My first day I landed in Kingston Jamaica and the heat and humidity hit me like a wall. I was sweating so much I was afraid that I would just melt into a little mud puddle before I got to meet anybody. Fortunately, the brother picked me up from the airport before I melted, and we took the 1 1/2 drive to the branch office. Wish I could say more about the drive, but I was basically asleep the whole time. First impressions? Crazy drivers, driving on the other side of the road and not exactly what I would call friendly to pedestrians. O well, I woke up just in time to feel the bumpy road on the way to the branch.
I didn't get a good picture of the office itself, but this pic above is the Kingdom Hall that is on the branch property, also where the Bethel family meets on Monday nights for Watchtower study. There is also a beautiful outdoor Assembly hall for the congregations in the area.
On the tour, I was told that the branch has about 40 regular members and another 20 commuters come by 2-3 times a week to assist with some of the caring for the family and maintenance on the buildings. On the tour, we met a family visiting from France. It was a sister about my age and her aunt and uncle. (Left side of the table) I could have sworn that the two sisters were Indian, but before I had the chance to ask, I found out that they were actually natives of Madagascar! The other Jamaican sister was Sister Nelson, who took her nephew with her on the tour. She is encouraging him to get reactivated in the truth, and he was very impressed by the tour. The light-skinned sister at the far end of the table is Abigail, the Bethelite that guided us on the tour. She is originally from Los Angeles. The first time I met her was when she was housekeeping. When I told her I would be here for 4 months, she said 'you are just going to die from this heat.'
Oh boy.
Fortunately, my room was air-conditioned, so when I couldn't stand the heat, I just flipped on the a/c and cooled the room down. Speaking of my room, check this out:
Monday was awesome. I met with Brother Woody Corbin, a brother who is a native of California and had been assigned to Jamaica 20 years ago after graduating from MTS. (He is the brother who first encouraged me to write to the Jamaican Branch about Hindi) Along with another brother from the Service Department, they gave me some good counsel and encouragement for my assignment.
Later that evening was Watchtower study with the Bethel family, which was pretty cool because unlike at the U.S branch, where brothers are given weekly assignments to comment, here anyone in the audience can participate. After the Watchtower, Brother Georges, who was originally a member of the Brooklyn Bethel family, gave a lecture called "Your Brother Will Rise", a beautiful talk based on the resurrection of Lazarus. There was hardly a dry eye in the audience when it was done.
Tuesday I took the 4 hour bus ride to Montego Bay, where I would start my preaching and congregation activity. So exciting!
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