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.)