Street Evangelism - 7/14

I got some requests to blog our previous evangelism experience due to the two healings that we saw last week, and so this blog is a response to those requests.

First off, this blog will not just be about the miracles we saw but it will be about our experience as a whole. I hope to keep up this blog to tabulate our evangelism experience from now on every time we do go out in hope that as you read, you will be encouraged to go and do likewise. Another reason why I want to describe everything in full context because we are commanded to count our cost before we step out, and if I only describe the good without the bad, I will mislead you. We saw God touched and healed people, but we also experienced rejections and many spiritual warfare we had to overcome that raged on in our minds.

Myself, Tony, Quang, and Vinny met at Vinny's place at about 5:40PM last Wednesday, prayed for couple of minutes, then we were on our way to Asian Garden Mall. Personally, my first impression of Asian Garden Mall was this is going to be very difficult. The idea of just approaching strangers to talk to them about some God that they have no clue about in a setting that is full of statues and idols feels overwhelming. On top of that, these people came from a culture that is already deep in idolatry and they were already busy with their own daily business makes me feel like I had no reason to even be there. Regardless, I kept quiet and did not say anything that would discourage my teammates and we carried on. However, the mental battle continued to rage on in my mind of how impossible this was. If you want to do street evangelism, overcoming the mental battle is probably the most difficult thing. I am sure the other guys felt the same way as well but we kept our cool for the most part and did what we came to do.

We decided to split into two groups: Tony with Quang, and myself with Vinny. Me and Vinny walked around a little bit to find a middle aged Vietnamese man that was just standing there, so we figured he would be a good candidate to speak to. I came and introduced myself. I tried to stir up a conversation with him about what he thinks about the afterlife, and his response was that he's not the owner of the store and the person I need to talk to is that guy over there behind the counter. I quickly picked up his clue, shook his hand, wished him a good day, dust off my feet, and carried on. We walked around a little bit more and notice a young guy who has been walking around aimlessly and so we approached him. I introduced myself and Vinny asked him if he got a minute to talk. He said he does have time because he's just trying to pass time, but as soon as he found out that we were Christians and that we approached him with some agendas of our own, he told us he has some errands to run. We shook his hand, wished him a good day, dust off our feet, and carried on.

We met back with Quang and Tony to find out that they also had no luck. The stores were about to close and there weren't a lot of people around and so we decided to go to a business plaza across the street and go to the super market since Vinny had to buy something there. Outside the supermarket was a little mom & pop botany shop, and in the shop, I noticed a man with a back brace and so I pulled Tony to go with me to talk with the man. He was a middle aged Vietnamese man. This was my conversation with the man with the back brace in my broken Vietnamese:

Me: I noticed you have a back brace. Do you have back pain?
Man: Of course I have back pain! Who doesn't? Why do you asked?
Me: Oh, I have a way to make your back better. (I know how I phrased this may be odd to some of you, but it works. Ask me if you want details.)
Man: What's that?
Me: If you let me put my hand on your back where it hurts, I can pray and make you better.
Man: umm...ok.

He was the owner of the shop and there were people standing around listening to our conversation. By the time we started praying for him, there were some bystander and a security guard all stood around watched us as we prayed. We asked him to do something that would normally hurt his back, and so he lightly bend around and said it is hurting right now. Then we prayed. In our healing prayer, we thanked God for the healing he's about to do, then we commanded the pain to leave the man's back. After about 5 minutes of praying, we told him to test his back and see how it feels. And so he bends over forward, then backward, then forward again with a little more force, then backward again even with more force, then he went and twist his back as if he's trying to crack his back. I was a little puzzled with the force he was exerting on his back and so I asked him:

Me: How does it feel?
Man: It doesn't hurt anymore. My wife over there also have back pain. Can you two pray for her also?
Me: Of course.

Tony went and prayed for her. Tony thanked God for the healing, commanded the pain to leave her, and spoke healing to her back. After about 5 minutes, the wife's back was also pain free. After they were healed, we told them that obviously we ourselves had no power to heal, but it was Jesus in us who healed them. Jesus died for them so that they can be healed. Jesus can heal not only just their bodies but also their soul and spirit and that they can have eternal life in Jesus. We asked them if they want eternal life and to receive Jesus in their life. They said yes, of course. We found out that they were Catholics and go to St. Barbara Church from time to time. We chat a little more and they told us to come back sometime. Me and Tony decided that we will come back to follow up with them soon.

We turned around to find Vinny and Quang talking to a man. Me and Tony hung around a little bit to let them finish their conversation then we headed off. We dropped Vinny home. Then me, Quang, and Tony went and had 40% off Pho, then we went to Tastea for some boba to finish a good day's work.
-An D.