Saturday, August 23, 2008

Experiences

Hi Friends and Family,

We are doing well, busy as ever.
We have three little girls with us for the summer school vacation. Two of them have been studying for over 8 mos. now and walk to meetings on their own. They are 8 and 9 years old.
They both enjoy going in field service and preaching.
Even in the rainy season the field service groups have still been between 10 to 30 people, many are young ones or new publishers, they are all very zealous.
The other little girl with us is 6 years old, she is our driver David's daughter. She usually stays with his sister during the school year, he is a single father. During school vacation she stays with him. She is staying in our home this year since her dad works for us 6 days a week and he lives in a small panbody (sticks and corrugated metal room, with no electricity or water) with his father and some other relatives, he asked if she could stay with us so he could see her more on work days and she could be with the other children.
Shelby is being attacked right this minute, by our newest addition "Jack", he is a little rambunctious monkey, literally. A Mango monkey. She brought him home Thursday. He is about 10 inches tall, skinny and adorable. He doesn't like men though, Dennis is buying him bananas trying to win his affections. We are sure he will come around in time. He is still young, doesn't like to be left alone. He is becoming a good friend of our kitten Mayson. He likes to look at books, it is so funny to watch him flipping the pages of the kids cardboard toddler books, they are nearly as big as him.

Following are some experiences Dennis typed up, enjoy!

Dennis and Lorelle will be back in the US mid September.
Take Care,
Lorie

Sierra Leone Experiences
8/23/08

Abraham Fordiki
I met a man outside the internet cafe in March of 2008. He was asking for financial support for a youth program he was starting, I gave him the Watchtower and told him it was something better than money. I often reply this way to individuals asking for money, which is common here for someone from the US. He thanked me and went off. On May 25, 2008, as I was walking to a bible study along Babadorie Rd in Lumley I met him again. He was impressed that I remebered his name and that I asked about his youth program. He excitedly told me that he had just returned from Malaysia, where he had taken part in a UN program training individuals to start and run volunteer programs. After explaining his big plans I asked him if I could be straight to the point with him. I commended him for his desire to clean up the earth and get young ones involved, then I ask him if he would like to see from the bible how to make a success of his efforts. I showed him Jer. 10:23 and explained that when we try something on our own without following God's guide lines we will have only limited success. He then told me he wanted me to show him what God's will is so that he can succeed. We set up to meet two days later.
We met, he explained that after our last conversation he had read the whole chapter of Jer 10. He then shared with me his history. He had fled the rebels during the war and was living on the streets of Freetown in 1998. He was sleeping on the tables of the street markets at night when two missionaries for a christain movement group took him and fed and clothed him. When the war came to that part of Freetown in 1999 they left the country and he was left to fend for himself. From that point he drifted from church to church looking for assistance and answers to his bible questions. After over a dozen different religions even the mormans for two months, ( it only took him that long to find out they couldn't answer his bible questions), he still was searching for the answer to one important question: Why did God put the tree of knowlegde in the garden of Eden if he knew Adam and Eve would eat from it. He felt that the bible showed how God has the ability to see the future, all knowing. I was able to show him that God does have the ablilty to see the future but exercises restaint along with the gift of free will that he has given to mortal man. We looked up scriptures that show that mans obedience is an act of love. After using illustrations about which is better to hear "I love you" from a robot who will always do what it is programed to do or from your son or daughter that does it out of love with freewill. Then I asked him if he had ever asked his 6 year old daughter not to touch something of his. He said yes. I explained that sometimes we do so in order to protect them from harm but other times we may have something we want to give them on a certain special day, how would you feel if she went in your room and opened the gift on her own. He said he would feel bad. He thanked me. He said this is the first time someone showed him answers to his questions using the bible. He said " I really believe I have found the truth of the bible."
We have continued to have wonderful bible studies. He asks many questions about things that other religions have said about Jehovah's Witnesses. One week he asked about blood transfusions after showing him the four scriptures giving God's Law on blood to Noah then to Moses then to the apostles,and using the illustration in the Bible Teach book about the doctor who might tell you not to drink alcohol, would it be okay to take it intervenusly, he stated that makes sense. After coming to his first meeting in early July he said the meetings were very nice and educational like a class room nothing like what others had told him what goes on at the meetings. We discussed that when someone says something about the Witnesses he will ask for himself, for years he avoided the Witnesses because of what others said we believed. After attending the SAD, July 27, 2008 He told me "What I experienced is truly the love talked about in the bible" John 13:35. "Everyone was so friendly and welcoming they made me feel like a brother. The program was wonderful, I really enjoyed the testamonies(experiences) and the last talk about being molded by the Great Potter touch my heart"
Recently I had a talk in another congregation, so I reminded him of the meetings but mentioned I wouldn't be there that he could sit with any of the brothers he had met. He told me " I don't go to the meetings for you any more I go for Jehovah". He told me he has an uncle in London who is one of Jehovah's Witnesses and can't wait to tell him that he is studying and learning the truth. Today at our study he explained how his neighbor is a minister and likes to pray out loud for everyone to hear and wears expensive clothes. He once visited his church and the man was telling the congregation to test God and recieve a blessing if you give $500 (the average yearly income here in SL is less then $500) that God would give them $1,000 back, he worked his way down $400,$300,$200,$100 then $50. He said he snuck out and never went back. He said the bible says not to test God. He told his neighbor what we have been learning during our studies, like the reason that in the first century christains spoke in tongues and that 1 Cor 13:8 says this gift will cease after the death of the apostles. In our time the bible and people to teach it are available in almost every nation and tongue. The mininster said " Thats why people don't like talking to Jehovah's Witnesses, because they show you the scriptures and it ruins your long held beliefs."
Jehovah blesses our efforts to Witness at every opportunity, and use the power of the scriptures to change peoples lives for the good.

Francis Daniel Macdonald
This experince startes with the efforts of our 14 year old daughter Lorelle. She has been conducting a study with a mother in late fourties. Mrs. MacDonald was found out in the door to door mininstry and Lorelle has been studying the Require brochure with her. Mrs MacDonald doesn't read well so to prepare for each week's lesson she has her husband go over it with her and they look up all the scriptures. Lorelle invited her to the Memorial, March 23, 2008. She and her husband and their youngest daughter came. While talking with him I learned that he is the SL Army Chaplin, he has been for 33 years. I sat behind him during the talk, as he listened he shook his head in agreement and even quoted some of the scriptures used. Then the speaker asked the retorical question "Do all good people go to heaven?" When the brother answered "No", Mr MacDonald looked puzzled, but as the brother used the scriptures to back his answer Mr MacDonald shook his head in agreement. I had to leave the following Monday for two months on my return I accompanied Lorelle on Mrs MacDonald's study but kept missing a chance to talk to Mr MacDonald.
At the end of July, Lorelle and Mrs MacDonald and I were studing the last lesson in the require brochure, when Mr MacDonald came home from work so that he could talk to me. He asked " Is there another book to study with me?" I was happy and nervous to be studying with a minister of 33 years. Now Lorelle studys with Mrs MacDonald on Thursdays and then she sits in on the study I have with Mr MacDonald. He told me that when he went to theological college, his teachers asked him how he knew so much about the bible. He told them that from when he was 12 to 15 years of age he studied with Jehovah's Witnesses, and they taught him the scriptures. Next he told me that when his wife asked him if she could study the bible with Lorelle back in Feb, he told her that JW are the only group he would let her study the bible with, because they use the bible. He then explained that he has been using the information in the lessons of the Require Brochure to give his sermons on Sunday.
On our fist study I was nervous, but after our study he told me I was a good teacher. He enjoyed using the bible to reason on long held beliefs. Today I brought him the Brouchure on the Divine Name, additional information he asked for, when I gave it to him he said now I will change my sermon for tomorrow. We will see where it goes from here, but it is a wonderful opportunity to use the best educational program,(meetings and the theocratic mininstry school) to teach a teacher. Again "God's word is Alive and has power to transform lives". Also it is a blessing to she our daughter make the truth her own and respectfully teach someone old enough to be her mother.

Aladji Sesay
Aladji is a young man of 18 years. He lives with his brother and 4 other young men in a 6 x 12 pan body ( stick struture with corigated metal walls and roof). They came to live in Freetown 7 years ago to go to school, their village upline doesn't have good schools. They don't have any furniture, not even a wood bench to sit on. So for our study when he sees me coming down the side of the mountain and crossing the river by jumping from sand bag to sand bag, he climbs down to his neighbors and borrows a big fluffy chair,(almost bigger than him) carries it up for me to sit on in the shade as he sits on a rock in the sun for our study. Sierra Leonian Hospitality the guest is given the best. Recently he came to a meeting and enjoyed it. The next week at our study he told me because their family is Muslem they didn't feed him for three days because he attended the meeting. He still is determined to continue his study in spite of persecution.

David Ansumana
David started driving for us while I was working in the US and Lorie was still recovering from her illness. He would sit in on the meetings instead of sitting in the car. When I returned we started studying. He is learning how to read better as well as applying bible principles. When he attended the SAD with us he commented how he really enjoyed the experience of one of the sisters interviewed, she had mentioned how she had always said that she would never change her religion and that the witness talking to her was wasting her time. Now after studying the bible she has become one of our dear sisters. David said that he too said that he would never leave his church, but now he is on his way to being a brother. Recently he toured Bethel, he was curious what went on there where I and others volunteered. He told me latter that he found a job that he can do at Bethel, fixing the bicycles. He has experience at that and after reading the article on the back of the Watchtower, about the three brothers sharing the one bicycle to attend the Convention in one African country, he felt he could help with the bicycles in our country. He continues to make good progress in his study.

These are just a few of the great experiences we are having here in beautiful Sierra Leone. Jehovah certainly opens up a floodgate and blesses until there is no more want. Mal 3:10. The beauty is in the people, and they are ripe for the harvest.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

A message from Lorelle a little while ago..

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know some stuff I was doing, since it seems like my e-mails have halted for the most part.. I wonder oif it's because of summer vacation or something? Ohwell.

So yesterday(Sunday July 27) was our 1-day. I had actually heard it before, because it was the last assembly before we moved in America . Do you remember that? It was so much fun! ANyways, the shedule for assemblys & conventions is like 8 or 10 months behind the States, so that's why we've been hearing the same ones. Soem's different, like the demos and interveiws, and it's always good to have a little reminder right? This'll be the last repeat, cuz we've been here nearly 10 months now( OH my Goodness! Time's broken out of the jailhouse!), so our next one will be the one that you had this summer, but we haven't heard it . Kinda weird huh?
The assembly was pretty fun, but it went WICKED fast, oh my goodness, it seems like the days go faster and faster these days. The older you get, it seems, the more you have to chase time.maybe it's becuase we don't get spurts of little kid energy anymore?
I saw a lot of people I knew, and I couple of my friends from ather congragations. But, most of my freinds have actually moved farther away lately, so I don't see them any more for some reason. I don't miss them too much, except at conventions, becuase it's nice to know someone there : )
My daddy was the chairman for the afternoon sessoin. You could hear him singing on the stage during the first song cuz the mic hadn't been proped up the right way. It was sooo funny, but only my family really noticed. Maybe they did upstiars too, but I couldn't see from the ASL section. It was hard to control at least a little luaghter.
Shelby did a little translating, but I didn't. I'm too scared to go there, cuz I know that when I do, i'm gonna forget how to do everything. I'll get therer someday though, I hope..
It rained. Like, the whole time. Water dripped on my notebook and skirt, so my legs were FREEZING, and my notes for that time looked pretty cruddy. I had to switch to a different chair and mom gave me a blanket to get cozy, which was extremely convenient. That was almost at the end, so i didn't have to endure for very long(Thank Goodness) Someone actually stole my seat at the same time. I felt bad for them, but hey, it gave me an excuse not to sit there, so , to tell you the truth, I didn't mind! haha.

I cooked makeshift garlic bread at lunch today( It's almost 3 now) It wasn't great, but it wasn't half bad either. I picked to big of a clove, so it was bitter, and I burnt mine, becuase I was cooking it over the coalpot and left it too long. But hey, I made GARLIC BREAD ! I COOKED!! Allby myself. It's a miracle I didn't burn the house down or something.

Well, sorry it's short, but, gotta go!

Love you all.

Rel