Monday, June 30, 2014

6.14 Just returned from camping at Yosemite National Park
Looking out at a 22 hour hike we were thinking of doing. It starts at the valley, up along two waterfalls, around that smaller rock mass and towards the Half Dome, seen on the left.




I can hear the excited and worried chatter of some Japanese onlookers who couldn't stand to watch and, at the same time, couldn't help but stare at my friends so casually crawl out to the edge. It's a straight drop down into the valley, thousands of feet. The view must have been worth it.

"Might has well take photos."-Jav


Heyz and Jav exploring the valley.

This walk up was so worth this shot. You might be able to see the steep walkway on the left. The mist coming off the fall really helped offset the summer heat.

Preparing to go up the Half Dome. Friends help friends out. [photocred: Jaclyn]

Wish I had a recording of this mountain squirrel. It was hissing at this snake nearby as we were passing. The sound was more of a chirp and every time the squirrel made a loud chirp, its bushy tail ticked from side to side, like a minute hand on a clock! We figured the squirrel's babies must be close and threatened.[photocred: Jaclyn]

Glacier Point[photocred: Jaclyn]

Sorry Jaclyn, for almost sending your sunglasses down the waterfall!![photocred: Jaclyn]

See how clear this water is??? Thanks to Terry for this candid! We swam, laughed and swung on rope swings.

Campfires at night. [[Insert Melissa and Rob here]]


Saratoga, California

June seventh 2014


Wedding of the year goes to the Roques! May Jah richly bless you two in fulfilling this new potential you have as one body!!
Had a great, full day working along with these women. At the end of the day, we were covering a cul-de-sac with the most beautiful homes.We were canvasing for the deaf or hard of hearing as Amber is in the Sign Language Congregation. Taylor and Janiece get to their last door and find a staff member of the household open the door. He lives in the next town over and works there during the day. He actually has two twins who are young and deaf. It just so happens Punjabi is his mother tongue. Taylor speaks Punjabi. Such a rewarding day.


Service Shenanigans (wish I'd take photos with El Cerrito English!)
From top left clockwise:
1.Out with a zealous youth right before we knocked on the door of his next return visit with an adult. His goal is to start a door step Bible study! 2. Driving on the new Oakland Bay Bridge while covering the Portuguese territory. I was tempted to marvel at the industrial looking 77 year old Bay Bridge being demolished. How different the world was 30 years ago! 3. We had missed our exit. Not having eaten for seven hours since breakfast, having to take a toll bridge into SF with traffic was NOT fun. Although we make it seem so. 4. Metropolitan cart witnessing at the local BART station during rush hour. 5. Working Portuguese territory. 6. I'm hungry. But wait. First, lemme take a selfie.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Entry from May 29
As much as I love my family, I wonder if I should be missing them more. The truth is: I'm constantly around so many spiritual brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. They are there to visit cool sites with me and give me a listening ear. They invite me to their homes and make sure I'm safe. I realize I'm having a really unique experience because of the brotherhood. I love to travel but it is made that much better by having real friends to see along the way. I've truly gained more by serving Jehovah than I ever thought was possible. It's such a privilege to be a part of a worldwide brotherhood who show genuine, unhypocritical love as imperfect as we are.
         
   Jesus said: “Truly I say to you, no one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not get 100 times more now in this period of time—houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, with persecutions —and in the coming system of things. ( Mark 10:29,30 )

I never knew nor imagined I could be having this much fun. I can't believe that during my teens that I did not want to be a witness because I thought that Jahs requirements were restrictive and I would not be able to have fun. How wrong I was.
So to my younger friends back home:
                    Keep working hard to resist temptations and please Jah in your worship to Him and He will surely bless you over 100times.

On my itinerary today:
~Field service with super sweet friends near Twin Peaks(a lookout spot in the hilly parts of San Francisco)
~Out to lunch in downtown San Francisco(it's actually a lot like Manhattan) with others finishing their shift at Metropolitan table and cart witnessing
I'm practically a SF native! The Bart makes getting around on my own pretty easy.
~Study for meeting.

Entry from 5/24

She had just gotten home from work and was preparing dinner when she opened the door to us. Because she was in shorts, she invites us in. The evening air is cold around the bay area.
She tells us she does not have much time. "That's alright", we say, "We came here to show just a 3 minute long video entitled "Why Study the Bible?" As watching the whole thing on her couch, she makes a comment on how impressed she is at the quality of the video. 
At the end of the clip, she asks "Really? These are the questions that are answered in the bible? I've read the bible and I haven't seen all that." Obviously, at this point, Heyz and I are so excited to see her enthusiasm. She feels "the bible is hard to read. I make time, sit down, open it, but find it hard to understand." My partner encouragingly says we can all accept a little help. We mention how much like the eunuch, who humbly asked the passerby, we all want to be. H asked T if T prays for holy spirit before reading the bible to get a better understanding.
At some point, we get complimented on how we volunteer ourselves while so young.
T shares how she grew up Catholic but decided against its teachings. Now she is 41 and in awe that we volunteer in this manner. H so earnestly shares her experiences of how "Listening to Jah through the Bible only brings happiness and not listening to him brings regret". After all, his commandments are not so burdensome. T asks, "in what manner?" She is curious what is required in listening to Him. "Do you mean i must live as a Witness?" We explain in terms of why we follow Jesus teachings to preach door to door and how the things that bring us happiness increase as we get more involved with God’s Word, mastering its understanding, then applying it in order to help others get to draw closer to our Creator. Also, H illustrates an example where listening to Jah’s admonition to beware of our association protects us from consequences . Whenever we justify, or deceive ourselves with false reasoning, for let's say spending time with bad association, and make a bad decision and feel regret, then we realize all that heartache could have been prevented by abiding by the basic principle “bad association spoils useful habits”.
T agrees. T brings her Bible out to show us something she was reading recently. It is Joshua 1:9, about how courageous and strong we are encouraged to be because God is with us. She was so moved to the point she wanted to tatoo it. That is how dear that scripture was to her. Shes far from home and is at a point in her life where she is searching. Her words were that she was open minded, as long as she was directed to the Bible. We encouraged her to not give up in this search, using Matt 7:7
She asked where we met for religious meetings! She was happy to hear the nearest Portuguese meeting at a Kingdom Hall was held on an evening when she was not working. She said she would visit. She even declined a ride to be picked up. She said she does not want to be the type to be obligated to going because it is easy. She would rather prepare her mind by going through the extra step of getting there on her own to make sure her motives were pure. If that is not self relative and humble, I don’t know what is. She looks forward to visiting. We told her that collections are never taken. Once hearing this, she tells us a story of how she swore off going back to the last church because she gave what she could and yet felt guilty. She was uncomfortable all those time the pastor spent 30 minutes of his sermon talking about money supporting the church. He specified how some attendees only give $20. She felt it was her duty to pay the sermon for all the services he makes available but did not appreciate how she pressured she was to give more than her means. We told her about the words “received free, give free.” She responded with how odd it is that the pastor bases the commission of 10% on the Bible. It's difficult because I pays rent on my own while sending money back home to Brazil to support her family." This reminds me of the latest Watchtower study article so we went into depth through three paragraphs of how praiseworthy the act of the needy widow was, whose contribution was given out of a proper heart condition. The amount was what mere humans could see, but in the eyes of whom approval really matters, it was very valuable. She asked more bible based questions but we decided not to allow the excitement in the room as an excuse to bombard her with too much information. Hopefully, there will be many exciting and deep conversations that will stem from tonight.
All in all, the invite into T’s home was a monumental moment. She opened up about how she thirsts for answers. So grateful to have been there at the right time, on a Friday evening at 8:30pm. It really pays to pull long days. Afterwards, Heyz's mom's chicken tostadas and Heyz's avocado spread could not have have tasted any better.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Well, I guess I'd better go now from the all the send-off gatherings...

5/22/2014
There's no need for goodbyes. It is hard enough saying "see you later". The nicest part about leaving home is hearing from those who appreciate you. I'll carry all your words of advice and love with me! I stored up all I got this weekend. I hope it's enough to last me through the year. Thanks for everyone who came out Sat and Sun! It was great having everyone together. Still, the date marks the day I realized I don't like surprises. Can't wait to read all the cards, still. Thanks for a better sendoff than I ever imagined! ( Special thanks to Melissa and Daisy, Shirley and Teddy)
I'll be reading the cards I took snapshots of later on :)