LA: VOLUNTEER'S QUERY TO MUSLIM FAMILY YIELDS POSITIVE RESPONSE

KENNER, La. (BP)--Charmaine Fenstermacher had just three Gospel tracts left to share with families lined up to receive food from Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers in Kenner, La."As a car pulled up, we'd say, 'Hi, how are you? Do you want some lunch?'" Fenstermacher, of Southlake, Texas, recounted. When asked, "How are you doing?" some of the displaced Louisianans told how Hurricane Katrina had left them destitute and hungry."I had three tracts left and I was using them sparingly," Fenstermacher said, as many of the evacuees had already heard the Gospel at some point in the post-Katrina disaster relief efforts. "Some of them wanted to talk and it was so nice to hear what they had to say," though many of their stories began running together as they told of coping with the disaster.

When a black sedan rolled to the front of the line, Fenstermacher recognized the family to be of Middle Eastern descent. "The mother was wearing a beautiful, silk gown with gold threads. It was covering her arms as she reached out for food. She told me they had lost everything in the hurricane."Fenstermacher, a 53-year-old homemaker, is still amazed at the encounter God gave to her."I reached in and handed them lunch and we talked a little since there was a long line ahead of me. It surprised me the things I asked because I'm not normally so bold. 'Do you know Jesus?'" she asked the man, his wife and their teenage son, uncertain of the response she would get. (MORE)