Detroit - Eastern Market

Country: United States
State or province: Michigan

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Mark Nemecek
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"Everything Happens for a Reason" - 05/25/24

May 31, 2024

Steve and I returned to Eastern Market on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Eric, a relatively new evangelist, joined us for his first time at the market. Steve stayed at our table for a little bit but eventually stocked up on supplies and roamed around the market to find people to evangelize. Meanwhile, Eric and I stayed at our table on the main corner.

A middle-aged woman passed by without paying much attention to us. However, her mother saw our display of sacramentals and stopped to talk to us. At first, the daughter stood at a distance, waiting for her mother, but came back to the table when she realized it would be a longer conversation. Eric offered to pray for her intentions and asked if there was anything that she wanted to pray for us. The elderly woman opened up, with tears in her eyes, and talked about two different people in her family that have terminal cancer. Eric and I listened and tried to comfort her. Eric then led a prayer out loud, praying for the extended family, especially the two sick relatives, for their physical healing but more importantly for their spiritual healing and the relationships within the family. At the end of the prayer, the mother appeared relieved and said "everything happens for a reason" and was happy to talk to us that morning. I noticed that both of the women made the Sign of the Cross so I asked if they were Catholic and the daughter said yes but showed that she was running out of patience and started leaning away. The mother started to talk about how the daughter was married at a nearby Catholic church but she too started to walk away. We simply ended the conversation by saying "God bless" and promising to remember them in prayer.

Near the beginning of the outing, we gave a Rosary to a letter carrier who stopped to empty a mailbox. After she left, we noticed that she dropped the Rosary on the sidewalk so I walked over and picked it up. About twenty minutes later, the same mail carrier came back to the mailbox and Eric pointed out that she dropped her Rosary. She thanked Eric and quickly came over to the table to pick up another.

Many thanks to Anne, another evangelist in the Detroit area, who recruited several evangelists, including Eric, to evangelize at Eastern Market.