AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF of post-graduation to over 30 countries, I returned home to America. With no prospects for work, I began to pray deeply and humbly about my purpose. These prayers were answered when a member of my church approached me about working in a Christian Science Reading Room nearby, in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The job wouldn't give me enough money to move out of my parents' house, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to mature spiritually.
During the next month, the world came to me! Occasionally, Chinese patrons who were touring Los Angeles and needed help with directions came into the Reading Room, and I was able to share Christian Science with them. Latino men and women came in and challenged me to tell them about our inventory, using my high-school Spanish language skills. I made sure that the doors to the Reading Room were opened onto the street every day to let the community know that it was available to everyone. I also did more to bring the Reading Room to the people outside its doors by setting up a table on the busy street with Christian Science Monitors, Bibles, copies of Science and Health, and Christian Science Sentinels and Journals. This gave me an opportunity to have discussions with many more people about aspects of Christian Science that related directly to their lives.
On my last day, a man came in who seemed to be mentally imbalanced. I invited him to sit down and watch a video about Mary Baker Eddy. Within minutes he had completely settled down and was very much focused on the video. When it finished, we got to talking about the Bible and Bible stories, and I asked him how Samson got his strength. I was expecting him talk to him about Samson's hair, but he responded, "He got his strength from Spirit."
