Sunday: This morning, as promised, I got up early and made cinnamon rolls to take to some of the friends. The meeting this morning was great as usual, and the guest speaker was a brother from Ohio/ Florida.
Twinning with the Secretary!
Then, a "small" group of us went to Mariachi's for lunch afterwards.
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| Our Speaker and his family |
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| The Whole Group |
After lunch, two of my friends and I went to get ice cream before heading back to my house. Then my roommate and I met some other friends at the movie theater and watched "The Fault in Our Stars" and balled our eyes out. Then we came back to the house and hung out a bit before going to sleep.
Monday: Today was extremely busy with work and the day flew by quickly! Afterwards, we had our Family Worship night, continuing our discussion of the Fruitages of the Spirit. Then we had dinner; beef tenderloin, salad and some fresh mora/ fresa (blackberry/ strawberry) juice.
Tuesday: Today I met up with the service group after work and we had a good morning. In the afternoon, I met up with my friend for some calls and then a study that evening. After her study, I decided to walk home and clear my mind a bit. On the way home, a man asked me where a particular street was (in Spanish). I replied that it was two more streets north of where we were standing. Then, in my poor Spanish, I tried explaining that he could also go uphill at the current street and he would intersect the street he was looking for. He stopped me part way through and said "You can tell me in English if you'd rather". So I explained to him in English how to get to the street he was searching for. He explained to me that he works at the hospital and is moving to Quito and that he was on his way to view an apartment in the area. I told him I could take him to the street since I was going that direction. As we walked and talked I told him that I was a volunteer Bible teacher and that is why I moved to Quito. He asked why we do this volunteer work, so I explained to him how the Bible has benefited me personally and that it was my desire to share what I have learned with others so that they too can benefit from the wisdom in the Bible. I explained the Bible study arrangement and told him that through a study of the Bible he could find answers to such questions as: "Why does God allow suffering?" He told me that he wondered what the answer to that question was and I gave him the July issues of the Watchtower and Awake magazines. By this time, we had arrived at his street. He told me that he was interested in the Bible study, so I told him that if he was comfortable he could give me his contact information and we could make arrangements for a Bible study. He asked if he could have my contact information as well, and told me that email was fine if I didn't want to give out my phone number. He seemed sincere in his interest in a Bible study, and not at all creepy, so I gave him my email and phone number. I walked another 3 blocks home and excitedly told my roommate of my experience.
Wednesday: Another crazy busy day of work today, followed by final preparation for the meeting and then heading off to the meeting. During the meeting, I received a text message from the man I had met the night before saying he would like to have a Bible study and asked me to contact him. After the meeting, a few friends and I headed to Chili's to have dinner before going home for the night.
Thursday: Today we met at the park again for incognito - our group kept growing as the morning went on. That morning, I sent a reply message to the guy who requested a Bible study and we made arrangements to meet at the shopping mall on Friday at 4:30pm.
Our group started out small... but kept growing that morning!
After service that morning, I went home to do some more work in the afternoon and then prepare dinner for the phone witnessing group. On the way, I received this free Coke during a promotion and then met a couple who are studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada!
At the grocery store, I ran into another nice couple that had lived all over the world (she was originally from England) and had a 15 minute conversation with them. I left them an invitation tot the meetings and when I said good-bye, the woman hugged and kissed me!
I made lasagna and salad this evening, both mora juice and guanabana juice and brownies for dessert.
Friday: This morning I was slammed with work, then met a friend at the mall to return some things he had left at my house, then I treated myself to coffee and prepared for my studies that afternoon. Unfortunately, an hour before the one study was scheduled, she called me because her friends mother had passed away and she needed to go comfort her friend. My friend who was coming to meet me for the study was already on her way, so instead we did a little informal witnessing at the mall. I ran into some other friends from the hall that afternoon while waiting for her to arrive. Then a different friend met me for the second study that afternoon, which went really well. I showed him the video "Why You Should Study the Bible" and he asked many questions and requested to start the study in Chapter 4 of the Bible Teach Book, "Who is Jesus Christ?" He explained to us that his parents are strict Catholic, and that some people believe Jesus is God and others that Jesus is the Son of God. I assured him that all of his questions would be answered from the Bible. He also told us how various tragedies had struck his family and questioned why God didn't do anything to prevent it. I referred him back to the magazines I had given him on Tuesday evening and again told him that through his study of the Bible, he would gain understanding and find the answers to his questions. He said he hoped that next week when we studied that he would be in his new apartment and we could go there to study instead. We assured him that we would be happy to meet him anywhere it was convenient for him; whether at a shopping mall, his home, his work or anywhere.
After the study, I accompanied my friend to the clinic at the hospital for an appointment and then we had dinner at Noe Sushi afterwards.
Saturday: This morning we had a group of 5 for early morning witnessing at Carolina Park and talked to several people, including a woman that we had met last week (and her daughter this time as well). When we were finishing up early morning, we stopped by our favorite little bagel place before heading to the Kingdom Hall for regular service.
The same man and his little girl that we had met the previous week was there again, this time with 2 other gentlemen and their children. The kids were all under the age of 5 I would guess and it was apparent that they were quite restless and eager to run around. They kept lingering by the door until one of their dads would call out and tell them to stay inside. Since we had just started the campaign for this month, I was carrying my laptop on me. So, I asked them if they wanted to watch a cartoon and played for them the "Stealing is Bad" video that I had downloaded from the www.jw.org website. They asked me if they could sit, so all 5 of them sat in a semi-circle on the floor of the bagel shop and I knelt in front of them and showed them the video. When it was finished, one of the children said, "is that all?" So I showed them another video from the Become Jehovah's Friend series. Unfortunately then, our order was ready and we had to hurry off to make it to the service meeting at the hall on time. The fathers thanked me and said the store employees also thanked me as the children were all quietly fixated on the video while it played.
We had a group of over 30 meet at the Kingdom Hall that morning for field service, each one ready to distribute the new tract as part of the worldwide campaign this month.
After service, I went to the grocery store and then to prepare dinner for that evening. A bunch of the friends came over and we ate and played games, including a few hilarious rounds of Bible Pictionary.
