SAN FRANCISCO GROUP

I have exciting news!  The rural group we have been trying to start for a long time is now going strong with their very own Kingdom Hall!  A few weeks ago, I blogged about the construction they were frantically doing to get ready for their Memorial.  Well, now I have some shots of the finished product.  It's very simple, but very beautiful.

It's not an official group yet, but has 23 publishers including 3 ministerial servants, 4 pioneers, and for now, the elders are taking turns attending to the needs of the group.  The brothers there have told me that they usually have close to double the publishers in attendance!  We're hoping that during our next circuit overseer's visit, they'll be named as an official group.  They now have all of their meetings separate from us, although we'll continue to all share the same territory.

If you are looking for a place to serve where the need for Kingdom publishers is greater, do you think this could be the place for you?  If so, feel free to send a private note using the new "contact me" box to the right of this blog post. 

NINDIRI NEWS

We finally had our District Convention.  I think we're the last ones scheduled in the whole world.  We had a peak attendance of over 2,000 and about 50 baptized. I'll admit I was really nervous about the convention because it's a new district for me, and I wasn't sure what to expect since this district doesn't have as many foreigners as my last one.  It was interesting.  I felt a little bit like a museum piece....lots of looking but no touching or talking....and even ended up in some random pictures of sisters who wanted to pose with me...not sure their names, though, hmmmm.

Something kind of nice happened, though.  Do you guys remember Melvin who got baptized in July?  Well, he was on the congregation bus with his Bible student, Bruno, and they offered to help me with my bags.  So I go and find a seat front and center, and they plop down on either side of me.  I was truly grateful to have someone to sit with and told them so later.  They said it just made sense because they came alone too.  Then it hit me...they're the only ones in their families serving Jehovah and probably felt as awkward at the convention as me.  I think Jehovah was trying to show me I wasn't as alone in my feelings as I thought I was.

And good news!  We have 3 new members in the Nindirí congregation.  Here they are:

Public declaration of their dedication!  Mitchell (far left) and Kenia (middle) are both the same age--12--just obviously not maturing at the same rate :/

Mitchell with his proud Mommy

Jonathan with his proud Mommy.  Jonathan's dad has been disfellowshipped the past few years, and they've really had a hard time of it as a family.  So nice to see him overcome those obstacles to make such an important decision :)

Kenia with her teacher, Selene.  She has an aunt/uncle who are witnesses but no one else in her household. And yes, that dripping water had turned to tears by the time I took this shot, poor thing

Also, we got some exciting news.  We're going to start having meetings in San Francisco, part of our rural territory.  Apparently, we want to see level of interest in the community to see if a group is possible.  Next week, we'll all be together Thursday nights but separate (town vs rural) on the weekends.  We have a HUGE rural territory, so it would be great to see them support a congregation a little closer to them.