As a TOBET missionary and speaker there have been so many people that I have shared my faith with, either by mentoring or giving talks. Many of them were open to the gospel especially when it was given through the lens of Theology of the Body. It is amazing how open the youth are to the truth, and it has been great to see the Holy Spirit open their hearts and minds.
This year, one of the most surprising times I had shared my faith, was actually to someone who I knew did not agree with me. I was given a few days off and I was able to visit Texas State University. While I was there, some of my friends and I heard that Planned Parenthood was on campus, and that Planned Parenthood had teamed up with Feminist United to pass out condoms to students. Being a Catholic who has learned Theology of the Body I was obviously against this. Some FOCUS missionaries, students and I walked up the hill (Texas State is on a hill) to go talk to them. We did not really know what we were going to say, but we knew the Holy Spirit would guide our conversations.
When we got up the hill we saw some students passing out condoms, and we went to talk to them. Both sides were very respectful.
It went very well, and we met a lot of great students who had different beliefs then us, but we still had not found Planned Parenthood or Feminist United. I continued to walk up the hill and since I did not have my glasses I had to walk closer to the booth to read their sign. There it was! It was Feminist United. There were two students at the booth, a guy and girl, and an older women who I later learned was from Planned Parenthood. I walked up and asked about what they did, and we started talking about love and gender roles and fighting for women's rights. I told them I was pro women too (I feel most people who volunteer for these groups also want to help women), so of course they asked me if I wanted to volunteer, so I had to confess that I was actually pro-life.
Yes, we soon started talking about abortion. After a while the guy wanted to challenge me, and he asked "If it's a baby from conception, then why does God allow for so many miscarriages?" It turns out that this guy used to be Mormon and left his church when he was younger. I knew his question was not really about abortion so I said to him "So what you are really asking is why God allows suffering in the world." He looked confused for a moment (he had probably never heard that as a response before), and he thought about it for a second and said " yeah I guess I am."
So I explained to him the beauty of suffering. I explained how when we suffer we share that suffering with our friends and it creates a bond. We become closer to those friends. It is human nature, and he agreed. Then I explained how Jesus cam to suffer with us, and our suffering is an opportunity to become closer to him. By this time I could tell that he was deep in thought. I said "Now, I do not know why certain things happen to certain people such as miscarriages, but I know we can allow our suffering to bring us closer to Christ", and I could tell that something had clicked.
What really amazed me though was what he said next. He said in a revelatory way "Yeah I guess you would have babies praying for you in Heaven too." When I left he thanked me for coming to talk to him, but I was thankful just to see the Holy Spirit working on his heart. I don't know where he is now, but it is extremely important that we reach out in love to people who have different beliefs. We are the light of the world, and we must go out. Be not afraid!
After all, when has the Lord ever let you down?
