It’s hard to believe another week has passed by. Things have been busy, with me being the only appointed brother here. I am looking forward to the arrival of the Sopels
Friday, and I’m sure everyone here is getting a little tired of always having to listen to me talk.
I had received an amazing bit of information this week. My sister who lives in Vermont had written to remark that after reading about our visit to Matthew’s Ridge and the different ones we met there, David Jackson was the person they had bought their house from many years ago. I knew they had mentioned it was witnesses who had lived there before, but either I had never heard their name, or if I did, had long since forgotten it. I wish I had known that when we were there, so I could have mentioned it to David.
That brings up another point. One thing we enjoy while here, is being able to hear from friends back home. I know I had mentioned last year that according to proper correspondance etiquette, every time you receive (read) a message from me, you are suppose to respond with a message from you. Now I’m not going to hold you all to that requirement, but, that’s just one more reason to think of sending a little note. Now it may be that someone had shared the site address with you, so you don’t have our email address. In that case, it’s jimbobnewton@msn.com. Not only do we enjoy hearing what’s going on with everyone else, but it gives me incentive to continue to post entries up when I know someone out there is reading them. I had looked to see if the service has a counter associated with it that can let me know how much the site is being accessed, but I could find no indication of that. So it’s nice when we get an email and you mention something you had read on the site.
Yesterday, (Saturday) I ended up just staying home. I had developed a rather nasty illness, very stuffed up head, scratchy throat, and general feeling of unwellness. It was raining most of the day, so I decided (or was told) that I should just stay in. I think the day of rest did some good because today I was feeling better, and so was able to give the talk and do the Watchtower with little discomfort.
Compton returned late yesterday afternoon from a week at Matthew’s Ridge. He said he thoroughly enjoyed himself, and was very impressed with the project and the people he met. Everyone who was there when we were there were still there, plus a few others had come. He mentioned that Mike Dahlquist left while he was there, and Mitch is leaving Monday, and then Chuck and Kallie, Luke, and David are leaving the 15th. So that will leave Richard Cruz, who’s staying for three months, Blake, who’s staying for six months, and Steven, who’s there for up to two years.
Compton mentioned while he was there, they had a ‘community’ work day where they invited those from the community to come and help with clean up and painting, and he said it was very well supported. That certainly bodes well for the success of the project there. He mentioned they had 47 in attendance for the meeting Sunday.
He brought back the flash memory that I had given him with a number of pictures on it. Unfortunately, I think Mike had been the one who had loaded the pictures, and he had left a few days before Compton, so I don’t have a picture showing the latest (of course even if I did, it wouldn’t be current now). As I mentioned paint has been applied since the latest picture I have. Compton said he was confident that by tomorrow the exterior will have been completed. There is still work left on interior walls, but at least the building will be secure.
This week’s pictures are one of the latest from the Ridge. If you look close you can see that the camp that had been to the left of the hall has been broken down, and everything was moved into the main building. Compton mentioned that he had stayed there the whole time. The other two pictures are from the territory here. One just is a typical scene with cows wandering around, and the other is a picture of a ditch along a road completely filled with bird-of-paradise flowers growing as weeds.
Hoping all are well and moving forward.
Friday, and I’m sure everyone here is getting a little tired of always having to listen to me talk.
I had received an amazing bit of information this week. My sister who lives in Vermont had written to remark that after reading about our visit to Matthew’s Ridge and the different ones we met there, David Jackson was the person they had bought their house from many years ago. I knew they had mentioned it was witnesses who had lived there before, but either I had never heard their name, or if I did, had long since forgotten it. I wish I had known that when we were there, so I could have mentioned it to David.
That brings up another point. One thing we enjoy while here, is being able to hear from friends back home. I know I had mentioned last year that according to proper correspondance etiquette, every time you receive (read) a message from me, you are suppose to respond with a message from you. Now I’m not going to hold you all to that requirement, but, that’s just one more reason to think of sending a little note. Now it may be that someone had shared the site address with you, so you don’t have our email address. In that case, it’s jimbobnewton@msn.com. Not only do we enjoy hearing what’s going on with everyone else, but it gives me incentive to continue to post entries up when I know someone out there is reading them. I had looked to see if the service has a counter associated with it that can let me know how much the site is being accessed, but I could find no indication of that. So it’s nice when we get an email and you mention something you had read on the site.
Yesterday, (Saturday) I ended up just staying home. I had developed a rather nasty illness, very stuffed up head, scratchy throat, and general feeling of unwellness. It was raining most of the day, so I decided (or was told) that I should just stay in. I think the day of rest did some good because today I was feeling better, and so was able to give the talk and do the Watchtower with little discomfort.
Compton returned late yesterday afternoon from a week at Matthew’s Ridge. He said he thoroughly enjoyed himself, and was very impressed with the project and the people he met. Everyone who was there when we were there were still there, plus a few others had come. He mentioned that Mike Dahlquist left while he was there, and Mitch is leaving Monday, and then Chuck and Kallie, Luke, and David are leaving the 15th. So that will leave Richard Cruz, who’s staying for three months, Blake, who’s staying for six months, and Steven, who’s there for up to two years.
Compton mentioned while he was there, they had a ‘community’ work day where they invited those from the community to come and help with clean up and painting, and he said it was very well supported. That certainly bodes well for the success of the project there. He mentioned they had 47 in attendance for the meeting Sunday.
He brought back the flash memory that I had given him with a number of pictures on it. Unfortunately, I think Mike had been the one who had loaded the pictures, and he had left a few days before Compton, so I don’t have a picture showing the latest (of course even if I did, it wouldn’t be current now). As I mentioned paint has been applied since the latest picture I have. Compton said he was confident that by tomorrow the exterior will have been completed. There is still work left on interior walls, but at least the building will be secure.
This week’s pictures are one of the latest from the Ridge. If you look close you can see that the camp that had been to the left of the hall has been broken down, and everything was moved into the main building. Compton mentioned that he had stayed there the whole time. The other two pictures are from the territory here. One just is a typical scene with cows wandering around, and the other is a picture of a ditch along a road completely filled with bird-of-paradise flowers growing as weeds.
Hoping all are well and moving forward.
