Tracting at the Christian(?) bookstore

I went off to Courtenay on Saturday to take my daughter to Sylvan and then while she was being tutored, I went downtown to do some fishing. It was cold, so I decided to start off by walking three blocks up the street, across and then back down the street the three blocks back to my starting point, in front of my usual spot, the Christian bookstore. I handed out many tracts and tracted the bank machine area. I handed out tracts in front of the bookstore for about half an hour and then did my circle route again to warm myself up and repeated this again later.



I noticed on this trip that the fishing was not as good as it had been on the weeks leading up to Christmas. I think a lot of people thought I was a JW and probably 50% of people refused to take a tract. So, I would explain to people that it was a Christian gospel tract and some would take one, but most refused anyways. I did manage to have a conversation with two men who have been in rehab for 2.5 weeks. One didn't want to talk, but the other did. He was being pulled away by the guy that didn't want to talk so I made sure to give them some more tracts for reading later. The one fellow was open, but being pulled away which was too bad.



A couple of times I glanced into the bookstore and each time I felt like the woman in there was giving me a disapproving stare. She's not usually there when I am. It's usually the store owner Myles and he's never expressed any problem to me. After my last round I was in front of the bookstore again and there weren't very many people on the street so I was just standing there reading my bible (Matthew 24) (which I'll point out, I bought from his store a month ago along with the tabbies I bought the week after. I always make a point of buying something from his store either before or after I'm doing "my thing") and the woman came out of the store and asked if I would come into the store and talk to Myles on the telephone. I agreed to and went inside.


Myles asked who he was talking to so I said Katie from Gold River. He said "Ohhh, it's you. I was hoping that you could come by the store on Monday and we could talk, but now I realize that you can't. (My village is almost two hours away.) So then he asked if I would stop doing what I'm doing. (I was stunned) He said that he has Christians and non-Christians coming into the store and some have complained about me. He then went on to say that he does "his own thing" with people and asked if I would stop. So, I said "I can't stop what I'm doing and you know this. We are commissioned by Jesus to spread the Gospel, so I will not stop." He said that he has his own ideas and plans. So offered to move up the street. I told him that I would not stop, but wanted to respect his wishes. He then suggested that I talk to whichever store owner I decide to park at. So I explained that I have the right to free speech which includes handing out tracts and it is public property on the sidewalk and I don't require permission from anyone. I explained that the reason I have been in front of his store is for safety reasons because I am doing this alone, but if he would prefer that I move up the street I would do that. He repeated himself by saying "I do my own thing down here", which I took to mean that he was telling me I was on his turf. I explained to him that I can't do this in my village because there are no people on the street and that coming to town gives me a bigger fishing pond. He asked me to call him next time I'm coming into town so we can talk and I've agreed to do this. I think I'll take along my HBKS and T/F C DVD's to loan him if he's interested. Looking around the store and seeing much of the stuff he has in stock, I'm beginning to think he might be one of those "squishy" Christians. I left the store, quite upset and found a bench up the street where I just sat and prayed and then read my bible for a few minutes...just to calm myself. Then I continued my circle route and distributed a few more tracts and my time was up.


I am very disappointed in him but will meet with him and see what he has to say. I'm not going to let him discourage me, but it may mean that I change the way I distribute tracts downtown. I'm trying to think that this may work out even better. I did manage to distribute about 125 tracts.


(I record myself during these activities and last night I listened to the segment where I was talking on the phone with him. I could only hear my side of the conversation and I was amazed at how calm and polite I sounded. Must have been the Holy Spirit working on me because I was really angry and hurt, but it didn't show.)

Mixed feelings about the weekend

This weekend is hard to write about, but I still need to post this. As I've stated before in previous posts, my husband is not saved. Neither of us were before we were married.

We went away this weekend to visit family down island and to attend a "show". I'm very ashamed to confess this, but we went to a "Trailer Park Boys" live show. My husband has been a huge fan of this show for several years and they are on tour right now for the first time. For those that do not know who they are...there's Google. I think most Canadians will know who they are. He had this opportunity to attend this show and bought US tickets. I really felt like I should avoid this show, but if I hadn't have gone, he wouldn't have and he doesn't have any friends to go with. He would have held this against me...so I felt like I "HAD" to go, so I did so I wouldn't ruin his weekend. I told him that I would go on one condition...that I fully intended to try to get a MDB into one of the TPB's hands at some point in the evening and did not want him to interfere with that. He didn't have to be WITH me at the time if he felt uncomfortable about that. He agreed, so we had a deal.

We went to the show and it was full of vulgarity and blasphemy, which I had completely expected, but I did not put the show down or express dissatisfaction to him. At the end of the show, two of the characters came back out on stage for a couple of autographs and I made my way to the stage to try to make a hand off. There was one guy in front of me and then me and it looked like I might have the opportunity to pass "Ricky" the Canadian, eh MDB but at the last second, he said to the guy in front of me "Sorry, I gotta go" and he walked off the stage. Drat! So I threw the MDB on the stage and it flew quite a ways and landed in the middle. They didn't come back on while we were there, so likely a stage hand will get the tract as the stage was quite bare and it was sitting there quite obvious. I re-joined my husband and we left.

On the way home, we talked about the show. We had been talking earlier in the day about blasphemy. He regularly takes the Lord's name in vain and I've started pointing it out. Not in a nasty way or anything but just in a quiet, gentle tone. I've even suggested using the name of Buddha or Hitler instead if he feels the need...but please not the name of our Creator! I think he is softening about this and I can tell he's been thinking about it. So I said "You know...I think the show could be just as funny without all the blasphemy" and he nodded. I went on to say "I think a lot of people just say stuff like this out of habit because no one ever corrects them on it, but to a Christian, it is hugely offensive and to God it must be 100 times more offensive". Then I went on to use the analogy of using his mother's name as a curse word and he said he hadn't really thought of that. So...I was able to use this opportunity to witness to him. Plus, I tracted the bathroom at the theatre *snicker*

And, on another note we also went to the new Clint Eastwood movie "Gran Torino". It was rated 18A in Canada for violence and language. Again, I had huge hesitation but gave in as he LOVES Clint Eastwood and we don't have a theatre near us so this would be his only chance to see it on the big screen. It was full of blasphemy as well. *sighs* So...I visited the washrooms three times and tracted them. There was an interesting scene in the movie where Clint's character goes to confession at a Roman-Catholic church. Clint confesses his few "sins" and then the priest said "I absolve you of all your sins. Now go do 10 Hail Mary's and 5 Our Fathers." I gasped. Today at supper, Nels (my husband) asked "Why did you seem shocked when in the movie that priest was talking to Clint after his confessions?" (Wow...cool, he noticed!!!) I explained that in the movie, he said that he absolved Clint of all his sins and that is wrong. Nels asked "Well, isn't he representing God?". I told him that 1) The only person who can absolve anyone of their sin is Jesus Christ...a mere man cannot do that and it is sad that people believe that they are forgiven because a priest says they are. and 2) Saying some prayers does not save you from judgement. Anyone can read or recite prayers and that "works" cannot save someone either. This resulted in a very calm and enjoyable discussion between us over dinner and it was quite relaxing. I really believe that God is working on him.

Also, after 12 years of marriage, we finally met with a lawyer today to start the process of getting our wills made up. It's something I've been wanting to do for YEARS and finally it's happening. Recently, my eternal matters have been taken care of and now I can finally get my earthly legal matters taken care of. The lawyer interviewed us today and the question of once we die, what are our wishes as far as our remains go? I hadn't expected that question, but I had just listened to a John Piper mini sermon about burial vs. cremation and he leaned toward burial. He said it wasn't really biblical, but that the burning of bodies (especially children) was more of a Pagan tradition so he suggested burial. So I said "Well, I just listened to a sermon about that and Julianna (our 11 y.o. daughter) and I would like to be buried, rather than cremated. He said he needed to think about his remains but would probably do the same thing as us. So then he said "I don't know why it matters...it's not like you're going to live forever anyways"...which I didn't understand how that fit with the conversation...but I said "Actually, we will live forever...it's just a matter of WHERE we'll live forever". The look on his face spoke volumes.

We stopped at Costco for a bit and I tracted the book department. It was great fun. I put the MDB in the tax tips books, Mind Game in THE SECRET, Celebrity Intell tests in the Rolling Stone music books, MDB's in the Jesus books by Deepak Chopra (I'm almost afraid to see what he's written...I DID NOT BUY IT!), and Science Proves the Bible in the Ripley's Believe it or Not books.

And lastly...on our way home today we stopped in the city to get groceries. He dropped me off to run another errand and then caught up with us at the grocery store a bit later. He had this funny grin on his face and I said "What's up?" He says..."I see you've been in the bathroom here." LMBO!!! I had tracted the bathroom when I arrived at the store. BUSTED! It is interesting that he no longer scolds me for tracting, but is seeing it in more of a humorous way.

My husband is definitely seeing a different me since the academy. The "new improved" me I think. God is working on both of us...daily and I praise Him for HIS faithfulness to me. He has taken a very difficult and uncomfortable weekend for me, and turned it into an opportunity for witnessing. :O)

Email from an unsaved friend

I had a conversation with a friend who stopped by during the Christmas holidays. She's not saved. She can't understand why I feel the need to do what I do because she's not saved. I followed up our conversation with an email explaining to her that what I do is out of my love for God and my love for people and that I am trying to be obedient to the Word of God and fulfill the Great Commission. I didn't use all the bible jargon because that would just confuse the issue. I couldn't understand why all my "unsaved friends" would "ditch" me when I haven't even spoken to them about the Law or Gospel. She obviously couldn't speak for our other friends, but she has spoken for herself, and I'm just so incredibly saddened by this:

To comment on your other thoughts, I can't speak for others and how they are acting or not acting but me personally, I'm glad that you are fine and wish you much happiness. Do what you need to do to fulfill all your needs. Be Happy! Most of us wish we could do this or that or we dream of a better way but for the most part we do little or nothing to achieve what we may be searching for. We just cruise along and at the end of the day hope it's all OK. Does that make sense? But you are finding your way .... making it better!

So, having said that, I have always enjoyed your company Katie and I think we have had many neat memories together. Yes, you have changed and I hope the new you still has time for the old me. Regarding your new path of Evangelism, it's not my cup of tea and I hope you respect that as I respect what you are doing. "Whatever floats your boat!" "Agree to disagree". "Accept each other for who we are."

I value our friendship and miss our visits of days gone by. I don't mind engaging in meaningful 'gospel' conversation now and again (God knows I need all the help I can get, lol) but on the other hand, I hope we would have other things to gab about too. Or other activities or common interests to share. So, if you're on the same page as me, I'm in my happy place! If not, I guess we'll figure something else out.

This is how I responded: (Note: I have edited out stuff that is not related, and Nels is my unsaved husband, whom she had asked about in the PS of her email)

I truly appreciate your honesty. I will make you a promise that I will not discuss the evangelism with you again after this email. It is a huge part of my life but your friendship means THAT much to me. :`O)

As far as Nels goes…he is not yet saved. But, he is very supportive in spite of the fact that he doesn’t understand. I’m actually quite surprised at how supportive he is. He prefers that I don’t “work” when he’s around and I respect that. I cannot expect him to understand, because he’s not there…yet. And I say yet…with hope. My dream is that all my family and friends come to faith…but I know it can’t be MY doing…it’s God’s. All I can do is present the truth in love, answer questions, and love them despite my sadness in knowing what is to come, without faith. God does not want us to waste our time, preaching to people whose hearts are sealed to the truth when there are so many lost souls out there who are receptive. Somewhere in the bible it says something about “shaking off the dust and leaving” if you are not welcomed. So that is the plan…eventually! :O)

I know that my experience has changed me. They said it would likely be life-changing and they were right! I had many “defining moments” when I was in Cerritos and realized that I needed to change several areas in my life that were interfering with my walk. I had a lot of sin in my own life that I hadn’t dealt with and it prevented me from fulfilling all of my goals during my training. I was a mess the first two days, but it was very healing. I also saw married couples (there was actually a young couple attending on their Honeymoon if you can believe that!!! LOL) at this training who were loving, supportive and cheering each other on and I realized how much I wanted THAT. (Commandment #10 – Thou shall not covet!! hehe) So…when I came home my biggest priority was to try to get our marriage on track. I asked Nels if he was happy with our marriage and he said that he wasn’t really, but had gotten used to it. So I told him (again!) that I am also not happy with it. So I said that we can do nothing…and THIS is as good as it will be, or we could work on it. We’ve decided to work on it. We both know that I can’t fix it, and HE can’t fix it, but maybe WE with God’s help can fix it…and he has agreed. We are making some progress, but the big work will start next month. I have done some reading and self-examination and immediately saw stuff that I was doing that was detrimental. I was more or less doing it for revenge for his behaviour over the years, but I certainly have my fair share of responsibility for our marriage being in the state that it is. I have made just a few corrections and changes in my actions and have seen very encouraging progress already. Again…I see firsthand, evidence that God gives us a new heart with new desires!

*climbs off her soapbox* I hereby promise that I will not talk about Evangelism with you (and of course, you are always welcome to ask)…(Left hand is on virtual stack of bibles…lol)

Anyways…have a good weekend…

Love, K

I'm not sure if I have done the right thing. But, if I told her that I would continue to talk about evangelism, I'm quite certain the friendship would be over. She hasn't been THAT close of a friend the past couple of years but I do want to preserve whatever is left, and hopefully she will feel provoked to asked questions down the road. I know exactly what she will be facing if she doesn't get right with God at some point in this life, so part of me just wants to scream. But, if she's not open, I can only pray for more opportunities for her to hear the truth somewhere along the path before it is too late.

I do have to respect her for the fact that she's been honest with me, which is far more than my other "friends" have been.

If God does not save her, on judgement day, she will think back to our conversations and remember...This is what she tried to warn me about.

Please keep my friend "C" in your prayers.