Ok, so have you ever visited somewhere new and someone asks you where you are from and you tell them and them they ask you if know such and such?? (we always get asked if we know someone in Sydney - although we have never lived in Sydney!) So we never ask anyone if they know any one.
Two weeks ago we had a couple from Vancouver visiting, they were visiting a cousin who is not in the truth but both her and her husband came along to the meeting. I have been making it an earnest goal of mine to talk to visitors and so after the meeting introduced myself and Shannon. Well we started chatting and invited them to dinner during the week. We exchanged numbers and made arrangements.
Audrey called a few days later and had told me that her cousin has a deep love for the bible and was impressed with our meeting and how the children answered. She had hoped that she could encourage her small church to do the same. Anyway we chatted further and I had this urge to ask her if she know this family friend - well it turns out they have been friends since they were teenagers and they know Shannon's parents! So they came arround for dinner and Audrey asked me to call on her cousin when they went back ( they left last week) I said she was technically out of our territory by 4 houses but because of the many "coincidences" including them coming to our meeting, Audrey knowing a family friend... I promised I would take another pioneer sister from our cong and we would pop in.
Well today we called in to see Jenny and Andy and they are just lovely. Jenny was busy knitting dolls for an African project for children and I mentioned that I had a HUGE bag of unwanted wool. After some chatter we managed to turn it into a bible discussion and I left her with the Bible Teach book with a promise of returning with wool and to further our bible discussion!
This month has been super busy with the campaign and we are on a mission to finish of our entire territory (about 65 maps) Some great discussions have arisen. I had an experience today where I met a young women who grew up in the truth but her family stopped going to meetings when she was about 12. It came up that her father passed away 10 years ago and had been inactive due to "humanly issues" as she put it. I sympathized with her and said there have been many changes in the way things are handled and said that Jehovah uses imperfect people to deliver a perfect message. I asked her if she believed in the resurrection and she said yes. I then re counted the story of Lazarus and how Jesus gave way to tears - not because Lazarus was dead but because he saw how Martha was grieving and explained that Jehovah is the God of all comfort. She was clearly touched and I asked her if she had a bible. She replied no so I pointed out the JW.org website on the back of the leaflet and said I could come back and show her some of the features including some great videos for the kids which she was excited about (I didn't have my ipad with me!) She then asked me if it had an online bible! I assured her I would be back and we could further our discussion.
Not a bad day in a territory full of "I'm not interested".....
Here's a Picture of our new found friends Audrey and Doug.
