Angelic Direction

Saturday we have 2 groups for field service.  We go out first in the morning with our local groups and then everyone meets at the hall at 1pm as a congregation.  In our car group on this particular day we decide to make 2 return visits before we go to our territory which is about 20 minutes away.  The first call is not at home.  We go to the 2nd and I go with the brother to call on an Italian man who expressed interest.  The brother plans to start a study in the Bible Teach Book.

We walk up the long steep driveway and a young man greets us.  He goes inside to inform his parents of our arrival.  He returns and states that his mother said we can sit at the back porch and that she'll be right out.  Note, our visit was supposed to be on the father.

We greet the woman and sit down.  She seems surprised by our presence.  In fact, she was expecting someone else, a woman from the local English congregation.  She had her Bible Teach Book in hand along with the magazines from April.  The brother and I look at each other with questioning faces.

The woman had left her home at 10:30 to unexpectedly drop her daughter off to work.  Meanwhile the English friends attempted to come by to start the study with her, but she wasn't home.  We come by a few hours later and basically give all the incentive in the world to study the Bible in order to form a personal relationship with God.

This woman has SO MANY QUESTIONS.  We're sent in 2's thankfully, because I would've tried to answer all of them.  Instead the brother took a different approach and only read scriptures to help her appreciate the importance of learning the truth about God by means of his inspired word the Bible.  Every time she went in another direction, he gave an illustration that led right back to using the Bible to answer these questions.

After 45 minutes or so, the woman thanked us and we excused ourselves on behalf of the friends waiting for us in the car.  But she was so glad that we came by.  Both the brother and I hope and pray that the English go back to this woman.  If not, we still have the intention to come back to the husband who speaks Italian fluently.  As we leave we stumble upon the husband working in the yard blasting Italian music.  It was a great way to end service!

2 Bible Teaches in One Week!

This was a really cool experience.  I wasn't planning on going out in service today because I was tired and thought I hadn't made formal plans with anyone.  However, I was awaken at 9:45am when an elderly sister in my hall called me and asked was I going out.  I said of course and managed to make it to her house by 10:05am.  We decided to do a West Haven territory that she had.  House after house was not at home.  Finally she suggests that we do a "call" of hers, basically an Italian person that she has called on for years  that she hadn't seen in months.

We walk up to the door and I say a silent prayer, because I just really wanted someone to be home.  We meet an older Italian woman but low and behold, another Italian couple is visiting.  We go in, kiss and have a seat at the kitchen table.  A few minutes later another Italian man comes over to visit.  We had a bible topic discussion for the next hour!

The Italians ask questions from the Trinity, Evolution, Sin and Death.  My preaching companion Rosa, shares loads of scriptures.  By the end of it, I take out the Bible Teach Book merely to show the man who mainly had the questions the chapter on the topic he lingered on most.  He takes the book out of my hand.  I never offer him the book, yet he takes and keeps it.  As we leave and start shaking hands, he takes the book and doesn't give it back.  That was probably the easiest book placement I've ever made!

I plan to go back with the same sister and follow up on whether he found the answers to his questions in the book.  If he hasn't I am going to offer to bring a brother back to study with him.

Yet another productive day in the Italian field, how rewarding!

Italian Service in New Haven

Hey!  So I have realized to treasure the amazing field service experiences that I not only experience abroad but also right here at home.  Serving in the Italian field in CT is indeed exciting and we DO find interest.  Maybe no one’s begging for a bible study but we still have wonderful days in service.  For instance I felt compelled to share what happened today.

I worked this morning and didn’t get off until 3:30pm.  So I am always searching for like people who are only out in the evenings.  (Note: This is the best time to go out.  Everyone’s home).  So Camille (my friend from Sign Lanaguage) joins me and we sit down and eat a quick meal at my house of Quinoa.  Then we set off to get Camille some tacos from a particular taco shop in West Haven.  We drive over and first we stop at the deli next door because she remembered that the owner was Italian.  She buys a bag of chips and as she pays she strikes up a conversation.  Indeed the man is from Italy but he doesn’t really speak.  He shares with us that his son speaks perfect Italian and is in college to become a criminal lawyer.  I leave an Italian magazine with him and Camille leaves a Spanish magazine with the man in the taco shop as she waits for her meal. 

Back in the car, an old territory falls out of my bag from last year.  Obviously it hasn’t been worked in a while so we set off to rework it.  90% of the people were home!  Half weren’t Italian and were able to cross off after literally years of them being not at home and the other half accepted literature and we were able to have pleasant conversations.  The last door we did around 6:30pm.  We go to a confirmed Italian home that was hand written on the bottom of the territory.  A Mexican woman answers the door and informs us that not only is she a sister but her husband does speak Italian.  She invites us in.  We sit down and chat about the Kingdom Hall, Mexico and how her husband used to study.  After 40 minutes of warming up to us the husband suddenly is completely involved in the conversation.  He shows Camille his dog, recounts his hurricane story from last year’s Hurricane Irene.  He even pulls out his bass and plays all his favorite Beatles songs on his bass.  Long story short, I place the Bible Teach Book with him and we make plans to all go to the meeting together after they return from their 2 week vacation in Mexico.  We leave at about 8:15pm!  What a last door!  I know I can’t serve in Nicaragua right now or anywhere else for that matter but there is interest right here and I just need to adjust my mindset and cherish the experiences I have right here in CT, in fact right in New Haven my hometown. 

I can’t wait to go back to that house.  The wife thanked us repeatedly because her husband has studied off and on throughout the years and hopefully our visit will jumpstart him back into action.  J