Boise

Country: United States
State or province: Idaho

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Lucy Stamm
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The Power of Prayer - 2025-Jul-13

July 20, 2025

God is real and He hears prayers. So, thank you again for your prayers for the Boise Catholic street evangelization effort.

A woman, from a large city in a conservative southern state, was in town for only a few more hours. As she took a short walk to pass the time, she encountered us. A non-Catholic Christian, she was happy to see the crosses (on the Rosaries) displayed in public. She also commented on how many family groups were out happily walking together here in downtown Boise. E. Lucy explained that our city, too, had begun to face unrest and troubles around 2020, but right away a group of Christians began a 10-day prayer campaign against it. Within three days, the unrest had dissipated and by the 8th or 9th day, family groups were out sight-seeing together. The evangelist reminded our visitor about how Jeremiah 29:7 exhorts us to pray for the city in which we live. “That’s right!” our visitor replied, “I had forgotten that verse. I’m going to go home and tell my church your story and get a prayer campaign going there.” May God restore peace to her community and to our world.

The man from last month, who had chosen the striking chain Rosary with cube-shaped blue beads for his dying father (“Joe/Jose”), came back to get another Rosary. He had given the blue one to a cousin during his father’s wake a few days later, and was disappointed that we didn’t have another just like it. We did have a few other chain Rosaries still on hand, so he chose one of them for himself. May God bless him as he prays the Rosary.

First-time evangelist, “e. Nancy”, joined us. A charming, retired nurse and Rosary maker from a nearby parish, she felt the Lord was asking her to evangelize with us, although she didn’t “want to”. A good sport, she came to watch us in action. Unfortunately, the triple-degree weather kept a good many people indoors so foot traffic was light. Still, she’d be a valuable addition to the team. Please pray for Nancy, that she accurately discerns God’s will in this. Please also send up a prayer for her sister-in-law, who has eye problems.

A scruffy-looking, seemingly troubled, young-adult man on a green electric scooter surprised us by stopping for a Rosary. He was not familiar with the devotion, and when asked if he were Christian, he replied that he “used to be”. The evangelist explained the devotion to him as a way to get to know Jesus. Our visitor listened politely, but was shifting from foot to foot, until she told him that people who use the Rosary reverently often find peace and protection. Then his hopes and spirits seem to lift, and he selected a Rosary for himself and took the booklet on how to pray it. May God meet him as he tries the Rosary prayer.

“Giuseppe”, a young-adult man on a bicycle with family from a European island nation, stopped with the story that he was “doing a research paper on ‘The Great Apostasy’”. E. Lucy told him, “It never happened.” He then turned to e. Chuck, who was standing nearer and easier to converse with over the business park’s sound system. Giuseppe told the evangelist that he was on his way to a nearby parish in the hope of talking to a priest about the issue. Though he identified as a firm believer in a pseudo-Christian religion, Giuseppe had been reading about and listening to podcasts on the Catholic Church by reputable Catholics for at least four years. E. Chuck began by also challenging the notion that there ever was a great apostasy, and that the early Church Fathers showed a very Catholic Church consistently rooted in the New Testament. Giuseppe stayed to talk for an hour. Though he was very interested in what the Catholic Church taught, his faith was rooted in felt experience. He told us that his prayers, said through his current religious understanding, cured him of illnesses that had bothered him since childhood. When he was touring Europe and had become destitute, the Catholic Church did not help him but his current religionists did. Also, when he attended a Catholic Mass at his military base, he saw men there whom he knew to be hard drinkers and another who was openly an adulterer. It didn’t matter to Giuseppe that the Catholic Church helps millions of the poor, that healing miracles are well documented, and that there are holy Catholics whose lives have been changed by their faith. It only mattered to him what he himself had seen and experienced. As a nice Spirit-filled finale to the session, the four evangelists came together and prayed for him. He then accepted a copy of the Catechism as well as a map to area parishes. Please join us in praying for Giuseppe. May the Holy Spirit use his continuing fascination with the Catholic Church to draw him to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

E. James offered free Rosaries to two couples walking by. They looked like nice regular people, each in their 50s, and dressed nice-casual. The ladies waved their hands as if to say no, not ignoring us. A man, though, waited until they were nearly out of earshot, then called to us that the Rosary “is from the devil”. We asked God to bless them.

Once e. Nancy joined us, we had almost no takers. (I’ve noticed that when God calls a new evangelist to the team, their first session is usually a “trial by fire”. This time, the trial was of people pretending to ignore us.) But then, as we were putting away the Rosaries at the end of the session, a 30-ish woman stopped who had been a non-Catholic Christian. The evangelist explained the Rosary devotion to her as a way to find out Who Jesus really is when she takes her questions to Him while mediating on the Mysteries. She gladly chose a purple Rosary and accepted the pamphlet on how to pray it. Was this a seed of salvation “just in the nick of time”? We pray so. May God grant her a deep love for the devotion and draw her closer to Himself.

Altogether, the four evangelists gave away 10-15 Rosaries and its pamphlet on how to pray it, as well as a map to area parishes and a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Please pray for us again today? Ask God to send people to us with 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.

God continues to bless this apostolate and send people to us. So, thank you again for all of your support! In turn, may God protect and greatly bless you and all those you love!

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