God's Word Exerts Power

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, we just had our Special Assembly Day on Saturday. What a wonderful program. The day flew by and left me with a lot to think about and work on.

We had an attendance of around 1500 which is half of our circuit. 17 were baptized, a lot of them young ones. Since we live in town now I got the congregation bus to the assembly, and Charley went on the motorbike! It was fun to get to be on the bus although I had to stand up on the way there since I was the last one to get on! It was pretty full so I was up front by the driver. But it's only about half an hour so it wasn't bad, just got a bit hot up there!

The talks were all really good. Our friend Caleb did a great job with the baptism talk. The interviews were great, one of them made me cry. Sister Reyes Vivas is in one of the congregations we share our hall with, and she's the sweetest thing. She's been baptized 44 years and she talked about the challenges she's had with her health. About 3 or 4 years ago the doctor told her she would die if she didn't have a blood transfusion. She refused of course, and since there was an assembly coming up she begged Jehovah to allow her to attend one last assembly before she died. And she made it to that assembly, and obviously she's still alive! It was just so moving because she's such a humble sister, and she has such a deep appreciation for the meetings and assemblies.

The part about young ones was also lovely. Three young ones were interviewed, and the one that stood out the most was the 24 year old Brother Vasquez. When asked what privileges he enjoys I was expecting him to say regular pioneer and ministerial servant. Well, he is a regular pioneer, but he's not a servant, he's an elder!!! He serves as secretary and school overseer and has been pioneering for 6 years. What a lovely example of what our young ones are capable of with Jehovah's help and what a blessing they are to the congregations here.

We also had the privilege of having a visiting speaker from the Central America branch in Mexico. He was one of those speakers that you forget to take notes because you're so busy just enjoying what he's saying! He gave two wonderful talks reminding us of the importance of meditating on what we read in the Bible. It's a two-edged sword but it can't cut through stone or metal, so we have to have the right heart condition for it to penetrate. He also encouraged us to support the young ones in our congregation, since Satan is busy trying to draw them away from the organization. I talked to him for a little bit and he's been in Bethel for 13 years and works in the Construction & Design department. It was his first time in Nicaragua and he seemed to be enjoying the weekend.

I also met a couple this weekend who have been serving down here for quite a while, but just recently moved into our circuit. She's from England originally and small world as it is, turns out my mam's special pioneer partner from back in the late 60's is in the same congregation as this sister's parents, in Spain! Funny how you find something in common so often in Jehovah's organization. We are such a united brotherhood.

We have quite a group of experienced brothers in our circuit now. I got to stand and listen to a missionary couple who were visiting the assembly, a missionary couple who are in our circuit now, and another couple who are here on their own, but used to be missionaries in Honduras. What a privilege to just stand and admire such pillars and learn from them. One of them was interviewed in the part about youths. How she used her youth to serve Jehovah and has no regrets. Actually, her story came out in the April 22nd 1985 Awake. It's entitled Achieving My Childhood Goal. You should read it. Made me cry!

I was also really excited to have studies at the assembly. Alejandra, she's 9 and has been studying for about a month, was there and her dad came too! First time for both of them at an assembly. I haven't had chance to talk to him yet about it, but maybe he'll be the next new study to be started!

Anahis was also there with her family. She was raised in the truth but never did anything about it. She seems to be really starting to enjoy her study and has been at more meetings lately too. She told me when we had her study last week that she had never really taken it seriously before, and that she'd never got into the deeper things like the subjects in the Appendix of the Bible Teach book that we've been studying. She has some great questions, really thinks things through, so we'll see what happens there!

And Cynthia came, and brought her two kids. She's just on fire!! She came with her young cousin who is also studying, and they got there themselves on the bus and arrived earlier than our congregation bus did! In her study last week I had been helping her see how to isolate the key phrase in a scripture that relates to the point being made in the paragraph. That seemed like a new idea to her. Funny thing is, the CO talked exactly about that in his talk about using the Bible in the ministry. We both thought of each other during that talk! 

And when we were chatting at lunch time a friend came by who just got appointed a regular pioneer this week and is on such a high!! She's a young one I had the privilege of studying with in our previous congregation. She had already baptized about 6 years, but had never studied the second book and had never really set firm roots down, always up and down spiritually. She's doing so well now though, so happy to have reached her goal of regular pioneering. When I told Cynthia why this friend was so excited, Cynthia sighed and said "I have a such a long way to go to reach my purpose". When I asked her what purpose she was referring to, she said, "To preach. To have more knowledge and share it with others". Makes you dance inside when a bible student says something like that doesn't it?!?! She really seems determined to progress and she's on the right track!

Charley and I have both been a bit sick this week. Well, him first, and now me. Charley had some stomach issues but he seems fine today, and I've had a sore throat since Saturday night. I didn't go out yesterday in an attempt to kill off whatever this is, and today we're home all day too. I have a scratchy throat still, but I think maybe I'll manage to stop it becoming a full blown cold, I hope! Lots of water and rest in between the housework and laundry!

And exciting news, Charley just went to the supermarket to pick up a few things and he found a toaster!!!! YAY!!!!! They sell almost all appliances at that store, except toasters! But it was worth the wait, he found one today! I was just saying this morning that I was really missing toast, and voila! Hahaha!!! It's the little things in life...

So, that's the main news. We had a busy week of helping clean at the assembly hall. They have a new arrangement where each congregation in the area is assigned a day to go help clean the place. Our day fell on the same week as the assembly! So we were there most of Thursday cleaning, and then again Friday morning doing pre-assembly clean! Friday was easy though. There must have been about 350 people there to help, so in about 90 minutes everything was done!! We have great support for the assembly cleaning in this circuit!

Service is going well. I started a new study last week - because I didn't already have enough! I actually don't have hardly any morning studies, all in the afternoons, so now I have a morning one. She turns out to be Cynthia's sister-in-law and she seems really interested in studying, and when she found out Cynthia studies that seemed to encourage her too. She's the only person I've ever met who named their child Job. Isn't that cute?! Job Isaias is her youngest, and the other is Elias Daniel. All bible names.

Well, I leave you with a few recent pictures. I didn't really take any at the assembly, but I have a few pictures I want to collect from other people's cameras so if I ever accomplish that I will post them in the future!

Ready for meeting - I love this picture!!

Ride home from the assembly on the congregation bus! Yes, you see mam, dad, and two boys on the seat behind. What you don't see are their two daughters - 6 on a seat made for 3, or 2 comfortably!

Ignore how dorky my hair looks in this picture, just wanted to post a shot of the dresses Brenda, Lupita and I all had made for the assembly. Material cost me $3.50, and the lady charged me $4 to make it! We're going to make a catalog and fill it with the dresses we have her make for us. Yes, dresses in plural - this was the first, but won't be the last!