Mission Report from Alberta, Canada
Summer 1999: I spent one or two days each week going to a nearby town, distributing literature. I especially enjoyed approaching the young people on the street and offering them information on abortion, drugs etc. They were, for the most part, polite and receptive. How many of them actually followed up and read, that I don’t know, but the seed has been sown.
Summer 2000: Because of the extra strain last year of trying to rush through my work at home in order to go to town, I decided this year to confine my efforts to the times when we regularly make our town trips.
For years I have been distributing literature on the streets of Olds and all other towns and cities I happened to be passing through. One of my special places turned out to be in front of a Lucky Liquor outlet which happens to be next to a soup and sandwich cafe where my mother often has gone for a meal. Since I eat my own food, I usually waited in the car, read, and “watched for souls as he that must give an account”.
When someone approaches to go in or comes out of the liquor store, I offer him/her an article explaining the deleterious (bad) effects of alcohol.
Some absolutely refuse the information, but many have received it, and a few have noticeably been grateful. I remember one man in particular who gave me the impression that this stimulus was what he needed to decide to quit for good. God had sent me and him there for that purpose.
A few weeks ago I was doing my regular thing of approaching the people, when suddenly a worker from the soup/sandwich/ice cream cafe approached me angrily and demanded that I leave the premises. (I hadn’t realized that this was a private mall.) She said that they were losing customers because of me. Apparently someone had complained about what I was doing. She didn’t stop to think that many, many people are losing loved ones by accidents caused by alcohol, ill health, sanity and money due to this menace to society.
Well, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. (See also verse 27 & 28). However, we haven’t been back to that area, and there are lots and lots of other places to work. In fact, a helper is greatly needed out here. May God send one at the right time.
AMEN