The Need Greaters Assembly

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So, on Sunday, November 16th 684 ¨Need Greater´s¨or self-supporting missionaries, gathered together for a special assembly in English. All the talks are catered to the needs of foreigners who are serving here.

For one thing, the fact that we had nearly 700 in attendance was astonishing! In the past there would be 300 to 400. Jehovah God is certainly speeding things up. And what support He gives to us!

One talk was especially precious. It went along the theme of ¨Don't Let Go!¨. The whole talk highlighted the story of Jacob and his grappling with the angel in order to recieve a blessing (Genesis 32). When you read that account you realize that Jehovah saw his desire and gave him the strength, not to beat up the angel, but, to keep holding on. Jehovah let Jacob struggle and experince pain but, in the end, he recieved a huge blessing, that of assurance of Jehovah's unfailing support.

Another point was that Jacob's life wasn't all ¨rosie¨. In fact when you really look at it, he had many hardships. His brother tried to kill him twice, his treacherous father-in-law, who he had to slave for for 20 years, gave him the wrong wife, his daughter was raped, then his sons kill, not only the rapist but, the whole city. Was his life just one depressing event, one failure after another? NO! The speaker mentioned that: ¨Failure is not fatal. One gains depth¨. Really, with all these hardships it was impressed upon Jacob again and again that strength is from Jehovah. So, don't expect that serving as a missionary is just on fabulous day after another, you'll have your ups and downs but, just keep holding on, you'll get the blessing.

Some other highpoints where a few of the experiences related concerning the growth here. For example, in the north there is a group getting starting for Haitian Kriol. There are currently 10 people supporting the preaching work there. But, for the Memorial of Christ death there were 274 in attendance!

Also, in the capital they have just started a English congregation. There are about 25 attending but suprisingly they're finding many interested people. Who are they talking to? Well, they look specifically for people that are more comfortable speaking English than Spanish (Many Dominicans are bi-lingual but, especially if they grew up in the states, feel more comfortable speaking English). They also have set up a Bible study program in the prisons. Why? Well, this is what often happens: Domincans are raised in New York never coming to the DR, never learning Spanish. They commit a crime, often something as simple as shoplifting and are deported to the DR with no knowledge of life here or the langauge. This is all very difficult ofcourse so when English-speaking Witnesses find them and start explaining Bible truths they're quite receptive.

The main point that was driven home was that if we have the circumstances to expand our service, do it. Special assemblies like these just emphasize that you don't have to be a super-hero to be here, you just need to humbly rely on Jehovah and He gives you the energy, even the desire to stay.

Well, I hope everyone is keeping invigorated in their assignments. Let's keep praying for oneanother and all the potential that's out there.

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