And they call themselves a "Church"

Yesterday was July 1st, Canada Day. My 11 year old daughter, her little friend and I took a drive to the next town, 90 km east of my village. We wanted to participate in some Canada day events and go to a movie, something we cannot do in our home town. There was a community fair in the town centre with various groups who had rented tables to promote their non-profit group. The third table we stopped at belonged to a Lutheran Church. They were offering free photos of participants and once the photo was taken, they would use a special effect on it and then email it to the participant's address. There was also a draw box to win some Veggie Tales prizes. If you wanted to enter the draw, you could stipulate whether or not they could send you an email invitation to their upcoming VBS. There were a couple of women there running the "event". On the table was a display of sample photos which had been edited, and some slips of paper with VBS information on it (time, date, place, age group).

There was not one tract, book, bible, church leaflet, or contact info sheet on the table to be seen. The woman that was greeting, made no effort to even start a conversation with people lined up for their free photo.

I was extremely saddened by the fact that these people showed not one bit of interest in sharing the gospel or having any sort of spiritual conversation with anyone. I felt quite prompted to start up a conversation with the woman at the "front desk" to see if/how she shared the gospel with others...but my daughter had already asked me if this could just be a "fun day out" for her and her friend and I promised her that I would not evangelize. I really had a hard time not handing out tracts or starting conversations but I did keep my promise to her, except for when they were both in the washroom...I handed out tracts to people passing through the hall while I was waiting for them.

The Learning Curve

We went down island to Courtenay for my daughter's tutoring appointment. My husband dropped me off downtown and I went to my little spot, a corner square in the busiest section of town while he went off Geocaching. I began handing out tracts to people (MDBs) and noticed an older, rather unwell looking man sitting on the sidewalk on the sidestreet near where I was handing out tracts. I watched him for a bit as he panhandled. He did not look well, was very unkempt and I finally walked down the street to speak to him. I said "Hello, how are you this morning?" He answered "Hey, hi...nice to see you again. I didn't know you were still here". Obviously he thought that he knew me. I asked him if he was ok and he said yes, I'm just trying to get some money. I asked him if he would like a coffee or a tea and he said yes so I found out he preferred it black. I went to the bakery just around the corner and got him a coffee and the biggest, healthiest looking cookie I could find and took it to him. He thanked me and I asked him if he has a home and he said he did...in an apartment. His mind seemed to drift in and out of lucidity so it was difficult talking to him. I believe he was either suffering from alcohol-induced brain damage or was mentally ill. I asked him if he had a church background and he said that he used to be a Roman-Catholic and then he changed to Anglican, so I told him that I had the same background but that now I was born again and asked him if he was born again. He couldn't really answer this, so I asked him what he thinks will happen to him when he dies. He said he was 56, which shocked the heck out of me because he looked like he was in his 70's. He didn't answer, so I asked him again and couldn't really get an answer. I asked if he believed in Heaven and Hell...no response. Then he just said "Well, thanks for the coffee"...I just want to get some money. I told him I was concerned about him because I didn't know if he was going to heaven or not...he mumbled a bunch of stuff that I couldn't understand. So, realizing I wasn't going to get anywhere with him, I thanked him for his time and wished him a good day and walked back to my spot. Then I remembered I hadn't given him a tract, so I walked back over to him and said "This isn't a real million dollar bill, but it has a million dollar question on the back. Maybe you could read it later?" And he laughed and thanked me.

I returned to my spot and dropped one of those fake wallet tracts that look like there's money sticking out, in front of the door to the bank entrance. Soon enough, a young woman with two children came along and picked it up as they were going into the bank. I handed out a bunch of MDBs and had two conversations with men, both senior citizens. I took the first fellow through the law and he realized he was guilty but didn't believe in Hell. I tried to show him in my bible that hell is real, but he didn't beliefve it. He said that he'd spit in the face of any God that would send a person to hell. I took him through the scenario of someone raping and murdering a child and never being caught by the earthly Judge and asked him if he thought that God should punish this person or let him go. He said that he'd forgiven the man that raped and abused him as a little boy and wouldn't want to see this man go to hell either. I must admit that I was stunned silent by this statement. The man's eyes teared up and he started to walk away. I asked him if he had a bible at home and he said he did and I urged him to please read it. He smiled and wished me a nice day and walked off. I felt like I'd really failed in this attempt to witness...I was just stunned!

The best tract experience I had of the day was with a reporter from A-Channel News. He was walking up the street with a big camera hoisted on his shoulder. I commented on his camera and asked if he was with a news channel and he said "Yes, A-Channel News" I said "Great! My favorite news channel! and handed him a MDB. He asked what it was so I explained that it was a Christian gospel tract and there is a million dollar question on the back. He smiled and asked "and what is that question?" So I explained "The question says Will you go to heaven? and (knowing that this guy was in a hurry to catch up with a provincial politician's bus that had stopped in town) there are a series of questions so you can self-examine your conscience and see what God thinks of your life and where you might be headed eternally". He smiled and thanked me and put it in his pocket.

The other gentleman was even older. I handed him a tract and he stopped to ask what it was so I told him it was a Christian gospel tract and that it had a million dollar question on the back. He tried to read it, but the print was small, so I started reading it to him and then switched tacks a bit. When I speak to much older people, I prefer to use the law on myself...just to show respect to them. I read questions to myself, admitted my guilt one at a time and each time, I would ask him...have you ever lied? or stolen? or hated anyone? etc. Each time, he would answer yes. Then I explained when I realized that I had broken God's laws that I was guilty and deserved punishment by God and the punishment was hell. He said that he didn't believe that I would go to hell, that I would probably go some place in between. So I asked him if he was Roman-Catholic and he said no and asked why. So I explained that Catholics believe that they go to Purgatory if they haven't committed mortal sins and then they go to Heaven once they have been made clean. So he said, no...I don't believe in purgatory. I asked him what will happen to him when he dies and he says he will go to some place in between Heaven and hell. So I asked him where this place is? He was rather vague and started talking about repentence and faith in God. So I said "Oh, you do have s church background...which church do you go to?" and he said he is Mormon and he goes to the Church of Jesus Christ the Latter day saints. D'uh. It was THEN I realized I should have asked him about his church background FIRST. (Stray from the script and I get all messed up!) He asked if I knew anything about the Mormon faith and I told him that I knew a little from what I have read. He asked what I knew so I was really trying to dig into the archives of my brain to remember. I rarely cross paths with a mormon, so really hadn't done much reading up on their beliefs. I told him that I thought that Mormons don't believe that Jesus is God and that they believe they receive salvation through their good works. He said that they believe in Jesus...after all, their church is named after him. I really didn't know enough to be able to witness effectively so I told him that Christians believe that they receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He suggested that I learn a bit more about his faith and then I could understand the truth. I just smiled and told him that I know the truth as it is written in my bible. I thanked him very much for his time and told him I enjoyed speaking with him and we wished each other a nice day.

Twice in a week I've had to witness to a cult member so God definitely had me scrambling and digging. I've got loads of resources to witness to false religions so I've got to be more diligent in reviewing it so it sticks in this failing memory of mine. I know enough to stick with the law to bring the knowledge of sin, but I don't remember enough about the different religions to compare the beliefs, or know enough to figure out the best "plan of attack".

It's been a great week of learning.

Witnessing In My Jammies at the Door.

There's been a bit of a lull lately with my evangelism activities for various reasons but last week I was jolted out of a state of inactivity when a Jehovah's Witness arrived at my doorstep. Even though I was still in my jammies, I decided to witness to the lone woman at my door.

I stated right up front to her that I am a born again Christian, but would be interested in talking with her. She was quite surprised that I would even talk to her. I asked her if she'd mind if I asked her a few questions and she agreed, so I started to take her through the GPT. She justified her sin by saying that everyone breaks God's laws but that Jesus washed us from that sin. So I asked her to leave Jesus out of our conversation for now and asked her if on judgement day, would she be found guilty or innocent for breaking God's law? She said guilty and mentioned Jesus again. I asked her again to leave Jesus out of this for now and she admitted she'd be guilty. I asked if God would send her to Heaven, or to Hell based strictly on her admission of guilt and she said that she didn't really believe in hell and started talking about Gehenna (sp), which wasn't a term I was familiar with. I showed her in scripture in several places where hell is described and that it is eternal. She then asked if I thought it would be fair that God send me to hell for eternity so I explained, it's His world, His laws and if I have broken them, yes...He can do whatever he wishes with me and that I deserved hell. I pointed out to her that NONE of us are good and we ALL deserve hell. She kept asking if I thought that was FAIR and I kept saying YES. Then she said that Jesus cleaned us of our sins so we don't have to go to Gehenna. And I explained that the Jesus in the Holy Bible did take the wrath of God for the sins we committed and that He died and rose from the dead three days later. And she said "See, we agree on that". I then asked her who Jesus was to her. She said that he was a "Creation" of God. I explained that the Jesus in my bible is God in the flesh and is alive in heaven today with the Father. He was fully man and fully God and that we receive salvation when we repent and put our trust fully in Jesus. I then said that the bible is clear that we are saved by faith alone, and not by works so no one can boast. She pointed to the scripture in James that says that faith without works is dead. I pointed to the scriptures that state that salvation is by faith alone, a gift of God and that we cannot bribe the Judge of the universe with out good deeds. Our good works are in response to the love shown to us by God. She disagreed with me so I pointed out the thief on the cross who died next to Jesus. He was promised heaven because he trusted and believed in Jesus. He was nailed to a cross and how on earth could he do good works in his situation? He was saved by faith alone. She responded by saying that if he hadn't have been in that situation, he would have been a follower of Jesus and done good works.

She boasted that she's been studying scripture for a long time (she was older) and that I was misguided. I then told her that I was concerned about her and where she would spend eternity. I explained that the Jesus she believes in, is not the same one in my bible and if she is counting on THAT Jesus to save her on Judgement Day, that she'd better be sure she has the right Jesus. If she doesn't believe that Jesus is God, then the Jesus she believes in has no power to save her. By this time, she was starting to walk away to join the other two women down the street. I urged her to please think about this and make sure she has her trust in the Jesus who can save her.

I thanked her for her time and she did the same and hoped that I would consider what she had told me. She refused to exchange any literature (I had the "Why Christianity" booklet handy.

She was definitely well studied and I don't know if anything I said to her caused her to reflect, but at least I gave it all I could. I don't think I've ever witnessed to a JW before, but I had read up on it in the "World Religions in a Nutshell" book by Ray Comfort. They've been by a couple of times in the past month or so, but I've not been home. With the return of better weather, it's time for me to brush up so I'm prepared for the next visit.

Viva Las Vegas!

Las Vegas – March 2009

My family and I decided to vacation somewhere a little warmer last week. When Hawaii didn't pan out, we opted for Las Vegas. How I longed for a beach vacation, but Vegas really sparked interest as well because of the evangelism opportunities. If there was ever a place that needed some of God's light, it was Vegas. I've been there twice before and it really has earned the nickname “Sin City”.

Prior to leaving, I connected with the Las Vegas Outreach Team and was invited to participate in some of their activities on the strip and given a phone number for Frank so I could call for info when I arrived and got our plans sorted out. I had some misgivings after viewing YouTube videos of various outreaches in Las Vegas. The preaching seemed so harsh in the videos...it seemed very different from my experiences in California with the Ambassadors Academy and the Living Waters/Way of the Master videos. But, I chalked it up to the fact that the street evangelists there are faced with dealing with drunk/high people and competing with constant noise. Music is constantly pumped everywhere you go along the strip and Fremont Street. I honestly don't know how people function in that environment.

Although my husband was ok with me participating in outreach activities, once we got there, it became increasingly difficult to get some “free time” for me to do this. I managed to have him agree to Sunday night at Fremont Street @ 6:00PM until 8:00PM at the latest. It wasn't as much as I would have liked, but at least it was some opportunity.

Since I had several days ahead of me before the activity and I was itching to talk to people...something hubby doesn't like me doing, so I decided to put a bunch of Celebrity MDBs in my shirt pocket, with the million end sticking out. I was amazed at how many people noticed my “cash”. Whenever I caught someone looking at my “cash”, I say “I see you checking out my millions...here's one for you” and I'd hand them one. It worked great in crowded elevators and I'd just pass them out to everyone. During the entire week, I never had one person grumble or scoff at me while doing this. It was fantastic. It was also great that my hubby could see people very happy to receive these tracts.

Whenever we were walking, if someone tried to give us a hand out...like the porn card slappers and the time share hawkers, I'd just hand them a MDB. A couple of times, the Time Share hawkers said “You better be careful, carrying your money like that in full view”. So I'd say thanks a million and slap one in their hand. Well, they thought it was hilarious. A waitress at Denny's asked about my MDBs so I gave her one and she came back later to ask for another two for her daughters.

The highlight as far as tracting went was at the Terry Fator show at the Mirage. If you are unfamiliar with him, YouTube some of his videos. He is an amazing ventriloquist/singer who won America's Got Talent two seasons ago. After the show, we lined up to meet him. My daughter and I talked with him briefly, telling him we enjoyed his show. Then I took his picture with my daughter, got his autograph and I handed him a Canadian, Eh MDB. I explained it was a gift for him and even though it was only worth about $730,000 US, there was a million dollar question on the back. He laughed, thanked me and slipped it into the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket. Cool eh! We tracted Terry Fator! I prayed very hard that night hoping that he'd find that tract and read it and the Holy Spirit would convict his conscience.



Out of respect to my husband, I did not have any 1-2-1 conversations during the week, except at Fremont Street when I met up with Frank from the LVOT near the Four Queens Hotel. When I arrived, he was deep in conversation with “Bill” and about half way through The Law. I pulled out my Giant money tracts and began distributing to people walking by. The entire pack of 100 was gone within 15 minutes. I listened to Frank lovingly go through the Gospel with Bill and there was a Hawaiian gentleman standing nearby listening. He asked if I was with Frank and I told him yes and asked if he had any questions or wanted to talk. He told me that the Hawaiians have their own culture and spiritual beliefs and that their beliefs were around long before Jesus arrived. I asked him what would happen to him when he dies. He said that we just die...it's over. I'm not very familiar with Hawaiian spirituality, so I continued asking questions. He said that they have one main god, but have other gods as well. He claims that Hawaiians are actually the true descendants of Adam and Eve and they have genealogical proof that they are direct descendants. He insisted that the Garden of Eden was in Hawaii. I tried to turn the conversation back to his sin and he said that they have their own ways of getting right with God. (If I recall, it's burnt offerings to Pele from the little I remember learning when I was in Hawaii last year) I explained that the God of the Bible is the Judge of the Universe and we will all have to face him at the end of our life. God provided Jesus as our Saviour who has paid for our sins so we wouldn't have to face eternity in hell. He kept trying to take me down rabbit trails and I was praying for Frank to finish his conversation with Bill to come help me. I explained again about belief in the God of the bible, but he kept saying that their gods were around long before the bible was written. He clearly was not open to seeing that he was in need of a Saviour. I thanked him for his time and gave him a couple of different tracts and he left. I really didn't know what else to say to him and I hoped he would think about what he had heard from both Frank and myself and that his conscience would be convicted by the Holy Spirit.

Frank and I finally introduced ourselves to each other. He said he was exhausted after being at an all night prayer vigil, but was happy that I had agreed to join him. He hadn't arrived much earlier than I had but he said that already God had provided some wonderful opportunities to share the Law and Gospel. Frank was using the Living Water's Intelligence test sign and had a small portable Fender PA on him. He had a very gentle manner with people that were passing by and checking out his sign. He'd engage in conversation with the Intelligence Test and then ask people if they'd mind being asked some more questions that would delve a little deeper into their soul. Most people were very willing to participate.



I mostly handed out tracts to people passing by and allowed Frank to continue what he was doing. The combination of the tracts and the Intelligence test worked very well together as the tracts got people to slow down instead of just passing Frank by. As Frank would go through the Law with people, it was amazing to see their faces as they felt the conviction of their conscience. The two hours went by incredibly quick. I really wanted to continue as the atmosphere was very good and people were open, but hubby and daughter returned to collect me and Frank admitted that he was exhausted anyways.

Prior to being saved, Las Vegas to me was a place to blow some extra cash, get a little tipsy and get caught up in the Sin City culture. Now I only see it as one huge big fishing pond. God is so good. He promised me a new heart with new desires, and it's so cool to see that evidence! All Glory to God!

Follow up with the Christian Bookstore and other stuff

Last week I contacted Miles from the Christian bookstore in Courtenay as I was passing through last Friday and he wanted to meet with me so we arranged a time. I arrived at the store and he took me for a latte down the street so we could have a good chat.

He really is a nice fellow and perhaps I judged him a little harshly in my last blog. He explained that he understands why I am doing what I am doing. He used to be involved with Evangelism Explosion up until a few years ago and do street and door to door evangelism. Now he works full-time in his store so he told me how he interacts with people who come into his store. He said that 50% of the people who come into the store are Christians and the rest are not. Most of the other 50% don't necessarily even know that they are in a Christian bookstore until moments after they've entered it. He wants those people to experience GRACE until he can establish a rapport with them and he gets to know them and their needs. He does sound very caring and sincere. I know...not exactly biblical...but I don't wish to make an enemy.

Initially me standing out front tracting wasn't an issue, but that Saturday I was there, his wife was working in the store and had no idea who I was or what I was doing. A couple people came into the store thinking that I was affiliated with their store and I was handing out tracts on their behalf. No one actually complained about me, but his wife didn't understand and was alarmed and called him at home to deal with me over the phone.

He suggested to me to use an open area, like a square, about a block up the street and I was familiar with that spot and feel it is probably a pretty good location. He said that if safety is a concern, I could program his store phone number into my cell phone and if there was ever an emergency, if I called him, he'd be there in a heartbeat. Well, I don't have a cell phone (as there are no cell towers where I live), but I appreciated the offer and perhaps I could take my walkie-talkies with me and leave one with him so I could buzz him if I needed to. The area is relatively safe during the daytime, so I'm not really worried. The other good thing about this area that he suggested is that there are cement planter benches which would be suitable for Open Air if I ever get up the nerve.

Anyways, I've agreed to use the square as my "base" and plan to continue walking the blocks as well. I won't park in front of his store. But...I do plan on checking out his books again to see what kind of stuff he's selling and perhaps challenging him to carry some decent evangelism books. Although I had packed along my HBKS and TF Conv. DVD's, he was quite familiar with WOTM so I didn't offer them to him at this point.

Another good thing that came out of that meeting was, he told me that there is a church in town that regularly puts on WOTM training and he gave me the name and email address of the fellow that puts the training sessions on. I have since contact that fellow and he's in AZ for a couple of weeks but is anxious to speak with me upon his return! So...I am excited about the possibility of joining/forming a north island E-Team!

Anyways...after my meeting I headed down-island, even further...and managed to tract the Costco book dept...probably about 80 "bookmarks" were added to the assortment of books.

I am feeling encouraged at the moment...I feel some changes coming. My church is likely going to try another round of WOTM training and I feel hopeful that I'll have a couple people come through it eager to get out there with me. Also...I have been trying to register on the www.myfishinghole.com website for several months but there was a glitch and I couldn't get registered and for months no one was able to fix it. But I got an email the other day advising that they thought the problem was fixed...and VOILA! It was. So I quickly registered and did a member search and wouldn't you know it...there is one other person on Vancouver island registered and she lives in the next town! I just can't believe this great blessing. I've sent off an email to her and hope to hear back from her soon.

Tonight, Michelle Miano and I (she's a facebook friend) went into Yoville together (a facebook chat program) and we evangelised to a guy named geo. Geo had some church background it seemed, but didn't really have any clear information on how to get to heaven. We talked about sin and preached the Gospel to him and all we can do now is pray that the Holy Spirit convicts him and he cries out for the God that he so desperately needs. We don't know where his heart is right now, but together we made a good team and gave him a lot to think about. Michelle and I are going to team up together Saturday night after Last Words Radio and try it again. Imagine that...Michelle and I are a couple of thousand miles apart, doing 1-2-1's together in our jammies!

We serve a GREAT God!

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)