A letter to keep...

I have a book. It was a blank notebook that was given to me from a dear friend some time ago. I love paper ( I have worked in the paper industry for over 20 years in my secular work) and hence love all kinds of stationery and printed pieces.

Anyway I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with this notebook, but I came across an experience where a sister wrote down all the good things where she felt Jehovah had helped her. Whilst I am still yet to get arround to this project decided to write phrases from talks, watchtowers and co'visits and assemblies, which I wanted to remember and reflect on.

For instance this quote " Everyone is busy. Sometimes we can be busy doing nothing." Bro Jeff Jackson - Zone Overseers Talk 2013 (1 Cor15:58) and so on.

I use this book whenever I'm feeling down or discouraged and I flick through the pages and see what new encouragement it can give me. When I started pioneering I added my Letter of Appointment.

Today I'm adding a new letter. My letter of invitation to my very first pioneer school in July!  I'm so happy right now, but you wouldnt guess it with all my tears!  LOL!

Anyway here's a glimpse of my special book, I love what I wrote in the opening page, never had I imagined when I started this book (back in 2007) did I have any idea what Jehovah had in store for me. 

".....God makes it grow"

Super excited about a couple of things that have happened over the last couple of weeks so I will start from yesterday and work my way back.

Yesterday I got treated to a wonderful 1hour body massage! So spoiled I know after witnessing my Shan booked me in while he got the kids from school then came picked me up to go to dinner. (Yes I was spoiled)

On the way I asked Axel, our 8 yr old how his day was he said yeh fine and then he paused and said oh yeah I have to tell you something that happened at school. With a feeling of panic I glanced at my husband and he said, "oh I think you might like this."

He started off by saying that there had been some issues in his class with kids making friends and his teacher had asked the class how you can make friends. After some discussion the teacher went over to her laptop and the projector. Axel said he noticed the JW.ORG site on her lap top and then he said she put on the "Whats a Real Friend"! Yep you read that correctly - she played it for all 25 children in the class!

It turns out that she spoke with another witness mum what they could do while the other kids do easter projects and of course our sister directed her to the website!

I had spoken to his teacher soon after all the JW.ORG mags were distributed and she confided that her best friend grew up as a witness and I just wonder if the two have been having conversations?

So the title of this entry is based on 1 Cor:3:7 ..."so that neither is the one who plants anything nor is the one who waters, but God makes it grow"

Next exciting piece  - We finally got our Public witnessing stand out and placed 2 books YAY! Still need to research best areas and we have ordered another 2 stands so we can have a set up in Yanchep area. It was a little funny not looking to make conversation with anyone (so unlike me) but I guess it's all part of the learning experience.

He's a pic of me and Shan in the park opposite the primary school. As you can tell it was a windy afternoon, well actually believe it or not PERTH is ranked one of the windiest cities in the world!

Other exciting news is that one of my bible studies came to her first meeting on Sunday! Well technically not first.. you see she used to study in Melbourne, for about 4 years but moved to Perth about 8 months ago. Anyway to cut a long story short the brothers found her whilst in the door to door work and handed her on to me. She is Chinese but studies in English with her Chinese bible on hand. Anyway she answered up at the meeting! WOW wasn't prepared for that but WOW!

She mentioned that her husband has taken the day off to attend our memorial, I discussed possibilities of him studying too which she said he'd like to but being a Chef has a hard time with his hrs, but was looking another job. Currently she only comes on a Sunday because she works Tuesday nights, so I tactfully brought up the subject of meeting attendance as she has stated she wants to get baptised. I think this only came to me as that morning I had just finished reading A Missionary's Life blog  "The 1 Day Wedding" where Peter stated to one of his studies that Hebrews 10: 24-25 is "biblical requirement"   (http://ilynca.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/the-1-day-wedding.html)

She agreed and said that her husband had been applying for jobs and thats when I suggested they pray together about the matter. I reasoned with her that Satan does not want her or her husband to study or come to meetings and perhaps they would find another job, possibly one with more money but not allow the meeting nights off. I suggested that by asking for Jehovahs direction first, this may help.

She was so excitied she said that she had been so anxious about what to do but she said she would talk to her husband when he came home and pray about it with him! She is so sweet she looked at me and the other sister and said " Reading and learning about Jehovah makes me so happy!"  I think we all had tears in our eyes.

Again the title of this entry is based on 1 Cor:3:7 ..."so that neither is the one who plants anything nor is the one who waters, but God makes it grow"

Funtastic Fridays

Ahhh... the long awaited visit from our new CO - it's been 12 months since we had a visit and needless to say we have all been eargerly anticipating his visit. So on tuesday night we got to finally meet Warren Reynolds and his lovely wife Leann. Also visiting were Leann's parents Claire and Adrian from Rockhapton Qld. 

We had the pleasure of having them come for dinner on wednesday night along with Leann's parents. Here's a pic of us enjoying the sunset. 

From the left Claire, Adriane (behind) Leann, Warren (behind) me, Shannon and Joel.










Thursday night's talk had an impact on me, I was emotionaly and physically exhuasted from mum's appointment at the Dr's. In a nutshell mum's condition is deteriorating and I think it had hit home it's only going to get worse not better. 

His talk had to do with unrealistic expectations of Jehovah and touched on the drama we had at the last convention where both the daughter and the father of the sister had died in a car crash.
He mentioned that we should not think we are entitled to divine intervention because we are Jehovahs people, rather we are all victims of cirumstances and discussed the account of Mephibosheth who had had truly set a sterling example by enduring disability and disappointment.—2 Samuel 19:24-30. 

He highlighted Hebrews 6:10, which I had recited to mum the week before saying that Jehovah would never forget her loyaty and faith to him and in the years she pioneered and that Jehovah did not think any less because she was not able to what she had done before. 

We all face trying circumstances some direct and others indirectly and this was a great reminder to focus on what we can do and not dwell on what we cant' after all Jehovah knows this too.

Wednesday morning was a good start - we even got a chance to stop for morning tea!

Friday, was a great morning of alternate witnessing and we were in a car load of 5, assigned with Sis Leann for business territory. Others were assigned park and beach witnessing, - our car load alone placed 128 magazines in just an hour! Hence the title FUNTASTIC fridays as this will be a regual fortnightly occurance in our friday group (haha btw, our friday group is always the most fun!)

Saturday morning we had 100 publishers out! Just check out the photo of the group!

Saturday afternoon was our pioneer meeting which auxillary pioneers were also welcomed along which gave us all a good boost.

Warren and Leann were both Missionaries on circuit work in Papau New Guinea and stopped about 2 years ago because of health reasons - Warren had contracted Maleria 11 times and Leann had contracted a flesh eating disease and so went back to Sydney for treatment. Leann was that ill that when medical staff saw her they estimated she had 8 hours to live! Fortunately a team of students and professors worked on her case and found the right antibiotic in time and were able to stop it from spreading! 

Though they have recovered they are not well enough to return to PNG, hence have been assigned circuit work in Australia and assigned to our circuit.

For a little snippet of their life you can read about them in the 2011 year book here http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1200274323/105/0 

Warren presented a slide show at the kingdom on Saturday night highlighting some of their adventures! (see the photo's further down) Hearing and seeing some of their experiences was amazing, and what it demonstrated to me was you can do anything in Jehovah's strength if you really want to. 

Poor Zaskia, one of our auxillary pioneer sisters fractured her ankle while trying to save her little dog from another dog the night before but made it to the slide show!

All week Warren had been suggested that the we have a light super after the slide show and had hinted...(I counted 16 times) that the sisters make PAVALOVA. This is an Aussie favourite and after 13years missionary service eating anything from yams to grubs and fish,  I guess he was making up for lost time or lost PAVALOVA!

Some of the different PAVALOVA's (I made the up the chocolate one in the top right hand corner - yes I cheated and bought the base....)

I'm guessing by the smiles they are enjoying their PAV!

JW.ORG mags

Just a quick post here - a cool eperience to relate!

The kids started at the brand new school with state of the art computers and WIFI, just down the road from our place last week and it got me thinking. New school new principle and all new teachers so I decided to make an appointment to see the principle. When I met with him I explained that we are Jehovahs Witnesses and that there were a number of children within the community who attend the school who are also Jehovahs' Witnesses (from our cong!)

I asked if he knew much about us. He related he knew very little so I proceeded to present the January 2014 AWAKE! edition - JW.ORG - A Unique Web Site. I said quite often people have misconceptions of who we are and what we beleive they just know we dont celebrate XMAS birthdays and Easter  ect but they don't know why. I mentioned that this website would enable the teachers to research why we dont participate in certain celebrations but in addition understand what we actually teach in our own families.
I then took my IPAD out and said I would quickly demonstrate who easy it was to navigate and showed him a sample of the articles. He then interupted and said, can I just click on this one? -he clicked on "How to deal with Tantrums" and proceeded to read the article, I then highlighted some of the suggestions in the article like "Stay Calm"... and explained that each is backed up with a bible scripture as we base all our beliefs on the bible.
He said this information was good and was something a professional in the field would suggest. He then says " Is it at all possible I can keep this copy, in fact I would like to give one out to every teacher and suggest they use the site as a resource". If possible I would like 16 copies and I will present it to them on Tuesday at the staff meeting".....

So that was yesterday and after a few phone calls and scavanging frantically at the group this morning I collected 16 copies and delivered them with this letter this afternoon.

Dear Mr xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your time yesterday and for allowing me to demonstrate the JW.ORG website.

Just a quick reminder under the section About Us you will notice a section on the left hand side “Frequently Asked Questions” - this is where you will find many answers to questions such as “Why Don’t You Celebrate Christmas” and other common questions.

Some of the topics featured in the teenager section of the website have been extremely popular featuring articles such as “What if I am being Bullied” and a whiteboard animation entitled “Beat a Bully without using your fists” which offer practical and tried methods.

With over 890,000 unique visitors everyday around the world I encourage you and your staff to explore it regularly as it is updated constantly with new and interesting topics based on the bible and offered for free.

If you should have any other questions or require additional copies, please let me know.

Best Regards

How cool was that!  

It's all in the planning!

Finally! The kids went back to school - and believe it or not I miss them out in the ministry with me. I know crazy huh? But a few older brothers and sisters have come up to me this week and asked where they were and actually missed them too! At dinner I passed on their sentiments to Axel and Mikalya and they assured me that they plan to be out next holidays.

Needless to say I'm moving along in the planning stage so the next couple of months I will be playing catch up. Speaking of planning I have been researching (PINTEREST) ideas for Melbourne International Convention and cute gifts for delegates - see some of my hand made ideas here http://www.pinterest.com/urbanfresh/hand-made-gifts/

If you dont have pinterest check out some of these ideas!

Cookies! Everybody loves cookies!

I liked this too - could do seasoned salts....

Other ideas were map bangles/necklace or magnets I also like the idea of a luggage tag with a note inside and the Convention details printed on it.... I also saw fabric tract holders for our new tracts! My girfriend Blanche is making handmade soap and wrapping it in delighteful paper! So many ideas must have the sisters around and have a crafting session and make a plan...

So remember my call Joan? Ok well I called back on her and her house is under offer so she will be moving! I know! Anyway I took the goodnews brochure and said to her that she will need some reading material as she travels around Australia for 6 months before deciding where to live. I said "You know Joan Jehovahs Witnesses are everywhere and they will find you if you want to be found," and she replied "I know Kris I know"... It was then we some how got on the subject of blood and this is the experience she related to me..

Joan said" I must tell you something Kris, when I was in the hospital giving birth to Denella, it got complicated and I had to have a Ceasa and I lost a lot of blood... All I remember the Dr saying was what ever you do don't give her a blood transfusion (in a typical aussie accent) coz shes a Jehovahs' Witness. Well later when the nurse asked me she said I didnt know you where a Jehovahs' Witness - I said I'm not" ... I think there's something in that Kris "
Im going to miss Joan but we've promised to keep in touch via email - hopefully our friendship will pave a way for Appolos to water and Jehovah to make it grow - it may not happen over night but it will happen, it's all in the planning......

Hot weather, kids and issues.........

Where has the month gone? It's been busy here with the kids on summer holidays (in Australia kids finish late december and start the school year - 3rd Feb) and it's been a challenge for the ministry.
It's summer and it's hot! Last week it was a continuos 110 for 6 days - too hot for door to door especially with Axel and Mikayla but on the cooler days they have been doing really well, even if it's just for an hour or two and Mikayla is now my nominated scribe to take NAH's.

A couple of other things have popped up including organising assistance for my mum who has early stages of Alzeheimers. I live 45 minutes away and I am the only one of my sibblings in the truth hence there is an added dimesion to her care. We are trying to get her to stay as long as we can in her home, which she is still quite capable of doing but we know that the disease gets worse, hence are starting to prepare ourselves and mum. So she will have some one pop in a couple of days a week, and help run errands and be in the garden with her, and if I know mum it will give her an opportunity to witness informally!

This month was also very special as my best friends daughter (15yrs) was baptized, I watched how her mum sobbed with joy - certainly there is no greater joy than seeing your child make a dedication to Jehovah and I am so proud of my two older sons.

My highlight this month was our pioneer meeting with the elders today... I've kind of been a little down because I'm behind in my hours and actually had a melt down this morning. Thanks to my ever patient husband he reassured me that Jehovah was not concerned with how many hours I had but the difference I was making to the lives of people I was meeting that otherwise would not have met if I had not pioneered. This point was reiterated at the meeting this afternoon when the elder said he'd was given all our hours for review. I had to fight back the tears when he said that he did not feel it encouraging or of any benefit to discuss hours as we all had issues we are all dealing with and that he was personally encouraged by each of our efforts and Jehovah knows all our circumstances and what we have been facing.

So as much as I loved taking the kids out in the ministry with me, I am looking forward to getting back into a routine when they start school on the 3rd!!

Part of the Crew

Just thought I would post some pics taken today out witnessing - we had 10 out in our group which consisted of 5 pioneers.

Here is a view of our typical territory...

And then of course we live on the coast so we couldn't help take some snap shots as we did Rv's

He's a pic of me and Joel ( my son)

and Darren Curtis and Joel