SAFEGUARD YOUR MIND

I just got back from my circuit assembly, and it was fabulous as always.  I'd actually already been to it in English here, but wanted to hear it in Spanish too.  We went to Ticuantepe to our Assembly Hall there like always.  I wanted to share some of my favorite points, but if you haven't had your assembly yet, and don't want to ruin it, don't keep reading.

*SPOILER ALERT*

One of my favorite points was brought out at the Pioneer Meeting the Friday before the assembly.  They read to us Heb 6:10 pointing out that Jehovah never forgets our service and love for Him.  Sometimes we feel that our service could never be enough in comparison with everything Jehovah's done for us; and it's not!  But that doesn't mean he looks down on our service.  They used the illustration of a child giving a gift to her mother.  When Mom opens the box and sees a Cheerios necklace, she's probably not turning cartwheels.  But when she reads the note how her daughter spent all her savings for the materials and made it to show how much she loves her Mom....well, not Mom sees the necklace in a whole new light.  Jehovah understands our motives and circumstances, and that's how he can add value to our service to Him.  Beautiful, right?

I've also been struggling here to find a good illustration to use about why we shouldn't be afraid to dedicate our lives to Jehovah.  In the US, I always used the illustration about getting your license at age 16--we might be afraid of accidents or traffic, but that doesn't stop us from taking the plunge.  Well, that illustration doesn't work here because very few people have autos.  So at the assembly, I finally heard my Nica illustration for this.  They said it would be like a child explaining to his mother that he knows school is good for him and the teachers are nice and all, but he doesn't want to go because he's afraid of not passing at the end of the year.  Mom would NEVER accept that excuse.  So why would we expect Jehovah to?

The last point was another great Nica illustration.  Here, it's common for street vendors to walk around with heavy baskets or canastas on their head.  Sometimes, the canasta weighs as much as the person and they have to ask for help to lift it on their head, but they're walking around hands-free!  How do they keep things balanced?  They roll up a little towel and set it on top of their head with the canasta on top of that.  The Bible is our towel helping us balance the heavy load of life.  

I can't wait to use these new illustrations in service!

SAFEGUARD YOUR MIND

At the last minute I found out that English was having their circuit assembly this past weekend, so Shelina and I arranged everything quickly and hopped on the Granada bus to go.  I'm soooo happy we did!  I haven't attended an English assembly here since the post you saw from October 2011 during their district convention.  It was so good in so many ways.  Not only is it seeing Jehovah's beautiful international brotherhood in action, but you're hearing talks from the best speakers in the country.  They had a peak attendance Saturday morning of 348 and 2 baptized. 

I met Australians, Romanians, Welsh, English, French, Italians, and Canadians.  I even met some fellow Missourians :)  On top of that, all of our Nicaraguan brothers from Pearl Lagoon, Bluefields, and Corn Islands were there.  The eastern coast of Nicaragua shows, like many other Caribbean countries, a history of the slave trade.  Everyone there is black, and they speak Creole English.  It was really beautiful to listen to their parts and experiences but hard to keep up; they're fast talkers and have a Jamaican-like accent!  The experiences after lunch on Saturday belonged to Pearl Lagoon sisters.  Three of them discussed sacrifices they made to pioneer last April during the 30 hour reduction.  One sister recounted how she woke up at 5am to work a few hours and cook breakfast and lunch before she readied the kids for school and got them going....all of this before preaching at 8:30!  It featured a single Mom, a widow, and a sister with an unbelieving mate.  I can only imagine their hard work to pioneer that month, but you could tell they were so proud of themselves and grateful for the reduced hour requirement that gave them the opportunity to experience pioneering.

I also got to meet the new C.O. and D.O. for English.  Wow, these brothers are amazing.  Not only are they FABULOUS speakers but from the moment you greet them, you feel you're friends.  And talk about hard workers...the C.O.'s territory is all of Nicaragua.  Just to give you an idea, just to go from Granada to Pearl Lagoon is about a 13 hour journey.  And the D.O.!  Their territory is every English congregation in Mexico and Central America.  Can you imagine?!  We really need to keep these self-sacrificing brothers in our prayers.

Let me share with you a beautiful experience a new friend Heather who's serving as a special pioneer in Pearl Lagoon told me.  Her husband George studies with a local man in Pearl Lagoon.  This student had a desire to go to the circuit assembly but no money.  So what did he do?  He peeled and grated 200 coconuts then pressed them for the oil to sell locally.  Those 200 coconuts only made 2 gallons of oil but with the money from those sales, he was able to attend.  How beautiful to see how this student saw the need and value of our Christian meetings :)

And here's my favorite illustration from the assembly....it has to do with the emperor penguin.  You know, the one from that movie "March of the Penguins."  If you'll remember, it's the male who protects the egg with his fatty paunch during the coldest season on the coldest country on earth.  Temperatures can drop to -98F.  How do they survive?  By grouping themselves in a turtle formation.  They constantly alternate their circle to where any one penguin is never either freezing on the outside or toasty on the inside too long.  The speaker pointed out that if a penguin were to separate himself, his death is guaranteed--not just his but that of his little chick too.  Our congregations are our penguin turtle formation.  Sticking close to the congregation is the ONLY way we can survive the hostile climate of Satan's world.  And isolating ourselves is certain death not just for us but for our precious babies too.

Our two new sisters Talia (Nica) & Libby (Canadian) making their vows to Jehovah

Old and new friends:  Sis.Schleppert (c.o. wife), Sis.Tovar (d.o. wife), Krystina, me, and Jadwiga