Boise

Country: United States
State or province: Idaho

Team Leader
Lucy Stamm
Contact

Admin
Login

Team Badges

Visibly Catholic - 2020-01-26

February 2, 2020

Visibly Catholic, we hope to draw others closer to God through His Church. So thank you again for your prayers for Boise’s Catholic street evangelization effort. Two evangelists were available last week.

Although it rained steadily, there was steady foot traffic during last week’s session. A remodeling show was going on in the convention center.

One convention exhibitor, taking a vape break, came over. She attends Mass with a community of questionable canonical standing. Evangelist Lucy pointed out to her changes in personnel at a local parish, and its now refreshing emphasis on growth in personal holiness. She invited our visitor to attend Mass there and gave her a copy of our map with its address, thumbnail of the church building, and Mass and Reconciliation times. She showed us photos of the custom-made Rosaries she sells. (On his way home, evangelist Chuck remembered a previous encounter with the woman, recognizing the story of Rosaries made for a big wedding.) In the end, the woman decided to take one of our “mission Rosaries”, since she didn’t have one with her.

Our previous visitor, “Alicia”, turned out to be a salesperson from the convention. Although raised Christian, she had walked away from religion a long time ago. But, she added, now that she has a 4-year-old daughter, she thought maybe she should look into it. She accepted a Rosary, its pamphlet, and a kerygma. Then she launched into her sales pitch on her product from inside the convention.

A man, accompanying 3 boys (ages about 3-8), stopped. Each boy chose a Rosary. The two older ones accepted its pamphlet as well.

While evangelist Lucy was finishing up with the dad and sons, a man and woman in their mid-20s approached (“Anna” and companion). Already Catholic, Anna was thrilled to see Rosaries displayed in public. He, also Catholic, is from a neighboring state, When the evangelist asked if he had connected with a local parish for Mass this weekend, he assured her that he had attended Mass the previous night (in anticipation of Sunday). He did accept a Rosary and its brochure for someone he knew.

A man in a thoroughly damp sweatshirt stopped briefly. He accepted a Rosary, but not the pamphlet on how to pray it.

“John”, the parking machine servicer, had a long conversation with evangelist Chuck, mostly relating clever things said by a priest speaker widely known within certain addiction recovery groups.

“Walt” stopped and talked with evangelist Chuck. He told Chuck his theory of what really made Adam fall when Eve did. When offered a Bible, he declined because it was not his preferred translation.

Walt’s friend “Jose” passed by as we were setting up. Wearing only a sweatshirt, he asked if we were staying dry, commenting that he sure wasn’t.

“Ketchup Kid”, accompanied by a familiar-looking girl, stopped briefly. Quickly admitting that they’d already received Rosaries, they thanked us for being there.

A young college-aged couple stopped, he is a non-Catholic Christian and she was “mostly Catholic”. They were attending different churches together (“church surfing”, he called it). But each took a Rosary and pamphlet, as well as a map of area parishes.

A father with two young sons stopped, he did not know much about the Rosary but was attentive to our description of it and its benefits. All three took a Rosary; the father took the pamphlet.

Two people (at separate times) didn’t stop, but took the Rosary out of evangelist Chuck’s hand.

A woman came out of the convention, a believer but not Catholic. When evangelist Lucy assured her the Rosary was for all Christians and focused on Christ. she decided to take one. But she had a hard time choosing a color until she spotted the yellow (!) one in evangelist Chuck’s hand. She took that one.

A woman (late teens or early 20s) told us she had received a Rosary from us before, and had it hanging from her rear view mirror. Evangelist Lucy encouraged her to take one to use for prayer, and she did.

Altogether, the two evangelists gave away 15-20 Rosaries. as well as a few copies of the kerygma and maps to area parishes.

Please pray for us again today, on this Almost-A-National-Holiday, when most people watch a professional sports playoff. Please ask God to send people to us prepared to perceive their need for Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church, and that much good fruit for His Kingdom comes of today’s efforts.

What’s more recognizably Catholic (and misunderstood) than the Rosary? We educate, calm fears, and encourage prayer. So thank you again for your prayers, your encouragement, and other support for this apostolate. In turn, may God protect and greatly bless you and those you love!

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