WHEW!!

It was brought to our attention that we kinda just left everyone hanging :) Whoops.

We just wanted to complete our Antigua blog...that's right, for those of you that don't know we are back in Colorado. We got back on the 2nd of March after spending a few days at the branch in Puerto Rico. It was a nice ending to a great project.

We were able to finish up 99.9% of the work in Antigua before we left and there was one couple who didn't leave 'til the second week in March, so we had to leave something for them to do.

Time flew by on this project!

Life back in Denver? We hit the ground running. Dana got a call from her job while we were in the airport asking her to come in the next day, at 6:30am!! As for Spencer, they technically "re-organized" and eliminated his position, but his boss wanted him back no matter what, so they made Spencer a different offer. Less hours and a little bit of a different type of work. Can you say "blessing"??? Definitely smiling ear to ear.

With the Memorial season upon us we probably won't be able to catch our breath, but we're not complaining. It's good to be back and see all the smiling faces in Chatfield congregation. Plus it's a nice privilege to get to see and hear the buzz of excitement of all who are going to be pioneering in April. What an awesome privilege.

We've already relayed this experience to some but, while we were in Puerto Rico they were having their zone visit. We got to hear a few morning worships, the special talk to the friends and the special talk to the bethel family! One of the points that was so endearing was in regards to the decision to allow brothers and sisters to auxiliary for 30 hours. The brother pointed out, a big reason for this change was to allow Bethelites an opportunity to extend themselves during the special season. He said a few Governing Body members have already signed up!

Even though we're tired and worn out, we just feel so content and happy, which we're sure you all can agree with us. It's hard to explain, but the more tired equals the more happy. Happy 'cause you know you're making a difference- no matter what you have done. Everything and everyone makes a difference and the work wouldn't get done without everyone's part!!

We hope we will cross paths with everyone soon. Continue to keep in touch- we love hearing what everyone is doing!

Love the Mays

A final pic from the "family" in Antigua

Pig's Feet and Coconut Dumplings

Can you believe it!? We're almost done with our assignment!! It seems like just yesterday we we're leaving behind the 4 degree temps and stepping out into the heavy sea air shedding our coats. It has flown by. But we can't wait to see you all when we get back!

But until then...now on to the pigs feet. That's right, we didn't think we're going to have an strange foods here, but in the past few weeks we had a few dishes that would raise some eyebrows. Hence the pigs feet. The sisters make it like a stew with red beans. Surprisingly we both had finished eating it when we were told what it was :)-

Here is a typical dish we have for lunch- chicken and rice is a must. The green on the left is Callaloo. Callaloo is like slimy spinach puree- it's served as a soup. They say it just made from "greens." Which are the green leaves of a bush, typically a Callaloo bush, but is known by different names in different places, so you can't get a straight answer from any of the sisters. The grayish item on the bottom of the plate is cooked taro root. They cook it with salted fish and oil til it's soft and mushy- kinda like a boiled potato, with salted fish. Next to the chicken on the top of the plate is a mixture of small potatoes and pig fat cooked with curry. And on the right of that is a potato salad, which always contains corn. Always.

 This is a nice dessert a sister made, a coconut tart with real whipped cream.

  

Below is a coconut dumpling. It's essentially that- a dumpling made with coconut, very dense and chewy. You spoon over it a salted fish mixture made with chili oil.

Wanted to send an update from the pomegranate pictures we posted...here's the fruit from the pomegranate picked right from the tree. It's really light pink, huh?

As for the work- here we are painting the large garage, which was our last big painting project. We've been getting into some oil paint now- handrails, windows, etc.

We found a little friend in the hinges of the gate

There's been a lot of maintenance work while we've been here and one of the jobs was emptying the cistern and cleaning it. We got to see one of the views few ever get to see.

Pretty interesting and a little eerie.

 We went to a beach last weekend by the famous Antigua black pineapple grove. They're not in season so we had to look them up online to really understand why they are called, "black pineapples." They are not actually black just dark green and apparently give off the appearance of being black. These plants have been cut back for new growth.

We found a pic online of the pineapple. A sister here said she really doesn't understand why they're called black pineapples...

Missing everyone. Hope everyone is good. Thinking about you all!

A Special Visit

This past Sunday we had the privilege to attend the special talk given by the zone overseer, well, sort of attend.

For those who don’t know, a zone overseer is like a circuit overseer but instead of going to individual congregations every couple of months, a zone overseer will go to the various branches once every 1-2 years. A zone overseer really helps in making sure that everything is running unified and iron out any wrinkles. Or the brother can recommend any changes or see to it that the areas are getting taken care of.

It’s amazing to see the unity and the lengths that are taken to make sure that Jehovah’s organization is taken care of.

Anyways, so these brothers go to various regions (even the United States branch gets a visit) and they usually give a service talk to all that can attend, or fit into an auditorium. For this region, since the Antigua branch is closing, they are a part of the 11 islands that are now under the direction of the branch in Barbados, so the overseer was in Barbados and his talk was broadcast to the other islands via Skype.

That’s right via Skype…so try picturing seeing the convention or the assembly taking place in the Green center in Golden, CO and your at your kingdom hall and are watching it on a projection screen. Thank goodness for technology.

So Sunday morning all congregations met together at the assembly hall in Antigua:

As with any connection that has to span across multiple islands and miles of ocean, it’s not perfect. We lost connection a couple of times, but every time the audience waited patiently and soon the connection was back.

The talk was also translated for the deaf

Can we just say, we thoroughly enjoyed the talk! It was sooooo good!! We wanted to share some of the points we enjoyed. (There are like three pages of typed notes, which would be a HUGE blog!!! So only some points :)-)

The brother that came down was Brother Suranco (that’s probably not the way it’s spelled…) from the writing department and he gave the part, “Endurance that Wins God’s Approval”

He started by giving the definition of endurance from the pioneer-school book, “continuing under hardship without being overcome” He discussed how we have a long distance ahead of us with lots of obstacles, but a prize that is worth keeping focused on, everlasting life. Heb. 12:1, “…run with endurance the race before us…”

So he offered an illustration to formulate how long and hard this race will be: a triathlon.

The original triathlon was in 1978, the Iron Man, in Hawaii. It consists of a swimming portion, that is 4 kilometers, bicycling, that is 180 kilometers, and a running portion, that is 42 kilometers. There is a time limit of 17 hours, but anyone, anyone, who crosses the finish line during that time, can call themselves an Iron Man.

...He then gave parallels with the various parts of the race to that of the life of a Christian. Like with the Swimming leg, in the race it’s the most crowded and chaotic time. You have to not only deal with all the people, but the open sea, the current, the salt and the fish/sharks. The parallel: we are in Satan’s sea, its crowded, it’s chaotic, we are shoulder to should with non-believers, and they try and crowd us out, push us down. Like with peer pressure from school or non-witnesses in the family- it’s like swimming in polluted water.

...he gave some brief examples, Br King, Br Jones and Sis Ewny (spelling?), and how they all had to endured the Chinese prisons for taking their stand. The sister spent 20 years in prison and even had to give up her child. But she never felt abandon. She made Jehovah so real at times she felt she could see him. Br. Suranco then said, “Christian women are to be commended because they endure trials that most men wouldn’t be able to endure briefly.”

He emphasis that we shouldn’t have to go through extreme measures to find or take a job. “Our job is to seek the kingdom first, God’s job is to take care of us, if we try to do God’s job we will fail.” Ps. 55:22, “Throw you burden on Jehovah…”

...The bicycle part of the race is 180 kilometers and the participant faces a whole new set of challenges. Heat, head winds, uphill climbs, falls, bike failure…we as Christians have to pick up our book bag and face a different set of issues, indifference, being alone, weather, various territories…”mind over mattress”…there are no exceptions, every Christian must participate in the ministry.

...he read a Jewish proverb about endurance..."Pray that you never have to suffer all that you are able to endure"

So that's just a few of the awesome points that we heard- there are sooooooooooo much more but we didn't want to write a novel (wink wink)

Keep warm everyone! Miss you all- lots of hugs. Thank you to those who have kept us in the loop!!

Blue, A Hundred Different Hues

Yesterday (Saturday) we got the opportunity to see Antigua from the sea.  

A brother took a group of us out on his boat...it was so nice! Not only did we get to see Antigua from a different view, but there are hundreds of tiny islands peeking their heads up from the sea all over.

We started out by going to a small one called Maiden's Island and got to see a ton of starfish!! All different colors and sizes- so cool.

We headed to Bird Island,known for all the birds that set up their nest and live there, but the birds were off migrating elsewhere...the water was so warm and clear. We did some snorkeling and saw a ton of different fish and all kinds of coral.

 We tried for a group pic... :)

We just got back from the zone visit and have so much to relay!!! We'll save it for our next post, can't give all in one post... Hope everyone is staying warm. 

Hugs from the Mays.