Detroit - Eastern Market

Country: United States
State or province: Michigan

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Mark Nemecek
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Taking the Good with the Bad - 04/25/26

April 28, 2026

Our second team outing to Eastern Market was an interesting mix of good and bad experiences. First, three others were scheduled to evangelize with me, but all of them cancelled that morning. I was alone for the first half hour. Thankfully, three others were able to join on short notice. Two college students, Phil and Shaun, had experience doing campus outreach, but this was their first time doing street evangelization. There was a steady stream of people passing us but very few wanted to talk to us. After a while, Shaun wisely pulled out his Rosary to pray. In between approaches, I gave Phil some general pointers and advice for street evangelism. He will start a two-year term as a FOCUS missionary in the fall, so he wants to prepare with more experience in outreach and evangelization.

A fourth evangelist, Leonard, arrived halfway through the outing. Leonard has a gift to "break the ice" and start conversations while I'm much more comfortable with taking the conversation to the next level, so we make a good team. I brought up the possibility of splitting up into two pairs but the others weren't ready for that yet. Shaun later had a lengthy conversation with a middle-aged Baptist named Brian. Brian had seen Rosaries before but always thought they were just jewelry and knew basically nothing about Catholicism. Shaun explained the spiritual meaning behind the Rosary and its purpose to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. Shaun prayed with Brian then he accepted a Rosary as well as a pamphlet on how to pray it.

Leonard offered a Rosary to one man passing our table. Without breaking stride, the man immediately removed his baseball cap to reveal a yarmulke underneath and he recited the Shema prayer, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." About ten minutes later, we had a longer conversation with a more friendly Jewish man. He had an interest in St. Francis because of his love for animals and named his dog Frannie in his honor. He was disappointed that we didn't have any St. Francis medals but he reached for a Common Objections pamphlet and we had a good conversation for a few minutes. We parted ways amicably and I said "Shabbat Shalom"—"Peaceful Sabbath"—then he smiled and repeated it back to me.

Over the course of 2.5 hours, we gave away a dozen Miraculous Medals, two dozen Rosaries, and a few different pamphlets. We also prayed with several people. In the end, it was time well spent and a good chance for new evangelists to get more experience.

Praised be Jesus Christ!