One of the sisters, who is currently serving in a local Spanish congregation, mentioned she is contemplating joining the English congregation. Though we have just begun to become acquainted, her story is an inspiring one. Our dear sister suffers from MS, yet despite the difficulties that her disease imposes, her goal is to regular pioneer. She possesses such determination and courage!! We assured her of our support and desire to help her reach her goals. I learned that she lives just down the street from me (only two blocks!). Its a small world!! So we shared a taxi home and promised to stay in touch. My roommate and I ate a quick lunch when we got home, then our friend came over and the three of us went to the park up the street from my house.
We enjoyed walking around, breathing in the fresh air and unwinding. The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds all afternoon, and there was just enough wind to make is slightly chilly at times.
I beat that kid by a long shot!
Surprise!
You are never too old to see-saw!
I almost stole her water!!
That night, I spent a few more hours studying for my teaching certification and answering a couple emails. A couple from Michigan is coming to visit some friends in my congregation and were kind enough to consent to bringing my phone with them!! Yea!
Monday: After work this morning, I met up with my friend and she helped me take care of a couple errands, and then we spent the rest of the morning preaching. We met our friend who was departing for the States that night for one final coffee break together. After coffee, my friend and I continued preaching until the early afternoon and then she had to leave for work. I had a bit of an upset stomach that afternoon and so I decided to go home and work on my certification some more, prepare some food for the week, eat dinner and do laundry. Then my roommate and I watched a movie at the house before going to sleep that night.
Tuesday: After teaching this morning, my roommate and I met up with the group around 9:45am. There were 15 of us out this morning!!
Pretending to be Normal
The True Craziness!
By around 2:30, there were 2 (people left preaching, that is). But we continued to do some return visits nearby. At 3:30, however, my roommate was ready to call it a day. I, however, already had arrangements to meet up with another friend at 5:00 that evening for a study and some return visits. So, the safest thing for me to do was to head back to the mall for some informal witnessing. On my way there, I met 3 different English speakers and had several nice conversations.
At the mall, I ran into several more, including a man at the bookstore, who readily accepted the tract and meeting invitation I gave him. I went to find a seat in the food court so I could record our conversation and his name, when I spotted 3 sisters from my hall taking a break at the coffee shop. I sat down with them for a few minutes and we shared our experiences for the day. Then around 4:30, they departed and I continued preaching in the mall. I headed for the restroom, outside of which I met a woman who was tending to her child and was able to give her the tract on family life. She thanked me several times for the information. I decided to make my way downstairs.
I noticed 2 fair-complected girls standing in the line at the Sweet & Coffee. I hadn't intended on purchasing anything, but while standing there (trying not to look like I was lurking behind them), I found myself in line. I decided to order a cup of tea. In my helplessly broken Spanish, I asked what flavors they had. The cashier, a young man, answered me in English. I thanked him for his thoughtfulness and explained I was trying to learn. I gave him a tract and pointed out the location of the Kingdom Hall and the meeting times. Meanwhile, the other girls were waiting for their items. Now that we were all waiting together, I asked them where they were from and why they were here. After talking for a few minutes, I offered them the tract/ invitation and they told me they had already received one! I encouraged them to come to the meetings.
By this time, it was only a few minutes to 5:00. No sooner had I sat down with my tea than I saw my friend walking up to the entrance of the mall. So, tea in hand, I grabbed my things and walked to meet her. The two of us walked to the bus stop, chatting and catching up about our day and our families. Then, we went to her study (the one that has been busy or unavailable the last couple weeks we've tried to talk with her). On the way there, we noticed the clouds getting darker. Just after we stepped inside of the store where the woman works, the rain started. How thankful we were to be under cover!
It was an awesome study. The woman selected the topic "How Do Bible Principals Benefit Us?" in the Good News brochure. Throughout the study, she expressed her appreciation for the Bible and called it a guide book from our loving Father! She even told us that though she knew she wasn't doing everything right in her life, she wanted to learn so she could do better. We were able to spend a lot of time with her since she was not busy at work. She expressed a desire to go to the meeting on Sunday and said she looked forward to the study next week. As we said our good-byes and stepped outside, the rain had almost completely stopped. Due to the hour, however, we decided to head home as it was not safe to continue preaching in that neighborhood.
I got on the bus just before 7:00 and was ready to call it a day. After a few minutes, however, a young woman sat next to me. She was friendly and smiled at me, so I thought, why not? It doesn't hurt to ask. She told me she only spoke a little English and motioned to her boyfriend, who was standing behind us and told me he speaks more English. I had a few remaining KN #38 tracts left in my bag, so I gave her one. She read the question on the cover and her boyfriend helped to translate some of the word's meanings into Spanish. On the ride home, the three of us read the entire tract together!
I finally arrived home around 7:30 that evening; tired, but happy! I fixed myself some dinner, took out the trash, did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen and finally went to bed.
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