Memorial Campaign

With the Memorial Campaign in full swing, I thought it only fitting to update everyone on how our territory has been going down here and relate a few outstanding experiences worth sharing. So, here it goes.

One of the experiences that stands out the most in my mind occurred, ironically enough, when we were taking a rest in the shade of a tree in Bugaba. Like most hot, sticky days in Bugaba we were feeling a little drained from the heat and paused under a tree to wait for the rest of our group. While doing so, a truck pulled up with a Spanish looking man at the wheel and parked directly in front of where we were standing. With his window rolled down, he immediately said, “Hello. I would like a Bible study in English.” Uhhh…what do we do now? None of us knew quite how to react. You don’t get that response everyday; not even in Panama. He must have seen our reaction because he then began to explain that his mother and sister were witnesses in a local Spanish congregation, but that he wanted his own study in English since he was an English Professor in David. This explanation seemed to break our trance and we all jumped into the conversation with more questions about his work and where he had learned such perfect English (since his accent was only very slight.) After a few minutes of talking, he had to get home but left us with his address (or a rough description of where his house was) and his phone number, requesting that he study on Wednesday mornings when he was off work. If only all our mornings were like that!

 

The next experience also involves another older guy (why do I keep finding those?)and is actually more of an overall type experience…if that makes any sense. I turned over Eric, who was the first interested person I ever contacted in Bugaba, to Cliff, who then proceeded to turn him over to anther elder, Caleb. You still with me? Anyway, since the shift, Eric has settled in with Caleb nicely and has been studying every week on a regular basis. And this involves more than just being there for Caleb at the appropriate time. I guess Eric lives quite a ways out of town and makes a special trip to Bugaba every Sunday for the study, making sure that he is always there on time. Great, huh? And every time I am going past his shop (he repairs TV’s) he waves me down to say hello with a big smile. Another little side experience Cliff related to me was that on one of the beginning studies, Eric had asked Cliff to pray for his family and his business. Cliff, reasoning that it was appropriate to pray that he was able to provide for his family, conceded and included this request in his prayer. A couple weeks following this incident, they were sitting in his tiny shop, cramped into a corner due to limited space. It suddenly seemed funny to Cliff to comment that Jah must have blessed his prayer because Eric was now overwhelmed with broken TV’s. Not sure to what extent the prayer actually came true, but still a funny story.

One recent discovery was made when we were doing the English search work out in Paso Ancho, a small community a little outside of Volcan, where I came across an older woman who said that her granddaughter spoke English. After a couple attempts at catching her granddaughter home, I recently went by on a Sunday and the abuela told us to wait while she called her granddaughter, Karen, right there on the spot. As it turned out, Karen lived a few minutes up the road and, when receiving the call from her grandmother, hopped on the bus with her mom to meet us. Finally, after weeks of trying to catch her, I finally met Karen who is in her early 20’s and going to “university” for banking in David. Her English seemed pretty limited, but we chit-chatted for a few minutes until I brought out the Truth Tract for her opinion on what question appealed to her the most. Side note: the Truth Tract is invaluable here and we use it for almost every initial call, helping us to not only discern their level of interest but also their level of English. Back to the experience. :)

Karen immediately chose the question about ‘What happens to us when we die?’ and went right into the question after she had retrieved her own Spanish Bible. Come to find out, Karen’s uncle had died recently and she was very touched by the information that she had read in answer to her question about the dead. At one point Karen grew rather emotional and had to excuse herself for a few minutes to gain control over her tears. But once she returned I gave her a big hug and tried to reassure her that she would indeed see her uncle again and that it’s ok to express emotion like that. Both she and her mom, who had sat in on the study, seemed to understand and we made plans for the following Sunday to cover the question regarding a hope for the dead. I’ll keep everyone updated on how it goes. :)

One more; just this week I was taking my usual bus ride up to Volcan and decided to take advantage of the thirty minute ride to do my Bible reading. While reading I suddenly hear the person  next to me say, “You’re reading in English!” and look over to see an older gringo man sitting next to me. He had noticed that, for one, I was white and American looking and also that I happened to be reading the Bible in English. From that small icebreaker, we chatted for a while, swapping the typical where-are-you-from and how-long-have-you-been-here type questions. From this line of conversation I found out that low and behold he had lived in Oakland, OR right before making the move down in 2006. Small world, huh? And in return I explained that I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and that my main purpose in being here was to help people benefit from the Bible, focusing on people such as himself, who speak English. I also pulled out one of the invites for the memorial and offered him a copy, at which he expressed that he hadn’t received one yet. He was very friendly and, once comfortable enough, revealed that he didn’t really affiliate himself with any church because of the hypocrisy that so many display today. In response I opened up to 1 John 5:19 (since I conveniently had my Bible handy :) and explained that the worsening conditions (including all of the hypocrisy) was not God’s doing, but rather it was the reflection of its ruler, Satan. He seemed to understand, but before we could go any further we arrived at our destination of Volcan and both had to part ways. Thankfully I got his name and a description of where he lives (it’s a little awkward asking for a phone number from a man…even if he is older) so I hope to follow it up with another brother. The whole time I couldn’t help but visualize the recent picture in the study Watchtower of the couple witnessing on the bus, thinking: “that’s me!”            

  

Shifting gears here (and on a much more, well, personal level) I thought I’d just share that I now officially know to what extent it meant to wash another person’s feet in Bible times. These past months my feet have seen the dirtiest, the dustiest, the muddiest roads and, from this exposure, gotten the dirtiest, the dustiest, and the muddiest that I’ve ever seen. No wonder it was such a lowly thing for Jesus to wash the disciples feet; they probably looked like mine: disgusting. Thought you’d all like to know that. Oh, and to see it (as pictured here.) Enjoy that one. :)