Good Experiences...

We have been blessed with a few good experiences this week, so we are pretty excited!

The pharmacist that I mentioned in the last blog has not been having a regular study due to her crazy schedule, but I call her 2 times a week just to encourage her and to see if she has time for the study. Anyway, I was feeling a little discouraged about her and then on Saturday, after the meeting, I turned around and there she was! She was sitting in the back room because she is very sad, but she was there! So, I went and talked with her for a while. She told me not to give up on her and to keep calling her, she needs to find a way to fit the study into her schedule! And here I was thinking that she didn't really want to study!

A few months ago, Beth started studying with Susana, a lady from Peru...she did really well on her study and she had a friend, also from Peru, Maribel, who would come and sit in on the study with her. Beth said that Suzy would call her as soon as Beth got there and Maribel would come running with her books in hand for the study! Well, unfortunately, in Sept. or Oct. Susanna had to return to Peru...Bummer! A few weeks later Beth remembered that she actually had Maribel's phone number and so she asked me to call her to see if she would be interested in continuing the study. Right away she said yes, and we set up a time that weekend to meet at the Market so she could take us to her house. So, that is what we did. She is really nice and very interested in the Bible.
Unfortunately, shortly after that she got a new job...(isn't that how it always works?) and was working practically 7 days a week... so, even though I called her every week, we just couldn't find a time to study. About 6 weeks has passed, and I was starting to give up on her when out of the blue on Tuesday she called! She said that she just found out she is pregnant and so she had to quit her job which involved a lot of heavy lifting...so she is at home most of the time now and wanted to continue her study! YIPPEEE! So, on Wednesday morn. I went and had her study...she always appreciates it and she told me she wants to come to the meeting on Saturday evening! We have arrangements to meet at a well-known store so that I can show her where the KH is! Yippeeee!!!!
Hopefully she can come, she has been feeling sick lately due to the pregnancy. Oh, she also told me that she would like to study 2 times a week to take advantage of the time that she has now! As you can imagine, I returned home very excited, and I will certainly enjoy the next few weeks until Beth gets back! Don't worry Beth, I'm not going to steal your study! haha

I also had a nice experience with Berta, a woman whom I found in the territory about 2 months ago...she was listening intently as I showed her the Bible Teach Book and then all of a sudden she gets this scared look on her face and says, "I have to go! My mom is coming down the street and she doesn't like you people!" Mind you, this woman is probably in her 50's. But, she said,"Come back another day please!" and shut the door. Hmph.... Now what? I knew I had to go back to her, but I was sort of scared to return because the mom reminded me of the old lady that hit me with the stick! YIKES!
I did continue to stop back, but couldn't find her home. So, I decided to leave a note for her. About 3 weeks later I finally found her! She was so apologetic and said that she got my note, but that her mom had fallen and broken her knee and had surgery. So, she had been at her mom's house everyday taking care of her since she is bed-ridden right now! Not that I didn't have any compassion for the mom, but I was secretly happy that she wouldn't be able to stop by Berta's and cause trouble! So, I started the study with Berta that day and she was telling me how she had found a Bible in the street one day that was all wet and dirty and how she had taken it home and was ¨nursing it back to health¨. She was drying the pages out and cleaning it up and flattening it out. She just couldn't believe that someone would leave this Bible in the street, it just wasn't right! So, I thought, OK, that's fine, she can use that Bible, it doesn't matter.
Well another 2 weeks passed by and I couldn't find her...when I finally found her she came running to the door with a big smile and explained that she had the flu and couldn't get out of bed for over a week, but she felt better and was ready to study. So, we had another study last week. She has such a humble attitude and keeps saying that she really needs to learn more about the bible because she has wasted so much of her life. We planned for me to stop the next week (today) for the next study.
Yesterday, she called me crying... she cries a lot because she has a lot of problems. I talked to her for about an hour on the phone and shared some scriptures with her. I told her that one of the things that makes me feel encouraged is attending the meetings and read to her Heb. 10:24,25 and mentioned that it is there we receive encouragement to continue on. She asked me when the meetings are...I told her Wed and Sat. She asked me,¨So, you have a meeting tonight?¨ Yep. ¨I am going to come, I NEED to come¨. So, we made arrangements to meet at the well-known store at 7:15pm so I could show her where it is. She was right on time, even though she and her 10 year old grandson had to walk 20 minutes to get there and then we all walked the next 10 minutes together to the meeting! Oh, and she had brought her Bible that she has been ¨nursing back to health¨ ---It was the New World Translation!
She really seemed to enjoy herself at the meeting. It was a really good lesson in the ¨Jehovah's Day¨ book, she really liked that information on the blessings we can receive by serving Jehovah more fully! The grandson asked me after the meeting if he could have a song book for himself...He really liked singing the songs! And he did really well finding the scriptures, too! So, anyway, as you can see, it has been a really good week for me! I will keep you all posted as to how they continue to progress! I had her study this morning and she was still flying high from the meeting last night. She told us that her grandson would like to study also, so Chad made arrangements to go tomorrow afternoon to start studying with him.....

A funny thing happened to Chad 2 weeks ago when he was studying with the young guy, Wilmer. They were studying about prayer and making sure our prayers are acceptable to Jehovah. Chad mustered up his courage and decided that he was going to use that as a segway into the fact that to please Jehovah we should be legally married (he and his girlfriend have been living together for 3 years). So, Chad goes through his very carefully prepared speech, treading very lightly so as not to offend him, but at the same time being direct so he understands the importance. Wilmer listened attentively as usual and gave all the right answers...and after it is all said and done, Wilmer looks at Chad with a smirk on his face and says, ¨Oh, by the way, we got married last week. I forgot to tell you...¨ What a riot! And what relief for Chad! Too bad he didn´t mention that before Chad's agonizing preparation!!! It is so nice to see how he is really making changes in his life to serve Jehovah....

Well, I could go on and on with other experiences, but I think a rambled on enough for one day!
Hope you guys are doing well, and keeping warm! We miss you all!