What have we been up to? September

Many of you are keenly interested in what we have been up to all this time...well, we have been crazy busy for months now and even we ask ourselves.."what have we been doing?" Well, let's go back to this past September:

We had our Safeguard Your Heart District Convention mid-month and enjoyed the "reunion" atmosphere it brought. Our District covers the entire Yucatan Peninsula and part of Southern Mexico. So we had brothers travel from as far as Chiapas and Tabasco! We had an average attendance of 800 each day and 12 were baptized!

Our Bible students joined us for the convention, siblings Francisco, Andres, Eva and their new baby niece.

Mike and Francisco, in our Kingdom Hall, the night of Franks first talk on the school! He is battling Leukemia.

In our Assembly Hall for the District Convention.
Siblings, left to right, Andres, Eva, Frank

Carla and Eva and her niece Sandra, 2 months!

Frank, Andres, Eva and baby Sandra.

Frank, Andres, Mike and baby Sandra.

As you can see in the photos, the Assembly Hall looks very much like one in the States. Some of the major differences are the plastic stadium seats with no cushions and no carpet, but we have found it to be comfortable and very practical to maintain. And those are not florescent lights you see shining from the ceiling...no, they are clear roof panels letting in the strong Yucatan sunshine! Saves on electric, so we can spend our few pesos more wisely on air conditioning, which we were extremely grateful for.


A highlight for us personally was attending the meeting for the Bible School for Christian Couples. Previously the branch in Mexico only held this meeting for the Spanish conventions, for a Spanish school in Mexico. So this was the first convention season that a meeting was held for the English also, making it possible for English speakers to apply and attend an English class in the USA. So many of the long-time needgreaters here in Mexico have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to apply for this school. Needless to say, the response was overwhelming, there was no count made, but we estimate well over 75 couples attended the meeting. (remember we only had 800 total that day, so over 150 of them attended this special meeting) In fact, the meeting was held in a section of the main auditorium so as to fit all who attended, and the Circuit Overseer ran out of applications for those who qualified! (I just got goose-bumps as I re-read that)

This was such a highlight for us because it encouraged us in an unexpected way. Seeing so many couples in a similar situation to us, or just like us, serving outside their home country, without children, on a shoe-string budget or on their last jar of peanut butter as we say....but truly happy! And as we scanned the "crowd", we felt emotional with hearts warmed. All of us in that meeting have struggled with feelings of loneliness because of leaving our homes, friends and families, but for those few minutes, as we listened to the overseer speak to us, we all had such a strong feeling of not being alone, of being surrounded by fellow workers who completely understand our struggles and who are ready to come to our aid, of being completely cared for by our loving Father and having his favor, of being in the only place we want to be and the place we hope to remain forever. It was just the encouragement many of us needed to help us carry on with joy. It was a privilege just to be there, and therefore to be here in the English field of Mexico.