Another young-adult couple (we think she was pregnant) stopped for a Rosary. She said, “Oh yes, I’m very familiar with the Rosary.” (But evidently the man wasn’t, because e. Lucy told him about Jesus.) Pray that she can guide him to put his trust in Christ our Lord.

A gymnastics meet was finishing up and, this time, at least a half dozen of the families stopped for a Rosary.

Altogether, the two evangelists gave away 15-20 Rosaries and its pamphlet, 1 Green Scapular, and 1 Our Lady Undoer of Knots prayer card.

Please pray for us again today? Ask God to send people to us with their hearts prepared to perceive their need for Our Savior Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church, and that much good fruit for His Kingdom comes of today’s efforts.

Thanks to God’s answer to your prayers, we remain encouraged. So thank you again for your prayers and other support for this apostolate. In turn, may God protect and greatly bless you and all those you love!

“Go with the strength you have” (Judg 6:14).