Persisting under storm clouds in Kent

By Bella Sison

Our outreach for Tuesday, June 13, was focused on Kent! After our spiritual preparation and logistical planning with Cindy in the morning, Izzy and I took a bus to Kent, where we found our way to the local Reading Room. We met Mary, who was working there that day, and had a lovely conversation with her about her time in the area and our work on the “Compass the City” project. We had a great time, and as always, it was encouraging to hear how local Christian Scientists were excited to have us visit!

We had a bit of a tough day in terms of outreach. Izzy and I found that Kent did not have a compact retail area like some other areas we’d visited, so there were not as many businesses for us to offer free copies and gift subscriptions for The Christian Science Monitor Weekly. We visited the businesses we could find in the area and then spread out more, finding some other clusters of businesses as we traveled further into the city. 

We also struggled with a seeming lack of receptivity in the area - no businesses wanted gift subscriptions, and fewer of them took sample copies than in other locations. Some of the business workers were also less than friendly during our discussions.

However, Izzy and I saw this as an opportunity to express love even when it did not seem to be appreciated. We were friendly and kind whenever interacting with locals or business workers, even if they did not seem to reciprocate it. As part of our job, we work on representing the Monitor in a positive light, so we wanted to bring some light to these people’s day even if they did not actually accept the Monitor. Our hope is that we were able to brighten their day through our positivity and prayers, and that in the future, they may remember these positive interactions and be less opposed when they encounter the Monitor or Christian Science again.