Good evening District 27. Today after attending mass in Martin, I got back out on the campaign trail and decided to attend mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kyle. Fr. Ron Seminara, SJ normally celebrates the mass both in Kyle and Wanblee, but today Fr. Ryen Dwyer, SJ celebrated the mass because Fr. Ron was on retreat. After the mass, I attended the pancake breakfast in the fellowship hall where I got to meet the locals and pass out some of my campaign literature.
After the pancake breakfast, I stopped by the Kyle Grocery Store to check on my jumbo sign. Sadly, the sign that I had set up on September 24th had been defaced with graffiti. I had driven by the sign last Sunday (October 6th) and it had not been damaged. Apparently, I am over the target and the opposition took it upon themselves to deface my sign with black spray paint. I thought to myself whether I should take down the sign, but the Lord responded and said, “No Anthony. The people will see through this.” It then dawned on me the words that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt 5:11).
I firmly believe that there is always good that comes from the bad. It’s just we don’t see the bigger picture at this moment in time, but as time progresses God’s plan is steadily revealed to us. The sign being defaced is part of His greater plan. It is more like a test to see if the evil one can tempt me to become bitter over this matter. Is it disturbing? Yes, but it doesn’t make me bitter. The Lord didn’t say this campaign was going to be easy. In my morning prayer on Thursday, I came across this passage that spoke to me: Hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord! (Psalm 27:14). This is why I start out my day in prayer so that I am grounded in Truth and am able to persevere throughout my day. It is also the reason why I ask my supporters to pray for me since your prayers lift me up to get me across the finish line.
I then left the campaign sign standing “as is” and drove over to the Oyate Ta Kola Ku Youth Center and played bingo in the afternoon since I was told by some of the members of Our Lady of Sorrows parish community to join them in playing bingo. So, I obliged. I hadn’t played bingo in years. It was fun, but like usual, I never win when I play bingo. However, I did meet some more locals and distribute some additional campaign literature. One of the locals said to me, “I’ve seen your signs. This is good to put a face with the name.”
After playing bingo, I stopped at the Prairie Pumpkin Patch south of Allen to check on my sign and to meet up with Gail Winter. She said this weekend was extremely busy and that there are two more weekends remaining for visitors to come to the farm and check out the corn maze and pick out a pumpkin. This great news overshadowed what I discovered earlier and perhaps is an omen of things to come.
As I drove back to Martin, the sun was starting to cast its long shadows. I drove by my sign along US Highway 18 located at the end of the approach for the Dorene Nelson residence. My sign stood out bright orange against the field of ready-to-harvest sunflowers. I am glad I chose the color orange as its ideal for this time of year and blends in well with the fall harvest. As I continued my drive toward Martin, I thought to myself, “Lord, thank you for this beautiful day. You have blessed me immensely.” God bless.
My campaign sign located at at Kyle Grocery Store defaced with graffiti (October 13, 2024).