Just when we thought we were finished with rainy season, we have had over a week of rain every day. As a result, I went to Kaituma in the back of a truck on Wednesday. One nice benefit was on the way there I got to see my first live ‘tiger’. We were driving along and I was watching the area beside the road and as we passed an area where there wasn’t a lot of bush, so you could see the ground, I realized that I was looking at a ‘tiger’. The pattern of it blended in so well with the background. I said to everyone in the back of the truck, “Did you see the tiger?!” But no one else had. They call them tigers here, but they are jaguars, or ocelots, or some other member of the cat family. The one I saw was between three and four feet long without the tail. I was surprised at the color because it was a tawny brown with black spots. When I mentioned it to some here, they said that is what is known as a deer tiger.I am thinking that the recent spell of rain may be what the locals call ‘rain from the moon’. For some reason, it seems to rain around the full and new moons. I speculate it may be because then are the highest tides, and that may put more water in areas, allowing for more evaporation. Regardless of the reason, I realized that my schedule of visiting Kaituma now corresponds to the new and full moon, so if it’s going to rain, it will be when I am trying to go there. Consequently, I have decided to go to Kaituma two Wednesdays in a row to get the schedule to be between the moons. Last week with the rain, I only had Monica and Caroline come to the study. And since I had to go with a truck, I wasn’t able to stop and spend time with some of those in Falls Top.We recently added to our inventory of ground transportation. We have purchased a bicycle. I had spoken to Stephan about it. I mentioned I thought it might be useful for when we needed to go to the market area to pick something up, or we wanted to see if the Post Office was open, that instead of a 10-15 minute walk each way, it would be much quicker on a bike. We could also use it to get to some of our studies that are along the road. He said he had considered it, but had never chosen to act on it. We decided to get one and split the cost. It worked well. Friday I had a study that Krystal had started with a young man, then I had to get to my study with James, then I had made arrangement with one of my studies to take me into the bush to where a cousin of his lives to preach to him. Normally it takes me twenty five minutes to walk out to James’ study, but I made it in less than ten with the bike. Not surprisingly, the bike is of not very good quality, so we well have to wait and see how it holds up. When you see most people here riding bikes, you see then putting their foot against the wheel to slow down, as the brakes usually are the first thing to fail.Last week I had mentioned a study I had been told Sherwin had started, and I was going to take Eugene. It turned out it wasn’t a study. The man is a Seventh Day Adventist, and he had wanted to discuss our belief. Of course the thing he wanted to discuss was the Sabbath. We tried to reason with him on it, but he wasn’t really wanting to hear us, rather he wanted to explain to us why the Sabbath was so important to observe. After we got back to Eugene’s, he mentioned a few scriptures that he found that could have been used. I told him if he wanted to go back and try to share them, he was welcome to do so, and maybe the man would be more inclined to listen to him.I had asked about their view of the trinity, and he said that while Jesus and Jehovah we two different entities, they could do nothing apart from each other. I asked him if that were true, how was it Jesus could be referred to as ‘the only-begotten son? That title indicates that Jehovah had created Jesus all by himself. Obviously Jesus couldn’t have been there when Jehovah was creating him, so Jehovah had acted alone. Of course, he had no response to that.I have been working again to make territory maps showing each individual house, so that we will have a way to keep track of those who are not at home when we are working an area. As of now, they are just left until the next time we work that territory. Having accurate maps will serve two purposes. It will allow us to be more thorough in working the territory, and it will also slow down how quickly we are covering all our walking territory. Terri had recently mentioned that if we were able to get a vehicle, then instead of just Stephan and I being able to work some of the more distant territories, we could take a group out, and make a nice day of it. That also would allow those in the more distant territories to see someone other than just white people out in the preaching work. We will have to make it a matter of prayer, and see what Jehovah may do.The picture this week is of our newest student on the school, Sonia Scott, giving her first talk. Also, since all good serials need a little suspense to keep everyone coming back, I will mention that Sunday after the meeting, Stephan and I sat with another young person who has asked to be one the school. Rather than tell everyone who it was, I will just say, keep checking the blog and in a few weeks you may learn who it was. In the meantime, here’s hoping Jehovah’s continued blessings be with you. You are in our prayers.
