Sue Waddell related this story to me via email and I thought it was so good that I'd put it here for you all. It's also a great example of a good witness!
"As I was saying at the missions meeting, I have a pair of red shoes. They came out with shoes called Crocks some time ago. Rumor is, and you can ask Jill, that nurses started wearing them. Then they caught on. Now they are sold everywhere, even in the L.L. Bean Catalog. You can get them in any color, too. Melissa bought some about a year ago and I tried them on. They are so light, it feels like you are not even wearing shoes. I thought they would be comfortable to wear to work, but I didn't get around to buying any. Then Bob ended up buying a pair for himself last fall. About 2 months ago, he came home with a pair for me, in bright red. Like I said, you can get them in any color. But bright red? Pink would have been cute. I decided I liked them anyway and . . . it was nice of him. (No one has ever bought me shoes before.)
I put them on and went into the girl's bedroom to show Melissa and Julia. I check all my 'fashion statements' with them first. The said, "Mom! You got some! They're cute! They're a little red." (but they passed inspection.)
The next day I wore them to work. I showed everyone my new shoes and of course I let them know that Bob bought them for me. Rhea says, "Oh Suz, those are red." But the ladies thought they were cute anyway.
Pretty much everyone got a kick out of them. Gary walked in, was about to say good morning, and looked instead at my feet (they are eye catching!). First thing he said was, "You've got to be kidding." We laughed. Vinny told me right off they were ugly and he reminded me for weeks after that they were ugly. He would tease me and say, "Suz, don't wear those red shoes." My other boss, Daren, saw them, pointed and said, "Suz, what are those?" Of course, he answered his own question and said "Those are Crocks. They're bright red!" It was funny.
Days later, I got the April newsletter from the Clemmers. I opened it up, started going through the pages and saw the color photo of this man sitting in a chair, wearing bright red. Dr. Clemmer writes, "I found this 'village chief' sitting outside in a chair next to the mud brick hospital building, dressed smartly in red: red cap, red shirt, red pants, and even red sneakers."
I laughed. This is just day later after my shoe experience. The 'chief' wasn't wearing crocks, but they were red shoes. Right away I thought I had to bring this to work. Witnessing is hard, right? You don't want to be pushy. You don't want to bore people with your 'religious stuff.' I thought, what a perfect excuse to show my coworkers something of God's people, doing God's work. Last week I introduced them to Dr. Clemmer (even better, because there was a picture of him too), and I explained to them what he does. I even showed Vinny. I said, "Vinny, I can wear red shoes. Even the village chief wears them."
