Final Byes + Circuit Overseer Visit

Last night with Carol and Jaime

Tuesday night began the visit of our Circuit Overseer and his wife, Brother and Sister Madden.  After an awesome talk on Tuesday, a group of us headed back to the house to say our last goodbyes to Carol and Jaime and help them pack and clean.  I thank them so much for adopting me as their brother and showing me the ropes these last couple weeks.  We stayed up late looking at pictures, talking and laughing, and just generally having an awesome time.  Be safe ladies! Fir Milenge! I’ll see you later!

Wednesday began the service week, and my first door-to-door work in English service in forever.  So of course my partner for the morning was none other than Brother Madden himself.  I told him that I was a bit nervous since not only was I preaching in English, but I was also preaching in another country.  His response? ‘Well, fortunately you have down the most important part.  You actually speak English.’

Yeah that's true.

Stephen and Liane Madden

It turned out that I had no reason to be nervous, because Jamaican people in general are friendly and willing to stop for several minutes and have a discussion.  They are also religious-minded people, so you have to be on your P’s and Q’s and be ready for intense Bible discussion at every door.  The contrast from preaching in English in the U.S. is huge; there is not so much pressure to ‘get to the point quickly’ and there are a lot of return visits and studies in the territory (not to mention the 15-20 interested ones that regularly attend the meetings).  I found myself getting worried on a few occasions thinking that we were overstaying our welcome, only to find that the householder didn’t want us to leave, and was not worried about us staying too long.  (Still working on not thinking like an American)

Overlooking Flankers. Airport and beach in the background

Much of the congregation territory is in a neighborhood called Flankers, the worst neighborhood in the entire city.  It also happens to be the home of our Kingdom Hall.  Mom, before you start panicking, just know that everyone in the area knows about the Kingdom Hall and they respect Jehovah’s Witnesses and so it’s safe enough for us.  As a matter of fact, quite a few of the English studies attending are from Flankers, and the territory overall has tons of potential.  (As a side note, the reports about how dangerous Jamaica is have been greatly exaggerated.  I’ve found that as long as you are friendly with passerby, stay close with the friends, and don’t draw unnecessary attention to yourself, everything is fine.  In fact, people here in general are very friendly and helpful.)

A group of publishers

The neighborhood itself is in pretty bad shape, most of the houses are pretty run down and the roads are awful—filled with rocks and boulders, potholes, or impassable by car because of mud or overgrown by plant life.  I wanted to get more shots of the territory, but I didn’t want to draw too much attention in that neighborhood.  Another problem is that many families in the area are getting their electricity illegally, so it’s best not to be flashing the camera everywhere, in case they confuse us with public services.  In the words of Brother Madden, in this neighborhood it’s best to “smile, see no evil, and hear no evil.”  Even still, it’s such a beautiful city, taken as a whole.  I’m going to try to do English service once a month or so, just to be able to work with different friends and get into the heart of the city that I don’t see in Hindi service.