Back home from an amazing trip!

Well I made it back home in one piece! I got to literally preach for 6 days straight (some full days and a couple half days) but it was an experience I will never forget! Here are just a few of the many experiences I had.
Frederico Westphalen

We preached in this city on Saturday to support one of the congregations that was there. It was bigger town and thus the response wasn't as great as some of the other smaller cities however we did get to speak to some people there. After speaking with one lady at her door a guy was walking by and I decided to give him a tract on the end of suffering and that turned into a full blown conversation about the subject. He talked about his home situation and how he was married with two children at home but was struggling to just put food on the table to feed them. (Actually just that day he was able to gain a few reais just to buy some meat for the family to eat) he really appreciated the things we were showing him in the Bible and said that he likes to make music based on his faith. I decided to try to leave him the Good News brochure and he was interested in the section on God's purpose for the earth. I showed him the features of the brochure in using that section and he accepted it. The sister with me asked if he was knew about out meetings and he said he was aware of the Kingdom Hall and we got his number so that we could text him the address and then we got his address so that I could write him. I intend to try to start studying with him by letter if possible.
Later that afternoon I worked with a brother in our group named Marcelo and he was an awesome brother. He literally preaches to everyone and is a good teacher. One girl we spoke to in the ministry was outside her house as her brother was taking thier dog named Lasagna for a walk. (yes that's the dog's name) He used that to turn it into a discussion about God's name and how important it was to know his name. He tried to leave her the Young People as book but she said that she already had information like that and that she was studying to get baptized with a church in the area but that some of the answers that she got from them about her questions she didn't find satisfying. He then showed her the Bible Teach book and he took her to the chapter on the dead. They went over the first FOUR paragraphs and he was helping her to underline to take notes. And she was into it. She literally learned more in the 15-20 minutes we were there more than probably the whole time she was studying with those people from the church she was with. And at the end he reminded her of how important it was for her to remember God's name. He said that he would never forget about that dog's name... (neither would I) and that even if she would forget his name what was important was that she not forget that God has a name and wants her to use it. Pretty cool right?

Rodeio Bonito

Here we worked half the day in a smaller town and we actually finished the territory rather quickly. Though we weere able to have some nice conversations with some of the people. With one lady who believed that God would end all suffering on earth one day and said that she was religious she was very interested in having a Bible for herself and accepted one with a Bible teach book. Another elderly lady accepted a tract on about whether the dead will every come back to life. Another group in the territory were able to find a deaf man and since one of the sisters was in the sign language congregation in Rio de Janeiro they were able to preach to him as well. Later that evening we went to the meeting there in Rodeio Bonito and it was nice. The congregation has 13 publishers so it it was no doubt an interchange of encouragement when the 40+ of us joined them for the meeting. Their kingdom hall is smaller so we literally packed the house out with quite a few left standing during the meeting, Plus I got a chance to get back into practicing my theocratic Portuguese giving some comments during the watchtower study. (Though I had to write them out so that they would come out clearly...)

Crystal do Sul

This area was very nice. Though all over the place we literally found crystals on the ground. (Thus the name of the town...)  That day I was working with Marcelo and Leonardo our group leader and it was fun. As we were working the territory we talked about different things such as the conducting of the Watchtower study comments during the meetings and things like that. Plus Marcelo talked to me about how to preach to the people there. One of the things that I literally didn't get until that day was that usually Brazilians weren't into the custom of reading in general, though the newer generation was into doing it a bit more. Though that's not a rule because we did encounter people who did say they did read the Bible usually a lot of people when we asked them if they read their Bible or liked to read usually gave that look "Kinda sorta... not really..." and some freely admitted that they needed to do it more but didn't. But all that means is the need to adapt to the needs of the people. One man Leonardo and I spoke with invited us up to his porch and had us sit down and talk to him. (This happened more often than than you may think.. Usually when we were working at any given time at least one pair were in someone's house or sitting at someone's porch listening to us) But Leonardo spoke to him about the Lord's prayer and about God's kingdom and what it truly meant for mankind and the man listened with his baby in hand. Though by his responses I could tell he wasn't in the custom of reading the Bible as much he readily listen to us and accepted literature as well.
Aguas de Chapecó
This city we went to took a while for us to get to because it was in Santa Catarina (the neighboring state to Rio Grande do Sul the one we were in). Yet and still we had some nice results. Hariadne and I were working together again and at my first house I started off by asking a man if he felt that there would ever be an end to suffering. He said basically I have no suffering here! (Yeah ok...) I said that while we may enjoy life still we would like to be able to enjoy it for more than just 70 or 80 years and even when we get older we have to deal with health problems that make us unable to enjoy life the way we want to. His expression changed and he started listening. I read to him Revelation 21:4 about the changes that God's Kingdom would bring and he listened intently as I explained it and then he accepted the magazines on Is death the end of it all?
A bit later we came to the house of this one lady she was cleaning but she stopped what she was doing, invited us to her porch, sat us down and listened to us. I talked with her about whether God would end suffering. I took her to Psalm 37:10, 11 and focused on how God would soon bring changes to allow mankind to have peace (focusing on the latter half of verse 11 where it spoke of "abundance of peace"). She readily listened and agreed with what we said. When I asked her if she had a Bible she said she couldn't read but that she has someone that stays with her that reads to her from time to time. So I left her the Listen to God brochure (the one with just pictures) and she was in love with the pictures in it. I also highlighted that the pictures taught various Bible lessons. She gladly accepted it.

Another house Hariadne and I went to the lady also invited us on her porch and listened to us. Hariadne talked about the Lord's Prayer and how God's will wasn't being done on earth and the promises in Revelation 21:4 and Psalm 37:10, 11 and how it was related to the fulfillment of that prayer. However during the conversation she offered us some cold water to drink. Hariadne said she probably noticed how she was out of breath when she was speaking, also I think she noticed how I was slowly falling asleep when I sat down. It was HOT THAT DAY!!! For example the high today in this city was 38ºC (100ºF) and it was ridiculously humid and the sun was crazy strong that day. Despite how pathetic we were looking she listened intently, was very hospitable and accepted literature.
Final city
I can't remember the name of the last city we worked in though there we had some good results as well. One thing I noticed was that a lot of the families there had new born children. It was interesting. Anyway, we had several good discussions. The sister I was with that morning, Rosa, spoke with one young man who had a newborn baby and he listened to her and accepted literature. She focused on the future and the hope God's Kingdom provides and tied it in with how he wanted a good future for his child (who was lying there quiet as we were talking). The discussion went very well.

When I came to be my turn it was at this house there was a group of people chatting together with the kids running around. I was aprehensive about approaching but Rosa told me just ask and if they want to they will. I came up and started after greeting them asked if we could talk to them (literal translation: Can you attend to us? - "Pode nos atender?") They agreed and I got to speak with them about how God's kingdom would remove suffering and they were listening... (at least the two women were...) and they were nodding their heads too at the reasoning points. When I asked if they liked to read one said yes, the other gave that expression I mentioned earlier.. so I gave them all tracts (each a different one). Next we went up to this metalworking plant and we decided to try to talk to the guys there. We said we noticed they were busy but we wanted to leave them with a positive bible message. We left tracts pretty much with everybody inside.

It was an amazing preaching trip and I hope that I'll be able to do it again next year not just for a week but for the whole trip. Most of the friends were there from the first of the month and they are on their way back home to Rio now. Also working with so many brothers and sisters with so much experience in the truth and in the ministry was encouraging. Though quite a few said that it was the pick up they needed because when they head back into their territories they won't have the same type of response they enjoyed here or even be able to count on the same all day support that they had in the territory. Personally for me it was the encouragement I needed. It was wonderful to literally spend about a week straight preaching and many of those days preaching all day with brothers and sisters of all ages (including many youths) who were zealous and loved the truth and Jehovah as I do. But anyway that's about it! The next update as to how I'm doing will be a bit further ahead but it was nice to hear from some of you after one of my last posts. Keep in touch please. Hope to hear from you guys soon!


Sincerely,
Chris

Primeiro dia no campo

Consideration of the text in the morning

Just in see some of you don't know for the next week I'm working with this group of brothers and sisters from Rio de Janeiro. Every January they go to parts of Brazil that are seldom worked to preach for about four weeks. I joined up with them for a week. The arrangement has been  on for a long time. They talk about it in the September 15, 1991 Watchtower in the article entitled "The fields are white for harvesting in Brazil".

Bus we used in traveling to and from the territory

Today was my first day preaching with the group from Rio Grande de Sul and we were in this small city called Rodeio Bonito. It was a very small town but the purple were very nice. However when I started I was very nervous (really the whole morning). My partner Hariadne tried to help a lot by practicing with me in between doors and giving me some helpful suggestions which helped me be a bit more confident in the afternoon. I had a couple of good experiences. First I got a chance to talk to this young girl who came to one of the doors. Using one of the reminders from Hariadne to be observant, we started taking about how she would like to live in a better world when she grows up. I then asked her what problem she would like to get rid of and she replied drugs. After acknowledging her response I took her to Psalm 37:10, 11. I asked her if she knew what "mansos" (meek in Portuguese) meant and she said no. I imagined since she was young but I wanted to make sure. I then explained saying that they are people willing to be taught by God and who are kind to others. She agreed that the world would be much better in a place like that. Afterwards I left her the Listen to God brochure. She asked if there was a price and I read for her the sentence in the opening of the brochure which says that the brochure isn't for sale and that it's part of a work supported by donations. (Another tactic I learned from my partner) I then said the most important thing is that she reads it and she expressed a lot of interest in keeping the brochure.

Afterwards I was working with another sister named Rosa and we were working a block in the territory and we can't across this boutique. We entered and Rosa started talking to the lady at the register named Anna Paula. We after taking for a little bit we found out she was studying with someone but she still accepted the magazines. As Rosa was talking with Anna, she motioned for me to talk to the other lady in the store. I started taking to her and asked if she likes to read. She said that she was listening to us talk to Anna the whole time. She says that she used to study before coming here to Rodieo Bonito. We started encouraging her to read her bible again and to try to restart her study with one of the local sisters. Anna then started taking with me about wanting to visit New York (earlier she noted I was wasn't from Brazil and I said I was born in NYC). I told her some things she would want to try and see when she was in NYC. (Trying NY style pizza and checking out the stores in Times Square) As a thank you she key me choose a tie to take for free. Overall an awesome experience.
But that's it for today. The sun was oppressive and I'm tired so I'm going to take a nap before dinner. Till next time folks!

Sick as a dog...

Well I know it's been a while since I've posted anything and sorry about that. But it's kind of been a roller coaster the past couple of months. Trying to deal with homesickness and loneliness hasn't been easy but Jehovah and some good friends have been helping me out in that respect. Also every once in a while I've heard from some of my friends back home! Though it would be nice to hear from you guys more often... *hint* *hint*....

From left: Eros, Juliana, Chris W

As the title of this post brings out I've been sick for the past few days. Honestly I have no idea where it came from. On Saturday a group of us went out in service in Guarapari this past weekend. Guarapari is a city about an hour outside of Vitória (where I live). It's a beautiful city and the beach is so much better than Vitória's as you can see in the pictures below. Usually around this time a lot of people from Minas Gerais (the state to the left of mine) come down here to visit and the majority of people at the beach were Mineiros (people from Minas Gerais). We were able to find some foreigners in our ministry that day and later in the afternoon we spent some time with some friends of Chris W. They invited us to stay for lunch and dinner and for dinner they had brazillian barbeque (churrasco). Now here I got sick off of something. I can't figure out if it was the alcohol (it was pretty strong stuff... I wasn't used to it), the food, or something else that day. But something didn't go well with my stomach. So that took me out for a couple of days and really today is the first day I've been able to enjoy eating something. But today was a good day for another reason as well. I had made an appointment to do a return visit on this Chinese man at the mall this afternoon. When I got there I took a few moments to prepare off to the side. I was using the Good News brochure in chinese on my tablet and was trying to make sure I understood what the paragraphs were saying in my language before I went over it with him in Chinese (I'm going to have to start learning another language folks... smh). I had him read the paragraphs and then we discussed them a little bit. Though the discussion turned into the direction of his family and life here in Brazil and basically I just listened. I got to hear a little bit more about him and his family and what he's concerned about which of course is what we're trying to do anyway. We chatted for like 30-40 minutes and then he had to go to back to work. (he was on his break... you see he told me to come around a certain time which evidently was around his breaktime...) And I told him I would be back when I get back in town the following week. So the next time I'm going to be going back with something a bit different. Probably less on doctrinal matters and more on something based on what he's concerned about.
Also later on I was able to have another cool experience. I was on my way home and I walked past this hotel in my neighborhood and I noticed this guy sitting outside smoking. I knew by the way he looked he wasn't Brazilian but I wasn't sure about approaching him. However as I walked up past him a bit I figured I would go back and try to iniciate something but then when I turned around I noticed another guy there so now there were two guys. I was kinda nervous but I said a quick prayer got two tracts prepared and went back. I asked them if they were from around here and that's basically how the conversation started. They were both from Norway on business and the next day one of them would leave out on a ship for another destination. I got to tell them a bit about myself too and how I was here studying at the University. Then before leaving I got to leave both of them tracts which they both accepted. So it was a nice way to end the day don't you agree?
Well I'll stop here but I should be writing a bit more soon. Tomorrow I'm heading to Rio Grande do Sul (southern state in Brazil) where I will be meeting up with some friends who are doing some seldom worked territory in that state. I'll be sending experiences and pictures of course. Talk to you guys soon! Please keep in touch so a brotha don't feel like his fam forgot about him...

Sincerely,
Chris