Early Mornings

Hello everyone,

Well, here we are - February! I didn't expect to make it this far, to tell you the truth. April isn't too far off now! Until then, we've been staying busy in the ministry. Lately, we've been trying a new avenue of service: early morning witnessing.

We live just about two blocks away from the bus terminal and On the Run, so that in itself is a great territory for us. It's certainly not the easiest thing to do - we get up around five in the morning so that we can start preaching at 6:30 - however, it has been well worth the effort. 

Here, Simon is talking to a man about the Truth tract. It's an excellent tool down here - people actually choose a question that interests them! The majority of our early morning preaching consists of handing out some of the small tracts and asking if people would like something to read for their journeys. Sometimes, though, we are able to have longer conversations, as pictured above.

We usually work our way around the street that borders the bus terminal. It has been very successful - I've actually gotten a return visit! It's a man who is a shoeshiner, and cannot read. I was able to place the Listen to God brochure with him, and discuss it the next time I saw him. I don't have a picture of him here, but the early preaching has been yielding some fruit for sure!

After working the adjacent street, we then enter into the bus terminal. As you can see, it's pretty busy even though it's early in the morning, giving us plenty of people to speak with.

Simon was placing a tract with the man in the blue shirt until the kid in the middle (who always sells bananas) interrupted and requested a copy for himself!

Probably my favorite service picture to date. I was asking this man which question interested him, but instead, he was asking me the meaning of John 6:53, 54. I wasn't fully sure how to respond to that, but I was able to share John 17:3 with him, explaining that the most important thing for us to do is take in knowledge about God and preach about the Kingdom.

He responded favorably to that, and even though he might not be at the bus station every day, I told him that I would do further research on the subject so that we can speak more about it if he's there again. It was a nice experience for sure!

Usually after preaching in the terminal, we head into On the Run to hand tracts while enjoying some coffee (well, I shouldn't say "enjoying," their coffee is awful), but as you can see, it wasn't heavily populated that day. We got some drinks and pastries anyway. :) 

All in all, early morning witnessing is well worth the effort! I find that another major benefit is that you feel refreshed and ready for the rest of the day. We show up to the 8:15 AM group all ready to go, instead of still waking up. It can be exhausting, so we've only been doing it about once or twice a week, but we thoroughly enjoy it each time. It's definitely something I'm gonna try back in Maine!

Take care,

Sam