tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80014240476164355232024-03-14T12:13:20.910-04:00Your Blog of Blogs"No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not get 100 times more now in this period of time - houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields." - Mark 10:29,30.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-46368727548940217412022-08-17T08:56:00.000-04:002022-08-17T08:56:36.926-04:00Hiraeth<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNGCYXnh-TBLtALzWcXbtXwMCaUVEmWHTMkLmk8fc_IoNoxCUbODJ7P1tuhczTAgfwR2563uINWlBVU8h1-ytxBpepNFpVwMyh14rJfhS0p_jkLDmyXhhMJmIGJWKNUyBS1NCHrGaNilRfTg-ntRTIt0JX1WGnF10Tqz_VJovSg2qqhgG4OvXN86mkg/s3264/IMG_20220810_151452_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNGCYXnh-TBLtALzWcXbtXwMCaUVEmWHTMkLmk8fc_IoNoxCUbODJ7P1tuhczTAgfwR2563uINWlBVU8h1-ytxBpepNFpVwMyh14rJfhS0p_jkLDmyXhhMJmIGJWKNUyBS1NCHrGaNilRfTg-ntRTIt0JX1WGnF10Tqz_VJovSg2qqhgG4OvXN86mkg/w400-h300/IMG_20220810_151452_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <p></p><p>I came across an interesting word a while ago, "Hiraeth." It's a Welsh word that has been translated in a small variety of ways, one of them being "Nostalgia for a home you can never return to."</p><p>For the last nine years, Orealla has been home. That's a third of my life, and most of my adult life. Throughout that time there have been gradual changes, obviously, but it has remained essentially the same place.</p><p>When the Covid lockdowns began, they brought the first massive upheaval I had experienced here. The meetings and ministry changed in such drastic ways that we're still struggling to get our in-person meetings back to what they were before. But the greatest change has been with the people. Through death or people simply leaving the truth, we lost about 20% of our congregation. Some of these I talked about on this blog before, such as when <a href="https://nutso42.blogspot.com/2021/04/memorial-2021.html" target="_blank">Vincent Miguel died</a> days before the Memorial. Others I have not talked about, usually because I had no idea what to say about it. But getting back to Orealla and feeling the difference, I've finally figured out what to say.</p><p>Among our losses in the last two years was Mark Herman. I met him just two weeks into my first Guyana trip. In those days meeting attendance was very low, sometimes just five showing. Mark was always one of them, despite needing to be brought in a wheelchair or wheelbarrow. When Public Witnessing carts were first sent to Guyana, the branch ensured the first one was sent in for Orealla so that Mark could use it and more freely share in the ministry. He immediately signed up to auxiliary pioneer and put the cart to use. By time 2020 hit, he was serving as an elder, attended Pioneer School, and had <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020647#h=1:0-16:177">his life story published in the Watchtower</a>.</p><p>Then a few weeks ago I got a message that he had died. He was 36. The funeral had Zoom connected, and so many people came it filled us to capacity and more were trying to get in. I had no idea this man who rarely left his village had so many friends and had had such an impact on so many people's lives.</p><p>In his life story linked above, he repeatedly talks about the death of those close to him and what a large effect it had on his life. I often wonder if he ever suspected his own death would have a similar effect on the rest of us.</p><p>Coming back to Orealla and finally getting an in-person in the Kingdom Hall here (my first since 2019) had the unmistakable feeling of being back home, but there being something huge missing. I found myself getting lost in my notes during a talk because I kept staring at the empty spots where Mark and Vincent normally sat. This was home, but somehow not the same one I had left.</p><p>The entire week since I've been thinking of the Apostle John. Specifically his time on Patmos and afterward. When he began his service, he had an incredible circle of friends. He had a central scope of work, and a home base to work from. But by time Patmos and Revelation came, his friends were long gone. Jerusalem was gone. His scope of responsibility had grown unbelievably large. The attitude of his fellow Christians would have been changing as the apostasy neared. His understanding (or assumption) of what the near future held would have changed more times than I can count. And I wonder how often he too experienced hiraeth. A longing for that familiar home he once had that he could never get back to.</p><p>But here's the point: even if he did experience that, what did he do about it? He did his job. He accepted whatever direction he got and kept moving. Even under imprisonment he took extensive notes of the vision he was receiving, and after release still devoted himself to writing to the congregations and to recording the life of Jesus. The circumstances around him changed more than I can comprehend, but he maintained the zeal and obedience he'd had when things were familiar. And though he could never have returned to the familiar, many of the changes he saw were for the better.</p><p>So what should I be doing? Accepting the change, good and bad. Be grateful for the happy memories I have from before, and look for the positive in the new ones.</p>Case in point: my new house, pictured at the start of this entry. I finally get a home with running water inside.<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-24504282718421683312022-08-04T10:30:00.000-04:002022-08-04T10:30:32.544-04:00An Elaborate Attempt to Get Life Back to Normal<p> </p><p> <b><i>"Apart from me you can do nothing at all." - John 15:5</i></b></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>As you have possibly noticed, this blog has been pretty inactive since last September. The last entry ended with me saying that I was in the US and still joining my congregation on Zoom for service and meetings, and that I "<i>should be able to continue to do so until I'm able to physically return
to Guyana (which will be when? Who knows. Covid cases in the US and
Guyana both are going up, so we'll see how things pan out).</i>"</p><p> Turned out the answer was it would be August 3rd. Many things got in the way, including (but not limited to) Covid cases in Guyana skyrocketing briefly, two of my flights getting cancelled, my visa running out, Guyana getting labelled a "Do Not Visit" destination, and so forth. Every day when I looked at flights again it seemed like the headlines were always an airline cancelling or delaying thousands of flights and passengers getting stranded at airports throughout the world. This is all well and good though, since being in the pandemic era, my physical location didn't really matter <i>too</i> much. But then in-person meetings started back up, public witnessing began going again, and I have many many return visits and studies that I simply was never able to contact through the phone and who I really wanted to get back to.</p><p>Ultimately though, I couldn't figure out whether this endless hassle of trying to get back was a casualty of world events, or if I was in effect getting hit on the head and told it was time to just up and leave Guyana. Around this same time I was doing Memorial Bible reading, and I came across the verse mentioned above. Now, while this verse is not necessarily related directly to what I was experiencing at the time (if you want a correct explanation and context, see <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1200270043/401/0" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1990602#h=5:274-6:306" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1978929#h=7:0-8:493" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1976010#h=4:223-5:533" target="_blank">here</a> instead) it did have the effect of making me pause and consider: how much of those failing plans were me trying to work out for myself what to do?</p><p>So I decided to give it another go. But first, I was going to very thoroughly pray about it. I was going to very thoroughly lay out my plans for return. I was going to ask for clear answers as to what was happening and how I should respond. Then the process of making plans began.</p><p>First thing you'll notice when making plans to travel from Ohio to Guyana is that it is hardly going to be a pleasant trip. Many available options involve swapping airports or sitting in Miami for 23 hours. The other option is a short flight from one place to another, to another, to another, to another, which only seemed like it would increase the opportunities for a flight to get cancelled on me. I finally found a sequence of flights that seemed like a reasonable balance between number of flights and duration of layovers (with the added bonus of getting to spend a few days with friends in Arizona) and put the plan into motion.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEja0xcpfh93axgE6Kj2iuBR-f7JVKc3O1bX_O_3sDnIeirtPp-mrf5Lx3qVFtf87HiNs23UIUUndvBzVeLTQNlYnwhwxnkhbcYicKvr01rSpGqNE7D9oEWnysriBvRxOBT5Iq2F9M6-CUW93QFz_NNhrr__o9jOVAnkheOBGgXozSLwyMpI-qPUXHnepw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2304" data-original-width="4096" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEja0xcpfh93axgE6Kj2iuBR-f7JVKc3O1bX_O_3sDnIeirtPp-mrf5Lx3qVFtf87HiNs23UIUUndvBzVeLTQNlYnwhwxnkhbcYicKvr01rSpGqNE7D9oEWnysriBvRxOBT5Iq2F9M6-CUW93QFz_NNhrr__o9jOVAnkheOBGgXozSLwyMpI-qPUXHnepw=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 AM meeting with my congregation on Zoom. Time zones are my enemy.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>I was still positively terrified of everything that could go wrong, but there was only one way to test out whether I should still attempt going back, so I went ahead and tried it. August 1st was the date for my leg of flights leading to Guyana, and the fear hadn't really passed. The fear that my life had turned into an enormous Jenga tower and something was going to come along and kick it over. But that morning I took a look at the Daily Text and saw something interesting:</p><p><i>"Apart from me you can do nothing at all." - John 15:5</i></p><p>It's startling how helpful that reminder can be. So off we went to the airport. And two interesting things happened.</p><p><i>1. </i>Everything that could possibly go wrong did. Flights delayed? Yes. Lost baggage? Of course. Visa trouble? Absolutely. <br /></p><p><i>2.</i> Everything went fine. As in, I still made it here. We were super late, the total flight took from Monday 7:00 pm until Wednesday 1:30 am, but I made it back. Everything that could've possibly inconvenienced me is what occurred. Nothing that could have ruined the trip did.</p><p>Obviously I have still have many outstanding questions. I'm still in the capital of Guyana trying to figure out what will happen to my visa and if I'll be able stay longer than the 3 months they gave me. Many of those prayers are still unanswered. But clearly I have no reason to worry. I'm not going to rely on myself. I'm going to keep moving ahead in whatever seems to be the right way, and then respond to direction or answers to prayers when they come.<br /></p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-64956989954350019462021-09-30T09:42:00.000-04:002021-09-30T09:42:35.010-04:00Enthusiasm and Joy<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLt7xHxt5M5gvcrh4jHgOhewZx4HizytSGLexuMO4zu6ZYL3wkK0vDOGozRUNodVrXEZA-DJ7FCDq3zQM1waQQuo8qrdb6esA2hgfX4tahmDEsNG_FNKzPBZf-trax0I0HMoV0vG7P0QU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLt7xHxt5M5gvcrh4jHgOhewZx4HizytSGLexuMO4zu6ZYL3wkK0vDOGozRUNodVrXEZA-DJ7FCDq3zQM1waQQuo8qrdb6esA2hgfX4tahmDEsNG_FNKzPBZf-trax0I0HMoV0vG7P0QU/" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>Enthusiasm and joy are two qualities that I've never needed to work too hard at. Compared to other qualities I need, they come rather naturally to me. These two things have definitely been a huge aid in staying positive and enjoying the assignment I've had for the last 11 years. But as it turns out, as naturally as they come, my internal sources of joy and enthusiasm are not limitless.</p><p>Prior to lockdown, it was obviously easier. Constantly seeing the others in my congregation, getting out and walking house to house past rivers and hills, and so on. It kept me on an easy high plane of enthusiasm, even when it got physically tiring. But after more than a year of quarantine, those feelings certainly took a major hit. More and more it felt as though I was exerting maximum effort for minimal payoff.
This didn't come immediately.</p><p>At first, everything was great for me in lockdown. Life became easier, I had more free time, and I could delve into study projects and hobbies and all sorts of things I hadn't had time for previously. But slowly as we've adapted and returned to certain standards and practices we had before, the workload increased back to its former level. Unfortunately, while the workload returned to normal, the things I used to relax and rebuild my enthusiasm/joy levels did not return.</p><p>Now in the previous blog entry, I shared the main things I've been using to maintain sanity, namely study projects. But even as essential as those have been, you can't realistically study constantly. Your brain needs a break. More often than not, I found myself just staring at a wall trying to determine what to do that wouldn't feel like too much of a burden to attempt. Simply put, I couldn't think of anything to do. It felt almost like a building pressure valve that simply wouldn't open. Happily, even though I personally couldn't find a solution, one was handed to me.</p><p>After a stretch of several months with no good news whatsoever, the floodgates opened. In the span of just three weeks we got a new elder and an incredible <i>four</i> new regular pioneers. Immediately our field service groups felt reinvigorated and my personal workload diminished. This means for a relatively small congregation of just 42 (yes, 42 publishers) we have 4 elders, 1 ministerial servant, and 12 pioneers, which is possibly the highest ratio I have ever witnessed.</p><p>This development also reminded me of something important. Instead of looking at myself the entire time, examine the congregation I'm with. After an honest look, I realized I cannot help but be impressed by the people I'm surrounded with. Among this small group of 42, we have people who've helped with Kingdom Hall and Assembly Hall construction, served at Bethel, been Special Pioneers, helped with Warwick construction, attended SKE, instructed Pioneer School, done seldom worked and unassigned territory trips, had their life story in the Watchtower, and had their pictures shown at Annual Meeting.
Suddenly what felt like being on a sinking ship became an airplane taking off. It became more and more obvious it makes no sense for me to feel unproductive just because I can't go walking up hills anymore. The congregation is growing faster than ever and our territory assignment is still incredibly productive.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYSctXcukHI2hNVldbu8yQJ1nE0A958i2nJbL-Wbx6PtMETDBVViGIq1rqEHvZASzxJ0L-A4mJltk-SviA1TG0S3JtsoZYLd01_Tn1cZh7wSSB9uW54qdEsIFLOAHYt1UpKtmIiSgFoIu/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYSctXcukHI2hNVldbu8yQJ1nE0A958i2nJbL-Wbx6PtMETDBVViGIq1rqEHvZASzxJ0L-A4mJltk-SviA1TG0S3JtsoZYLd01_Tn1cZh7wSSB9uW54qdEsIFLOAHYt1UpKtmIiSgFoIu/w225-h400/IMG_20210918_130833.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Though I think my shoes are grateful for the vacation.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <p></p><p>Due to financial reasons (aka I was out of money) I had to take advantage of a window of opportunity and leave Guyana and go back to the US for work (see opening pic for the lovely backyard). But thanks to the Zoom connection we worked out, I'm still able to be part of my assigned congregation for meetings and field service, and should be able to continue to do so until I'm able to physically return to Guyana (which will be when? Who knows. Covid cases in the US and Guyana both are going up, so we'll see how things pan out).</p><p>But no matter where I am, I can stay busy. Is my boredom still there at times? Of course it is. But is it possible for me to experience enthusiasm and joy despite that? Of course it is.</p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-58004628736436790692021-06-22T08:34:00.000-04:002021-06-22T08:34:49.222-04:001+ Year of Lockdown<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LnvF_mlWMFGfJuqgbdfpRKkFKkcguxB2HkjZJw0xyvTTAnmrQqP2FGqTRtsF9ljd9vjTRbE678d2xCN4vDGwzeh40_QgWx3R9NwjnuRSqTwkUYadHWc30JqTHJ6XTekBXqkUdY5hx6Lb/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LnvF_mlWMFGfJuqgbdfpRKkFKkcguxB2HkjZJw0xyvTTAnmrQqP2FGqTRtsF9ljd9vjTRbE678d2xCN4vDGwzeh40_QgWx3R9NwjnuRSqTwkUYadHWc30JqTHJ6XTekBXqkUdY5hx6Lb/w640-h360/IMG_20210519_103712.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The quarantine in Orealla began on April 2, 2020, and from then to now I've been out of the village exactly once. As you can likely imagine, this has been a jarring adjustment for me as I formerly was in the habit of traveling out once per month. While my local circumstances are not nearly as bad as some have been experiencing, being stuck in Orealla over long periods definitely comes along with its own set of issues.</p><p>For example, electricity only comes on from 5pm - 10pm each day (and even then, sometimes it's less, or not at all) meaning in the middle of the day when the sun is at full intensity, there is no relief. During rainy season when the place cools off this is no problem, but during dry season, like now, my house is fully capable of hitting 130 degrees Fahrenheit inside.</p><p>Fun fact: a reasonably cooked steak has an internal temperature of 145 degrees.</p><p>Another major issue here is the lack of reliable internet. There is a government provided wifi, which works perfectly well 20% of the time. I'm also able to use mobile data, but you can imagine how quickly something like a Zoom call burns through that. So between the excessive heat, isolation, and slight stress at having to scrupulously time my Zoom calls so I don't wipe out all my data, what do I do to deal with it?</p><p>Simple. Study projects. So, so many study projects.</p><p>Many people have questioned me in the past why I still prefer paper copies of books when I have the exact same publications on my laptop and phone. And the answer is simple. If power doesn't come on for three days straight, and I can't use the solar panel on my house because we haven't had sunshine in a week, the laptop and phone are toast. But that 1989 Awake bound volume? It has a date with me, my hammock, and the jug of coffee that just finished brewing. Bonus of this arrangement: when the phone is dead, nobody can call me and interrupt the reading.</p><p>(and using the 1989 Awake bound volume wasn't a random choice. That year the magazine had an epic <i>24 part series</i> on the history of false religion and it is amazing and you should quit reading this blog and go read that series instead: <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101989002">https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101989002</a>)</p><p>Happily I have been slowly building a network of people who are choosing study projects as the best way to use their time, and that has been a huge aid as well. Binging study projects is great, but sometimes you need to embark on a long monologue to someone about what you've been reading, and lately the monkeys in my neighborhood have simply not been as attentive as they used to be.</p><p>Another major helping aid has been the frequent appearance of barrels being sent to me from overseas. For a while in the lockdown, getting food was a major problem. Sometimes because food was scarce, other times because I couldn't get to the bank to get money out of my account so I could <i>buy</i> the food that was available. So I'm sure you can see how getting a 55 gallon barrel full of bacon and other things would help out quite a bit.</p><p>(Yes, there was things other than bacon. No, I don't recall exactly what they were. Once you see dozens of boxes of preserved bacon, everything else kinda becomes a haze)</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzD-grwvmLobCmTFQPRMCixAE2s4z9AT6qtM_W5quK_cBTFwG4tAFMeIE4GryRO1dBMoMBap78wYLi5_g1L0poTd09HFYd3FZ7XvacY_HUNB41FX6X5kwzojy-jKNGMLecwrQ02kAArIQE/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzD-grwvmLobCmTFQPRMCixAE2s4z9AT6qtM_W5quK_cBTFwG4tAFMeIE4GryRO1dBMoMBap78wYLi5_g1L0poTd09HFYd3FZ7XvacY_HUNB41FX6X5kwzojy-jKNGMLecwrQ02kAArIQE/w225-h400/IMG_20210402_072329.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This should last three or four whole days!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Oh, and the other very, very important thing consuming my time: writing songs about literally every account in the Bible. My goal is to one day have the entire thing converted into songs. <i>Bible: The Musical</i> if you will. While that may sound ridiculous (which it is) it does work wonders in helping you remember things. I now have all the kings of Judah and Israel memorized thanks to a very strange song that I wrote in about twenty minutes during a day of exceptional pandemic fatigue.</p><p>(Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah, Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah. Without checking a written record. Huzzah! Thank you Appendix A6, and also the karaoke version of <i>Yakko's World</i> I found one day and revised the lyrics to!)</p><p>Obviously I have no idea how much longer quarantine and such will last, especially as things have recently taken a turn for the worse in Guyana. So if anyone has ideas for study projects, please send them along. And I highly recommend you try some for yourself. It'll do you wonders.</p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-80836610093657852042021-04-06T22:43:00.000-04:002021-04-06T22:43:45.583-04:00Memorial 2021<p>For the last several blog entries, the majority of the space has been dedicated to the various difficulties we've encountered with trying to handle meetings, field service, etc. So for this entry, I'd like to tell you about how all that work has paid off even better than we could've expected. And since this is in a written form and not a conversation, I'm going to take you the long way around to it.</p><p>A particular challenge with the pandemic is that many need-greaters were out of the country when everything shut down and restrictions were put in place. Happily with meetings moving over to Zoom and so forth, they were able to remain with their congregations, but getting back to their return visits and Bible studies proved a challenge. Lots of people in Guyana don't have internet connections, so therefore how can a publisher in the US/England/Trinidad stay in contact with them? International calling isn't really an option considering the cost and the sheer amount of minutes that would be used. Zoom does have a feature to call a phone number and be connected to the meeting, but the number you call is a US number and therefore doesn't do us any good.</p><p>Due to this problem, we began working with a network of need-greaters to find a way around this, and we did at last work out a marvelous system to allow someone in another country to join Zoom, and then we (locally in Guyana) call their return visits and patch them together. I won't go into the details because it's long and complicated, but suffice it to say we found a workable system and everyone was happy.</p><p>The more we used this system, the more it nagged at some of our minds. Here's why:</p><p>I've talked at length about how in Orealla we use phones for our meetings due to even rarer internet than most of Guyana, and the internet we <i>do</i> have we pay based off how much we use. Problem with phone meetings is the signal is bad and the more phones we have on the conference call, the more beeps we get during the meeting. But <i>some</i> in Orealla had internet. Is there a way we can adapt this overseas publisher return visit system to our meetings here?</p><p>The breaking point came during a meeting where we had so many phones tied in that we would get 10 beeps every 15 seconds. We couldn't hear anything. It was time to change how we connected our meetings. So we did a test. We calculated exactly how much data it would take to connect to an audio only Zoom meeting, and then called every single household in the congregation with a smartphone and asked if they would be willing to try it. About half the congregation had smartphones and data. We set up a Zoom room and had them join, and then we connected the other half of the congregation by phone like normal.</p><p>The result? Massive success. Clearer sound than we'd ever had, and fewer beeps (sometimes no beeps at all for, again, reasons that take too long to explain).</p><p>With every passing week, more people began budgeting data for meetings and making the switch over to Zoom, which has had the extra bonus of freeing up space on the telephone conference call so we could have more interested ones listening in (because yes, we had to turn people away from the meetings before this due to not having space on the limited size conference call). Our average meeting attendance continues to climb and so far shows little sign of slowing down. The special talk had an attendance of <i>at least</i> 89, more than double our 42 publisher count. Our goal became, for the Memorial, to get all publishers on Zoom so we'd have the phones completely free for interested ones without internet or Zoom or whatnot.</p><p>Plans were going great. Everything in place.</p><p>Then the day before the Memorial, during a seemingly normal day of field service, I got a text message that one of the brothers in our congregation died.</p><p>As I heard other publishers talking in the background on their call, I stared at the phone dumbfounded. I read it about ten times over because I was sure I had misread something. Finally I responded asking for clarification. It couldn't be. This brother was 40 years old. He had no real medical problems. He had a wife and three children between the ages of 17 and 10. He was the picture of health. Turns out an accident had killed him that morning.</p><p>We had already experienced trying to organize a funeral in the middle of the lockdown. But this was the day before the Memorial. How do you prioritize?</p><p>The man's wife and children gave us the answer. They focused on the Memorial. They were going to address everything else later. They made the bread, got the wine, prepared their home, and that morning watched the Morning Worship video. They invited some of their relatives, who attended.</p><p>And what a Memorial. With the Zoom/phone linkup we got 149 in attendance, more than we've had for some of our circuit assemblies. And while every Memorial talk is meaningful, this one was more so than ever for us. </p><p>Sunday morning we began working out the arrangements for the funeral. Monday the family was in field service again. Tuesday I realized the deceased man's father was scheduled for talk at our midweek meeting, so I called him to offer to find a substitute for it. He refused, and Thursday he gave the talk as assigned. Saturday was the funeral and the family strictly adhered to the Covid protocols locally put in place, and made sure all attendees did too. So many wanted to attend that we had to make the Zoom feature available for that as well, and so many came that it filled up our room.</p><p>The brother who died was my neighbor in a literal sense. He also did more than anyone else around (myself included) to make sure my home kept well stocked with food and essential supplies during the most difficult parts of lockdown. And someday he'll be delighted to learn his family and congregation made sure to focus more on the death of Jesus than on him. He was that kind of guy.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHDT_YJO3TirHefwE1e0yp8tcpNDnyWAiCM4821N7Bf2buXE3a2WfCX80a8S-kbhvrgM8aJUcUoMmCZrQZuH4z6fHgAZw9VpTghCLfWbuxMH52Iy2V3jOtZgca_OVajTuW2_1YC8yCrhx/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHDT_YJO3TirHefwE1e0yp8tcpNDnyWAiCM4821N7Bf2buXE3a2WfCX80a8S-kbhvrgM8aJUcUoMmCZrQZuH4z6fHgAZw9VpTghCLfWbuxMH52Iy2V3jOtZgca_OVajTuW2_1YC8yCrhx/w285-h400/Screenshot_20210327-082948_1.png" width="285" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-891835624632622782021-01-07T13:43:00.004-04:002021-01-07T13:43:47.650-04:00Out With the Old, in With the New<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWpBFH409Bk_H4hJzyiwdgoNI8DxeR24EWWARqlVZniKcKxTVpeFIqpM9f4gtR7507FKizinp9F8YzTg8VUx2h_hNpU4JjH-jBlzOmRglbnaf4jEf1VE9iC5KegikU_grGBCIhMofImlR/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="375" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWpBFH409Bk_H4hJzyiwdgoNI8DxeR24EWWARqlVZniKcKxTVpeFIqpM9f4gtR7507FKizinp9F8YzTg8VUx2h_hNpU4JjH-jBlzOmRglbnaf4jEf1VE9iC5KegikU_grGBCIhMofImlR/w640-h480/DSCN1041.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></p><p>You may remember five full years ago I moved out of the Kingdom Hall's attached house and into a different one nearby (pictured above). After a half decade, it has come time to move out, and very very hastily as well.</p><p>Note to landlords: if you want to keep your tenants, don't raise the rent 150% overnight.</p><p>Can't complain though. The house provided me a place, as well as the Circuit Assembly guests we would constantly get, plus a never ending stream of roommates and house guests. Seriously. I got up to 70 people passing through my place before I just quit counting.</p><p>But of course, needing to immediately move raises the obvious question. Move to <i>where</i>? Well, by the strangest coincidence (Coincidence? I think <i>not</i>!) one brother needed to move out of Orealla to another village just three weeks prior, leaving behind a fully furnished home. So here's a few of the perks:</p><p>1. The person we're renting from is now a Witness instead of someone from the field</p><p>2. Our neighbors (on both sides!) are now also Witnesses, as opposed to a police station and a church</p><p>3. This house is not on stilts like the previous one, but rather has a complete downstairs and upstairs (seen in the picture below)</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOedsS7uKukdsefdnncvFAYbHidklCQ8Qs7PlJd00HnVNGOlKCkWhO8iNxF2PAhAppdcl9TPvy8552Nh3q6WYhHf3XB_92rpVTsRlTJm2Q4a4BviF3IlYRChhbSQWOtQM8iZ8eo8aXbvD/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOedsS7uKukdsefdnncvFAYbHidklCQ8Qs7PlJd00HnVNGOlKCkWhO8iNxF2PAhAppdcl9TPvy8552Nh3q6WYhHf3XB_92rpVTsRlTJm2Q4a4BviF3IlYRChhbSQWOtQM8iZ8eo8aXbvD/" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Could it use a coat of paint? Yes, but let's not be hasty.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />4. One of those neighbors has a freezer and lets us make use of it!</p><p>5. We can still access the village wifi from here, which has even allowed me to use Zoom on occasion!</p><p>6. This one has a toilet (outhouse) already. At the last house we didn't get one until a full year had passed.</p><p>Plus, it is magnificent to get a little further away from the center of town. When I first came here seven years ago it was practically Mayberry, no crime, no disturbance, whatsoever. Now the level of crime has increased somewhat, people are less trustworthy, and Orealla is even jumping on the bandwagon of civil unrest.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaUkXPZdOoz3wE12oEsCd4lI0XV-5Po3f2uGCgr_scSlcR1ilGSnxxlJebA58UAbzMCboz4qFA0tKuFofImLP16cHczIyxkIeY3XggdFqXXp16pkqPNxOrfnAQvqyB1etSviISVJyG0Td/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaUkXPZdOoz3wE12oEsCd4lI0XV-5Po3f2uGCgr_scSlcR1ilGSnxxlJebA58UAbzMCboz4qFA0tKuFofImLP16cHczIyxkIeY3XggdFqXXp16pkqPNxOrfnAQvqyB1etSviISVJyG0Td/w400-h400/IMG_20210107_124234_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was bound to happen eventually.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In case anyone is worrying about my health and how the village is doing because of the line about how the toshao (village captain) has been handling Covid, you have nothing to fear. The protest is that he's being too restrictive. As far as keeping covid at bay, we're all doing fine.</p><p>So in summary, getting away from all that and further into the bush surrounded by JW neighbors, with semi-reliable wifi has been <i>amazing</i>. And don't even get me started on the yard. Instead of a tiny square of grass surrounded by dirt roads, we have this...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAYh68VQ8LGlmbRODdBjNe4V4oJH9YDw2W5kE2K3g_Hjwj1-0ULVjx2O-rzGyKU9BilcZ_lttVp5iQMUbfmAAuZvTRiATKNyqNGFojUR1FJMvyBpMgfHocukVLGKWRokon7sJZeNuFZ8D/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAYh68VQ8LGlmbRODdBjNe4V4oJH9YDw2W5kE2K3g_Hjwj1-0ULVjx2O-rzGyKU9BilcZ_lttVp5iQMUbfmAAuZvTRiATKNyqNGFojUR1FJMvyBpMgfHocukVLGKWRokon7sJZeNuFZ8D/w400-h225/IMG_20201221_140646.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqtzmcfXhly7vnqL-Qm8RTDnoeM-liBy3UBH6B-5Z6WhEaICFoTQZCE1ln1AYHL2uyROJtcDyOw9nUmpe44zueQ5TTsx8E6ufuz3iusHjCyZxZPBq2mADDiHr7rO2IeZ5Kg4Qut5zkMdr/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqtzmcfXhly7vnqL-Qm8RTDnoeM-liBy3UBH6B-5Z6WhEaICFoTQZCE1ln1AYHL2uyROJtcDyOw9nUmpe44zueQ5TTsx8E6ufuz3iusHjCyZxZPBq2mADDiHr7rO2IeZ5Kg4Qut5zkMdr/w225-h400/IMG_20201222_151527.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-52824968154396498892020-11-26T10:16:00.003-04:002020-11-26T10:20:43.987-04:00Pause and Reset<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQVnhM55sT5JgSSsdvlhPbzquRNSWNZbWbgAUiQTN1dz2j3i279ZMfHXDO-dg_co2IuslATm4IX3zLQaAadnkfJRaeMyH_fbqmwawaoZAPD-0cAt9xcSyF9iBxM8nC6ctP0uJECCndCVe/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQVnhM55sT5JgSSsdvlhPbzquRNSWNZbWbgAUiQTN1dz2j3i279ZMfHXDO-dg_co2IuslATm4IX3zLQaAadnkfJRaeMyH_fbqmwawaoZAPD-0cAt9xcSyF9iBxM8nC6ctP0uJECCndCVe/w640-h360/IMG_20181110_052022.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div> One of my favorite ways of passing time is rewatching Gilead Graduation programs, and one of the points that stuck out to me more than any other is to, quote, "pause and reset." The advice was specifically in regard to getting away from devices and the digital world, and instead taking some time to meditate on creation, and how doing this will help your mental state.<p></p><div>I have long loathed cell phones, so in general this was easy advice for me to follow. Especially living in a place like Orealla where I only get electricity a few hours a day, it kind of forces you to separate from the devices and do something else.</div><div><br /></div><div>This, however, has recently become a challenge. Whereas before I spent almost all day outside, routinely walking 5+ miles a day for Bible studies alone, now we're being told to spend our time indoors. As for devices? They're inescapable now. For field service, I've written already about how letter writing is not really an option for us, so it is all telephone witnessing. So there's something like 2.5 hours per day on my phone already. Add another hour for studies and we're at 3.5. Now consider that, even prior to lockdown, getting our literature on time was a hassle, so you can imagine quarantine has made that even more difficult, meaning for the most part all meeting preparation is done using our phones instead of paper copies. Then meetings themselves requires everyone being tied in over the phone. Not to mention shepherding calls, Convention and assembly are watched on my laptop.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now allow me to make one thing absolutely clear. I am <i>not</i> complaining about these things being available, because without them there's no way we could ever get by or find another way to maintain meetings/service. What I am saying is that the switch has been absolutely jarring for me, and has made me more reliant on the electricity than I ever was before.</div><div><br /></div><div>So recently in my habitual rewatching of Gilead Grads, I came across the advice once more to "pause and reset," and I will admit my first reaction was the laugh at the advice to give devices a break. How can that be done? It can't.</div><div><br /></div><div>Or at least that was my first thought. When I thought about it realistically though, it became more clear. The advice was never to give up technology entirely, it never has been. Just put it down sometimes when you <i>aren't</i> in need of it. Go outside and observe creation. If you can't go outside, find another way to observe it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll be honest here, I have no idea how easy or difficult of a thing this is for most of you. I have experienced exactly one location since all this began, so I'm not going to pretend to be qualified to tell you how to adapt to your circumstances. But I can tell you how I've been able to.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thankfully I live next to a river. It's close enough to my house that I can go to it daily while still "sheltering in place," and without coming in contact with other people. At first I would go to it primarily to swim, do laundry, etc. But it dawned on me that that's a terrible waste of an extraordinary privilege. It is the absolute best opportunity to put down the phone (after service is over) and get away from it. And you know what? It is easy. It's amazing how quickly my mind wanders and how quickly I lose track of time. I have never once missed a vital phone call or an imperative text message. And it feels so much better to get back home to a few messages waiting for me, rather than to be sitting next to the phone and feeling it constantly vibrate throughout the day.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that electricity I've come to rely on so much? If it doesn't come on when it's supposed to (which is, er, about three times a week) it no longer feels like the end of the world. Go sit on a dock and stare at the water, or the sky, or the sunset, or whatever there may be that day.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKtbWYT3XGY1aVMFKRJFbTiP1OPbrQmtfp-7p5RAY5XCHqCIYrmi3EnEf7eP4O6XjMW4CVDLwl_GWJj8NRhsZo8DAaiwnYU-JmvBIYHKMpJG_FLL65xjmF7xuUaxF3bzhRWM0QCWOmni2M/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKtbWYT3XGY1aVMFKRJFbTiP1OPbrQmtfp-7p5RAY5XCHqCIYrmi3EnEf7eP4O6XjMW4CVDLwl_GWJj8NRhsZo8DAaiwnYU-JmvBIYHKMpJG_FLL65xjmF7xuUaxF3bzhRWM0QCWOmni2M/w640-h360/IMG_20200817_180055.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes I sit and think. Sometimes, I just sit.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />So again, I have no idea what each of you, with your unique circumstances, are able to do. But I definitely recommend you give it a try. Find a way to pause and reset. Doing so makes the time you're able to spend with other people through devices so much better.</div>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-8550848557705137922020-09-20T10:08:00.000-04:002020-09-20T10:08:29.751-04:00All Pro, No Con<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT9kg0DgfIpmK4zCZbWHZkoLtFT1dNX9fusLMOgfErd5g4ETAMdx8fuzOzTLmjjhXXpoJw6Ztb1w42QSHQ72-uQbl4Zms6eXEjaq89cl4SEtt0wXMTBH-s_cddf-4UJi8STUTbx-rdgN7/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT9kg0DgfIpmK4zCZbWHZkoLtFT1dNX9fusLMOgfErd5g4ETAMdx8fuzOzTLmjjhXXpoJw6Ztb1w42QSHQ72-uQbl4Zms6eXEjaq89cl4SEtt0wXMTBH-s_cddf-4UJi8STUTbx-rdgN7/w360-h640/IMG_20200909_125919.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>I distinctly recall the first time I began to think the idea of moving where the need was greater was appealing. The 2006 Yearbook had been released, and I decided I was going to make a real, concerted effort to read the entire thing front to back.</p><p>(in a twist of irony, the first time I'd attempted this was the year before, aka the yearbook about Guyana, but I also distinctly recall deciding to skip Guyana's section and go to Iceland instead, because it seemed more interesting at the time)</p><p>The 2006 Yearbook was about Samoa, and I was enthralled. As fascinating as the stories and all were, what really stood out to me was the life of one man who moved to serve there early on and spent his life slaving away trying to help out. The payoff came, decades later, when Samoa built their first Assembly Hall, and this same brother was invited for the dedication program. I was struck for a moment, wondering how he would've felt looking back on his life, the time and effort he'd put forward, and how magnificently he got to see it paying off. This kickstarted an obsession with me. The idea of reaching old age and being able to look back with absolutely zero regrets about how my life had been used so far. I imagined that was what this man was able to do, and that's what I wanted as well.</p><p>(disclaimer: I have not gone back and double checked this story at all, so I may be remembering it incorrectly. Whether I am or not, this was the gist of the affect it had on me)</p><p>So honestly, being a need greater was not necessarily the goal, but rather that sense of a life well used. Need greating was certainly an option, but <a href="http://nutso42.blogspot.com/2019/10/ten-years.html">not the main focus</a>. It didn't become so until I was introduced to Guyana (properly this time).</p><p>More than ten years have passed, and so far it has turned out even better than I expected. Take my current assignment, for example. When I first arrived in Orealla, there were two appointed brothers (one of which was, well, me). There was about 15 publishers and about the same average meeting attendance. We had three pioneers. Attending circuit assemblies and conventions was a constant struggle. I went into this thinking it was a three month assignment, and at first I remember being grateful that was all the longer it was going to be. This seemed too difficult of a place to be for much longer than that.</p><p>That was six years ago. And while we haven't built an assembly hall in Orealla, even in just those six years things have changed dramatically. For the better.</p><p>Even in the midst of a pandemic, we've seen our numbers growing. Two new baptized, one new unbaptized, and more return visits/studies than we can handle. The total number of publishers has grown from 15 to 42 at the present moment. The two appointed brothers have become five. The three pioneers have become eight (with a whopping eleven signing up for auxiliary during this last C.O. visit!) It has now become the norm for our attendance at pioneer meetings to exceed our average meeting attendance from years ago.</p><p>The biggest difficulty we've had in the midst of the pandemic has been how to tie in all the people for meetings who've shown interest. I've talked before about the system we've been using where we have five conference calls tied together by a conference call. But during the recent CO visit we needed to tie together a total of <i>ten</i> to fit everyone. Working out the logistics was a very exciting challenge.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKiKk6YYah1RGps92xfFh2pI9egoBHPUza5TuzJVTq7PsoMvkjL45Ihf4Djy_JcDJNRyS5NUmobzy0f6LJEEzLznkJXBydZ3oyn12ilPxHLwns7XsDf_jT1n-dbyED6mCAqQ4hEtsvHtP/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKiKk6YYah1RGps92xfFh2pI9egoBHPUza5TuzJVTq7PsoMvkjL45Ihf4Djy_JcDJNRyS5NUmobzy0f6LJEEzLznkJXBydZ3oyn12ilPxHLwns7XsDf_jT1n-dbyED6mCAqQ4hEtsvHtP/w400-h225/IMG-20200919-WA0001_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was (I think) draft #3, and the one we eventually used.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>And while, again, I haven't been able to sit down in the auditorium of a newly built Assembly Hall, I still get to marvel at how quickly the work here has progressed. I've been able to see us even getting our own assemblies (in rented facilities) in this village, sparing everyone the stress and expense of traveling out for it.</p><p>If you had told me after my first meeting that we would reach this point in just a few years, I never would have believed it.</p><p>Now let's not sugar coat things though. It's been rough at times, and I very nearly got fed up and left on at least two occasions. But in all honesty, would it have been different anywhere else? It's not like life would've been easier or more pleasant if I'd stayed where I was, or if I'd taken another assignment elsewhere. Life is going to be rough at times. That's all there is to it.</p><p>The chief difference? This way, despite dealing with stress and all that, I presently have no regrets about what I've done with my time.</p><p>And I intend to keep it that way.</p>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-49674575109268553062020-06-15T15:42:00.000-04:002020-06-15T15:42:51.168-04:00Quarantine on the CorentyneI have battled with how to handle this blog post for a considerable amount of time now. I try to be generally positive on here, but it's difficult to manage that when talking about 2020 and the events it's contained. Eventually it reached a point where I decided I wouldn't even try.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But then I remembered storm clouds. You know the expression "silver linings"? I looked up the full phrase, and it is "every cloud has a silver lining", or in other words, no matter how bad things seem, there is always a positive element to it. And I feel this expression fits our current situation perfectly, because I don't think any one of us would be crazy enough to say everything going on is good. And yet, there are still many things to be thankful for. Dwelling on the positive doesn't mean we're <i>glad</i> these things are happening, but at least we're finding the best part of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So with that in mind, let me share with you what's been happening in Orealla since all this insanity has gone down.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When the virus first hit Guyana, I had the incredible misfortune to actually be in Georgetown (the virus epicenter) at the time. Due to this, when I was preparing to return to Orealla, I was told that they were banning anyone who had been in or near Georgetown. I would have to wait two full weeks before I could come back in, or fourteen full days. That wasn't too big a deal, some brothers out on the coast were able to find me a place to crash for the time. It was comfortable, it had electricity, refrigerator, all that good stuff. Like was good.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But as my 14 day ban continued, Coronavirus starting building a stronger and stronger presence in Guyana, and it spread from just being in Georgetown to getting within one hour of where I was staying. The village council in Orealla got understandably worried, and eventually decided they would shut down all boats in and out of the village, so there would be no chance whatsoever of the virus reaching them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Great idea. Sensible precaution. But I was still outside.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One night (the final night of my 14 days ban) a brother in Orealla calls me and tells me there is one last boat going into Orealla the following day. If I don't catch it I'm stranded. So I pack up and run down to the dock the next day. After some slight hassle on the boat where I had to try to find proof that I hadn't been in Georgetown for 14 days (which I managed to find!)I was allowed back in. And with that, the river shut down.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Obviously, the biggest question became how to do meetings? Many congregations are doing Zoom meetings, but we don't have the internet requirements for that. We considered downloading and distributing the streamed meetings, but then realized about half the congregation doesn't have the equipment necessary to display the videos.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Finally, the solution came. Everybody at least has an old touchpad style cell phone, so we found the maximum size conference call our cell provider allows (six phones total) and split the congregation up into four groups of six households. Each group would have to do their own meeting individually.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This lasted about a month and a half, when we discovered an odd but workable way of expanding the conference call so large we could fit the entire congregation on one call. Each hosting phone has to purchase a considerably expensive cell plan to allow it to happen, but thankfully we've gotten some overseas contributors who have enabled us to keep renewing this plan month after month. As of last week, we've even figured out how to tie in phones from other congregations (and even overseas!) to allow visiting speakers, which is giving the local congregation a nice break from hearing the same three voices every single Sunday, over and over and over again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, this left another problem. Field service. Letter writing doesn't work here because there's no mailboxes or delivery service. The only way we could deliver our letters would be if we were to go house to house leaving them in doors, but I'm sure you can see the problem with doing that.</div>
<div>
Of course, with the swanky new phone plan six of us got, phone witnessing became an option, but there was a problem with that too. Even though practically everyone in Orealla has at least a cheapo cell phone, there's no phone directory. I personally have the numbers of only witnesses and the local hospital workers. So who can we call for field service?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's where our C.O. stepped in and worked out a deal for us with a city congregation. They have literally thousands of homes with landlines, whose numbers you can find on the internet and on a phone directory. So this congregation went through the work of compiling around 2,000 phone numbers and sending them to us, so we could do phone witnessing. So now, each of the six hosting phones (which all have unlimited talking time) simply call the others in the congregation who want to share in ministry for the day, and there we go. We remain in our homes, we get an almost endless supply of people to call, and all is well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now if you're wondering how we're getting on with the river shut down and no boats coming in bringing supplies, honestly we're fine. Orealla has only gotten electricity in the time that I've been here, so everyone is pretty skilled at living without conveniences. On top of that, they have also worked out a deal with the Suriname government (who has legal oversight of the river) to send out two boats a week now, with only necessary crew on board, and buy in bulk whatever supplies people in the village need or want. So far, this system has worked out great. The village hasn't even run out of Coke yet for crying out loud, so really we're having a pretty good time through this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, my coffee supply has nearly run out. There is that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So in the face of everything going on, what has been the silver lining for us?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First off, even though we've had to overhaul how we do our meetings, our average attendance has seen a huge uptick. We went from averaging 58-59 on Sunday to getting 65-75 each week. Our Memorial attendance was an all time high, even without tying in our neighboring village. Numerous ones in the congregation who couldn't get out in the ministry because of being home bound, or easily getting sick in the intense sun, are now simply staying at home and doing phone witnessing on a weekly basis. Some have even been auxiliary pioneering throughout all of this. We've been cooperating more with other congregations, both through contact with brothers in the city congregation offering us phone numbers, and even through simply joining phone witnessing groups in other halls. I personally have worked now with people from about eight different countries now, and that's just off the top of my head. And instead of the congregation being subjected to public talks from the same three people all the time, they're now getting to hear a limitless influx of voices from basically anywhere in the world with phone signal. Just yesterday one of my studies was gushing about how nice it was to hear someone else for a change ("not that I don't enjoy your talks!" he hastily added).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We've even seen formerly opposed relatives of our studies start taking an interest because of seeing how well the Witnesses have been handling the situation, in stark contrast to the churches of the village (one of which has had members repeatedly get arrested because they kept sneaking into their church at night for services)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The biggest annoyance for us though was the cancellation of our Circuit Assembly (which happened literally one <i>week</i> before the day it was scheduled for). While not having the do the related work was nice, the disappointment was that a local brother was meant to get baptized at the assembly, and now wouldn't be able to.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But no fear! We did indeed get our silver lining!</div>
<div>
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<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZYJQx-VV0-xIZ6sy6GS8VMC7Udbalud4S7AZC2_CIVgJSU1ZpoTWb3jquqyXM1A9tO7RSsNoxLL5Y__aXKWKsunX_IatmPomjAeGdgf3xlQ2j3BRazqFH4Y7HmOb8dhsmKj_E36B9Qr8/s1600/Screenshot_20200521-161451_1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZYJQx-VV0-xIZ6sy6GS8VMC7Udbalud4S7AZC2_CIVgJSU1ZpoTWb3jquqyXM1A9tO7RSsNoxLL5Y__aXKWKsunX_IatmPomjAeGdgf3xlQ2j3BRazqFH4Y7HmOb8dhsmKj_E36B9Qr8/s400/Screenshot_20200521-161451_1.png" width="370" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvP_NBxc5bSY1I1oU_YqYbQWzmNyOTGtZOnbeAppxScU_1_V7Wd7jED3yRkn1ar-eapUVZbZlWEVn78bHv43izvVaoLmX4i_z8ZyFSa8EPXrR7bLzijLQ-c6HmP2cvVKAUxflaHul-zPH/s1600/Screenshot_20200521-161428.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvP_NBxc5bSY1I1oU_YqYbQWzmNyOTGtZOnbeAppxScU_1_V7Wd7jED3yRkn1ar-eapUVZbZlWEVn78bHv43izvVaoLmX4i_z8ZyFSa8EPXrR7bLzijLQ-c6HmP2cvVKAUxflaHul-zPH/s640/Screenshot_20200521-161428.png" width="360" /></a></div>
<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvH2rN6ocp1KeAVT_2FLH8OCXlUfQ2B71TEBeY-8sPXIyNAtyqteTGV1zdiV9fxx_Wn4z8KQ24lcZhJ2sbyI_QNqg4YpSIC3S_qbbYQBywLqeSLlQSh8y2oDfbcilETdnpF6E8qY1zVax/s1600/Screenshot_20200521-161445.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvH2rN6ocp1KeAVT_2FLH8OCXlUfQ2B71TEBeY-8sPXIyNAtyqteTGV1zdiV9fxx_Wn4z8KQ24lcZhJ2sbyI_QNqg4YpSIC3S_qbbYQBywLqeSLlQSh8y2oDfbcilETdnpF6E8qY1zVax/s640/Screenshot_20200521-161445.png" width="360" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzxSnwTh8jTHqTdBGkmbi25sjnQrPgv0eVeD4kD9XGI8Gv4m7aAJe5pezlrfG4OfECFB_jZ9W0eh85BCBWQEmqUAK40H-FMi0ZqTMoAqRJigyd-YCGj9yEy0be0uqMkuClSlwxh4cfdaW/s1600/Screenshot_20200521-161712_1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzxSnwTh8jTHqTdBGkmbi25sjnQrPgv0eVeD4kD9XGI8Gv4m7aAJe5pezlrfG4OfECFB_jZ9W0eh85BCBWQEmqUAK40H-FMi0ZqTMoAqRJigyd-YCGj9yEy0be0uqMkuClSlwxh4cfdaW/s640/Screenshot_20200521-161712_1.png" width="492" /></a></div>
Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-9782877897690610332019-10-31T14:45:00.000-04:002019-10-31T14:45:30.658-04:00Ten Years<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDfWLegEHXBRYqr4hXzpFEn4BI-5nFSGXCcmivvnzfmhpE7JsiXW9fRNCYvLdFQbvIPDbXB5j3wJuincdaXA85qyNzagLGmep4HfoXsTc5bpWl9H27-KAdxmw3bIa0KsZfVEgdOWdi2ik/s1600/bug+hill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="832" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDfWLegEHXBRYqr4hXzpFEn4BI-5nFSGXCcmivvnzfmhpE7JsiXW9fRNCYvLdFQbvIPDbXB5j3wJuincdaXA85qyNzagLGmep4HfoXsTc5bpWl9H27-KAdxmw3bIa0KsZfVEgdOWdi2ik/s400/bug+hill.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The weirdest things can trigger
memories.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A few days ago I was laying in my
hammock (as usual) and I suddenly recalled a conversation I'd had
when I was 17. Specifically, someone asked if there was a question I'd
very much like an answer to, and my immediate response was “What
will my life be like in ten years?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The true shock of my remembering this
conversation was the realization that it has now been that ten years
since the conversation. And let me tell you, there's no way I could
have possibly predicted my life would turn out this way.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What I was doing then: I was 17. I was
regular pioneering and had just recently finished pioneer school and
doing my first ever visit to seldom worked territory (Cynthiana,
Kentucky if I do recall correctly). It was a gob of fun, but my
interests laid elsewhere. Ever since I was about 4 years old I wanted
to work at Bethel. I don't know why exactly this line of work
appealed to me so much at that age, though I do remember being quite
fond of a paper shredding machine that misprinted literature got
chucked into. But of course, one must be 19 before applying, so
really everything I was doing up to the age of 17 was merely to pass
time until I could apply for Bethel and score my cushy dream job of
manning that sweet shredder.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I had never heard of Guyana. I had
never met nor could comprehend the existence of the people I now call
my closest friends.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If during that conversation you told me
that in less than a year I'd be hiking through a jungle up a mountain
carrying two boxes of literature on a continent I'd never seen in a
country I hadn't known existed, I would've been utterly baffled at
what bizarre string of events could have possibly led to that life
decision.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Honestly, even looking back on it with
the full knowledge of what happened, I'm still baffled by the whole
thing. Here's what essentially happened: somebody mentioned Guyana, and suddenly I knew I
should move there. At that point I may or may not have believed it
was in Africa.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Allow me to clarify just in case
anyone is wondering: Guyana is <i>not</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
in Africa. It is in South America. Kinda between Venezuela and
Brazil. See any South America map for reference)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">And if
after mentioning to me this strange mountain jungle hike, you
proceeded to go on and tell me a summary of what would happen to me
over the next ten years, I would have laughed in your face. I'm not
even going to try to attempt mentioning all these things because oy,
that's over a hundred blog posts worth of material.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
strangest part to me is that if you told me all this, but also told
me that I would in fact get to work at Bethel, but then voluntarily
give it up to return to a life of living in a jungle in a secluded
congregation, with no musicians to jam with, no Subway, no Morning
Worship or Monday night Watchtower study, no ice cream sandwiches,
etc … more than anything, I would flatly deny it was possible.
Bethel was the dream. Bethel is what I was thinking of when I got
baptized and when I applied to auxiliary and then regular pioneer.
Guyana was a one year diversion to kill time until I could apply. How
could that side project become my life? And yet, as unrealistic as it
would have seemed to me 10 years ago, that's how it went. And that's
how I want it to be.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">So in
answer to 17 year old Josh Westfall's question “What will my life
be like in ten years?”:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">It's
going to be great. It's also going to be stressful, chaotic,
confusing, exciting, depressing, exhilarating, frustrating, and at
weird little moments you're going to hate it more than anything else
in the world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">But
yet, at the end of the day, you wouldn't trade it for anything.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1bGsIkLDSIedmpstoU0NiPxoGcwFMGyHKgBS4YHIC62mMmkRFpJdZ5e97w9NbQdPwr4IamT7SaOllxW7pd8ztFRO_mipl9Dh_4F1Xc6A1N4En_9cCCiasbEVafqRI2GPjdku-v9LvHRG/s1600/lucas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="452" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1bGsIkLDSIedmpstoU0NiPxoGcwFMGyHKgBS4YHIC62mMmkRFpJdZ5e97w9NbQdPwr4IamT7SaOllxW7pd8ztFRO_mipl9Dh_4F1Xc6A1N4En_9cCCiasbEVafqRI2GPjdku-v9LvHRG/s400/lucas.jpg" width="345" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yuck. Give us more jokes next time."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-22433022708382136732019-04-18T14:30:00.002-04:002019-04-18T14:30:47.724-04:00From Pressures to Blessings<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbsvsKsJ3ey-Nl9ILin5KuzcxRrFmiGHkDOwlrsL5XqST2C11GtknRw0AG6KcujAz_FY04ve9m0ZL6I8PGFEy16Xjo_yyO-qMoVpnvuEvD5DoSTuJ04sjGGKRgJYnk3W9-rqeu2IrNnYb/s1600/WhatsApp+Image+2019-03-31+at+8.56.29+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbsvsKsJ3ey-Nl9ILin5KuzcxRrFmiGHkDOwlrsL5XqST2C11GtknRw0AG6KcujAz_FY04ve9m0ZL6I8PGFEy16Xjo_yyO-qMoVpnvuEvD5DoSTuJ04sjGGKRgJYnk3W9-rqeu2IrNnYb/s400/WhatsApp+Image+2019-03-31+at+8.56.29+PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One thing I have become convinced of
over time is that Jehovah is a fan of poetic justice. You know how we
always read these accounts of the work being banned, only for the
population of Witnesses to explode into greater and greater numbers?
It seems like that's always how it goes. The harder Satan pushes, the
more Jehovah turns that pressure into blessings.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Living in a territory like this, which
never ceases to have its fair share of pressure from Satan, I've been
able to be eyewitness to this exact scenario more times than I can
count. Whether things go wrong at the last minute for our assemblies
or our travels out to conventions, it has never failed to turn into a
positive for us.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let me share the most recent example of
this with you. Maybe you're familiar with our beloved
congregation boat, Kingdom Proclaimer VII.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gJk7Aaw_78JyGINYLxc-j95lomTbftgopzmofNXoKLhdqLBitDrMkZSiPnIvAyUVeFoflGmXUNCU3kXrQgb_xUbUM-eNLbyhFr55VQvvNHCUJwnbpxgKHLocLAVRIrThs4rXaL-chOPU/s1600/WhatsApp+Image+2019-03-31+at+8.56.27+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gJk7Aaw_78JyGINYLxc-j95lomTbftgopzmofNXoKLhdqLBitDrMkZSiPnIvAyUVeFoflGmXUNCU3kXrQgb_xUbUM-eNLbyhFr55VQvvNHCUJwnbpxgKHLocLAVRIrThs4rXaL-chOPU/s400/WhatsApp+Image+2019-03-31+at+8.56.27+PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or "K-Pro" for short.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the last few years this boat has endured 50-60ish trips to
Siparuta, and it has received a heavy amount of wear and tear
throughout its faithful service to us. Until of course two weeks ago
when it wound up getting stolen, right in the middle of our Circuit
Assembly.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So here was our original plan: we were
going to take K-Pro to Siparuta the Thursday after assembly, cover
the whole village (or as much as possible) with the invitations for
Special Talk/Memorial, and then go over again the morning of the
Special Talk, get everything set up, and just hope everyone who was
interested would remember the event. Repeat for Memorial.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Once news broke of our boat being
stolen, we had a problem. How to get to Siparuta? Walk three hours
through the jungle, in the midst of a borderline monsoon? (We're
experiencing rainy season here at the moment) That didn't seem a good
option. Here was the pressure. But what would the blessing turn out
to be?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A Bible student over in Siparuta made a
tantalizing offer. See, there's a commercial boat that goes from
Orealla to Siparuta on Friday night, and travels back Sunday
afternoon. So this study suggested that if we came on the boat Friday
night, we could stay at their house until Sunday, and then ride back.
Added bonus, the boat captain offered to take us for free.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDvIIZq7-mYsYyEJz40IpPSfkTbPS4cNG0wvBcjFHWiKyRh-VvqbjhJzxvYiCwT_dtlHJFyeohOIw2gVCBj9vWqYB5LnhA7PPDHyCCBuSb0V3_DZIKrVd1V73vU7YYJ2zBWO1-sCP0e-r/s1600/WhatsApp+Image+2019-04-16+at+2.15.50+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDvIIZq7-mYsYyEJz40IpPSfkTbPS4cNG0wvBcjFHWiKyRh-VvqbjhJzxvYiCwT_dtlHJFyeohOIw2gVCBj9vWqYB5LnhA7PPDHyCCBuSb0V3_DZIKrVd1V73vU7YYJ2zBWO1-sCP0e-r/s400/WhatsApp+Image+2019-04-16+at+2.15.50+PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see how distraught we are over our predicament.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So now instead of taking a small boat
that holds six people over to Siparuta to preach for a few hours and
go back home once every month (and spending a decent amount of money
buying the fuel for it), now we have the option of going any weekend
we want, with as many people as we want, spending all Saturday in
house-to-house and Bible studies, keep a Public Talk/Watchtower study
on Sunday (which many in the village have been literally begging for) and then
get a ride back. All for free.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQGhNtTzOBFrP6A2Uz3iD8A4WrVcWCBVncp1BBvbPkJKEPv5Z0-GhO9gmumvkQ8wrPxXuJadQEEFwiikRIuzPER8GS9URttUHGdoSHCQZHfvu5f-vnxibDqHTADqttBlXB6HfOixCmULA/s1600/WhatsApp+Image+2019-04-16+at+2.16.15+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQGhNtTzOBFrP6A2Uz3iD8A4WrVcWCBVncp1BBvbPkJKEPv5Z0-GhO9gmumvkQ8wrPxXuJadQEEFwiikRIuzPER8GS9URttUHGdoSHCQZHfvu5f-vnxibDqHTADqttBlXB6HfOixCmULA/s400/WhatsApp+Image+2019-04-16+at+2.16.15+PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yet another bonus! Now we can spend several leisurely hours swimming in Siparuta's wonderful blackwater creeks!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We first used this method for the
Special Talk weekend, which resulted in nine people attending. We
intend to make use of this new arrangement as often as possible, at
least once a month. Stay tuned to see how this pans out in the
future.</div>
<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-62243628812150254982018-11-15T10:10:00.003-04:002021-04-08T16:27:25.312-04:00Bob the Priest<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nearly every single drama that we've
had features fictional characters. Even though they highlight real
historical accounts, they often add new people to flesh out the story
and illustrate important points. We're all familiar with that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I do similar for myself. I've begun
fabricating characters in the framework of Bible stories as a way to
keep straight the lessons and whatnot. Sometimes though, as I go
through my reading, I learn more details and tidbits that add more to
these mental dramas and introduce further lessons. On very rare
occasions however, my reading will lead me to a discovery that
completely changes the moral of this invented drama.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
On that note, allow me to introduce you
to Bob the Priest.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In my personal Bible reading I was
going through the arc of Leviticus-Numbers-Deuteronomy. There's a lot
of laws, regulations, architectural designs, divisions of tribes and
lands, etc. What I had an especially hard time with was the 12 tribes
of Israel, specifically the Levites (like when I realized they weren't counted among the 12). See, you have the 12 tribes that
have normal divisions of land, and then the Levites who are set apart
for work relating to the Tabernacle (and later the temple) and all
that. But the Levites are subdivided even further into three
families: the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites. But
wait! In the family of Kohath is Aaron, who becomes the High Priest,
and his descendants make up the priesthood.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So to simplify this for myself, I made
two characters. Bob the Priest, and Doug the Levite. They are both of
the tribe of Levi, both descended from Kohath, but Bob is from
Aaron's line, so he is a priest and fulfills the role of a priest,
while Doug is a Kohathite who does the work of a Levite.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Still a little confusing, yes, but it
helped me keep the families and arrangements straight. So then
anytime I read about the Levites transporting the Tabernacle, I see
Doug helping out. When I read about a bull being sacrificed, that's
Bob. This developed into a very useful memory aid. I even began
adding short scenes of Bob and Doug's work overlapping (for example,
the priests would cover the Ark of the Covenant, and would then turn
it over to the Kohathites to carry it. Insert scene of Bob seeing his
third cousin Doug and going “Hey Doug! How's the wife!” “Good,
Bob. Thanks for asking.” “That patchy spot of skin clear up?”
“Yep, no leprosy to be seen!” Etc.) It was pleasant and made for
a lively way to go about Bible reading.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But then I came to the festivals, and
the picture changed entirely, and in a way I was not at all prepared
for. To understand the changed lesson, I must briefly summarize these
festivals.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many of them involved the Israelites
gathering together into a central location (Jerusalem, eventually)
and having a week of relaxation, spiritual instruction, association,
all that fun stuff. So with this mental picture, I tried imagining
Doug. What is Doug doing? Non-priestly spiritual duties. So maybe
Doug is reading aloud from the Law to a crowd. Maybe he's singing
praises with a group of other Levites. Whatever he's doing, it's fun.
It's spiritual. It's encouraging. And he gets to do all this while
enjoying the companionship of the Levites and other Israelite men,
maybe friends he hasn't seen in a long while. It's a period of time
for great enjoyment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But. Then I thought about Bob. What
would he, as a priest, be doing? Killing bulls and rams at the
Tabernacle/temple, removing the skin and dung and intestines. In my
head he's sitting outside the temple, hearing the singing and
rejoicing off in the distance. Close enough to hear it, far enough
that he doesn't get to join in on the fun. While his friend Doug is
over there reading the Law aloud to a gathering of his closest
friends, here's Bob cleaning an animal carcass, preparing to carry
the dung outside the camp, only to return and begin the process
again. Repeat dozens of times.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The lesson began forming in my mind
from this point. See, from Bob's point of view, he could begin to
develop a negative viewpoint of what he's doing. He could dwell on
the monotony of it, how gross it is, how he's missing out on the
association with his friends. But what would happen if he did? He
might rush through his work so he could join them sooner, or maybe he
wouldn't do his work to the best of his ability. The problem of course is
that all his actions have significance. The sacrifices foreshadow
Jesus and everything he does, so the work of the priests must be done
exactly the way it was commanded or else it would be a gross
disrespect of Jesus' sacrifice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>We</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
know that. Bob doesn't. He probably doesn't get the intricacies and
the full significance of what's going on. So how could he maintain
the proper viewpoint of his work and not get negative about it?</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Simply put, he just
has to remind himself that Jehovah knows best. He has to acknowledge
his lack of information and trust that if he does his best, Jehovah
will be pleased. In my mind, Bob knows this, but he has to <i>keep</i>
reminding himself. When he hears his friend Doug singing or reading
to a crowd, and he hears the Israelites celebrating and enjoying
themselves, he keeps reminding himself that he has his assignment and
that he needs to do his best, even if it means sacrificing the fun he
could be having.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This imaginary
scenario resonates with me, because I've been both Bob and Doug in
this setting. I've been the one organizing gatherings where we can
have fun with one another and help each other relieve the stresses or
worries life gives us. But then I've also been the one who gets
invited out to do something, but has to turn it down so I can stay
home and audit the congregation accounts. And let's be honest, the
first option is way more fun. But the second one is just as
important, even when it feels thankless and the friends you have just
think you're being antisocial or a grump or something. I've found you
just need to keep reminding yourself of the importance of what's
being done, and that helps to prevent it from dragging you down.
Instead, it becomes enjoyable and motivates you to give it your all,
and eventually you find yourself getting even more joy from
fulfilling your assignments than you would from going out to the
gathering or whatever it is that threatens to distract you.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course, I still
enjoy the opportunities to be Doug, whenever they come around. But
I've found that now I'm okay with being Bob too.</div>
<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-48390196976046090132018-03-03T14:23:00.000-04:002018-03-03T14:23:09.140-04:00"When I Am Weak, Then I Am Powerful"<div>
Looking back through older posts on this blog, I noticed at the beginning of my need greater career in Guyana I was updating once a week. When I moved deeper into the interior, the updates became more like once a month. We now seem to have reached a limit of four times per year, every three months. Here's a simple - though roundabout - explanation why.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While preparing for the Watchtower lesson about our yeartext (Isaiah 40:31, "Those hoping in Jehovah will regain power"), I began thinking about myself. I am, for lack of a better term, useless. I tend to be scatter brained. It looks to many as though I procrastinate a lot, but the truth of the matter is I just forget everything important that I'm supposed to do, so it doesn't get done until the last possible minute. Yes, even that pile of dirty dishes that's sitting across from me right now, that somehow has developed into a blind spot that I never even see until an inopportune moment, such as right now.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Where was I going with this...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ah yes. I cannot be relied upon to handle nearly anything of importance whatsoever. Which is why the last four months have been incredibly terrifying for me. You see, the congregation here has only one other elder, which is a huge help for me because he's been appointed much longer and has more experience and is more intelligent and pretty much everything along those lines. He does most of the work. But then one day in October we learned he and his wife had been invited to SKE, and would be gone from mid-December until mid-March. This would leave me with no support from an experienced brother.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Begin the cold sweats.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Having spent four years in such a small congregation (and having already tackled numerous jobs) I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it takes to keep a congregation going, and that overwhelmed me. Turns out it's even more. But once I thought I had wrapped my mind around what was going to be involved in managing a congregation's affairs for three months, a frightening realization came to me. Memorial. We keep <i>two</i> Memorials simultaneously, both here and in our neighboring village. So I had to get both of those set up best I could. Then came another revelation. Circuit Assembly in Orealla. In case you missed it, we host our own Circuit Assembly, and the prep work for this one would begin in the midst of the SKE class (in other words, while the COBE is still away).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So as you can imagine, things have been busy. I'm averaging 12 hours a day. But here's the thing, the part that I cannot believe and that has spurred this blog update.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Nothing has gone wrong</i>. I repeat, not a single thing has gone wrong. Sure, there's been minor setbacks here and there, but in each instance they have been quickly dealt with, and several times things have turned out better <i>because</i> of the setbacks. Why so? To put it simply, this is why...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"For when I am weak, then I am powerful." - 2 Corinthians 12:10.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There is not a chance I could manage this on my own. I can't even manage a cell phone plan. Trust me, I've tried, several times, and it doesn't work. But with Jehovah's help, the last few weeks and months have gone along smoothly, almost without event.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You know, a few weeks ago I wrote out a to-do list, and it was so long and complicated and full of tasks I could barely comprehend that when I finally sat down and took a look through it, I had to shut off my laptop and stare at the river for a good long while because that was the only way I could keep from panicking. But you know what? It's finished. I don't remember a single thing proving difficult or going wrong. Actually, looking back through it, I see there is exactly one task remaining.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Collect field service report from (name)." And that's it. Once that's done, I am completely caught up on the work I need to be doing. I'm sure there will be another batch coming soon, but now I have no fear about its chances of getting done.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So please accept this as my apology for lack of updates, and also my personal experience of the truthfulness of this year's theme text. The fact that we have made it this far and the Kingdom Hall hasn't burned down or anything is a testament to the fact that Jehovah will make sure his work gets done, no matter how incompetent the people are that he has to use for his work.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Two more weeks of this and our COBE returns and hopefully things go back to normal. Or as normal as they can get in my life.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(And yes, the name I blanked out on the field service report was my name. I'm the one who still needs to turn in a field service report.)</div>
Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-20452374456189673242017-12-12T10:35:00.000-04:002017-12-12T10:35:01.687-04:00Orealla's First Circuit Assembly<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dL7XuY1UYnXQaYKDZoF67kZEXPdXwDsLjAFAjqMCqgR8azfDBPhtdgfx-8KDhH_K96Sjnc4EXc2ISCb02445_-9chkY_eRtewrP5qUWNTNz5Inqvfa-9LvCXMkpW9mBwAtGkM8S2MdlM/s1600/IMG_20171006_131813.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dL7XuY1UYnXQaYKDZoF67kZEXPdXwDsLjAFAjqMCqgR8azfDBPhtdgfx-8KDhH_K96Sjnc4EXc2ISCb02445_-9chkY_eRtewrP5qUWNTNz5Inqvfa-9LvCXMkpW9mBwAtGkM8S2MdlM/s640/IMG_20171006_131813.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
Welp. It has finally come and gone. After only a few short years in existence as a congregation, Orealla has successfully hosted its own Circuit Assembly. As a reminder, let me tell you why this was such an important and necessary occasion for us.<br />
<br />
Orealla is located far from the main coastal area of Guyana, so going out to the Circuit Assembly requires several days of travel for us, and the cost for many of the families just to attend a one day program is equivalent to about three months of living expenses. Additionally, the boats (the only available method of travel out) are highly unreliable, which has caused us to nearly miss the assemblies numerous times.<br />
<br />
Due to this, the branch eventually gave permission for us to host our own assembly, even providing visiting speakers to come in and help us out. Happily, we got this permission several months in advance, allowing us to figure out where we could find a location that would hold the 100-200 people we were expecting for it.<br />
<br />
Consider the difficulty in this: for a small village (1,000+ people) to have a venue of that size is unlikely, and the only one that we do have isn't equipped with running water or any of the related facilities.<br />
<br />
Finally we learned that the school here has an auditorium that is broken up into smaller classrooms by the use of mobile wooden walls, so if we would come in and reorganize those, the head mistress would let us use the building free of charge.<br />
<br />
<i>However</i>, another difficulty quickly arose. Our assembly was scheduled for a Saturday (for numerous reasons no Sundays could be considered), but here we were going to be using a <i>school</i>. Which is in session from Monday - Friday. And hosts evening classes for students seeking extra credit. The question came up, how will we get inside to set everything up? We needed to set up the sound system (including bringing a generator as the school doesn't have a source of electricity), remove the auditorium walls, reorganize the chairs, set up the stage, find spots for the various departments, and install the sign with the assembly theme. We would have to find a way to get all that done late on Friday, all through the night into Saturday morning, and somehow still be awake enough to actually get something out of the assembly. On top of all <i>that</i>, the school's water is provided by water tanks that fill up Monday morning, and usually are exhausted by Friday afternoon, so we'd have to find some way to fill up the water tanks. As if all <i>this</i> wasn't enough, after exhausting ourselves we would then have to clean the entire school all day Sunday and put everything back up the way it was before in time for classes to resume Monday morning.<br />
<br />
So you know how anytime on this blog when I begin mentioning some huge obstacle that seems impossible to work around, it always happens that some ridiculously off-the-wall thing happens that makes everything go incredibly smoothly?<br />
<br />
Thursday morning the head mistress calls us (she also happens to be my landlady, so we've got a good relationship going, which is an added bonus) and asks if we'd like the keys to get into the school and begin setting up. We're very confused by this, since it's, again, Thursday morning. We ask if we'd be disrupting class, and she says not at all. Why not?<br />
<br />
Thursday was a school sports day, so no one would be in the school all day long. That night they would be traveling out to the coastal area to play against the schools out there, and they wouldn't get back until Monday night. So we had from Thursday - Monday to do as we liked with the place. So, as soon as we'd finished with door-to-door work that morning, we proceeded up the hill leisurely to begin setting up. On Thursday alone we finished all the wall removal and reorganizing of the chairs, leaving all day Friday to set up the sound equipment and stuff. <i>And</i> because there was no school for the last two days, the water tanks still had a good supply of water.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFN8TiVNihEr1pfSzkgXAwPX5u7BlQ6DsDPc3SeCOPqT409kM05_4C3t-srxzQKc4pr8wQAjED8wtV-NbK7A3HcQmVNm1Er7KA3R6vhejFrTleUO6bJrcZQc-pipC6AE0__E1TmogpgVG/s1600/IMG_20171006_131654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFN8TiVNihEr1pfSzkgXAwPX5u7BlQ6DsDPc3SeCOPqT409kM05_4C3t-srxzQKc4pr8wQAjED8wtV-NbK7A3HcQmVNm1Er7KA3R6vhejFrTleUO6bJrcZQc-pipC6AE0__E1TmogpgVG/s640/IMG_20171006_131654.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OK, so yes, everyone is sitting down in this picture, but that's because they'd all been working nonstop since 5 o'clock that morning.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We were thankful for the slower pace, because the work was intense. See, this school is located at the top of a 140 foot hill, one which is steep as all get out. Our Kingdom Hall, where all the material was stored, is at the bottom of the hill. So repeatedly hauling load after load of generator, sound equipment, speaker stand, cleaning supplies, etc etc etc got tiring incredibly quickly. We started at 5 AM, hoping we could get everything carried up before the sun got hot. We made it. Barely.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmmd3PMGoifxlldpL70AhLIfk588fphD4TIGkBbeaItmFdFZDO2TkjiL6ZfNQZQIv8WA0vh7MuP3oAmC7Odi_2JGddQ6ZwNVe5wHOQmB5iyOoZOQvUhi0g-zvpOFB_w2j22yNM8jRs6Z_/s1600/IMG_20171007_151941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmmd3PMGoifxlldpL70AhLIfk588fphD4TIGkBbeaItmFdFZDO2TkjiL6ZfNQZQIv8WA0vh7MuP3oAmC7Odi_2JGddQ6ZwNVe5wHOQmB5iyOoZOQvUhi0g-zvpOFB_w2j22yNM8jRs6Z_/s640/IMG_20171007_151941.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barely any catastrophes to be seen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The main work finished at about 8 PM that night, though there were scattered jobs needing done that kept some of us there until near midnight (and then of course there was the night watch brothers ...)<br />
<br />
The following morning though, all went well. No disasters to be seen, all the parts went off great, and the baptism was <i>amazing</i>.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXol27rUpx1iNJhnFHft3FzFkeHMPs_NkLiHIlotHtG6I6OhrCEZ5HXgcCJmRkBploILri_bbFK4vTuarggwOakPsOaazPrvH6AxgzvfObMmJkBJ6UxpS_oY9Wy1fqk0XCkYTMvpQLudf/s1600/IMG_20171007_122914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXol27rUpx1iNJhnFHft3FzFkeHMPs_NkLiHIlotHtG6I6OhrCEZ5HXgcCJmRkBploILri_bbFK4vTuarggwOakPsOaazPrvH6AxgzvfObMmJkBJ6UxpS_oY9Wy1fqk0XCkYTMvpQLudf/s640/IMG_20171007_122914.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best pool ever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We had two candidates: Florine Herman, a thirty-something woman who had begun studying a little over a year earlier; and Queeneth Miguel, an eight year old girl who is far more spiritually mature than I've ever been.<br />
<br />
Speaking of her, she was there throughout the entire process of setting up. She'd heard all the difficulties we'd had getting this assembly to happen. She knew of the things Florine had gone through to reach this point. She knew what the visiting brothers were experiencing, coming into a remote location like this. And she'd thoroughly examined the program for this assembly, about not giving up in dealing with the troubles we face through life. And factoring all this together, she left a message for everyone on the blackboard backstage, a message that I'm now going to conclude this blog by sharing with you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8RoIDIpGYatJObJfx6R6gmlfY2m8u_u5jWGaXZooqfZTfuEJlknuWvIlX2oPntsuvrjQqiR4_0p1nhyVRo4wVm-M25PXxhiYKHXqgvFVdZxvQSrfs3XTquY90nQ1hNKX3qLuO8McOKNF/s1600/IMG_20171007_062805.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8RoIDIpGYatJObJfx6R6gmlfY2m8u_u5jWGaXZooqfZTfuEJlknuWvIlX2oPntsuvrjQqiR4_0p1nhyVRo4wVm-M25PXxhiYKHXqgvFVdZxvQSrfs3XTquY90nQ1hNKX3qLuO8McOKNF/s640/IMG_20171007_062805.jpg" width="640" /></a>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-54202760725629013402017-09-04T09:57:00.000-04:002017-09-04T09:57:42.348-04:00Changing Attitudes/Big News<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigagVqHKcTv1eU3hvtUJ1uc5vCt8Qn6xoI5OIrkWLYrXpp4b4mYPzp89gKQ_N6YnizUal5gw2kB03X63Kw1N15_Wj24BloutVKsYbMphNRAqZ28oMI4gcYfiWOVclWVFDmar16Utm51Ji/s1600/IMG_20170904_090204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigagVqHKcTv1eU3hvtUJ1uc5vCt8Qn6xoI5OIrkWLYrXpp4b4mYPzp89gKQ_N6YnizUal5gw2kB03X63Kw1N15_Wj24BloutVKsYbMphNRAqZ28oMI4gcYfiWOVclWVFDmar16Utm51Ji/s640/IMG_20170904_090204.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait for it....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Let's begin with the titular "big news". Last blog update I had concluded by saying I "awoke this morning to yet another piece of shockingly good news. I believe next blog post will have some information about it". So here we go.<br />
<br />
I've discussed at great length the difficulties involved for us to go out for assembly and convention. It involves either three days of nonstop panic and rushing, or a week and a half of sitting around doing nothing. This is due to the inconsistent and sporadic boat schedules. For many years we've joked about how nice it would be if we could just have an assembly of our own in Orealla.<br />
<br />
I'm going to pause a moment and see if you can guess where this is going.<br />
<br />
Day after arriving back from our convention, we received approval from the branch to hold the upcoming assembly program in Orealla. Even though this was over a month back, I've refrained from sharing much information about it, specifically because we didn't yet <i>have</i> much info. We knew we could do it, but we had to decide for sure where, when, how, etc.<br />
<br />
So for the last month, several of us have focused on little else. I'm happy to say that as of yesterday we've locked down the venue, arranged to have a sufficient number of outside help to come in, worked out where most of them will stay, and on and on.<br />
<br />
For starters, the venue will be uphill at the Primary School (if you're not familiar with the schooling system used here, it's basically equivalent to Middle School in the US. I think) which is pictured above. We have use of the downstairs auditorium, which seats between 150-180. This left us with the issue of where to seat everyone else, since our attendance estimates are continually being adjusted upwards (we're now expecting over 300). After an exhaustive tour of the grounds yesterday we've sorted out an arrangement to cover the large concrete area outside, fill it with chairs, and set up camera and projector to allow people outside to see the program just as well.<br />
<br />
We have no baptism pool, but that isn't much of a worry for us since we have this...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Ph6KtdcvmHBa_F1ASv1B11q48iYdELJDL83nVdiSHXXMJUm4OBUs19omG7J8X0p2QW9MP_zthG9-UbT_B6jWHNZq6EAPKtBILvUIv3UOnmhh0jknAMYKDaoFluv8mIzI4fC4OwrHRMew/s1600/IMG_20170724_152207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Ph6KtdcvmHBa_F1ASv1B11q48iYdELJDL83nVdiSHXXMJUm4OBUs19omG7J8X0p2QW9MP_zthG9-UbT_B6jWHNZq6EAPKtBILvUIv3UOnmhh0jknAMYKDaoFluv8mIzI4fC4OwrHRMew/s640/IMG_20170724_152207.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Look, a body of water! Good gracious, what a body of water ... what prevents me from being baptized?"</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
Assembly is going to be held October 7, and then the following day the regular pioneers will be heading out to attend the pioneer seminar before the other Circuit Assembly, which will be the 14th. We're realizing this will put our congregation in a difficult spot because the pioneers won't make it back in time for the Sunday meeting in Orealla. Consider who the pioneers are in our hall. Both elders and both ministerial servants, among others. So, um, the other brothers should have a lot of fun with this.<br />
<br />
On that note, this congregation is insane. We have 35 publishers, and we just hit 11 regular pioneers. I'm going to attempt to soon have a writeup on all of them on this blog, but we'll see how that goes.<br />
<br />
Now we move on to the other piece, Changing Attitudes.<br />
<br />
For a long time, ministry was difficult in Orealla. Not because people weren't willing to listen, but because it was hard for Witnesses to stand out. Think of it, in most places Witnesses are known for being clean, for being peaceful, for getting along with one another to an unusual degree, and for being people you could trust with anything. Here's the thing though: in Orealla, that's just how everyone is, that's the whole mindset of the village.<br />
<br />
Or at least, it was.<br />
<br />
It's strange to think that even in the short time I've been here (coming up on four years) how much I've seen change. As more and more modern conveniences come in such as electricity, running water, cell phones, and <i>especially</i> the internet, the modern attitudes have come in as well. Everyone here sees it happening too, but are unsure of how to stop it. People have gone from just expecting to help others out with whatever they need (<i>mashramani</i> in the local language) to being considerably more selfish and even lazy. Monday morning used to be the time that everyone would gather together and clean up the roads and public village areas, but in just the last four years it's become something that people will only do if the village offers to pay them for the work they do.<br />
<br />
Except the Witnesses.<br />
<br />
Recent example: there's a section of the village where all the houses are populated by widows and single mothers. This wasn't planned, it just kind of happened. A while back a storm came and destroyed the light poles in this small segment of the village (which left them without electricity entirely), so they requested for them to be repaired. Days passed with no reply. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Finally, acting on his own, one of the congregation's Bible students felled the necessary trees and trimmed them up to serve as poles. Then he called the village office and told them he had the poles the widows needed, and all the village had to do was send some people to drag them down the hill and install them.<br />
<br />
Weeks passed, nothing. Now, one of the widows who lives in this area is a Witness, and her neighbors started making fun of her, saying she should ask her "church" to do it for her.<br />
<br />
So she did.<br />
<br />
Before the day was over, the poles were dragged downhill and placed in the right positions. Since we weren't technically village workers, we weren't allowed use of the tractors or things that were available, so we had to do it by hand. But enough brothers came (and one sister) and we got them downhill, through mud, through bush, and over a creek. One of the brothers is also a qualified electrician and offered to plant the posts in the ground and hook the wiring up right away, but the offer was refused, with the village saying it had to be one of their approved people doing that work.<br />
<br />
Three months later, it still hasn't been done.<br />
<br />
Later on, another issue came up. The roads leading to this same area became overgrown with weeds and brush. Now again, cleaning up these places is village responsibility since they're public areas, but the path became so bad it was impassable, and yet nothing was done. On this same path is a church, so the women living on the road asked the church members to clean it up, but nothing was done. The churchgoers would merely trudge though and do nothing to clean it.<br />
<br />
Once again, the residents of the street told our sister to ask the Witnesses to look after it. Only this time, they weren't poking fun.<br />
<br />
In a day the entire path was cleaned. The brush was cut, opening a path six feet wide (for a four foot wide trail) and all the grass was raked up.<br />
<br />
So as painful as it is for me to see such an idyllic, peaceful and considerate village be absorbed by the selfishness of Satan's world, I must begrudgingly acknowledge that it's happening and will continue to happen. But there is an upside to this.<br />
<br />
As I'd said before, in most areas the Witnesses stand out clearly when compared with others. Now this is happening in Orealla. While the attitude keeps changing, Jehovah's Witnesses stay the same. And people are noticing. How can I tell?<br />
<br />
For the longest time, the Kingdom Hall was something of the minority of the village. 15-20 people attending while the nearby churches were pulling in hundreds. What's happened with these changing attitudes? Here's how I like to demonstrate the change:<br />
<br />
There's two men who have a freezer and will push ice blocks around the village in a wheelbarrow so people can buy ice or have something similar to a slushie made for them. I began noticing the two men would wait outside the Kingdom Hall every Sunday morning. Finally I asked them why they wait outside, and they said "Because we know once your meeting lets out, that's where we'll find the biggest number of people."<br />
<br />
This same day, they sold out. One stop and they went back home.<br />
<br />
So yes, in just the course of four years we've become larger than any of the churches in the village. Some days we pull in more than the seven churches <i>combined</i>. Naturally, most of these attendees aren't baptized Witnesses, so clearly we have lots, lots more work to do.<br />
<br />
This too is why we continually have to revise our attendance prediction for the assembly. So stay tuned, we'll see how this goes.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-77668208132890663242017-07-21T13:21:00.000-04:002017-07-21T13:38:34.294-04:00"Don't Give Up!" - 2017 Regional Convention<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStFGpH4gToegLPP02OrI6K2RJlPlLARrzjsQAZHXQQzNlQ_3tki4pSGQg5TX_kUwv-8ZocABTL8BtbmZFlSN75idDQphKl9h5__QWkhbW5T1y-6nZlDq3nijKKVMuaDYP77BqiDf3MQ-R/s1600/100_template.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStFGpH4gToegLPP02OrI6K2RJlPlLARrzjsQAZHXQQzNlQ_3tki4pSGQg5TX_kUwv-8ZocABTL8BtbmZFlSN75idDQphKl9h5__QWkhbW5T1y-6nZlDq3nijKKVMuaDYP77BqiDf3MQ-R/s640/100_template.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Let's play a game. See if you can guess how many blog posts I've done.<br />
<br />
Now that we've got the jocularity out of the way, on to the news. As you likely guessed from the title of this post, Guyana recently got to enjoy the "Don't Give Up!" Regional Convention. Thankfully, this time there was none of the usual nonsense we go through regarding the boats getting us out (for stories like that, see literally any other blog post I've ever done about assembly or convention season). This time, it actually went better than we could've expected!<br />
<br />
See, the boats usually take us out Thursday night, so they land early Friday morning, which leaves a scant few hours available to get to the homes we're staying at, unpack, iron out wrinkles and all, and then book it over to the convention venue. <i>This</i> year, a boat was traveling out Wednesday night, so most of the congregation got to land Thursday morning and have an entire relaxing day to get settled and prepare for convention the following day. Additionally, we were able to find homes for a lot of the brothers and sisters to stay in so they could be closer to the convention location, and thus not have to travel so long, and also pay less in bus fare.<br />
<br />
As was usual for me, however, I and a few others came out Sunday night/Monday morning. There was a three day cleaning planned, but I for various reasons couldn't make it to the first two. By time I got there on Thursday, the final for cleaning, most of the work was done. All that remained was getting the stage set up and hooking up the video and audio equipment.<br />
<br />
This raises an interesting detail: last two years we've rented everything from a company and they've sent two employees to help us out during the program. That setup changed this year. Turns out someone donated almost all the equipment to the Branch office for use in Guyana, and this equipment was <i>better</i> than what we'd used last two years. The only slight hitch in this is that we no longer have the two specialists from the company to give us a hand in case of accidents or glitches. But not to worry, as there's a crew of brothers from Georgetown who do this kind of stuff for work, so they came down to work with us to figure out how to get it set up properly. In the midst of this process, the convention overseer gathers two brothers and myself and tells us "Pay close attention. They're only here this year, so next year you three are doing this."<br />
<br />
Pray for me.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff37iK7S1A2Kw9IIUpgEBgcL5dtFaxbONA5T3V9uw-cIGCZS_eZX_reMkRuBl0wnUvMlQlIeoPfJvhisFCcSx_-8vfkCg2hj0IxIRFgkWu10IU_rJawDE0YGoQgKBab7Y4PhR0D6Jggck/s1600/IMG-20170715-WA0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff37iK7S1A2Kw9IIUpgEBgcL5dtFaxbONA5T3V9uw-cIGCZS_eZX_reMkRuBl0wnUvMlQlIeoPfJvhisFCcSx_-8vfkCg2hj0IxIRFgkWu10IU_rJawDE0YGoQgKBab7Y4PhR0D6Jggck/s640/IMG-20170715-WA0000.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, someone saw this trio and thought to themselves "They look like people I'd trust with $5 million of fragile equipment."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Thankfully though, everything was set up nicely and the test late Thursday showed no signs of worry.<br />
<br />
Now if you're a regular reader of this blog, you can probably tell when I'm setting up for a disaster or some such thing. Amazingly though, the story does not take a turn for the worse. At all. It continued running smoothly throughout the program. The closest thing we had to a problem was when we arrived Friday morning and saw the overnight rain had caused some minor flooding, so we had to elevate the wires, speakers, and other items with a variety of hastily assembled mounts. None of us had come to the convention intending to wade through water, so we didn't have long boots or anything of the kind. Thus, Ohio logic quickly wins out...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxTgVe2Mxnuz79pvptGTjtlPkX6zqq__zrt-AU2lusbw9PiSDZAUcb2Lc3xcHYOyqHViiOQe4sWuiC_5zypqLyfGVAiE8CxNVF4yt9GyDDpxleLOHopiuuu4t7tVVqE44kMjTaDWwwizH/s1600/IMG_20170716_224013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxTgVe2Mxnuz79pvptGTjtlPkX6zqq__zrt-AU2lusbw9PiSDZAUcb2Lc3xcHYOyqHViiOQe4sWuiC_5zypqLyfGVAiE8CxNVF4yt9GyDDpxleLOHopiuuu4t7tVVqE44kMjTaDWwwizH/s640/IMG_20170716_224013.jpg" width="419" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can take the boy out of Ohio, but...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I never thought I'd get to play in the mud, barefoot, during a convention program, and call it sacred service. Scratch one off the bucket list.<br />
<br />
As I said before, aside from this the program went incredibly smoothly. I'm not going to share specific points from it, because duh. However, there was one illustration that was used which was so good I simply must share it (and I feel I safely can, as it was a personal experience by the brother, and therefore I can be sure of not copying and distributing material from the branch outlines).<br />
<br />
The brother was speaking of 2 Corinthians 4:7 where it tells us "... so that the power beyond what is normal may be God's and not from us."<br />
<br />
To illustrate it, he referred to the frequently muddy roads and hills found in these parts. He said he had seen a large hill that, because of heavy rains, had become saturated with mud, to the point where any vehicle attempting to traverse it couldn't reach the top. Happily, there was a bulldozer nearby which had the power to make it to the top. So what would happen is each truck would rev up, accelerate forward, and see how far up this impassable hill it could go. Once it finally got stuck, once it could finally go no further, the bulldozer would come behind it and push it the rest of the way up. Naturally, every vehicle reached different heights. Some were nearly to the top, some could barely get started. But each one made it over the top because the bulldozer pushed them.<br />
<br />
Of course, the bulldozer didn't push them from the bottom. Each one had to go as far as it could, but no matter how far they got, they could be sure that <i>after</i> they'd put in their best, the bulldozer would take it from there.<br />
<br />
The brother then applied this to that verse. The power that is normal is how far we can make it up whatever our respective "hill" is. Once we've used that up, then Jehovah provides the rest. So as long as we put in our best first, we can be sure to make it over the hill.<br />
<br />
Alright, plagiarism over.<br />
<br />
After all three days had finished, a group of eleven of us went over to a newly built restaurant in Skeldon that we'd all been wanting to try. This place is clearly too fancy for me.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdmWvQ0tqVnjf_6qsMiF74HrFbguPjd-0ILql3wvDxgOfHfh6L8Q7Wd16wn3d3_fsMIqNkRtby_rfPB7vVsFOIzANNb0Y3aDqFhJ-3TpXAAFSpZLk3TMQ4Uh2MohAH7MZ-P_oT1EBddQ8/s1600/IMG_20170716_212735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdmWvQ0tqVnjf_6qsMiF74HrFbguPjd-0ILql3wvDxgOfHfh6L8Q7Wd16wn3d3_fsMIqNkRtby_rfPB7vVsFOIzANNb0Y3aDqFhJ-3TpXAAFSpZLk3TMQ4Uh2MohAH7MZ-P_oT1EBddQ8/s640/IMG_20170716_212735.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSXBkZslRfdIVOOs5XH5OggVAR7dZZ72-ON38L8Rhgmc3m17nqhNVMKFGaYQ2phxg2FbZ7CJNI9sqvRjNdozOzVbZU9vywYUfLWkJEhrf-Rdrtym5i5bj1C5qBwweKBTNnUO59AC5TQnE/s1600/IMG_20170716_195957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSXBkZslRfdIVOOs5XH5OggVAR7dZZ72-ON38L8Rhgmc3m17nqhNVMKFGaYQ2phxg2FbZ7CJNI9sqvRjNdozOzVbZU9vywYUfLWkJEhrf-Rdrtym5i5bj1C5qBwweKBTNnUO59AC5TQnE/s640/IMG_20170716_195957.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They use FORKS in this place. Clearly not my scene.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You may spy, all the way to the right, one of my former roommates Kojo seated. He came down for a visit, all the way from .... um, wherever he's living now. I should've checked my records before starting this. Anyway, it was a long travel, and we weren't expecting to see him for this, so it came as a welcome surprise.<br />
<br />
So after an entirely stress free, problem free, easy, relaxing, and superbly enjoyable week out, I'm now back home in Orealla, and awoke this morning to yet <i>another</i> piece of shockingly good news. I believe next blog post will have some information about it. Stay tuned. Seriously. This is super exciting.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-16102716362216516002017-05-25T10:47:00.000-04:002017-05-25T10:47:09.413-04:00"Live No Longer for Themselves"In our midweek meeting recently, we watched the video together about two Witnesses looking back on decisions they made and how their lives turned out because of it. One giving up a football career, the other a career as an opera singer. In the course of the video, the sister quoted 2 Corinthians 5:15.<br />
<br />
"<i>And he died for all so that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised up</i>."<br />
<br />
Fairly familiar verse. Read it multiple times, heard it quoted even more. Now I'll be perfectly honest, I never gave it much thought. For one, I have no marketable skill that would lead someone to offer me a multi-million dollar contract, so no worries there. But more than that, I felt like I was already doing a pretty good job of applying this verse. When I was 18 I moved to where the need was greater, spent some time at Bethel, and I have no goals of a career in the world, pretty much no possessions, and pretty much no money. So what's the worry?<br />
<br />
(Aside from the horrific lack of humility this line of thinking reveals in me, which is definitely something I'll have to give attention to soon)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGks9uvNGm26GnxKjInQHFrCdGwk6xZj7OyoC_mNRdCAHVC6XOo3IgzZGeBDtNlnqJzNPzxvR5l3jPKU1M4TOI9f2SsZS7UsTEvlQB-AEVfyD_0wCCilamRLt8EDWVsQXlkBsROEKUD9v/s1600/IMG_20170525_103550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGks9uvNGm26GnxKjInQHFrCdGwk6xZj7OyoC_mNRdCAHVC6XOo3IgzZGeBDtNlnqJzNPzxvR5l3jPKU1M4TOI9f2SsZS7UsTEvlQB-AEVfyD_0wCCilamRLt8EDWVsQXlkBsROEKUD9v/s640/IMG_20170525_103550.jpg" width="544" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I believe this book has some excellent advice for you about that. Let me find that section..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
As the video played at the meeting and the words of the verse were popped up on the big screen, a small piece of that scripture stuck in my mind.<br />
<br />
"<i>Live</i> no longer for themselves."<br />
<br />
It occurred to me that the way we <i>live</i> involved a lot more than what we do for work. Throughout the rest of that part (and meeting) those words kept nagging at me, so when I got home I decided to do some reading about them. Looking 2 Corinthians 5:15 up in the Watchtower Library led me to the May 15, 2010 Watchtower. Towards the end of that magazine there's an article titled "Sow to the Spirit and Reach Out". In the article they discuss the verse in question over two paragraphs. Here's a brief piece with the most relevance to my sudden rant.<br />
<br />
"<i>Meditating on the love Christ has for people stirs up gratitude within us. As a result, we realize that it would be most unfitting for us to keep on ‘sowing with a view to the flesh’ by pursuing selfish goals...</i>"<br />
<br />
Perfect, I thought, I'm avoiding selfish goals! (Argh, there's that humility thing again) But the paragraph isn't finished yet.<br />
<br />
"... <i>and living largely to gratify ourselves.</i>"<br />
<br />
There's the problem. Even though I'm serving where the need is greater, this made me consider how much time I'm actually spending doing what I should be doing, versus how much time I'm basically just goofing off doing whatever I feel like.<br />
<br />
Case in point: I recently finished reading an 897 page novel ... for the third time. The day I finished it, I was home and laying in a hammock, despite the fact that it was one of my regular service days. I opted to stay home because I'd made my time for the month, and chose to just relax instead.<br />
<br />
It's worth noting I wasn't stressed out or overworked or anything of the sort. Obviously relaxation is important, but I wasn't seeking much needed R&R. This was just laziness.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAVwwStBNxV7w9jJ2aUhMXXoBqnBcxBYJfTgwXss3vjlpRffN6fAXoCazRzYBLGLSKX3DQcWVC4O06tYv97AUZ9Gqj_i3-gSLOCu4s0F1hOreHYhL_Fcc8kLWWIORsgM8-cJaWJGLC5nl/s1600/IMG_20170525_103654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAVwwStBNxV7w9jJ2aUhMXXoBqnBcxBYJfTgwXss3vjlpRffN6fAXoCazRzYBLGLSKX3DQcWVC4O06tYv97AUZ9Gqj_i3-gSLOCu4s0F1hOreHYhL_Fcc8kLWWIORsgM8-cJaWJGLC5nl/s640/IMG_20170525_103654.jpg" width="524" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Siiiiiigh ... for <i>shame</i> Josh. For <i>shame</i>."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I realized this was in fact much worse than I'd anticipated as I thought about how much work I'd put into preparing for that meeting we just had, and specifically the part with that video. Sure, I read through all the material, but did I really take the time to make sure I understood it and could apply it to myself? Clearly not, as I didn't even watch the video. I reasoned to myself I'd seen it when it first came out, seen it a second time when we had a Kingdom Ministry part about it, and seen it a third time when I watched it at Jeff Guess' house. Instead, I willfully chose to skip watching it in preparation for that meeting, and rather watched a Spencer Tracy movie I'd been hoping to see for some time.<br />
<br />
Obviously I'm not saying all recreation is bad, but I'm realizing I need to re-examine how much time I'm spending living for me, doing stuff just because I think it sounds fun.<br />
<br />
And also work some more on that humility thing, clearly.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXhvzP1CkolCDZ4p9ZAlvDHuj50Py2Ep2I1-nTwKjYq859CEhyphenhyphenbfAWZt-7UH_Q71MfZIpZRXrQzIgnwnduKMiwp2w30wuof2St-AEV6zg5acDCCXstNIqQvfvdnY10lMNFuEHomXHZ3OM/s1600/IMG_20170520_183907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXhvzP1CkolCDZ4p9ZAlvDHuj50Py2Ep2I1-nTwKjYq859CEhyphenhyphenbfAWZt-7UH_Q71MfZIpZRXrQzIgnwnduKMiwp2w30wuof2St-AEV6zg5acDCCXstNIqQvfvdnY10lMNFuEHomXHZ3OM/s640/IMG_20170520_183907.jpg" width="552" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Get your act together. Yeesh."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-1001103752834071242017-04-28T12:50:00.000-04:002017-04-28T12:50:14.307-04:00"Do All Things for the Sake of the Good News"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3PW8pxs4J51ePd9IlztdDCesIqx-2US_oiMTe7RiIK7p2H4CPWDh9uUiXoBa3XLx4F8glVB36tD0qRpbePm3m3QdmK2iIxvs3bB_F6_Q159xzOGb08-jQ5arVlErKic6WHQya9210dUJ/s1600/IMG_20170411_113819.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3PW8pxs4J51ePd9IlztdDCesIqx-2US_oiMTe7RiIK7p2H4CPWDh9uUiXoBa3XLx4F8glVB36tD0qRpbePm3m3QdmK2iIxvs3bB_F6_Q159xzOGb08-jQ5arVlErKic6WHQya9210dUJ/s640/IMG_20170411_113819.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
<br />
"Do all things for the sake of the good news, in order to share it with others". This is the phrase that kept running through my head as I held my hands against the floor of the boat, desperately trying to stave off the leak that had suddenly sprung as we hurtled down the Courantyne river in the midst of a heavy rainstorm.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I should explain.<br />
<br />
After the fantastic assembly we had a few weeks ago (an assembly which three of my Bible students were able to attend) we had to immediately return to Orealla to begin setting up for the Memorial. Both Memorials, in fact, as we have two villages in our territory which are separated by a great distance. This makes it incredibly difficult for people from the other village to attend in Orealla, so we've finally come to the conclusion that it's better for us to bring a Memorial to them.<br />
<br />
Better. Not easier.<br />
<br />
Due to the manner of the boat schedules, we had less than a week to set up for these two events. Thankfully, we'd known long in advance that this time crunch would come, so we were able to get a lot sorted ahead of time. The venue for Memorial in the next village had already been reserved, we already had the decorations and things put together, we still have a mobile sound system on hand from last year when my parents came to help us out with it, so all that was sorted. It looked like perhaps we'd have an easy time preparing.<br />
<br />
Until, of course, the Saturday before.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSlPz4GwRsQVhb8QfnBbWMlfQSNry0TIo7wMVE0UR-ndKrTJ1L6EG-dfU6kLiIT3PrZFP_6RcccUEFzklhmAE4VE_EOu-OIucZICVwPisg8iRpOODLvkf0LdC9ujQgmuHdgK5kTIy2vtSm/s1600/IMG_20170408_152423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSlPz4GwRsQVhb8QfnBbWMlfQSNry0TIo7wMVE0UR-ndKrTJ1L6EG-dfU6kLiIT3PrZFP_6RcccUEFzklhmAE4VE_EOu-OIucZICVwPisg8iRpOODLvkf0LdC9ujQgmuHdgK5kTIy2vtSm/s640/IMG_20170408_152423.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In technical terms, this is known as a big boo-boo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With three days to spare before Memorial, the Orealla sound system suffered what we chose to call a "total existence failure". This came as a shock to precisely no one, as this sound system has been on death's door for the better part of four years now, held together only by twine, duct tape, Geno's mad MacGyver skills, and holy spirit. Finally, however, it reached a point of inoperability.<br />
<br />
This naturally led to a mad dash of phone calls, texts, emails, etc, to each and every person we could think of who may possibly have anything to lend us. Computer speakers would've sufficed for us. Thankfully, a solution was found. A brother from somewhere (so I don't actually know the guy, apologies) had a subwoofer and two computer speakers he was willing to lend us. The only slight downside was there were no more boats until Monday night, meaning Sunday at meeting we simply did without a sound system.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CO6vLNONJKLcy1Jgv2lrCbhfw64yCPQ4W7L4qRXwSnLLlE04q7Kh1FI2T05htr71T-rMjzfrrvQdQv9lSny_TfbJrAwRMCAbbnAgrMKJ4TyGiS7dakQrQiS2f661EEbuYtPUBXevQ-jC/s1600/IMG_20170411_110835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CO6vLNONJKLcy1Jgv2lrCbhfw64yCPQ4W7L4qRXwSnLLlE04q7Kh1FI2T05htr71T-rMjzfrrvQdQv9lSny_TfbJrAwRMCAbbnAgrMKJ4TyGiS7dakQrQiS2f661EEbuYtPUBXevQ-jC/s640/IMG_20170411_110835.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"<i>Ground control to Major Tom ...</i>"<br />"Josh! What's going on in there!"<br />"Just testing out the new system."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Side note: this congregation can carry a tune super well. I mean, sure, North Athens is louder, but still...<br />
<br />
So that wrapped up our exciting endeavor of the Orealla sound system. Which leads us to the excitement in Siparuta.<br />
<br />
Memorial this year was of course Tuesday, so Monday we went over in order to ensure everyone had gotten invitations and to set up for the venue. Last year we'd used the Health Centre (yes, British spelling), but this year we'd been offered use of the largest school in the village. There was, um, a lot of cleaning needing done.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXZ9BJR0N3T_S4NArieF_Eh3aZQpbzhcaNkgN3-06AdQYPuFvyPIurmV1AINqliYuyL7TXJ8Arue42mD6szNMAnk5yET5rG-8xO5xHhQdzbY4SSAuOM2F7FYgLcfrwM8VwiGh0oDUyZTp/s1600/IMG_20170410_115415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXZ9BJR0N3T_S4NArieF_Eh3aZQpbzhcaNkgN3-06AdQYPuFvyPIurmV1AINqliYuyL7TXJ8Arue42mD6szNMAnk5yET5rG-8xO5xHhQdzbY4SSAuOM2F7FYgLcfrwM8VwiGh0oDUyZTp/s640/IMG_20170410_115415.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before ...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEOyvofdR1XcYxBzojLiSvIpYMjHA5kYUINtAes0xR31AZTaJtheZJfklqGgRC6C84mbDZejwut-mO3VAxZa_9mevMbr1m0rnF4NYaV0DdqXZiQE7TcVyrmIMr6VTJ1cq9-2KoZcpUTzxu/s1600/IMG_20170410_132054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEOyvofdR1XcYxBzojLiSvIpYMjHA5kYUINtAes0xR31AZTaJtheZJfklqGgRC6C84mbDZejwut-mO3VAxZa_9mevMbr1m0rnF4NYaV0DdqXZiQE7TcVyrmIMr6VTJ1cq9-2KoZcpUTzxu/s640/IMG_20170410_132054.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and after.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Naturally we set everything up and began testing. Except one little issue. Now <i>this</i> sound system wasn't working. We ran through everything, and soon realized it was the microphone. It seemed to have just completely given up. The amp and speakers were working fine, just this one mic. Unfortunately, we didn't have a replacement, and the plug on it wasn't a standard microphone plug, rather being the same size and build as a headphone jack. We returned to Orealla that afternoon and <i>very</i> quickly set about the same routine of calling, texting, and emailing everyone we could trying to find a replacement. This was exceptionally more panicked though, since perhaps you'll recall the boat would be leaving for Orealla <i>that afternoon</i>. Just in case we couldn't get anything, we set about building our own microphone. Yes, you read that right. We built a mic.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEw6n8VAez5MJNV3lHIQOahwYVBXBc0Qg4l2Zg-MSafQV0MYIHfeE90oQCl3EY-CgwJewQZV24nszGx84e7-ttGPYAtSIzJgKSkZuTrZ5WfxsOLI33cBxDokWjg3wme3Fu8ddU_UE_F528/s1600/IMG_20170409_171524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEw6n8VAez5MJNV3lHIQOahwYVBXBc0Qg4l2Zg-MSafQV0MYIHfeE90oQCl3EY-CgwJewQZV24nszGx84e7-ttGPYAtSIzJgKSkZuTrZ5WfxsOLI33cBxDokWjg3wme3Fu8ddU_UE_F528/s640/IMG_20170409_171524.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Necessity is the mother of invention.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In case it's not readily obvious, what you're looking at here is a six inch piece of PVC pipe with a mic cover on the front, with an old pair of earbuds stuffed inside, taped shut. Why earbuds work as a mic, I don't know. This isn't even one of those earbuds with a mic built into it. Just ordinary earbuds. Still baffled by it. But hey, it worked!<br />
<br />
Thankfully we didn't have to use this, as shortly after someone who lived nearby the dock in Skeldon found a suitable mic and sent it down to us.<br />
<br />
Finally, the day came. A brother from New Amsterdam came in Monday night to give our Memorial talk in Orealla (and to deliver the mic and sound system), leaving a group of six of us to travel over to Siparuta Tuesday morning to finalize preparations for Memorial there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78RkzTB-MWZGhI58rDXAK3vzDhqddlPsAF8gPECymUIvmMbawHHu7npVzBJjYIJ2EZkXnIgpn-azK5OyUVp9QII1YABu-qGE-FmaHpo_r5rrKnddtxv3SSXgefDX3w-hPvYs27sEkmFMs/s1600/IMG_20170411_113125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78RkzTB-MWZGhI58rDXAK3vzDhqddlPsAF8gPECymUIvmMbawHHu7npVzBJjYIJ2EZkXnIgpn-azK5OyUVp9QII1YABu-qGE-FmaHpo_r5rrKnddtxv3SSXgefDX3w-hPvYs27sEkmFMs/s640/IMG_20170411_113125.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loading up K-Pro, as Joel Freeman from New Amsterdam sees us off.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknqb7w516oLiCkSpmcCenBT88tlj2H_AQeG9bMoi5kQ7BNgJrrUI6gIDI1moKZy-tmfLLu5uyV9HY6gVl2tBbsAHN5JhOdoESQbOY4KAd3x_YACA7cJ_nalvNUYvUshr7_hFM-uV0YGkt/s1600/IMG_20170411_113819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknqb7w516oLiCkSpmcCenBT88tlj2H_AQeG9bMoi5kQ7BNgJrrUI6gIDI1moKZy-tmfLLu5uyV9HY6gVl2tBbsAHN5JhOdoESQbOY4KAd3x_YACA7cJ_nalvNUYvUshr7_hFM-uV0YGkt/s640/IMG_20170411_113819.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 of 6</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8Ho-hwDYv7wsOS3UYbyuUOTMIoCs3_RiAWu_lmuKTKJfy3qLp44RIzTNInfFcn1XXhWxMseL3ZpqhnnvOOOy9WVRjIBmcJArYUhvAS_IlDscZf5hmGF572AQJA1GY7e09382HGp-fkji/s1600/IMG_20170411_113812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8Ho-hwDYv7wsOS3UYbyuUOTMIoCs3_RiAWu_lmuKTKJfy3qLp44RIzTNInfFcn1XXhWxMseL3ZpqhnnvOOOy9WVRjIBmcJArYUhvAS_IlDscZf5hmGF572AQJA1GY7e09382HGp-fkji/s640/IMG_20170411_113812.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5 of 6. I'm 6. In case that wasn't obvious.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
All was going well on the journey, until all of a sudden a hole appeared in the front of the boat and water began shooting through the opening and spraying us in the face. At first we had a good laugh at the spray, but then the hole began to get noticeably bigger. And water began pouring in more quickly. <i>Really</i> quickly. We were too far from Orealla to turn back, too far from Siparuta to continue, but it would be senseless to pull over and land on one of the islands since we had no tools to patch the hole, and there's no phone signal in that part of the river.<br />
<br />
Having nothing else to do, I pulled a handkerchief out and stuffed it over the hole, and held it as tightly as I could. Sherine (the sister in the back row) began bailing as fast as possible. Naturally, the weather chose this exact time to begin pouring buckets of rain on us.<br />
<br />
Normally the trip to Siparuta takes us 15-20 minutes in our boat, but the leak necessitated our traveling at a lower speed to avoid undue pressure on the front of the boat, which likely would've widened the hole. All told, it took nearly an hour to reach. Just as the village finally came in view, I turned around to everyone else and said something to the effect of "Once we get off the boat, this is all going to be really hilarious."<br />
<br />
No one laughed. Or smiled. Or agreed.<br />
<br />
Anyway, we made it alive, though considerably wet and cranky. We were able to dry off and finish setting up for Memorial.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6zXRS4H5g-Q4MTCZuVMhcixkhHHmtEiMAyDdquLOAGljrBjMIhMtrAITPvTrC7RT9eJN5BhmLPOZ7-OZF6CCeB5VyFYmY6Szz1m7HcpAOJRUdURuH44DBdqzxZl74DKBMGvJqvXSMCCX/s1600/IMG_20170411_151029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6zXRS4H5g-Q4MTCZuVMhcixkhHHmtEiMAyDdquLOAGljrBjMIhMtrAITPvTrC7RT9eJN5BhmLPOZ7-OZF6CCeB5VyFYmY6Szz1m7HcpAOJRUdURuH44DBdqzxZl74DKBMGvJqvXSMCCX/s640/IMG_20170411_151029.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guyana has a thing about curtains. Still confused by that.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
With a few hours to spare, we set about changing into our meeting clothes. While doing this, I realized something...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimreV8pRh3VXZWV9pcBujVuKRH0WvOdnz6lu8MFg7g9dGtvc5KYSrHvpUzxiiQOjUO0VOgo2IvhP5uMUAlapUDcQWR1e87J8fpoyQJ9Dldt5983beXQJd7Em9yi7odlEqDT_HODZg48IAg/s1600/IMG_20170411_195556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimreV8pRh3VXZWV9pcBujVuKRH0WvOdnz6lu8MFg7g9dGtvc5KYSrHvpUzxiiQOjUO0VOgo2IvhP5uMUAlapUDcQWR1e87J8fpoyQJ9Dldt5983beXQJd7Em9yi7odlEqDT_HODZg48IAg/s640/IMG_20170411_195556.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shower? Shower.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I think it's a good sign you've been in the jungle too long when you see a shower that has three walls and no door, and is overgrown with weeds, and you think "Oh awesome! Running water!"<br />
<br />
Anyway, we all got cleaned up and ready in plenty of time. Memorial was amazing, having a grand total of 33 attending by the end. Orealla as well set a new personal record with 117, bringing us to 150 total between the two venues.<br />
<br />
After all this was done and finished, we had ourselves a lovely congregation outing at the end of the week. We traveled out to the furthest edge of the village for a bush cook/swim day/etc.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaqjCCfaT-0rvBjLFxxppB9sG8S_SmsDXrW_IeE-2puM4NolTGRh108Fk5_hmXlvpn2jZcBvzIMBg5lQyVf_56PpyUv6-CckJ9qWcTSVG8FPdW5NqeqP0zlGRGCSzZXwfjc3GNMFJPGj8/s1600/IMG_20170417_112335.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaqjCCfaT-0rvBjLFxxppB9sG8S_SmsDXrW_IeE-2puM4NolTGRh108Fk5_hmXlvpn2jZcBvzIMBg5lQyVf_56PpyUv6-CckJ9qWcTSVG8FPdW5NqeqP0zlGRGCSzZXwfjc3GNMFJPGj8/s640/IMG_20170417_112335.jpg" width="480" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKFobHjH84xWsMKZ0SYS0bS6T_-X6VzYYAHHbz0PUjfeDQOf0tjbu1uXcdwDwQUeF6PDgJObeXUf1sqEk47EZ9kzzSud5PLHxy8rtEG3UZfGsnR75qGJfOP0bYfJaZvGc-6KtzdFLC2dbc/s1600/IMG_20170417_112442.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKFobHjH84xWsMKZ0SYS0bS6T_-X6VzYYAHHbz0PUjfeDQOf0tjbu1uXcdwDwQUeF6PDgJObeXUf1sqEk47EZ9kzzSud5PLHxy8rtEG3UZfGsnR75qGJfOP0bYfJaZvGc-6KtzdFLC2dbc/s400/IMG_20170417_112442.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAeGptGPJzLBR1AY4GmCW8oNAvMTF3Ci8UdmlwVQ4vni0jFAZWLHl6vVIldO2A0ckkMZg6WhRzpsUi4zO6gJojWqzNR7dhbTSzSKxTRdxQ05VlGZv5fY38agi0tAGWAnW0gthC1PeMpCp/s1600/IMG_20170417_112500.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAeGptGPJzLBR1AY4GmCW8oNAvMTF3Ci8UdmlwVQ4vni0jFAZWLHl6vVIldO2A0ckkMZg6WhRzpsUi4zO6gJojWqzNR7dhbTSzSKxTRdxQ05VlGZv5fY38agi0tAGWAnW0gthC1PeMpCp/s400/IMG_20170417_112500.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6FI_jLpZ3atzuP8ouVbygmpIvrkZqgjysRRcqVVSQsXd7aLUtHtwnaGOS3SkVKvC4Hqjw3Chzar6E7bjx2_geGDZuFo5BHY6CPrkar6Z6mmQLTPtGfBPyWpqn2bsK3BKNZ-GU4lcXhJD/s1600/IMG_20170417_112735.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6FI_jLpZ3atzuP8ouVbygmpIvrkZqgjysRRcqVVSQsXd7aLUtHtwnaGOS3SkVKvC4Hqjw3Chzar6E7bjx2_geGDZuFo5BHY6CPrkar6Z6mmQLTPtGfBPyWpqn2bsK3BKNZ-GU4lcXhJD/s400/IMG_20170417_112735.jpg" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5vds-WTuIsgO2LOBCXZ49P_6wG5KcATZT4eOYC4PHK_WdMFagjET6OUmpTJSS2THNqORmU7cWiqy0TT29EPnlmGEdCuHvkHaFzSmLYGh6jUyV-f5JhKcqnhQvwL16ceXXcwtxFQN0aqa/s1600/IMG_20170417_160139.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5vds-WTuIsgO2LOBCXZ49P_6wG5KcATZT4eOYC4PHK_WdMFagjET6OUmpTJSS2THNqORmU7cWiqy0TT29EPnlmGEdCuHvkHaFzSmLYGh6jUyV-f5JhKcqnhQvwL16ceXXcwtxFQN0aqa/s400/IMG_20170417_160139.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
And I finally found someone who is a worthy match of my football skills.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhqdHiCdq0Jsr-YB6p2gW1uHHicsPq7O710wY_FV-o1eEyBtlupEotEHA7cVPVs7YSGtfIBNBc3TAKoJwbmC3RlxLwa3Y-q2ifN0xzm4MjsQem6BQVndx9gZ6IV6k1WsZ5T53KubsmhCi/s1600/IMG_20170417_134140.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhqdHiCdq0Jsr-YB6p2gW1uHHicsPq7O710wY_FV-o1eEyBtlupEotEHA7cVPVs7YSGtfIBNBc3TAKoJwbmC3RlxLwa3Y-q2ifN0xzm4MjsQem6BQVndx9gZ6IV6k1WsZ5T53KubsmhCi/s640/IMG_20170417_134140.jpg" width="580" /></a>Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-67687920466263110722017-03-27T18:00:00.001-04:002017-03-27T18:00:03.342-04:00Have "Plenty to Do in the Work of the Lord"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hBdDh1B1M7lODfWp4pkr-K1kCSAq-wBjguplaGTcmLWh-Ix9OsJsW1IAKb1msvbT4Tdi-jR6FK30O1IhytZbcPIUUw6rrilfRIZElkJVwrITkdIOg69-PctT7GRTNiufHOIRr1fe-Xq4/s1600/IMG_20170327_174315.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hBdDh1B1M7lODfWp4pkr-K1kCSAq-wBjguplaGTcmLWh-Ix9OsJsW1IAKb1msvbT4Tdi-jR6FK30O1IhytZbcPIUUw6rrilfRIZElkJVwrITkdIOg69-PctT7GRTNiufHOIRr1fe-Xq4/s640/IMG_20170327_174315.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have lately noticed something seems amiss. The complete and utter lack of updates for 2017 so far. I do apologize for this, but I have my reasons.<br />
<br />
(pauses and looks back at older blog posts, and fully realizes how much has happened since last update)<br />
<br />
Wow. This is worse than I thought.<br />
<br />
Alright, let's start with February. Two brothers arrived to help out with Memorial this year, Tyrell and Kaleb Schuetz from Nebraska. They each have extensive Bethel service under their belt and were up for a new challenge, so through a variety of contacts they wound up with Guyana as an option and were assigned to Orealla by the branch.<br />
<br />
And before you ask, no, I have no good pictures of them.<br />
<br />
<br />
We had a few weeks of little activity, which allowed them to get settled and familiarize themselves with the routine of life in a place like this. However, the busyness level quickly upped its game. Since I (still) haven't much time to go into it, here's a brief rundown.<br />
<br />
From March 5 to 12 we were preparing for Circuit Overseer visit (LOTS to do, especially when the labor is being split between just four brothers), then from 14th to 19th was the actual visit, which naturally included a Siparuta trip.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYbDXWFP1HC257ZGicdvNuqHxZRuMB9FhOruNCNxCkpqEoIZA0ClZdjIPv3M_sEtIyib34ubkJPpjZdlWClnwUrSyg8fblSh1qxogC1MwEqrkmb18qm0nfdAwp4dI6_vWo03xsY6DpTAJ/s1600/IMG_20170316_155512_558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYbDXWFP1HC257ZGicdvNuqHxZRuMB9FhOruNCNxCkpqEoIZA0ClZdjIPv3M_sEtIyib34ubkJPpjZdlWClnwUrSyg8fblSh1qxogC1MwEqrkmb18qm0nfdAwp4dI6_vWo03xsY6DpTAJ/s400/IMG_20170316_155512_558.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tiny portion of the group that day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
An interesting aspect of this visit was the support in field service. Wednesday we had 18 in ministry, Thursday (Siparuta day) was 20, Friday was 25, and Saturday was 34. Considering we have 33 publishers, I'd say the congregation is doing well. Particularly notable for me was that at pioneer meeting we had 15 people, which is more than we had at my first meeting in Orealla.<br />
<br />
Finally, Sunday for the final talk, the attendance was 82, which is more than we've had for any meeting outside of Memorials.<br />
<br />
As soon as overseer had left, we moved on to preparing for our Circuit Assembly, which is going to be held April 2. Considering how unreliable boats are in and out of the village (and the fact that they'll only go twice a week at best) many of us choose to leave an entire week in advance so as not to miss our opportunities to get out. This would've left us heading out exactly one week after the CO visit finished. Obviously this causes some stress as we must find a source of lodging for the whole week, on top of having money to get food and travel and all that, on top of getting all our Bible studies done early. So all this we're expecting. What we <i>weren't</i> expecting ...<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiNkS5RlBVerOes32oZOyueSgdNKLSgPX-2Dm17naqPgYLSoGDJcd9xd-zTs1mtP-Wh4vgmLQzXOGWt0wP-HbhaB4Xz8jmbC2miuMmFnS7jfifdd-Xz1Z_NBCmVlR9uRdUk5jb4-APmQc/s1600/IMG_20170326_121105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiNkS5RlBVerOes32oZOyueSgdNKLSgPX-2Dm17naqPgYLSoGDJcd9xd-zTs1mtP-Wh4vgmLQzXOGWt0wP-HbhaB4Xz8jmbC2miuMmFnS7jfifdd-Xz1Z_NBCmVlR9uRdUk5jb4-APmQc/s400/IMG_20170326_121105.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Letters to Russia.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This whole campaign presented a major problem for Guyana, as the cost of sending just one envelope to Russia is equivalent of $55 USD. On top of that, in order to get them delivered in time, we would have to send them out by Sunday. Yes, that same Sunday. So with very little time left, what would we do? Just write one letter and have the whole Kingdom Hall sign it on the back?<br />
<br />
Our parent branch in Trinidad had a much better idea. If we could get all our letters to the literature depot in Guyana, they would mail everything in bulk, free of charge for us. As long as we got them there by Sunday (or at the very, <i>very</i> latest, Monday noon). This led to some very, <i>very</i> rapid work in writing, printing, sorting letters, and on and on. All told, Orealla congregation was able to piece together 92 letters to ship out. And all in time to catch the Sunday night boat and get our stuff to the branch by Monday at noon.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIMu0ZIibVcXKIDUwqLMC-tLHOr2h41EslBpdjF-L9si4GJmumKpnRVqHlvXy_76nhsO1OQKEwDNSQa40cFlNqgdhWmrU2GowxehSEkG4K6LJMAinmwiB11ItrBG7tS1V48XfOH_jfgTZ/s1600/IMG_20170326_120258_709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIMu0ZIibVcXKIDUwqLMC-tLHOr2h41EslBpdjF-L9si4GJmumKpnRVqHlvXy_76nhsO1OQKEwDNSQa40cFlNqgdhWmrU2GowxehSEkG4K6LJMAinmwiB11ItrBG7tS1V48XfOH_jfgTZ/s400/IMG_20170326_120258_709.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dear Russian People, why are your addresses such a pain to write?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As we were doing all this we heard the boats arriving, giving us less than one hour to reach home, pack up, and catch them out for the night. Needless to say, when we get back home, there's going to be an incredibly insane amount of house cleaning to do.<br />
<br />
I am not looking forward to next Monday.<br />
<br />
Anyway, we finally reached out this morning, and we're now preparing to sleep until our assembly on Sunday. I'm very happy to say that three of my studies are contemplating coming out for it, with one having made definite plans and arrangements to get out here for it. Will report back when we see how it goes.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEO4TtGURQU4Y11jWRjvwWjCzaf7uZheik6e8o7WiGFNXuTcc96OFhBajOvET025l2TKh_jidGMuxCCNTxR-7OmDKQ5rI_N1-qWCq3L-rtdZOd6UJrA4Prh0vXbCGMPn_sGSx-WnYm0Ou/s1600/IMG_20170319_130426_246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEO4TtGURQU4Y11jWRjvwWjCzaf7uZheik6e8o7WiGFNXuTcc96OFhBajOvET025l2TKh_jidGMuxCCNTxR-7OmDKQ5rI_N1-qWCq3L-rtdZOd6UJrA4Prh0vXbCGMPn_sGSx-WnYm0Ou/s400/IMG_20170319_130426_246.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His son Lucas, overjoyed that they get to come to the Assembly!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-87985177032081132012017-01-27T20:57:00.001-04:002017-01-27T20:57:21.968-04:00"Beg the Master to Send Out Workers"Bit of a long winded introduction. I'll get to the meat of the story eventually.<br />
<br />
It's been an inescapable fact for a very long time that congregations in Guyana don't have nearly enough support. Even in the heavily populated, city areas, congregations are struggling for help. The further out you get from there, the more sparse the help is. Naturally, any help is quickly snatched up and assigned.<br />
<br />
However, this obviously means that for those of us further into the interior, the search for help is even <i>more</i> difficult. The current standing of the Orealla congregation is two elders and two ministerial servants, which is head and shoulders the best it's ever had. So on top of trying to manage one congregation, we're attempting to hold meetings and get a group started in another village (Siparuta) three hours away from us, which adds quite a burden in the workload and the travel time.<br />
<br />
Of course, we're far from alone in this. Across the river from us in Suriname is the Apoera congregation, which has three elders and no servants, who are handling Dutch and English meetings, on top of also having distant territories (Washabo) to work in and maintain.<br />
<br />
But, yeah, you already know this. Why bring this up again?<br />
<br />
Because we've recently learned there's yet <i>another</i> village much, <i>much</i> further down the river, which is larger than Orealla, Siparuta, Apoera, and Washabo combined. So not only is there a vast unworked territory, this one will come with certain challenges.<br />
<br />
For one, when I say it's <i>much</i> further down the river, I really mean it. Last estimate I heard was it would take one week of traveling just to get to it, and it isn't simply paddling a canoe down the river. There's waterfalls and jagged rocks along the way, which leads to having to carry the boat over huge tracts of land.<br />
<br />
Two, since it is so isolated, there's basically no technological development. Electricity, running water, etc. So anyone going there would have to be a bit of a trooper to not only get there, but deal with living conditions while there.<br />
<br />
Three (and this is likely the single biggest obstacle), they don't speak English. Or Dutch. They seem to use an undocumented indigenous language, which one brother in Apoera has attempted to learn bits and pieces of, but is having slow going of it.<br />
<br />
So then, before any progress can be made <i>at all</i> there, Orealla and Apoera will need about three more appointed brothers each to stabilize the congregations. Then about three more pioneers each to get meetings rolling in those nearby-ish territories. Then on <i>top of that</i>, a big batch of people able to deal with moving into an isolated area and learning an unknown tongue.<br />
<br />
Now, let's get one thing clear. I am <i>not</i> recommending that some of you pile up a boat and head down to this village to get things started. There's a method to dealing with this madness, and the local branch offices know how to handle it. What I <i>am </i>recommending is Matthew 9:38. "Beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest."<br />
<br />
Because seriously, we need it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Caveat: some details in this blog may be inaccurate, seeing as I have never visited this village, and likely won't for a good many years, or even decades. But my point stands, regardless.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-16425762471069821842016-12-06T11:18:00.000-04:002016-12-06T11:18:17.915-04:00A Big Ol' Batch of New People<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7M4Xy54se7pPLX6f5lgxMzl1P3Bjb5BJgEe-JfEJ9pjmc2VW-NH7taKcT8G6meQdu59fTUSfbWpjEt8x0aCdl4E0b5jLweSx27cSftrlT6-wTmkAKSK16aX_h5WvZ4p-1d8KZk_0mw_6/s1600/IMG_20161201_085008.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7M4Xy54se7pPLX6f5lgxMzl1P3Bjb5BJgEe-JfEJ9pjmc2VW-NH7taKcT8G6meQdu59fTUSfbWpjEt8x0aCdl4E0b5jLweSx27cSftrlT6-wTmkAKSK16aX_h5WvZ4p-1d8KZk_0mw_6/s640/IMG_20161201_085008.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
If you had once told me that the most productive territory I would ever work would actually be a small village that gets worked every two weeks, I never would've believed you. Surely if you cover a territory that often you'll find all the possible interested people within a few weeks right? And then everyone else would just gradually grow to hate you and your visits, right?<br />
<br />
Nope! Orealla and the neighboring village Siparuta continue to be the most productive territories I've ever done in my life. This has never been better evidenced than what happened in the last two weeks.<br />
<br />
For starters, a longtime Bible study named Florine recently was appointed an unbaptized publisher, and then her daughter received approval for the same thing the next week. They went out in service for the first time ever two Saturdays ago.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IgyHAUFBI4jIl93A-X5Oh61jrCcjtYKrUcnbgiUbGZZxZT5d4DN1i7mGJ1bQQ0aMrj9WmT5K8QhIR-bawEfrvDZHkzHTohFLSYOa4FDdiEe13Hy6kv5478AHEqXidITBpl0-Qh0QMBZi/s1600/IMG_20161126_110125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IgyHAUFBI4jIl93A-X5Oh61jrCcjtYKrUcnbgiUbGZZxZT5d4DN1i7mGJ1bQQ0aMrj9WmT5K8QhIR-bawEfrvDZHkzHTohFLSYOa4FDdiEe13Hy6kv5478AHEqXidITBpl0-Qh0QMBZi/s640/IMG_20161126_110125.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chelesa and Florine Herman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The timing of this was good, as three days later our Circuit Overseer arrived, so they were able to work along with he and his wife repeatedly through the week, including going along to Siparuta for a trip (seen in opening picture).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNBqlNwnrXGUs6uz6rlcB7W2YtaZH5m2ypv_M2MAoWZ_AtEb20CK53VNtH_fDdPhIO8NtgCp6foHHAbe0EKllLdsIAS7f6XshBlJa5vbCx2LP4tGKQsIib1QOKkmyHFade3b-psSAotVu/s1600/IMG_20161201_151715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNBqlNwnrXGUs6uz6rlcB7W2YtaZH5m2ypv_M2MAoWZ_AtEb20CK53VNtH_fDdPhIO8NtgCp6foHHAbe0EKllLdsIAS7f6XshBlJa5vbCx2LP4tGKQsIib1QOKkmyHFade3b-psSAotVu/s640/IMG_20161201_151715.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: Everybody, sleepy.</td></tr>
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<br />
Along with the two of them, Florine's son Deon has spent several months now studying with a brother and he's begun making progress. In fact, he just received his first Bible reading assignment for a midweek meeting!<br />
<br />
As if all <i>that</i> wasn't enough, there's a considerably long and complicated story involving one of my studies I'd like to share.<br />
<br />
I believe I've mentioned Lorenzo before. This man in the village has a daughter named Shania who had begun studying, attending meetings, became publisher, gave talks, etc. Lorenzo came to the meeting when Shania had her first talk, but we didn't see him after that. So one day as we're passing by their house in service, I stop and ask Lorenzo if he's ever thought about studying the Bible. He says "Yes, but scheduling it is really difficult for me. Tell you what, if I come to your meetings on Sunday, could we just study right after meeting is over?"<br />
<br />
Brilliant idea, I thought.<br />
<br />
So we've been doing this for a few months now, and he, his wife, and their baby son now make it to all the weekend meetings and a lot of the midweek ones as well.<br />
<br />
On top of this, I learned that Lorenzo has been preaching to his younger brother Brandon, so finally Brandon asks me if <i>he</i> can study too. On the very first study after we finish, Brandon asks if he can get JW Library so he can prepare for the meetings. He also asks if he's allowed to comment on Sunday.<br />
<br />
This study went on for two weeks before this same Circuit Overseer visit, so I thought it fitting to bring CO along on the study. After an hour we finish, and someone from the congregation was passing by and asked me a question, so I walk over to talk with her. When I return, the CO has the Jehovah's Will brochure (I haven't given Brandon yet since we ran out. Don't worry, this oversight will be corrected soon!) and is showing Brandon what are elders, ministerial servants, pioneers, etc. As we walk away from the study, I ask the CO why he chose that piece in particular, since there's lots of other things that come before it. He replies "Brandon asked if he has to finish the Bible Teach book before he can get baptized. I told him no, but he would still have to finish the book. Then he started asking me what he can do in the congregation afterwards."<br />
<br />
On top of all this, Brandon also told me and his older brother Lorenzo are now preaching to the <i>next</i> younger brother, and have convinced <i>him</i> to study too. This is on top of their youngest brother (aged 9) attending meetings with their mother, and another older brother who's already a Witness in Skeldon congregation. Five down, one more to go!<br />
<br />
Another fun event during CO visit is naturally the aforementioned Siparuta trip. Since we've gotten the boat, it's opened up the opportunity to go to many people who never could've made it before. This was true for Mark Herman, who's been handicapped since age 8, and Ruth Hendricks who suffered a stroke about fifteen years ago. Just bring along a cart, and they get to have a share in the day too!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMjKf1XCtMf-vS-U5kKTZ9Of3sdu9DRFSvWurAUStKUFWkdzspDXGfBLc4Bp8MFqAvl9QqYTJbm15yajCIpTxqhPbLAk1nbxH1adboGqRnHs_ac0HF5e_YGqkxi77h2p4f9ghE3Vpb06T/s1600/IMG_20161201_142629.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMjKf1XCtMf-vS-U5kKTZ9Of3sdu9DRFSvWurAUStKUFWkdzspDXGfBLc4Bp8MFqAvl9QqYTJbm15yajCIpTxqhPbLAk1nbxH1adboGqRnHs_ac0HF5e_YGqkxi77h2p4f9ghE3Vpb06T/s640/IMG_20161201_142629.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
<br />
In the wheelchair is Mark, and standing next to him in the red is Ruth. Now, in the picture you'll see an older woman leaning on a cane to listen to Mark. This is Granny Genevieve, who is almost completely immobile. However, she knows Mark and Ruth from years back, and when she heard those two had made the effort to come the entire 3 hour trip to visit, she decided she was going to put forth the effort to walk over to see them. So the sister standing to the right in the pink shirt (Mark's mother Fiona) helped her up, and walked with her over to cart so Granny Genevieve could see Mark and Ruth. After a few minutes, Genevieve asks "So when will you build a Kingdom Hall over here so I can come to your meetings?"<br />
<br />
<br />
The remainder of the CO visit went very well, with the Sunday meeting having an attendance somewhere in the range of 71-78. After meeting, there was a congregation day at the beach, which eventually resulted in the CO playing cricket with all the children in the hall.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1rM0s7ZGO4kayeIWg_ImMh4VmHrW7KxXaWr0nvRMcwYW_i7VWyzNfEwp9zdct1oVztGJZxoHgsAKI-wJriOZib6c2LubDukGCs1DcNnrLYRe5qccWopE-3xWLVHOdzityg9x-yIaNvLq/s1600/IMG_20161204_173949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1rM0s7ZGO4kayeIWg_ImMh4VmHrW7KxXaWr0nvRMcwYW_i7VWyzNfEwp9zdct1oVztGJZxoHgsAKI-wJriOZib6c2LubDukGCs1DcNnrLYRe5qccWopE-3xWLVHOdzityg9x-yIaNvLq/s640/IMG_20161204_173949.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*insert Chariots of Fire theme song*</td></tr>
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<br /><div>
Lots of progress to be made in the days ahead. As usual, stay tuned.</div>
Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-45159083809496072822016-11-11T14:57:00.000-04:002016-11-11T14:57:26.384-04:00Return to Apoera!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5_Dmul6XA94XDCR3oQpzkla0jotkkyoAsNJ-QS_vVYQUR4unqTxp1MkNOu8ycyjI15sIjze9GZ53TQDdIN8iG2_vVwxJRtqpQhZdC7OSMWLZ5mHvqM_Zwzv4g0VMxjN1meQscd4J0Y20/s1600/IMG_20161106_084343.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5_Dmul6XA94XDCR3oQpzkla0jotkkyoAsNJ-QS_vVYQUR4unqTxp1MkNOu8ycyjI15sIjze9GZ53TQDdIN8iG2_vVwxJRtqpQhZdC7OSMWLZ5mHvqM_Zwzv4g0VMxjN1meQscd4J0Y20/s640/IMG_20161106_084343.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
<br />
I'm not sure if you've read every single preceding blog post, so here's a quick catch-up for you regarding necessary information in understanding this blog post. Neighboring us in Suriname is an English speaking village and congregation named Apoera which I had <a href="http://nutso42.blogspot.com/2014/02/road-to-apoera.html" target="_blank">visited once before</a>, three years ago, by taking a 3-day long vacation, then visiting the Kingdom Hall there to deliver a public talk. At the time, this was a very rare thing.<br />
<br />
Since then we've gotten a congregation boat which allows us to <a href="http://nutso42.blogspot.com/2016/01/visitors-from-apoera.html" target="_blank">trade speakers</a> with some regularity. This last Sunday was my turn to finally visit again.<br />
<br />
Okay, I think you're all caught up.<br />
<br />
Every three months we trade a speaker, but since the boat holds six (and Apoera has almost the exact same model, so they also fit six) we take this opportunity to bring along other brothers and sisters who may not get an opportunity to visit other congregations very often. Keeps it fun, every trip is a different crew. Well, besides Geno. Geno is boat captain. So he always goes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFReRforOOfznObz8JRAh7Ix17mfmnawaD5j5c9O5snXcgjU2KFRsWEC1onf15Mc2qtvaK3Ihg8dNixY72KApYuk3Bx9CiMYrxQrs9WiENkAo_fNXy-AjSzoHN6ztqB7hSnJJJZZFTF9ox/s1600/20161106_060131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFReRforOOfznObz8JRAh7Ix17mfmnawaD5j5c9O5snXcgjU2KFRsWEC1onf15Mc2qtvaK3Ihg8dNixY72KApYuk3Bx9CiMYrxQrs9WiENkAo_fNXy-AjSzoHN6ztqB7hSnJJJZZFTF9ox/s640/20161106_060131.jpg" width="640" /></a> </td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mathaus, my front row partner for the trip.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkd2uXYuNwY_abcrZclvb51gbWDOEPiH1wmKodoi03tH7YYgvkJY80du6mQeSY3gwLGUMauZE7caoDOZbkv_51tszy4CkSKA_IVfv58lUH7N2Hf5ow14VIHpFqTczVNltKyovWSWE-lNx/s1600/20161106_060138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkd2uXYuNwY_abcrZclvb51gbWDOEPiH1wmKodoi03tH7YYgvkJY80du6mQeSY3gwLGUMauZE7caoDOZbkv_51tszy4CkSKA_IVfv58lUH7N2Hf5ow14VIHpFqTczVNltKyovWSWE-lNx/s640/20161106_060138.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R: Anita Sarius (Mathaus' aunt), Geno Chacon, David Herman (newly baptized brother from Assembly post), and Janet Hendricks (Mathaus' grandmother and my fellow Pioneer School classmate)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The trip is supposed to take about 1 1/2 hours down the river, but water was rather rough that morning, so it wound up taking closer to 2 1/2 hours to reach. Happily though, we'd left early enough that we still had plenty of time. Geno does not mess around. Meeting at 10 AM? Alright, we're leaving at 4:45 AM!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCsv-jMWF_NZbpN1W7cvK6-RGWOc8IKIEFZTGRUjXwoH7njpXWg5ZX3yECt8efj6IuZdENGX7LPXR7ysVf2JTl0kXvSlc7AZWHOWafmqtnZg6M4u24DGo_ekA8MgV4K2yPF4uSmDLxcRZ/s1600/IMG_20161106_051630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCsv-jMWF_NZbpN1W7cvK6-RGWOc8IKIEFZTGRUjXwoH7njpXWg5ZX3yECt8efj6IuZdENGX7LPXR7ysVf2JTl0kXvSlc7AZWHOWafmqtnZg6M4u24DGo_ekA8MgV4K2yPF4uSmDLxcRZ/s640/IMG_20161106_051630.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What, you thought I was joking?</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
Part of the reason for this is that Suriname is one hour ahead of us, so when we leave at 5 AM, travel for 2 1/2 hours, that means we've really arrived at 8:30 AM.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-1PYl5he2raJbHtMhCuE6EEE2aXqG7tyRmq1YJmBjegC_7oIu5K3E0UEOmam0v_mYPa08D6hUJb1eNqwqsMS552EZTGooFMB_xtlQFgzJr_wg_WyZUBs2qi5CahyphenhyphenZL-F2b-r5g7B8HtQ/s1600/IMG_20161106_073813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-1PYl5he2raJbHtMhCuE6EEE2aXqG7tyRmq1YJmBjegC_7oIu5K3E0UEOmam0v_mYPa08D6hUJb1eNqwqsMS552EZTGooFMB_xtlQFgzJr_wg_WyZUBs2qi5CahyphenhyphenZL-F2b-r5g7B8HtQ/s640/IMG_20161106_073813.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apoera's convenient dock.</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
Even then that leaves us an hour and a half, but the trip isn't quite finished. After the time spent in the boat on the river... still not quite to the final destination.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5U0n6U0Q4PzW6lh2FYILtS2DIpSa1ZPBSIRgf9iS3VWb9BNndnkSWjRAnjMDteMFP7wbdgzLskhel6LBaT2qKWDlX-9fhdXqtSBzQc1k6TEcM_IVhC5zoFVo3t4y0rPWy_ddzGS1QjIa2/s1600/IMG_20161106_074005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5U0n6U0Q4PzW6lh2FYILtS2DIpSa1ZPBSIRgf9iS3VWb9BNndnkSWjRAnjMDteMFP7wbdgzLskhel6LBaT2qKWDlX-9fhdXqtSBzQc1k6TEcM_IVhC5zoFVo3t4y0rPWy_ddzGS1QjIa2/s640/IMG_20161106_074005.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Um, Geno? I think you took us to the Ohio University campus."</td></tr>
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<br />
From here you must catch a car to then drive you to the Kingdom Hall. Fortunately, even though the village is large enough to have cars, it's still small enough that everyone knows where everything is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHk_c0uyVpQ4vctvlaTXAuI6JH_6qCxOcWAFow9ZkQrFMMEKHj-TVQ6paTnELH95gWxsfJ8uYXOtbY-IoHXeEDv2yss84WmBEOI3TampwrgwNgoIvvMj2qh-EYg6nEnfrCtpm-7TU0_vIt/s1600/IMG_20161106_074553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHk_c0uyVpQ4vctvlaTXAuI6JH_6qCxOcWAFow9ZkQrFMMEKHj-TVQ6paTnELH95gWxsfJ8uYXOtbY-IoHXeEDv2yss84WmBEOI3TampwrgwNgoIvvMj2qh-EYg6nEnfrCtpm-7TU0_vIt/s640/IMG_20161106_074553.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's a reason we only do this once every three months.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
So after <i>that</i>, we make it to the Kingdom Hall/missionary home, where they kindly let us shower, change, eat breakfast, etc and prepare for meeting. Yes, change there. No way you want to wear your meeting clothes during that trip.<br />
<br />
With more than an hour to spare, we have a leisurely time eating and gaffing with our host, and slowly people begin trickling in to meeting.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLXCz9NYE5fclVbQnubi2oNIgZ6xYJzJlelqXsXUUoP8eX2eYdhMTBiCx09z5fx-63IxVix8fkPrt1K5WRABfjYNNDGB5TetC3ir8xfJRaMbGjox8Rlf-40_97_ASCmoppwIPqTN9AC_2/s1600/IMG_20161106_084343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLXCz9NYE5fclVbQnubi2oNIgZ6xYJzJlelqXsXUUoP8eX2eYdhMTBiCx09z5fx-63IxVix8fkPrt1K5WRABfjYNNDGB5TetC3ir8xfJRaMbGjox8Rlf-40_97_ASCmoppwIPqTN9AC_2/s640/IMG_20161106_084343.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't think of a good caption. My sassiness has run out.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
Over time, this trickle becomes a deluge. If you read my entry on my first Apoera visit, you saw that at that meeting the attendance was around eighteen or so. This meeting, they hit 92!<br />
<br />
After meeting, we went to the home of a couple who was sent here after graduating the former version of SKE (Bible School for Christian Evangelizer Couple Ministerial Bible School School?) who lived, conveniently, next door. After about two hours of conversation, I realized the brother there owns a guitar <i>and</i> harmonica. Aaaaand all conversation from me ceased.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3a2m0xJZjflK9blUDGOQhN7vYBHTfscfOw8d-PzjVLZat9ZUBZkDQgixnIudm2lvrdvowMLnui2XtKDJkMXdG9rdwkM25Fdw5QVTep4WLlyaO6ZbRfdhGLw7v99JuUVsVL3jVIFuLTz19/s1600/IMG_20161106_114841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3a2m0xJZjflK9blUDGOQhN7vYBHTfscfOw8d-PzjVLZat9ZUBZkDQgixnIudm2lvrdvowMLnui2XtKDJkMXdG9rdwkM25Fdw5QVTep4WLlyaO6ZbRfdhGLw7v99JuUVsVL3jVIFuLTz19/s640/IMG_20161106_114841.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upbuilding, encouraging spiritual conversation.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvr3PbovU_adSD_EODsHRGH2FRC__3I5u81sqgfG5nljNrvOUByKLAslqMoIUYEDcwj7PR9L25sXFfeGpFWQSHyjLI6LP9fvEhCxReeI6aruB__AQNhD-CoWHQGDnK7SfBInNH6gU6oT4D/s1600/20161106_121428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvr3PbovU_adSD_EODsHRGH2FRC__3I5u81sqgfG5nljNrvOUByKLAslqMoIUYEDcwj7PR9L25sXFfeGpFWQSHyjLI6LP9fvEhCxReeI6aruB__AQNhD-CoWHQGDnK7SfBInNH6gU6oT4D/s640/20161106_121428.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"An effervescing elephant / With tiny eyes and great big trunk"<br />"Um, Josh, could you pipe down?"<br />"ONCE WHISPERED TO THE TINY EAR / THE EAR OF ONE..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
After several more hours of this, we determined it was time to go. Unfortunately, almost as soon as we decided this, rain hit, and hit <i>hard</i>. You may have noticed in the pictures that our boat doesn't have a cover on it, so we opted to wait it out. By time we finally got to Orealla, the sun was just about to set, but by golly we made it!<br />
<br />
So now in the next three months Lennox Johnston goes again, then McKenzie, which means I get to go again in... August. Phooey.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-60590767695165586912016-10-24T14:01:00.000-04:002016-10-24T14:01:19.142-04:00Moving Where the Need is Greater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKOJspDmEy_QZj6Ih9Rt3gXA2UMF9Vz_ph-WZbvP89cBBeOIgfNL_QjfZcOxSNC5XgVmrRVPsTmLrHL_mGPQcbJXT9wPYvtqKJVtCCGXyFS4vpj72-lLhswhIawqcItBbzrikwDth7DbU/s1600/Screenshot_2016-07-05-09-06-53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKOJspDmEy_QZj6Ih9Rt3gXA2UMF9Vz_ph-WZbvP89cBBeOIgfNL_QjfZcOxSNC5XgVmrRVPsTmLrHL_mGPQcbJXT9wPYvtqKJVtCCGXyFS4vpj72-lLhswhIawqcItBbzrikwDth7DbU/s640/Screenshot_2016-07-05-09-06-53.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
One frequent email you'll receive when writing a need greater blog is people seeking advice on how they can do the same thing. It also seems if you google, searching for blogs by need-greaters, nearly every single one has a page telling people how they can do it.<br />
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Honestly, that surprises me a little. Our publications are jam packed with suggestions that are way better than any of us could ever give you. Obviously I'm not here to supersede those publications or claim I can give suggestions more helpful that what's already been published. My blog is just to share experiences I have and have seen others enjoy. If you're interested in this lifestyle, here's where to look.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200275210" target="_blank">Publications Index</a>, link to every need-greater related article<br />
<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=where+need+great&p=par" target="_blank">Online Library</a>, results for search "Where Need Great"<br />
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By far though, the #1 question I get is about how you can support yourself as a need-greater. People seem to want specific advice on how to maintain employment, either online or via coming and going from native country to overseas assignment. To which I say, again, view these links.<br />
<br />
Experiences of need-greaters in <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302005009#h=86:0-86:553" target="_blank">Tahiti</a>, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014042#h=20:0-20:1076" target="_blank">Benin</a>, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014762#h=12:0-13:482" target="_blank">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302015017#h=17:0-17:817" target="_blank">Dominican Republic</a>, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2012761#h=16:0-19:452" target="_blank">Brazil</a>, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2013762#h=24:0-27:9" target="_blank">the Philippines</a>, and <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1200275210/38/6" target="_blank">Mexico</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
And if that isn't sufficient, read these.<br />
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<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=Matthew%206%3A32-33" target="_blank">Matthew 6:32-33</a><br />
<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=Psalm%2037%3A25" target="_blank">Psalm 37:25</a><br />
<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=Psalm%2094%3A14" target="_blank">Psalm 94:14</a><br />
<a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=Hebrews%2013%3A5" target="_blank">Hebrews 13:5b</a><br />
<br />
Consider too, <a href="http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=Romans%208%3A25" target="_blank">Romans 8:25</a>. Naturally this verse is usually applied to far distant promises, but it can just as well apply to the immediate future. Maybe you don't see where your next paycheck is coming from. Maybe you don't see where your next meal is coming from. But you know what? You don't need to worry. This verse is used in the Insight book under the heading "Hope". A few excerpts...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Hope is indispensable to the Christian. It accompanies joy, peace, and power of holy spirit ... It enables the Christian to endure with rejoicing, no matter what the conditions may be ... It is closely allied with the greatest quality, love, for one having the true love of God will also have hope in all of God's promises."</span><br />
<br />
Take a few minutes/hours/days and give these a read. Even if you don't plan on moving where the need is greater, you'll at least get better reading out of those articles than you could ever get from this blog.<br />
<br />
Of course, feel free to continue reading this too. But at the end of the day, all I can really offer you is a poll.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-46529340968339214672016-10-09T10:42:00.003-04:002016-10-10T11:20:23.795-04:00Nothing Stops the Assembly!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK5HLW3Z1zZZJGAvVy4R_UA2MNsUOL9YWByd6Jb7c0crZO-W-5IBfPLSMNoaAO5t5aTAFBcxyAjUVyv_IULphKgOopfkvxq20JsjaG8zNPNpfpruX_3WIdDun7BNCiPsLZjd_PXXoaAmJ0/s1600/IMG_4186.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK5HLW3Z1zZZJGAvVy4R_UA2MNsUOL9YWByd6Jb7c0crZO-W-5IBfPLSMNoaAO5t5aTAFBcxyAjUVyv_IULphKgOopfkvxq20JsjaG8zNPNpfpruX_3WIdDun7BNCiPsLZjd_PXXoaAmJ0/s640/IMG_4186.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
Assembly time. Never an easy prospect in Guyana, despite how excited we always get for it. Never has that been more readily apparent than this last assembly we had. Here's the story, beginning last Thursday...<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday-Saturday:</b> A group of four need-greaters from the Rosignol congregation were coming into Orealla for a visit. Their plan was come in Thursday, stay until Sunday, then travel back out and have a week to get everything ready for assembly that following weekend. But you know that expression "Best laid plans of mice and men".<br />
<br />
They arrive fine and have a wonderful weekend. They get to visit all the sights in Orealla, go in the field ministry, have meals with lots of the local families, not get eaten by piranha, etc. All was perfect.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday:</b> One of the brothers delivered an excellent part for us Sunday morning, after which we took lunch with Sis Hendricks and her family. Then off to pack to catch the evening boat out so we'd have a week to prepare for assembly.<br />
<br />
However, as we walk out of the house towards the docks, we see a local brother standing in the path with a worried look on his face. We ask what's wrong, and he says "Go take a look."<br />
<br />
We reached near the dock to find it <i>packed</i>. Absolutely packed, with no space to even get on the dock. Literally into the hundreds of people waiting there. See, that weekend was what is called "Heritage Day", wherein gobs of tourists travel into Amerindian regions to see and experience those lifestyles. And it so happened that this was the night all those tourists were traveling out. <i>Three boats</i> arrive, fill up, and depart, and there are <i>still </i>people waiting to go out. All the local Witness families and myself turn to the four visiting need-greaters and tell them it looks like they're stuck in Orealla. Happily though, one of the other men in the village tells us he'll be shipping lumber out tomorrow, and we can catch a ride on his boat. Huzzah!<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Monday:</b> We arrive at the docks with our luggage and hammocks in tow (<i>always</i> have a hammock when traveling in Guyana). A sinking feeling begins in the pit of my stomach as I see the boat. Packed so full with lumber there is no space to get inside. The captain sees us standing there with our hammocks ready and quickly shouts "No passengers!"<br />
<br />
At this point, we're beginning to get rather uncomfortable, as the visitors had brought enough money for the weekend, not for a prolonged stay in the village. Additionally, they had numerous responsibilities to take care of before the assembly began. On top of that, I had also run out of money (having only <i>exactly</i> enough to pay boat fare and get a bus to my bank to draw out more cash), which meant I was unable to call the brother whose home I would be staying in and tell him why I wasn't there.<br />
<br />
Happily though, one of the other men in the village tells us he'll be shipping lumber out tomorrow on a different boat, and we can catch a ride with that one. Huzzah!<br />
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<br />
<b>Tuesday: </b>6 AM I awake to the sound of someone calling. It's the boat captain from yesterday telling me the boat has been delayed. The people shipping out lumber need to get tags from the Guyana Forestry Commission before they can take logs out of the reservation. Happily though, I'm told it'll be done before the day is through, and we can leave Wednesday.<br />
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<br />
<b>Wednesday:</b> 6 AM I awake to sound of someone calling. It's the boat captain from yesterday telling me the boat has been delayed. The tags have arrived, but now they're having trouble with the tractor that pulls the lumber out of the jungle. Happily though, I'm told it should finish by tonight and we can leave Thursday morning.<br />
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<br />
<b>Thursday:</b> Do I really need to say it?<br />
<br />
Additionally, Thursday is the only day that there's a specific boat (Neil Boat) that always runs, so we're guaranteed to get out. However, those dreams are crushed when we're told Neil has canceled his regular Thursday run.<br />
<br />
Despondent and out of ideas, myself and one of the visitors go for a swim way out at Chalk Hill beach. As we're there swimming, we see afar off on the river a boat approaching. Neil Boat! We scream, jump out of the water and run back to the dock (about 30-45 minutes) and reach just after the boat does. Still dripping I run to the captain and ask "Going Skeldon tonight??" He replies "8:30 tonight."<br />
<br />
We continue our run back to the Kingdom Hall, where we have now had our bags packed and waiting since Sunday afternoon. After alerting the others, we grab the bags and sling our hammocks up on the boat to save our places. Then we stay seated on the boat, refusing to leave.<br />
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Quickly too, the entire congregation arrives. As they're putting up the hammocks, I ask why we heard Neil had canceled, only to see him arrive after all. The reply?<br />
<br />
"Neil says he canceled, but then heard the Jehovah's Witnesses needed to get to an assembly, so he came out to get us."<br />
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<br />
<b>Friday:</b> We land Skeldon about 5:30 AM, upon which myself and another brother named David Herman immediately grab our bags and head to the home of the brother who's taking us in. Fortunately the brother is already awake and lets us in his house, so we quickly unpack and begin the extensive task of ironing (those suits were packed up inside suitcases from Sunday evening to Friday morning. I'm <i>still</i> trying to get the wrinkles out). We do haircuts, shower, change, and then leave for New Amsterdam. I had to be there at 1:30 for pioneer seminar before assembly and David had shopping to do, as he was getting baptized the following day but didn't have the proper clothes for it (this is what we had originally planned to do from Sunday-Thursday, assuming we had made it out to the coast early). Plus the very very important trip to the bank.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, we were able to arrive early enough to not only visit bank and do the shopping, but even take a relaxing hour long lunch, after which I left for seminar while David went to visit a relative who lives nearby.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-JweyoeaYOYaXuqET8mrUuQSpr460yo3Jv4MNk5oUyJjByiuYNNOBCSUqFhpwfUfgfC1-kFYNE8y-F3f0QfCcmk8RYuPYxMD9V7OjsG5Q41v-GnFNtHnThOL7pv413MTayTzUMsy65ci/s1600/IMG_20150601_110618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-JweyoeaYOYaXuqET8mrUuQSpr460yo3Jv4MNk5oUyJjByiuYNNOBCSUqFhpwfUfgfC1-kFYNE8y-F3f0QfCcmk8RYuPYxMD9V7OjsG5Q41v-GnFNtHnThOL7pv413MTayTzUMsy65ci/s640/IMG_20150601_110618.jpg" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To put this all in perspective, we traveled from the red dot (Orealla) to New Amsterdam in the space of eight hours, by boat, by foot, by bus, and by car, a distance of about 140 miles.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Of course, the pioneer seminar was <i>amazing</i>. Not just because of the information shared there, but also because of <i>who</i> was there. You see, last year's seminar we had four pioneers from Orealla. This time, we had <i>nine</i>. That "Could You Try It For One Year?" part was quite effective.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday:</b> Morning of the assembly. I could use all this space to talk about the parts and the illustrations and everything, but eventually most of you will get these same talks (or already have), so instead I'm going to tell you about three different people there.<br />
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<i>David Herman</i> - As already mentioned, my travel partner for this trip was David, a 16 year old brother in Orealla. He had formerly had a reputation as being Orealla's bad boy, the one who would bully others and all manner of things. Eventually though his family suffered a tragedy, and it served as a wake-up call of sorts for him. Since then he's applied himself in the congregation, in personal study, and has (as of last month) started three Bible studies, one of which is with his former school teacher Percy, who had been impressed with the changes David had made, and wanted to know what the cause was.<br />
<br />
So finally at this assembly, he was able to get baptized, and then spent most of last night talking with me and our host about pioneer service and qualifying to serve as a ministerial servant. So looking good!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYT0tWzFhu1qapal0zqw5IHaa3XEkjukw8njgiJPvwhLrCAhRiepVTW7gQXhsFp5shmfpfv9GCJY-5KdnU84wxVCMQ4Ss4mlbFypKfY8zYX6lXDRpvqOoI89XkrJO584_QwjTmGYbcCohr/s1600/IMG_4184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYT0tWzFhu1qapal0zqw5IHaa3XEkjukw8njgiJPvwhLrCAhRiepVTW7gQXhsFp5shmfpfv9GCJY-5KdnU84wxVCMQ4Ss4mlbFypKfY8zYX6lXDRpvqOoI89XkrJO584_QwjTmGYbcCohr/s640/IMG_4184.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<i>Tiffany</i> - I don't know her last name. Apologies. Tiffany is a 12 year old girl who was born in Orealla. Her mother had started studying the Bible, but her teacher noticed Tiffany sitting in, so eventually offered her a study as well, which she accepted. Despite having been invited to meetings, Tiffany was never able to make it as her mother was still attending a church.<br />
<br />
Here's where we reach an interesting problem. Orealla has no high school, since the government deemed the population as being too small and wouldn't fund a high school, so when students reach a certain age they take a test, and based off their scores, they get sent out to the coastal area to attend high school. In general, the better your scores, the further from Orealla you get sent. A regrettable situation, but all the Witness children will actually request to be sent to the Skeldon schools, as those are the closest ones to Orealla, and in turn, to their families.<br />
<br />
Tiffany and her parents are not Witnesses, so she got sent very far away.<br />
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Which is why I was struck with shock when, after the assembly, I'm standing by the cleaning desk asking about something, and I turn to my right and see Tiffany there bringing back a mop and bucket.<br />
<br />
"Tiffany?" I ask. Before she can reply, one of the sisters I went to pioneer school with runs up, grabs her, and jokingly says "No! She's my student now! You can't have her back!"<br />
<br />
It turns out Tiffany was sent to a school that's right nearby the New Amsterdam Kingdom Hall. This sister immediately latched on to her, began studying, and now that her mother isn't around, Tiffany has begun attending the meetings. And was at the assembly, helping clean up afterwards!<br />
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<i>Tenisha</i> - Brighton congregation seems to get all the best Bible students. Enter Tenisha. When she was first contacted by Jehovah's Witnesses, she said before she studied the Bible, she wanted to have it be proven that the Bible was true. Her request was to study the most difficult and complicated piece of the Bible, reasoning that if the hardest part of it could have been proven right, it would have to be from God.<br />
<br />
So, they studied the Daniel's prophecy book.<br />
<br />
I got to sit in on her study on a few occasions. The first time, the study began with "So when we left off on our last study, you were asking how it is that in Daniel 8:25 Jehovah, the Most High, could be called a Prince..."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgrz9y3Lt8xGoi2oQTpMnIw_rve0CgcuDcacwjzJJxOBC5GDom5Cp5TMVdl9U2NjD3Q_rKicdlSQeMaq7N3hqc4mwuTBhLr04Kg8BomZ8RTlc14mBAlFFQ-jMZy_-G5HwHymeuhORQziq/s1600/Scared-Face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgrz9y3Lt8xGoi2oQTpMnIw_rve0CgcuDcacwjzJJxOBC5GDom5Cp5TMVdl9U2NjD3Q_rKicdlSQeMaq7N3hqc4mwuTBhLr04Kg8BomZ8RTlc14mBAlFFQ-jMZy_-G5HwHymeuhORQziq/s400/Scared-Face.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, while sitting in on the study, uselessly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After going through the entire book and becoming thoroughly convinced of the Bible's authenticity, they began a study in the Bible Teach book. And from there, Tenisha showed no signs of slowing down, despite facing increasing persecution from her family along the way, even after receiving threats of being kicked out of the house. I'm told from just the fourth study, she had already set regular pioneering as a future goal.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAb9lCG7m3QiU_4oIBeRdybTOmveiCbg6ETHqXKpFhRigL-blQzvFvNhdWYH_CIhpA9TD37U1r8AVzPYy6Xqy_5qaGjEoCoL5AZDmhW215J-UvPTZUOzDmpKHUIq6DSibKGpchLkH4zuO7/s1600/IMG_20161009_083558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAb9lCG7m3QiU_4oIBeRdybTOmveiCbg6ETHqXKpFhRigL-blQzvFvNhdWYH_CIhpA9TD37U1r8AVzPYy6Xqy_5qaGjEoCoL5AZDmhW215J-UvPTZUOzDmpKHUIq6DSibKGpchLkH4zuO7/s640/IMG_20161009_083558.jpg" width="636" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tenisha with her Bible teacher, just before becoming an unbaptized publisher.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_hrruNg9C_L8C66lcKqYj1ncYE4fBrBpD2kHmz8foZl0IMRUY3-tMeT5JPH6Mhm3MPHzSQN4kiDWEL3rBgy51J_60OZb9QwSilN8o81v-rBUQsh0-woJZZGqxoxAb113V96ePyrFr1L0/s1600/IMG_20161009_083622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_hrruNg9C_L8C66lcKqYj1ncYE4fBrBpD2kHmz8foZl0IMRUY3-tMeT5JPH6Mhm3MPHzSQN4kiDWEL3rBgy51J_60OZb9QwSilN8o81v-rBUQsh0-woJZZGqxoxAb113V96ePyrFr1L0/s640/IMG_20161009_083622.jpg" width="598" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and tackling her first set of householders in the ministry!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Until finally, at this last assembly, she too got baptized along with David and six others. Man, the next two pioneer schools are going to be great!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVjy5n4fzgkexRns6bdApbBLlJMZ61uWNutAUx78gBeSl4W86FRVTlzu9ojj_Pv1py6x_qNz_O0OV3xShmLt0-x3t-ZgXJvYXSEEgqWaeAqOWJzNB_G1Am6uF5baLVGY26YoiHY7ElUQ4/s1600/IMG_20161008_191320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVjy5n4fzgkexRns6bdApbBLlJMZ61uWNutAUx78gBeSl4W86FRVTlzu9ojj_Pv1py6x_qNz_O0OV3xShmLt0-x3t-ZgXJvYXSEEgqWaeAqOWJzNB_G1Am6uF5baLVGY26YoiHY7ElUQ4/s640/IMG_20161008_191320.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David on left, Tenisha in the middle with blue cap, and six others whom I do not know but are probably every bit as awesome.</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
The moral of the story: sometimes getting to the assembly is tough. Sometimes, as one of the speakers said, we must make literal sacrifices. But go anyway. It's worth it.Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001424047616435523.post-90905204339533202602016-09-24T19:03:00.000-04:002016-09-24T19:03:19.313-04:00Pain and Gain<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bdkV7lTSFfxm7AFOMxnss4hMqauFUuHyIHIejMLooko8Z2HYBugESeycBGf2m9ntLjDq0ohXSPwQ_ygZIqYyptJUwz_6Hc3kO7IZU-m60S8o3L306iST0MkmVXkXatCLEDi8k7lJMKPm/s1600/IMG_20160918_152806.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bdkV7lTSFfxm7AFOMxnss4hMqauFUuHyIHIejMLooko8Z2HYBugESeycBGf2m9ntLjDq0ohXSPwQ_ygZIqYyptJUwz_6Hc3kO7IZU-m60S8o3L306iST0MkmVXkXatCLEDi8k7lJMKPm/s640/IMG_20160918_152806.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<br />
You know how oftentimes something bad will happen to you, but in the end it turns out to have been for the best?<br />
<br />
Yeah, so that happened. We had been having a wonderful day in Siparuta, finding our studies and sharing the Comfort Awake! magazine with everyone. After the long day we finally reached back to Orealla, and I was greatly looking forward to being able to sit and relax at home, but I remembered I had a Bible study scheduled. And it was uphill, about a half hour walk away from where I was. So I decide to be faithful and begun the long trudge up.<br />
<br />
I reach my call, and he isn't home. Pout. But then I recall I had another call nearby whom I hadn't gotten home in a long time, so I go to visit him on a whim. And he's home! So we sit and have a lovely discussion, and I feel my walk was worth it.<br />
<br />
Here's where the story takes a turn.<br />
<br />
See, I really enjoy walking barefoot, and will often take off my shoes when walking home from service.<br />
<br />
I also don't usually pay close attention to where I'm walking.<br />
<br />
And Orealla has lots of tiny little stumps barely sticking up out of the sand.<br />
<br />
As I walk along, wrapped in my own thoughts, a sudden painful cracking sensation wracks my foot. Specifically, the long toe next to the big one.<br />
<br />
Of course, I'm still faced with a 30+ minute walk home, so I hobble along best I can. It's a more throbbing sensation than pain, so I figure no big deal at first. The next morning, however...<br />
<br />
I awake from sleep to the horrifying revelation that my long toe has swollen to the same size as the big toe. I step out of bed and experience an immense amount of pain as the foot hits the floor. Now I begin to suspect more than a simple bruise or stubbed toe.<br />
<br />
Naturally I hobble along to the Health Centre (Orealla's version of a hospital. And yes, they use the British spelling) where they examine it and say "It's probably broken. Come back in a few days if it still hurts."<br />
<br />
The plus side of Guyana: at the hospitals, at least you don't have to wait in line to be woefully disappointed. In America, you have to wait at least an hour and a half before the hospital can disappoint you.<br />
<br />
As I hobble and wince home, a neighbor notices my stance and asks about it. I give him the full story (along with some choice words about the quality of health care pretty much everywhere) and he says "Go ahead and wait at home. I'll bring something for you."<br />
<br />
In a few minutes he comes by with a lemon, a knife, and gauze. I'll be honest, it's a rather terrifying sight. What he says they'll do is cut the lemon in half and cook it, then put the halves on top and on bottom of your foot, wrap them in gauze to stay, and it'll remove all the pain.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVch2R4SDBv57yQS-ng0AhciLBGRMTgFLNIDYFdgiruxg2NsGaAhQMWfJmCwHDnosfhFkvGcIlkWblaMm5kS-qIL8LU6PIgWKILhR2JX33UpRY15XQTgHq5aui49tcsN9QPu_Dct5m7Kng/s1600/IMG_20160915_114407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVch2R4SDBv57yQS-ng0AhciLBGRMTgFLNIDYFdgiruxg2NsGaAhQMWfJmCwHDnosfhFkvGcIlkWblaMm5kS-qIL8LU6PIgWKILhR2JX33UpRY15XQTgHq5aui49tcsN9QPu_Dct5m7Kng/s640/IMG_20160915_114407.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My foot went on to have a successful career in bank robberies.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
IT WORKS. Pain was gone. Eventually I took it off since I was going to take a shower. By time I got out the pain was so much that if someone had offered to sever my toe I'd happily accept. But I get back upstairs and re-wrap the foot, and I felt fine.<br />
<br />
Here's the only problem. I was scheduled to give the public talk on Sunday, and we didn't have time to reschedule or anything, so I asked what to do, since the one thing everyone said to <i>not</i> do is wear shoes. So the elders say "Give the talk barefoot." So ... I did.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLjryzGaXhwZTK_wXgmMF4umqpD_x0pDYu-LYt64D2_KfKnr4X4t9eAIX3O-4CBGF6JE2U3jkkIF1uKRY0ennUUvYA8To8Ers1QONrFZO5BaW9HJ8Nc-TXzFly4LRSXRjdNo0ulqqxl_z/s1600/IMG_20160918_152727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLjryzGaXhwZTK_wXgmMF4umqpD_x0pDYu-LYt64D2_KfKnr4X4t9eAIX3O-4CBGF6JE2U3jkkIF1uKRY0ennUUvYA8To8Ers1QONrFZO5BaW9HJ8Nc-TXzFly4LRSXRjdNo0ulqqxl_z/s640/IMG_20160918_152727.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue shirt, orange tie, green suit? Perfectly acceptable.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Let's take a closer look there...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsALoCvsRUc_90Q-YTJNA1EAmFmj1vScY7urIuWBxbeX54yMBYhMsDY3H6_pjUT1SDvqqrpxkmg9g1ALyVya82gypkfWdEPgeRgFLaqs8LHFJdAfDe10XtLJcFRRZDGNGS6lCAhNKR6k8U/s1600/IMG_20160918_152727+%2528copy%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="585" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsALoCvsRUc_90Q-YTJNA1EAmFmj1vScY7urIuWBxbeX54yMBYhMsDY3H6_pjUT1SDvqqrpxkmg9g1ALyVya82gypkfWdEPgeRgFLaqs8LHFJdAfDe10XtLJcFRRZDGNGS6lCAhNKR6k8U/s640/IMG_20160918_152727+%2528copy%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All brothers: Eat your hearts out</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I must say though, the outpouring of support was <i>ridiculous</i>. Every meal I had at <i>least</i> two families providing my food. I assumed all I would accomplish for a week or two was reading books while lying in a hammock. Before I could easily walk again, I had covered just two pages because I was getting so many visitors.<br />
<br />
<br />
As soon as I was able to walk again I got a call from a brother in Skeldon. A need-greater named Ken was wanting a good place to fish, so every single person told him Orealla. They asked if this brother could stay with me, so I say sure. His first day out, this happens.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOrJHpC8TXUAssVwpNDn8fJgZE7w39DhHwwCirbqII1d9pLUZjLOnb4rN4t4mc0tS8PrN1rnKNwnjBITDosFGHNJOnjzTVgEUBTF5rNw8rA1ltvgS1C-kdPztZP96Zz0AL-B8m5H_eQuU/s1600/IMG_20160922_175132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOrJHpC8TXUAssVwpNDn8fJgZE7w39DhHwwCirbqII1d9pLUZjLOnb4rN4t4mc0tS8PrN1rnKNwnjBITDosFGHNJOnjzTVgEUBTF5rNw8rA1ltvgS1C-kdPztZP96Zz0AL-B8m5H_eQuU/s640/IMG_20160922_175132.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that proud fatherly stare.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In case you're not up on South American breeds of fish, this is what is known as a "Pi-ry" by the locals. To most others, it is called Piranha. It is also worth noting that nearly everyone who saw this claimed it is the largest one they've ever seen. So kudos to Ken for getting it out of our river!<br />
<br />
Breakfast the next morning was delicious.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d0ptIrd59R3k0FdidQvJ6LuYtDORXThy8gY9nIGNkuFINrx1fV59_3VzVl1Co9aEV4On6FqWNz2l9gORU8FOG4gTCYNQ5pwyLiqCNklcoh2ZTwXgkzJBXmbGHraLb_99v3lIAovVHv1u/s1600/IMG_20160922_182426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d0ptIrd59R3k0FdidQvJ6LuYtDORXThy8gY9nIGNkuFINrx1fV59_3VzVl1Co9aEV4On6FqWNz2l9gORU8FOG4gTCYNQ5pwyLiqCNklcoh2ZTwXgkzJBXmbGHraLb_99v3lIAovVHv1u/s640/IMG_20160922_182426.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Alas poor Yorick. I knew him Horatio."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Before I finish, some have asked why I haven't yet shared anything from my recent Pioneer School class. My main reason for this is that as far as material, the point of Pioneer School is that you hear the material when you go. Nearly everything else I would have to share from it would be various inside jokes that would take an unnecessary amount of time to explain. Perhaps eventually I could piece together some amusing anecdotes. But for now, allow me to at least share the class photo.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBs9oBOGmiiwIsCrB-SET0cyUspRaXmkjbxJ30lXi39QQL_IkMdruFn_jk7bVpzB-CiD1UHZ3lp0YDaTuGFcmG8HlVXqHJmXOcfrXg_GWNEcvWSj-Q96WLPAFTPPUTjg3K_UZ7ybXa-9Gn/s1600/2016+Pioneer+School.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBs9oBOGmiiwIsCrB-SET0cyUspRaXmkjbxJ30lXi39QQL_IkMdruFn_jk7bVpzB-CiD1UHZ3lp0YDaTuGFcmG8HlVXqHJmXOcfrXg_GWNEcvWSj-Q96WLPAFTPPUTjg3K_UZ7ybXa-9Gn/s1600/2016+Pioneer+School.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm the one that's white.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Josh Westfallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05009675448326756920noreply@blogger.com1