We sat, trembling in the cold and in the dark.
“Has it really come to this?”, we thought. “Is this where we meet our end?”
Any available water was nothing but a distant fuzzy memory. Electricity had disappeared days ago. And the wind! The howling wind, battering our small house as if a giant was furiously blowing on it, determined to uproot it and send it flying into oblivion. The metal-sheet roof threatened to fly away, tearing against the old, weak nails that fixed it to even older, rotting wooden beams. It banged and slammed against the frame of the house, over and over again, a terrible sound that vibrated through our bones.
We were in the middle of an almost nation-wide blackout. A vicious windstorm had blown across the country, tearing down trees and power lines. We would later find out that the large, two-story ferry used to travel regularly to Ometepe Island had very nearly sunk beneath the frigid waters with over 100 people aboard.
But on that cold night, with the wind rushing down the street outside like a freight train, the howls of the dogs trying desperately to find shelter lest they be torn apart like twigs, the most terrible thought in our minds was,
“What if we miss Lost?”
But I digress. Let us begin at the place where one must always begin. The beginning.
About three weeks ago, we had been buzzing along in our normal routine up to that point, until we suddenly realized that we had reached a point we never thought we could ever reach—complete and utter poverty.
I am not sure how exactly it happened. Now, I don’t mean to say that we did not have a single dollar to our name. We had some reserves in our bank account, but we did not have the 25 cents needed for even one of us to go to Jinotepe to actually withdraw our funds.
I think we merely failed to keep a good track on the money going out, and we reached into our pockets and wallets one morning and came up with 2 cordobas between us. The bus to Jinotepe costs 5. We looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find any more.
“Oh well,” we said. “We’ll just finish the food that we have in the fridge and figure something out later.”
We opened the fridge and, unfortunately, saw that we had already finished anything edible that could be found. We looked at each other, and we looked down at our hungry puppies, and we just had to laugh. We had no food, and no money.
So, we decided to go out in service. Everet, Silvia, and Emily were due back from their Guatemala vacation the following day, and we would just ask them for a ride to Jinotepe and then we would withdraw some money and buy some groceries. As for today, well, we would figure out something. Maybe someone would angrily throw a mango or a potato at us during service and we could get some lunch then.
Service that day went rather well, as usual, and when we returned (unfortunately without any produce being thrown at us), we sat down and tried to figure out what to do. We could always borrow some money, sure, but we felt that since we were still relatively new here, and everyone else was very poor, that would be our very last resort.
Marlene leaned back into the sofa and promptly fell asleep.
I started studying for that week’s meeting, and suddenly a knock came at the door. Willy, the house caretaker, was there and handed me 500 cordobas. “Here you go,” he said.
I frowned at this, scratching my head in confusion, and he said, “Don’t you remember? This is from Scarlett.”
“Of course I remember,” I said, trying to.
Then suddenly it hit me. The owner of the house, Scarlett, told us she would give us $500 cords this month because of something to do with the phone bill. It was her share of it. I smiled as I recalled that the phone bill was not due for another few days. This was our way to go to Jinotepe, get some groceries, get some money out, and reimburse her share so that the phone bill could be paid on time.
I woke up Marlene, tapping her on the shoulder and holding the money in front of her face. Whenever I wake her up, she always awakens with a violent start, as if someone just came into the room shooting up the place. So I took care to stand a good distance away while I reached over and tapped her.
After her shock at being woken up from a dream full of bunnies and teddy bears she smiled.
This was just one example of seeing Jehovah’s hand providing for us. Lately we have been rather tight on cash, since we have had some unexpected purchases come up (who would have thought that we would actually need a sofa and a couple of cushioned chairs? Well, plastic molded chairs can only provide so much comfort. After a while it starts to feel like cement!)
The next predicament we found ourselves in was that my parents were visiting the following week, and we did not yet have an extra bed. We thought of merely putting the inflatable mattress on the floor in the living room and giving my parents our bed in our room, but the thought of sleeping with who knows what crawling across the floor in the dead of night was definitely not appealing.
Then, however, we were invited to dinner by Ed and Lisa, a very nice family from Chicago who we ran into a few months ago. They were leaving that week, but had wanted to get together with us. We spent a very pleasant evening with them, and when we mentioned my parents visiting, they offered to give us a bed they had bought a while ago. They no longer needed it, and we were more than happy to accept it. It worked beautifully.
The following Sunday was, for some reason I cannot recall, rather discouraging. I think that we ran into some minor trouble with loss of electricity and water, and it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Anyway, we were feeling pretty dejected, and later that night I remember feeling that I wish I could just get that day over with. The meeting, of course, had been a bright spot but otherwise it had been pretty dismal.
At one point, however, the phone rang. I picked it up and it was Daniela, from back home! She put the entire Morales family on speaker-phone, and we had a very encouraging conversation. They even said that at that particular meeting, we had been mentioned in the public talk. It didn’t really hit me until after we hung up. We realized that we actually are encouraging others back home, too, and that really made us feel very good. The entire phone call was just what we needed that day. After we hung up, we talked about how much we really missed them, but that it had really made our day.
After that, our batteries were recharged and the days went by rather pleasantly.
MY PARENTS’ VISIT
On the following Wednesday, my parents arrived. It must have been a shock for them to go from minus 20 degrees or whatever in Chicago, to 85 degrees and high humidity in Central America. They were happy to see us, of course, although they mentioned that I was way too skinny. I think the word “stick” was thrown around a few times. I guess I could be a little bit fatter. (All that will be taken care of in due time, when we visit the States. Chicken wings, here I come!)
Anyway, after we got their numerous gigantic bags into the car (they were very heavy, which was very good news for us), we took them to our favorite restaurant in Managua, a Mexican place at the mall, which they enjoyed. Later we got home and opened up our presents, which were their bags.
My parents had asked us for a list of needs and wants before they came. I had listed Milk Duds, Laffy Taffy, and medicine. And that was in order of importance.
Marlene, selfless as usual, asked for medicine, doggie treats, doggie medicine, doggie toys, doggie combs, other assorted doggie items, and then some hair care stuff, other assorted girl stuff, and some candy, if they felt like it.
When we opened up the bags, all I could see was candy, candy candy. 31 boxes of Milk Duds, 2 or 3 large bags of Laffy Taffys, about 5 or 6 huge tins of chocolate for Marlene, etc. We eventually saw that they gave us a huge amount of very high quality soap, medicine, and other things that we really, really needed. I even got 6 or 7 books to read (I am a book addict. . . Marlene doesn’t like it much because I pick up a book and disappear into La-La Land.)
As of this writing, my wonderful Laffy Taffy is gone. I’m not sure if I ate it all or if Marlene stole some, but it is very sadly gone. My Milk Duds, however, are still going strong. The main reason is because I can’t take Milk Duds out of the house or else they will melt into this disgusting gooey blob. Of course it is still edible, but my hands get all messed up. Laffy Taffy, thanks to some wonderful chemical additives, stay in the same shape until they are eaten. So I took a bunch of them in service every day and—well, I guess I DID eat them all, come to think of it!
Our doggies were very, very happy to get about a year’s supply of rawhides, bones, and treats. We were feeling pretty bad for them lately, but now they are happy as can be.
Lizette, my younger sister, also burned me some DVDs with some of my favorite TV shows that I missed while I was gone, so that was an extremely nice gift as well.
All in all, we were totally overwhelmed at their generosity and kindness.
The next day, after a night filled with dreams of chocolate rivers and rolling around in Laffy Taffy (I’m sure the dogs drooled during the night as well, reliving the rawhides they had consumed before bed), we took my parents to the Isletas de Granada, the same tour we had taken before with Everet and his family. For some reason, however, the Spanish fort was filled with gnats, which flew into our mouths, nostrils, and got all over our clothes. It was completely disgusting. At one point I laughed, and swallowed about 10 of the poor things. Oh well. It was a very nice trip from inside the boat, though.
During the rest of my parents’ trip here, we took them to San Juan del Sur, which was new for us as well and was totally breathtaking, seeing the ocean. (I remember sitting on the beach, sipping a frozen drink and watching the waves rolling in under a lazy sun, and I suddenly remembered the rest of my family, back in Chicago, freezing in their gigantic stuffed coats, shaking their fists at the snow that would continue to fall. I felt your pain, people.)
That weekend we had a special treat. I had heard of a group in the Isletas, and their assignment is to preach among the numerous little islands there. I was told that you have to make a reservation to attend, since they pick you up from the dock in a boat and they can only fit so many people. So before my parents arrived, I called and made the necessary arrangements. When we arrived that Sunday, we immediately went out in service, being taken to the islands by a boat. We hiked up a very steep mountain in order to reach the several return visits and studies up there. My parents really impressed us.
There is a moment when you are preaching in many of these territories, where you feel that you are near death. Your heart is pounding, your vision is jumpy, your sweat is coming out in rivers and you are panicking, wondering how you are going to put all that fluid back into your body. You start hearing and seeing things that aren’t even there.. . . sometimes while walking along miles of dirt road, I can almost swear I see a kindly woman at the side of the road, a pitcher of Country Time Lemonade in her hand, smiling and beckoning to me, and then when I get near to her, smiling and wide-eyed, licking my parched lips, I see that it is only a dry tree, swinging its cracked and dead branch in the wind.
Anyway, I thought I saw that look in my mother’s eyes at one point. She seemed about ready to pack it in. Like “Ta ta, see you in the New World, people!” But she got through it, got her second wind, and she just really amazed us. The rest of that week she kept up with us in our long treks through service, and she actually said she hadn’t felt that good, physically, in a long time.
My dad was also very impressed with the preaching work, once he got a taste of actually talking to people, even being invited in, and sharing scriptures. He mentioned that he would like to come back and get more preaching in than he was able to this time around.
The meeting at the Isletas was very nice. It took place right on the shore, with waves rolling in and the songs of birds in the background. About 90% of the entire group (about 30) were all under 20 years old. I’m not sure why they were all so young, but it was quite refreshing to see their zeal in the ministry.
During my parents’ visit we also had a tour of Bethel arranged for our congregation. It was a very nice treat, and it was really cool to see all of the different paintings around, some of which have been used in Watchtowers and other Bible-based publications from the organization (the painting of the Mount of Olives, with Jesus’ apostles asking him, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” was there, and I was able to study it carefully. It’s so beautiful, isn’t it??)
We also learned a lot of things about the work here in Nicaragua. There are presently 2 districts with over 20 circuits, and around 350 congregations. There is an average of 2 elders per congregation, but about 30% of all congregations either have only 1 elder or 0 elders, and they are also SORELY in need of ministerial servants and regular pioneers (so anyone that is thinking of serving where the need is greater, let me know!)
Later we visited Ometepe Island, and stayed at a very nice hotel on the lake. There was a hammock, which my Dad wouldn’t share of course, and a VERY nice breeze coming in through the windows at night. The breeze, with the sound of the waves, made us sleep like little babies.
During the Ometepe trip, Marlene and I took a kayak tour out to a jungle river. It has Caymans in it, which is some sort of alligator, but unfortunately we didn’t see any that day. We did, however, see a whole mess of birds, including white and blue Herons, which are very beautiful. At one point, however, while I was paddling (Marlene had the front seat), I noticed a very, VERY large yellow and furry spider on Marlene’s life jacket. It was crawling rather quickly up her back and was about to go under her shirt by her neck. I more or less stood up in the kayak and said, “Don’t move!” She put up her hands like I was going to shoot her or something, and I smacked the spider. It fell onto the kayak, and I picked it up and threw it in the river, where the poor thing drowned to death, probably. I don’t know if it did or not, but it definitely sank into the water like that guy on the Titanic movie. It even stretched out its 8 furry legs in a sad, watery farewell.
Anyway, that’s how I saved Marlene’s life. She wasn’t very appreciative at first. She said, “Did you hit me with your oar?” I decided to take that as a compliment regarding my superhuman strength, but I assured her that I had merely smacked her.
I don’t remember if it was an open handed slap or if it was a fist punch, but either way, I saved her life, didn’t I? Besides, she had a life jacket on. That’s like wearing two pillows on your back!
When I described the size and furriness of the spider, however, she was very thankful.
After the kayak trip, we decided not to wait the 2 hours for the bus back to our hotel, so we decided to hitch-hike back. In the States, this is a very obvious danger; you are practically asking to be murdered, dismembered, and put into large jars and stored away in some psychopath’s freezer, to be consumed at a convenient time. (But you can’t wait too long – eyeballs are disgusting when they’re freezer-burned!)
But here in Nicaragua, it’s just the way people get around. I happened to save Marlene’s life yet again on this hitch-hike trip. And no, the driver was not a psychopath.
We were in the back, standing up, and she was taking pictures of the countryside, when I saw a gigantic tree branch coming up fast ahead. I yelled for her to duck, and she actually did! Anyway, I know that one doesn’t sound very heroic, but if she had gotten hit in the face with that branch, she probably would’ve gotten knocked off the truck and most likely would have broken her head open on the road, making a pretty big mess.
And even if she hadn’t gotten thrown off the truck, she would have gotten a branch in the face! That’s a one-way ticket to Ugly Town and believe me, that would have made for VERY uncomfortable social gatherings. For both of us.
We made it back in time for a late lunch with my parents, overlooking the lake, which is so big it looks like an ocean, and it was just marvelous.
The next day we took them to Catarina, overlooking the Laguna de Apoyo, and had a nice lunch there. We bought some souvenirs to take back home, and all in all it was a very nice day.
The following day was a Saturday, and we all went to the meeting at La Conquista, so my parents got to meet the group. Afterwards we had a final dinner at the Pizzeria Coliseo in Jinotepe, which has some pretty good pizza (the chef is from Italy), and a very nice ambience. We invited Everet’s family to eat with us, and they and my parents really liked each other. Especially when my parents found out how much they have helped us since we’ve been here!
The next morning, at 4:30am, Everet picked us up to take them back to the airport. Happily, it was not a tearful farewell; it was just a “see you later”. (We are planning on going up to Chicago in June . . .we had not originally planned to go up, but my parents invited us and well, we don’t want to offend them, now do we?)
I think the trip was very good for my mom. She actually thought that we lived in a tin-shack type place and cooked with firewood or something. When she saw that we have a very decent house, cable TV, phone, etc., she was relieved. I don’t think she is as worried now as she used to be. And as I said before, my dad really enjoyed the preaching work down here, and is interested in coming back primarily for that.
It was very good for us, too. We kind of needed a vacation, and we got to see a bunch of things that we were wanting to see. Also, we got to see Nicaragua from kind of an outsider’s point of view, and it reinforced in our minds what a diverse and beautiful country we live in. And it was very good to spend some time with my parents and get rid of some of that homesickness.
And, of course, the candy. The glorious, glorious candy.
After leaving my parents at the airport, Everet drove us to McDonalds for some breakfast. I know, I know, McDonalds?? But I was really, really missing those Sausage McMuffins with Egg, and I was NOT disappointed! They taste exactly the way they do back home! I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or what, but I don’t think it shaved a year off my life or anything. What’s a few McMuffins when you have eternity, hopefully, right?
I think that, after the visit, we were expecting to get back into a routine, but it was not to be. 2 days later was the start of our circuit overseer’s visit.
THE C.O. VISIT
We weren’t really sure what to expect, but of course he turned out to be a very wonderful brother. Brother Wayne Burgess is from England. He used to be a missionary in Africa, then he served in Spain, Portugal, and now here. The visit was very, very encouraging. He had a few one-on-one conversations with us, and really reassured us respecting some of our worries here. He was especially helpful in explaining to us certain things that are particular to Nicaraguan culture, and it really makes sense to us when we take into consideration the attitudes we have come across down here. All in all, the visit was very refreshing, and now we have quite a different opinion of some of the attitudes we have seen.
DARKNESS FALLS
I now return to the opening account. The dark, cold misery.
Unfortunately, it took place during the circuit overseer’s visit. Fortunately, my parents got out in time.
We went 4 days straight with no electricity and no water. We had some water stored up in large containers, which we used for “bucket” showers (and I thought the showers were cold! After a few bucketfuls of water I had to look down to see if there weren’t chunks of ice floating in there) and washing dishes and things like that, but that quickly disappeared.
No electricity also meant no refrigeration, so a lot of our food went bad. We tried to cook and eat as much as we could, but some was ruined anyway. On the second to last day of the misery, a fire station came by with a giant tank of water and parked in the middle of town to fill up people’s containers. There was a line 3 hours long, and several fights broke out. It was starting to get out of hand, really.
The reason for the power outages was that there was a very bad windstorm throughout the entire country. Trees were being knocked down from the Costa Rican border all the way up to near the northern border. Some of those trees fell on power lines and I guess it all just knocked out the grid. (The winds were terrible. You couldn’t talk as you walked unless you wanted a mouth full of dirt. And whatever else is on the road at the time, like those nice piles of cow excrement.)
During that night of misery I described at the start of this post, we finally made it to sleep (that roof trying to come off was really loud!). We were awakened at 3am, however, when the power came back on! A loud cheer could be heard in all of Santa Teresa as forgotten TV’s came on, fans began to blow, and fridges began to cool. The joyful outcry, however, was cut short when it went off again 5 minutes later.
On Saturday we went to the meeting at La Conquista, which the circuit overseer was supporting that afternoon, and our studies there told us that the power had finally come back for good. If they have power, we have power. (They get it from Santa Teresa.) So we were elated! Power means water, since the water is run on an electric pump (why they can’t put it on a few generators while the power is out is beyond me. I guess it just is too “weird and different”).
However, about 3 minutes after we finally walked in the house, the electricity went out again, but it came back on a few hours later and it held. And thankfully, it did not interfere with “Lost” goodness on Wednesday night. (Note to Dina and Daniela: Time travel is totally confusing!)
If this were to happen up in the States, I would be making some very stern calls to the power company and would be lying on the kitchen floor, closing my eyes and waiting for death to come and take me to that blissful, blissful sleep. Here, though, the frustration soon ends and you just roll with it. You realize everyone else is in the same boat. A sense of humor goes a long way. (I’m not saying I don’t get frustrated from time to time, but I am starting to get used to it.)
Anyway, Nicaragua has been a total rollercoaster so far. Some days are bad, some days are good, but isn’t that true where you live, too? Having nice restaurants nearby, a car to zip you around where you need to go, a nice carpeted Kingdom Hall where everything runs like clockwork, a home that doesn’t have lizards, ants, or power outages, and all the trappings of developed society doesn’t make you happy. What makes you truly happy is serving Jehovah faithfully and being busy in the preaching work. I am positive you agree with me on this.
It’s funny, but I’ve really just come to realize this very simple truth. Psalm 1:1-3 says:
“Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked ones,
And in the way of sinners has not stood,
And in the seat of ridiculers has not sat.
But his delight is in the law of Jehovah,
And in his law he reads in an undertone day and night.
And he will certainly become like a tree planted by streams of water,
That gives its own fruit in its season
And the foliage of which does not wither,
And everything he does will succeed.”
It doesn’t say, “Happy is the man who has all the conveniences he needs”. It says that we are happy if we read Jehovah’s word and apply it.
And, that’s true no matter where you are.
I cannot yet say that Nicaragua is home. But, overall, I can say that we are very happy here. This isn’t something I could say last month, and some of you picked up on that. And we really appreciate the encouraging words you gave us. But we can very honestly say that we are happy, and that we would never trade any of this for anything.
And a big reason for that is the preaching work. For example, this morning I came across a man who asked, “I have Evangelicals try to tell me they have the true religion. The Adventists tell me the same thing. And so do Jehovah’s Witnesses. What I want to know is, how do you know YOU have the truth? How can you be so sure?”
“That’s an excellent question,” I replied. “The Bible reveals who today make up the true religion.”
I opened up the Bible, to the first point, and read John 13:34, 35, where Jesus said, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”
So I asked him, “What did Jesus say would be the identifying mark of true Christians?”
The man knew I was talking about love, and he said, “Well, every religion I’ve talked to preaches about love, too.”
“Yes,” I replied, “but what type of love do they display? True, some religions participate in humanitarian works, such as disaster relief or the building of homeless shelters and free clinics, but what about actual Christian love?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“If you see here, Jesus commanded us to love one another JUST AS HE LOVED US. And what type of love did Jesus display?”
“Well, he gave his life for us,” he said.
“Exactly! Now, you see that the vast majority of religions today profess love for their fellow man. But is it the same love that Jesus displayed? Are they willing to die for their spiritual brothers and sisters? Far from it! Many bless their countries’ armies as they go to war, without giving a thought to the killing of their fellow humans, some of whom may even profess their same religion! The leaders of the world, many who profess to be Christian, would rather send countless young men and women to die for them, and would never lay down their own lives for their citizens. Can you imagine Jesus acting this way, showing only a hypocritical love?”
“No,” he replied.
“Jehovah’s witnesses, however, really do follow this commandment. In every country where the government has a military draft, they choose imprisonment over joining the military. And in countless conflicts, they have chosen to actually be executed rather than take up arms against their follow man.”
After some thought, he said, “Well, that’s commendable.”
I then moved on to a second point. “Now,” I said, “You may see that certain Adventists, Mormons and Evangelicals come preaching from time to time. But what do they actually teach?”
I said this because I know for a fact that the Adventists and Evangelicals go door to door primarily to give out invitations to their church services, and the Mormons use a book that contradicts much of what the Bible says, including the belief that Jesus and God Almighty are the same person. Occasionally you will get an Evangelical try to explain that everyone who is good goes to heaven, all of the bad go to hell, and that the earth will eventually just be an empty wasteland. These false doctrines, however, are very easy to dispel, using such scriptures as John 14:28, 1 Corinthians 11:3, Psalm 37:29, Proverbs 2:21, 22, and Matthew 5:5.
I then opened up the Bible to Matthew 10:7, 8, which reveals that Jesus’ true disciples preach primarily about God’s Kingdom. I said, “Most religions cannot even agree among themselves on what that kingdom really is! Some say it resides in the hearts of the faithful, others say that it symbolizes Heaven, which is waiting for all good people to arrive from the earth, and so on. But look at what the Bible says.”
I then showed him Daniel 2:44 which says that God’s kingdom will destroy all earthly governments. He was a little surprised at this.
I also showed him the full title of the Watchtower, which includes the phrase “Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom”.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only ones in the world who teach the truth about God’s kingdom and what it will do for the earth.”
I then mentioned what verse 8 of Matthew 10 had said. “You received free; give free.”
“If you go to a Catholic church,“ I said, “what will you expect to be passed around before long?”
“A collection plate,” he replied.
“Yes,” I said. “And other religions will charge you the tithe, 10% of your salary, in order to pay the wages of their leaders. Jehovah’s witnesses, on the other hand, will never charge you. There are no collections at the meetings, there is no tithing, there is no charge for giving a talk at a funeral, a wedding, or a baptism. Jesus did not charge for his ministry, and neither do we. Now, you might wonder where we get the money to print billions of copies of the Bible, magazines, and other Bible-based literature. Well, it is all taken care of by voluntary contributions. There are no ‘suggested contributions’. No one knows who gives what or when. And in this way, we are able to print tons of literature per year. And there are no salaries. From the ones who live and work at Headquarters in New York, to us living here in Nicaragua, no one receives a salary.”
This last point is rather interesting, since many ask us whether our congregation pays for our rent or food. When we make it clear that we are here completely of our own accord and that we depend solely on our own savings or secular work, they are all surprised and pleased.
Now I moved on to the final point of our discussion. I read to him Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus said, “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.
And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
I then asked him, “What command did Jesus here place upon all of his disciples?
“To preach,” he said.
“Yes. And do you know to what extent this preaching work was to be done?”
He didn’t, so I read to him a final text, at Acts 1:8, which says, “you will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the most distant part of the earth.”
“And this is true!” I said. “No other religion in the history of the world has had a preaching and teaching campaign that rivals that of Jehovah’s witnesses. We are preaching in over 235 different lands, in more than 400 different languages. And we don’t merely build a church and ring the bell to draw any who might be interested. We go door to door, exactly as Jesus and his disciples did, giving personal instruction based solely on the Bible to any who might be interested.”
In fact, at our last assembly the brother made a point on how a very successful businessman had mentioned to him, “I’ve been on almost every continent in the world, in many different countries, and there are only 2 things that I have seen common to every single country I’ve traveled to. One is Coca Cola, and the other is Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
After our little discussion, I could tell that he was convinced that we really do have the truth. He happened to live out in the middle of nowhere, quite far from the Kingdom Hall, but we will see if he makes it to a meeting. We warmly invited him to come.
We are continuing to have success in all of the different facets of our ministry. For example, remember that woman who flagged us down from the side of the road when we went on a seemingly worthless 7 mile trip? Well, she is going to every Sunday meeting right now, and she is studying regularly.
There was another young man named Roger, who I have seen from time to time around town and he kind of looks like a “punk” kid, you know, the earring, spiky hair, etc. Anyway, he asked us to study with him, and he has been to one day of the assembly so far.
And, thankfully, my job back home is continuing to send me a deluge of work on a weekly basis. It is almost too much for me to do, but I work about a day a week and manage to keep it under control. Jehovah really blessed us with that. It’s really the only way we are able to stay here at this time.
Well, that is it for now. I hope that you have enjoyed reading this rather long account of the last few weeks. (Just so you know, this is not really designed for a one-time reading. I assume that most of you just save it or print it or something and then read it once in a while until you are done. If you do manage to read the whole thing at once, that is very commendable, especially in this age of 10-minute attention spans. I just ask that you all do not print it out and read it in the bathroom. I really don’t want to be read in the bathroom. That is disgusting.)
We hope you are all doing well. May Jehovah continue to watch over all of us and help us to keep our integrity.
Til next time!
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