Three Trips
A weekend trip to Canada has become an annual event. Its purpose is to encourage teenage Christians from New York and Canada. They benefit from time spent together in Bible study, prayer, singing and simply horsing around. This year ten of us stayed with the Michael Stephens family. Of course the k
ids enjoy teasing each other about their accents. The New Yorkers sprinkled their conversations liberally with "ehs?" for several days after the trip. It is always refreshing to see teenagers from different backgrounds rejoice together in their common love for God. The congregation at Wellandport is pictured to the right with our New Yorkers sprinkled in with the Canadians.
I was glad to see a number of new faces at the Spanish-speaking congregation at Embry Hills in Atlanta. Several brethren from the congregation in little Santa Cruz Analquito in El Salvador have strengthened the church there. I visited "Analquito" almost 20 years ago and brethren from there said that they remembered my visit even though they were little children at the time. Two arrivals from Campeche, Mexico and another from Colombia have also built up the group. I'll paste a picture of the congregation at Embry Hills below.
The third trip was to the lectures at Annandale, Virginia in November where I was able to spend several days with brethren I greatly love and hear a number of excellent lessons. I presented lessons on working with young people and those of other cultures.
Godly Women
The Hispanic congregation in Fair Lawn has women who are talented at encouraging others. Rosa Rodriguez (pictured below with her daughters Vanessa [left] and Myra [right]) has been with us the longest. She greets others with great affection and they in turn light up when they see her come into the room. Her daughter, Vanessa, who recently returned to the Lord, has the same gift. She has organized a number of Saturday afternoon picnics (picture right) during the summer that have helped bring the brethren together. Nelly Alarcón is one of the most genuinely loving people I know, hovering over those who need encouragement offering her sympathy and excellent advice. All of the other women make their special contributions. Pictured in the tug of war picture left to right are: Carmen Gutierrez, Nelly Alarcón, Patricia Romero, Esther Eubanks and Eli Falk. Their little helper is José Romero.
New Home Studies
* Rafael is a neighbor of Esmeralda Cuevas I began studying with Rafael last Tuesday.
* Rocío is woman from Miami who has been studying Luke with me over the phone. She has begun reading other portions of the Bible on her own.
* Emerson Mejía has been baptized but has had many spiritual ups and downs. We study Acts at Burger King in Elizabeth.
Other home studies continue with Daisy Abreu, Miriam and Jamie Polanco.
Office work
I am reprinting some teaching tracts and trying to polish them up a bit. Here are some titles: "Letter to Jehovah’s Witnesses," "Letter to Adventists," "The Holy Spirit," and "Ten Common Mistakes in Raising Children." If I pushed tracts in my little paper and online, I would probably be overwhelmed with requests.
I’ve also had time to translate an excellent flyer that Jady Copeland, Tim Bunting and Roger Polanco distrubute on the streets of New York and a larger study of Acts 2 that Kenny Moorer, Kerry Keenan and Roger Polanco used in Costa Rica. Translation work can be tedious but worthwhile.
