My 3 Passions (Part 3) - Canvassing

I had done it a little bit during high school at Oklahoma Academy and some at Southern. It wasn't bad--I knew it was an important work for people to do and believed it to be a valuable experience that everyone should have. I had done many valuable things during my summers and never felt a particular need or desire to canvass for a whole summer and honestly never thought I would.

It was nothing short of a miracle that I ended up doing Literature Evangelism for 9 weeks during the summer of 2010. I was a registered nurse and practically speaking, should have gotten a job around school and worked full time. Another good option would have been to work at Camp Cherokee for another summer. But God had different plans and new lessons to teach me.

A few weeks after school got out I found myself in the 100+ degree weather of Central California. The other canvassers in my team had already been at work for a week and had been getting lots of awesome training. Sleep had been sparse for the last couple nights, but as soon as the plane landed I was out in the field knocking on doors. Although I had canvassed a little bit before, I was very rusty. Exhausted and terrified, I began my summer of Colporteuring.

Bedtime never came soon enough, mornings always came too early. Devotions and prayer were a necessity--survival could not have occurred without them. Every day we would spend around 8 hours in the burning sun with doors being slammed in our faces, experiencing rejection after rejection. Short nights and long afternoons, there were times when I wondered if the summer would ever end.

There were definite challenges, but SO many blessings! What a beautiful thing to have hours every day to pray while walking. What can be better than to have a small taste of the rejection that Jesus went through while He was on this earth? If Jesus willingly suffered and died for our sins, what is it for us to have a few doors slammed in our face? It is awesome to work with a community of young people who have completely dedicated their summers to God. Nothing can replace the countless divine appointments, when you know without a shadow of doubt that God has led you to someone that is searching for light.

Tears of joy and feelings of inadequacy overwhelmed me after my highest day this summer. Every day I was reminded of my need for dependence on God and the impossibility of selling anything without His assistance. I had awesome leaders who trained and encouraged us, and great friends to work, sweat, laugh, cry, and pray with. I would not trade my summer of canvassing for anything. Canvassing changed my life.

My awesome canvassing team (minus a couple)

*A special thanks to the Krick family, Joe, Heidi, Jason, Fern, Amanda, Ashley, Deborah, and the rest of my amazing Clovis/Armona team.