Lazy Day

I was supposed to go on a study this morning, but she just called and asked me to come tomorrow afternoon instead, so I have nothing to do right now. That means you get a random post and an invitation.
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We have been seeing all these great photos from the regional and international conventions going on right now. They make me a little homesick, and jealous- our convention is in October. I love how big the conventions are in the States, and some of the stats we have seen are amazing! (Ex: Over 30,000 in attendance, 200 baptized at one convention) That is so encouraging to see!

A couple from our congregation are at an international in Texas right now. We made these cute little magnets for them to take as gifts. This is the picture we used.

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We hear that the construction at the Norco Assembly Hall is complete, or nearly there. I would love to see the finished product, if anyone has pictures. Also, for those of you who have been busy working there the last several months, if you are wondering what to do next- Come to Honduras! 

We have congregations in English, Spanish, Sign Language, Miskito and Garifuna, so you could have your pick and we would all love to have visitors.

Speaking of visitors, we are going to pick up a couple from the airport this afternoon. We haven't met them yet, but our congregation is very excited.

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I had a really nice study last week. She's seeing the importance of preparing the material ahead of time now. She even read the cited scriptures ahead of time, so when I would say ok let's read this, she would tell me about it before we read it. We also started watching one of our videos- the one on the Bible. It is broken up into three sections, so last week we watched the first part. The whole time she was really into it, and even was making comments like "Wow" and her face registered surprise about certain things. When the video was done, I asked if she had any questions, and she said no, but she was "really eager to watch the next part." I thought that was really nice. 

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So that's all for now!

Roatan, and How My Dad Went On a Trip and Didn't Kill Himself

 Here's more photos from my parent's trip.

On a cable bridge up the river.

Roatan

View from our rental house

The beach in front of the house

We were able to snorkel right off the beach. The water was super clear and calm, so we could go out pretty far, but there were even fish right by the shore.

This is a lobster hiding under a rock. He didn't hide so well though, he became dinner.

Lionfish. They are an invasive species here, and poisonous to the touch on some spots, I don't know which. But you can eat them, so figure that out. 

A sea urchin. Definitely don't want to step on one of these.

Requisite foot shot.

We went scuba diving one day and took the camera with us in a waterproof bag. The pressure was too high so it made taking pictures difficult, but also created some interesting effects.

Sunset

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So my parents made it home to cold Colorado safely, which for Dad is a big accomplishment. (Just kidding, I love you!) We might be slightly jealous of that right now though- it's really hot here. 

We had our last Special Assembly Day, with an attendance of 146- that's all the English congregations in the country.

We moved into a new apartment. It does not have a/c, but behind us is jungle-y, and there are even turtles and crocodiles. I don't think I'm gonna let Miss Kitty go outside much.

Service Experiences

I know you were probably expecting the new post to be about Roatan or the Assembly or something, but we're going to go in a slightly different direction today. We had a couple of cool experiences in service lately that I wanted to share.

First, my study. Her mom gave her permission to go to the meetings when we first started studying, and in fact, she had come to the meeting to ask for a study- that was how I met her. But she hadn't actually come to a meeting since then. A couple weeks ago, the Spanish Special Day was in Tela, and her aunt- who is studying as well- took her to that. They didn't even tell me until after! Then last Sunday, as I was getting ready to head over to her house, she texted me and said she wasn't going to be able to study that morning, but could I pick her up to go to the meeting that afternoon? Ok! Her aunt came with her and since she is going to be in town for a few months, she asked for a sister in the Spanish to study with her while she is here. There's a very good chance that my study will be able to come to the meetings fairly regularly now.

A brother from a Spanish congregation passed a call with a teenage boy onto Zach last week. Zach arranged a time to go see him and bring him the Bible Teach book, the first question in it he wanted to discuss was Chapter 8- What Is God's Kingdom? So we went over that, then he had two more questions for us. 1- Where did Adam and Eve go when they died- Heaven or Hell? and 2- Is the Devil a God? I'll admit, I did not expect those questions from a 15 year old. It was really impressive though. We find a lot of young people here have really deep spiritual questions and spend more time thinking about spiritual matters than many we meet in the States.

I am cultivating a new study (I guess that's the phrase to use) right now. She is a young mom with two kids and her husband works on the islands, but when he comes home they like to read the Bible together. I have been calling on her for a few weeks, and she made the comment that she likes to study about the Bible, well ok, I would be more than happy to help you do that. So the last two weeks we have been looking at the book and she seems to enjoy it so far. The blue intro pages were very helpful, when we got to the scripture in Psalm 72:16, she was really affected by that. Down here we see so many people going hungry, that the idea of there being enough food for everyone doesn't seem possible, but we know that Jehovah's promises are true. She told me this week that she wants to learn all she can about the Bible so that she can teach her daughter, so I mentioned the Learn From the Great Teacher book that she can use to help her daughter, and she was very excited. I will be bringing that back next week.

So that's just a couple recent experiences. Hope you enjoyed reading them as much as we enjoyed having them.