Boise

Country: United States
State or province: Idaho

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Lucy Stamm
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Hallelujah! God sent us a youth minister last week - 2019-10-20

October 28, 2019

Hallelujah! God sent us a youth minister last week. So thank you so much for your prayers for Boise's Catholic street evangelization effort! Three evangelists were available.

* Our own evangelist Chuck has had lots of experience with junior-high/middle-school kids! He has just been unavailable for the last several weeks, due to a death in his extended family. Having heard of our "kid challenge", he had been praying about it, especially to St. Philip Neri. He was a bit delayed in arriving for this session, but the first group of teens didn't arrive until after he did. (Another sign of God's hand in this?)

* Then the first group of 8-9 students in their early teens came to us, each eager to acquire another Rosary. Evangelist Chuck surprised them, when he gently admonished them that the Rosaries were not toys, not jewelry, not decorations, but represented something we took very seriously. He said that if they wanted another Rosary, they should stay and pray it with us so we could show them how it was done. Many of the older teens in the first group left on hearing this, but three young women stayed and, shivering, prayed through the beginning of the Rosary with us.

* Evangelist Lucy, having learned by necessity a little of spiritual warfare, corrected everyone who made the Sign of the Cross backwards; they all made it correctly at the end. One girl in the first group remained silent while the others prayed. Lucy cajoled her into actually saying the prayers out loud, and she at least began to move her lips. By the end, she was actually speaking. May God bless her!

* A bit later in the session, this whole process was repeated with a second group of 5 teens. This group really came alive and their prayer chorus could be clearly heard across the walkway, 30 to 50 feet away. They were teasing one young man, possibly named "Jim", who was having some trouble at school. Evangelist Mike encouraged Jim to pray and promised to pray for him. Evangelist Chuck took the opportunity to teach the youth how to use the Rosary prayers to pray for someone in particular. The group enthusiastically took that to heart and turned and prayed a Hail Mary for Jim. We saw him again later. He had given his Rosary to a younger boy who was with him, maybe a little brother?

* While the second group was praying with evangelist Chuck, a group of four adults approached evangelist Mike for a Rosary. One man, an inactive Catholic, was rattling off the Rosary prayers in a mocking tone of voice. Evangelist Lucy said, "Please! We're teaching them the prayers!" Asked what parish he went to, the man replied, "But I just moved here!" When he said what part of town he lived in, evangelist Lucy offered him a map which showed his parish and Mass times. He declined the map, but pulled out his phone and took a picture of the entry for his parish.

* A nonbeliever passed us again this week, proudly declaring he didn't base his life "on fiction." (Neither do we!) He didn't respond when asked why he said that, just saying over his shoulder that he preferred reality. May God grant him to come to Ultimately Reality, God Himself!

* A non-Catholic Christian declared, in passing by us quickly, that he prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ and not to Mary. He did not respond to evangelist Mike when he said that we pray through her to Christ.

* A group of 6-8 fraternity guys, dressed formally, were coming from their initiation ceremony at a nearby restaurant. One Catholic from the group stopped to talk. He took a Rosary and pamphlet. His friend stopped, too. Soon after, a second group of fraternity guys stopped.

* From a group of people apparently caught up in the same-sex lifestyle, two came to the table for Rosaries and pamphlets. Evangelist Chuck talked with one, who listened politely as he spoke of praying the Rosary. Our visitor only asked if we were Catholic, then thanked us and moved on.

* A man, perhaps in his late 20s and sporting dread locks, had stopped for a Rosary about a month ago. Glad to see us again, he gave evangelist Chuck a friendly hug. He told us that he had in fact tried praying the Rosary. He had also showed it to his Catholic parents, which made them happy.

* Altogether, we gave away 15-20 Rosaries & pamphlet, 3 copies of the *kerygma*, and 1 bookmark of "Jesus Knocking".

Please pray for us again today? Please ask God to send people to us prepared to perceive their need for the Rosary and the Holy Catholic Church, and that much good fruit for His Kingdom comes of today's efforts.

God supplies whatever we need! So thank you again for your prayers, encouragement, and other support for this apostolate. In turn, may God protect and bless you and all those you love!

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