I can't believe it's already been 2 months! It's flown by so quickly! The thought of going home is bittersweet. Of course I'm excited to see my family and friends. But I will also really miss things about Dominica. This week really increased my love for the ministry here even more. Monday we all walked to Case O Gowrie. I worked with Mariah. Even though her bible studies weren't home we were able to enjoy working some territory together and had a couple of really nice conversations. I got to see my call, Liza, again. She's the one I witnessed to on the beach. She was busy planting but was very nice. She told me that I could call her to arrange a visit. Since she works as a hairstylist she would clear her schedule for me when I wanted to come.
Tuesday I had the privilege of working with James in Mourne Joune. He took me on his bible study, Terry. Terry is a very good student. At the end of the lesson we looked up Psa 37:9-11. James told Terry that he could ask me any question about the scripture. So he asked me if I really believed that promise. After I told him that I did he asked another question. He asked if I found it difficult to live by bible standards. I told him that for the most part I don't because I can see how much happier it makes me. I was honest and told him that it can be very difficult when people are pressuring you to do what's wrong, but it's always better to obey God. We returned to La Plaine for the afternoon. I studied with my older lady who's wheelchair bound, Crystalyn. This was my 3rd study, and marks my first study I can officially count here! Starting studies is easy, getting them to be consistent is another story!
Wednesday was a little less eventful. Kaysh had nice calls and I went with Mariah on a few studies of hers. Other than that, nothing special. And Thursday was meeting day. I had a householder part for a local sister. It's so nice how the local friends treat us. They are so kind! After meeting we seen a familiar face! Asha, my call that I wrote the experience about, was outside the Baptist Church and said hello! Friday was a nice day we worked at the assembly hall in the morning. A sister made homemade chocolate cake for everyone working. Told ya that hard work brings blessings! ;)
Saturday was a FANTASTIC service day!!! In the morning we worked in a new village, Grand Fond. The response there was amazing. But we had to leave after just a few doors to get back to do some calls. We went to La Ronde to see Asha. He had just come from the church and brought a friend for some "back-up". Both had bibles in hand and Asha even had a notepad with scriptures written in it. The first topic he wanted to address was the fact that we wouldn't let him pray with us last time. So we reasoned on the scriptures that say that we shouldn't make a spectacle of our prayers. And also pointed to the fact that praying was not part of Jesus' instructions for preaching. It was hard for him to understand at first. But eventually he said he understood.
So then we moved on to the next topic, being born again. That topic didn't last long though because he really wanted to talk about the trinity. The first scripture that he found was in Isaiah. It refers to Jesus as mighty god. He thought he had really proved a point. But we took him to the scripture that refers to Satan as the god of this system of things. And also told him that many refer to Buddha and other things as god. We explained how god is just a title, and how Jesus could be a god in a relative sense without being the same as Jehovah.
Before admitting defeat, however, he had to point out that our bible is different from his. This upset him because he felt that we should not add or take away from the Bible. Which is obviously true, and I knew better. But rather than tell him that his bible is the one that adds and takes away, I offered to just use his bible. But he still wanted to compare translations. I also brought up that they came out with a Divine Name King James Version which put God's name back where it's supposed to be. He gor the point that taking God's name out is a pretty big deal. His friend even helped us out by saying,"She has a point."
After that, he allowed us to read from the appendix of the Bible Teach Book. This brought up another issue because his friend had recently been mislead and was very upset. So Asha felt uncomfortable reading from a book that's not the Bible. l told him that I understood his concern and that I didnt want him to believe
me or the book I just want him to believe what the bible says. All I asked was that he think about the Scriptures in the book.
That led to the most interesting part of the conversation. He had found a scripture that said the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. This Scripture was 1 John 5:7 . l had never seen this scripture before and I had, no clue what to do. Thankfully Jehovah helped me to think quick enough to use the JW Library app to compare translations. We made a fascinating discovery! The original Greek never includes that thought. In fact, the King James Version added an entire sentence that wasn't there. You can imagine how shocked Asha was. He just kept reading it. After he calmed down a little I asked him if that made him question where else his Bible might be changed. He sincerely said, , "Yeah it kinda does."
We were able to finish the appendix. I could tell it was all really weighing on his mind now. James and Nanci were leaving for a study and we hadn't had lunch so we had to excuse ourselves. But Asha begged us to stay. He really wanted an answer to a question he had about the 144,000. We left that for next time. The hope is that next time James will be able to start a study with him.
Today was also good. Our Watchtower was amazing! Kaysh and I tried going on a couple studies but neither worked out. It Was still nice though. And to finish off our awesome week James texted us to let us know that he had a great first study with Solomon. Solomon is the man we met on our way to get ice cream! Jehovah is definitely blessing our work! Sorry this blog was so long! Thanks for reading though.
PS: If any mature single brothers or couples are looking to serve where the need is greater and are willing to work in the ministry as well as the congregation Dominica is in serious need of qualified brothers. There are so many interested people, many are men, and not enough brothers to study with all the interested ones! If you would like more information please contact me and I will put you in touch with the local brothers :)
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