@edwardgraveline
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Registered: 7 years, 10 months ago
• Sierra Vista team leader • Started with SPSE in 2012 Please tell us a bit about yourself I went to Northern Arizona University and met my future wife there. We got married in 1978 and recently celebrated our 42nd anniversary. We have two sons, the oldest, Matthew is autistic and epileptic and a true blessing to us. Our youngest is a Naval Academy Graduate and is now married to the spokesperson of the Blue Angels flight team. I retired in November of 2021 and now have time to write my second book, that will hopefully help to end abortion in America. Tell us about your team My team is located in Sierra Vista, Arizona – population 45,000. There isn’t a lot of foot traffic here, so we have to wait for some event that attracts a lot of people. In the meantime we evangelize in the neighboring cities of Bisbee and Tombstone. We have six members on our team, and we go out about once a month. How has God worked in and through your SPSE team? God is always with us. The Holy Spirit has given us words to say dozens of times and always protects us. This one time in Tombstone, I met a young woman, and I gave her my card that has Catholic talks on the back of it. She listened to them all and then emailed me asking “How can I become Catholic?”. And this happened again recently with another woman I met while weeding a lady’s yard. She ended up becoming Catholic too! What motivates you to evangelize? I learned from one of Steve’s Facebook posts in 2014 that evangelization is necessary for salvation. See paragraph 1816 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I got a sign and got some friends that I taught Catholic Apologetics to, and we went out and evangelized on the Las Vegas strip. In the span of two years, we handed out over 10,000 Rosaries and Miraculous Medals, and around 14,000 pamphlets as well. What is the relationship between evangelization and your spiritual life (prayer)? I wake up every morning at 4:15 and go to our Adoration chapel with my friend, Terry. Terry is 79 years old and kneels on the cement floor for over an hour when we pray. We pray four Rosaries, four chaplets, the Legion of Mary prayers (The Tessera), the Surrender Novena, the Litany of Humility, and consecration to St. Joseph. We also pray for priests and the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Is there a scripture passage that you turn to often, or a favorite part of Mass? Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you. John 6:53 Can you share an “elevator speech” version of your testimony of God’s work in your life? I used to work at Marie Callenders when I was younger and living a life of sin. One Sunday night, three guys broke in and told me to open the safe. I did not know the combination, and so they beat me bloody with a crowbar for about an hour. I suggested that they use the hand truck to take the safe home. They gave it a shot. In the meantime, I prayed and asked God to forgive my sins. It was a sincere Act of Contrition. The thieves were unable to get the safe on the hand truck and came to me and said, “You have one last chance to open the safe before we kill you!” I didn’t know what to do, so I just turned the combination of the safe, AND IT OPENED!!!! Thank you, Jesus! I spent four days in the hospital and my life was forever changed!
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