Prayer Walk 4-8-8

We are praying and walking up and down the streets of our city. I am posting these reports of what happens on our evenings of street ministry. I bought a Radio Flyer Wagon to pull along behind us as we walk. That is kind of our trademark for people to recognize us by.

Hello All,

Terry & I had a great night tonight. I think we probably spoke with 50 people. I did 250 fliers this week, a few more than usual. I think that will be my normal number from now on. We hit the Middlebury Street area that we always do, but also for a change went quite deep all around the Aspenwald/Monroe Street Areas. The weather was very pleasant and lots and lots of people were out.

I really could use some help if anyone has any ideas, I would like something to give the grade school age kids, like a little flier or comic story book or something. I was surprised in the Prairie street apartments at the numbers of young children whom I gave Bible verse cards to who said that they were going to LTC. That was pretty cool. Between the jail and doing the adult fliers I just don't have the time or energy to do something each week for the kids. I feel like this is an opportunity if anyone has any ideas. Likewise it's a shame I don't have anything for the Spanish speaking people. I feel very badly about that.

All positive responses tonight. Tonight I started wearing a military cross pin on my jacket collar. I've had one in my desk drawer at work for five years or so. I used to wear them when I first became a chaplain and then kind of decided it more vanity maybe to wear one than anything else, but I've started wearing it again tonight. Let's face it, the areas Terry and I are walking have lots of people who have good reason to be suspicious of unknown persons walking up to them on the streets, on their front porches, or in parking lots, etc. and I want as much as possible to identify myself as someone who they do not need to fear and I think the cross hopefully helps to do that. Anyway to me it felt like a good thing to do. . .

There were three young men talking to someone in a car stopped in the middle of Aspenwald. I walked out to them and started handing out fliers and Bible verse cards, told them I was Chaplain Dave from Life Tabernacle. . . They all took them. One young Hispanic man, maybe 20 years old, took it and looked at me with definitely emotional eyes and said that he had read the last one maybe 60 times. . .He said this in front of his friends. . . He ran with the flier up to his porch, dropped it off and went back to his friends in the street. . .

Again in the Aspenwald area, two young mothers leading a little cloud of tykes and pushing a baby in a carriage took my cards, the kids all took Bible verse cards. . . the moms were so excited, "Are you guys Pentecostal? When is church? Do we have to wear dresses?" They were so excited and enthusiastic about coming to church Sunday.

It was kind of funny quite a group of young people in the apartments all sitting and leaning on a car, maybe 8-10 in all. One young girl maybe 20 asked me if we were Pentecostal. I told her "yes." One young man chimed in to her, "You oughta go to the Baptist church. You can drink and everything and still go to church. . ." I just kind of shook my head and rolled my eyes as I walked away. Very friendly, very nicely received. It was a very good evening. . .

Too many good things to even remember them all. We ran into a lady whom I knew from jail on Goshen Avenue as Terry and I were going into Penguin Point. We always take a little rest there each Tuesday night. She was walking by. She said hey to us. . . We anointed her and prayed with her. She is not doing good. . .

Terry and I dropped off some groceries to a woman and her husband (he recovering from some illness). She has spoken to us every week when we have been through the neighborhood and waited at her door for the flier from us in person. I put no conditions on the groceries or even mentioned coming to church. She asked me for a ride to church Sunday.

I was kind of disappointed. The little grocery store was closed from "April 1 - ??? for remodeling. . ." I was enjoying going in and talking to the owner and his son each week.

It was a wonderful night. Many very very special and spiritual moments. . .I cannot relate them all. . .

Dave Stokely

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