July 2013 – Newsletter 2
From Pete and Sandra Kerry
Hi (Oi!)
Here is our second newsletter. We have had
many interesting things happen since the first newsletter in June.
We
are still happily living with Jorge and Dores. We now have the air conditioning
unit working in our room which is a great help with the heat. We have this set
on 25˚ at night which is comfortable. Any less than this and we feel cold! Not
very English of us, we know.
The
Portuguese convention is 16-18th August and will be here in Boa
Vista. We are really looking forward to this. The English group had their
convention last week. They travelled to Venezuela which is the nearest English
convention to Boa Vista. They travelled across the border by bus and in total
it took 13 hours to get there due to the many times they were stopped by the
military police in Venezuela. Since the death of the previous president in
Venezuela a few months ago, there is more tension and foreigners are checked
more often than normal. However it is good to know that the preaching work is
not affected there.
We
have had the privilege of visiting other congregations in the surrounding
areas. Pete gave his first Portuguese public talk in Brasil in Alto Alegre
congregation, which is 110Km from Boa Vista, on 23rd June. We were
concerned about if the brothers would understand the accent, as the accent here
is very different from what we have been taught, but after a couple of minutes
they were ok.
(Sorry for the poor quality of the photos)
The congregation did not have any Elders until last month when a
new special pioneer couple, Eliab and Monica, were assigned there.
(The couple on the right)
The
following week, Pete had the congregation book study and the public talk in our
home congregation, Bela Vista.
Supporting the congregations
We
were asked to support another congregation, Caracaraí, which is 160Km from Boa
Vista. They are a small congregation of only 19 publishers and only recently
has a special pioneer couple been assigned there. However they are currently
attending the class for Christian couples for 2 months and so there were no
appointed brothers to help. A ministerial servant from Boa Vista and us visited
the congregation on Wednesday 3rd July and between us 2 brothers we
conducted the congregation book study, theocratic school and service meeting.
Pete only had the afternoon to prepare 3 parts for the meeting in Portuguese
that night but all went well. It is a VERY noisy congregation as there were
about 35 children out of the 54 in attendance.
The Watchtower study at Caracarai
Last
week, another regular pioneer couple from Manaus were assigned to help as well
for 2 months. Pete returned last week and gave a public talk there. We have
been asked to help as much as possible but our challenge now is to find a
balance in where to prioritize our service.
We
have been to the English group a couple of times to support them and Pete gave
the public talk in English this morning (21st July). It seemed
strange doing an English public talk in Brasil!
We
have met a lot of different brothers and sisters so far, and it is faith
strengthening to see the unity in Jehovah’s organization wherever we are in the
world.
One
evening in June, we were invited to a surprise anniversary party for a couple in
our congregation. They included us as part of their family and said that this
anniversary was truly ‘international’ because their ‘family’ from England were
there.
Tony
Spooner, a brother from Galway, Ireland, has been supporting the English group
for a few weeks. He is an elder and regular pioneer and hopes to move here
permanently in the future. He is 73 years old and now widowed and is an example
that age is not a problem in serving where the need is greater.
Studies
On
Friday afternoon, we walk 35 minutes to our first study. 3 of the studies are
couples. One of the studies has a parrot that is VERY vocal and learns words
quickly. We have to compete with it during the study!!!!
We now have 5 Portuguese studies
between us and the picture below shows where one of them is. Most of the roads
here are like this.
At the moment, we are doing the
campaign for the convention invitations. It is refreshing that everyone accepts
the invitations and willing to talk. Most people are at home during the day and
this gives us the opportunity to talk at almost every house.
Weather
As we are just above the equator, we see some amazing
skies about 6pm on the way home from the studies. The angle of the sun provides
unusual rays of light as shown in the picture below.
It
rains intensely for an hour or so each day, and within that time, the roads are
often flooded and not passable on foot. (Picture below)
Next time
There are 4 Kingdom Hall construction projects starting soon and possibly a new assembly hall in Boa Vista. We will give you updates in the next blog. We have many exciting things that are due to happen in August. Until then......
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