Now You're Talking My Language!

What Are These?

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Harvest job number 2!


The harvest continues!  My office role ended but thanks to Jehovah, I was able to straight into an outside job processing beets and cleaning machines.  Some of my friends in the local congregation let me borrow a thermal jumpsuit.  Right on time since the first couple of days were below 18 degrees not including the windchill.  I think I'm actually getting used to the cold a little bit.

Here I am all beet chic!  Do you like my hat?!  That's a huge pile of beets in the back.

I inherited "T-Bone's" lock and his/her nickname.  It took me awhile to get used to answering to it, lol.
I wonder what my boss would have told me if he saw me taking pictures of him.  I think the vest says it all :-)
Giant beet

One day we got to work inside (in the heat!!) And paint signs for the truckers to follow.  I'm all aglow tee hee hee.
We were extremely busy working up to 16 hours in a day.  The one day I was too tired to pack a lunch, one of our bosses along with his wife made us a chili smorgasboard!  It warmed us all up and kept us going.  Jehovah does provide!! Here's lunch set up in the back of the pickup....
By the way, I got some awesome witnessing in.  One co-worker upon learning I was a witness asked, "I've heard God has a name... do you know what it is!?"  I nearly fainted in the beets!  Harvest is really great because alot if the people who work it drift from place to place all year and don't have a permanent residence so it's a great opportunity for informal witnessing.

Mmmmm!
T-Bone and the crew!
The machine we use to pile the beets once the trucks drop them off.
Big ol pile of beets!
 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Taste and See-Ali

This is the first of a few interviews with friends I've met since I've been back in the States.   I WISH I had been as focused as this young brother when I was 18!   Here's Ali! 

My name is Ali. I went to Japan for an unassigned trip, just wanted to see the country and preach in another land. There where a few challenges in Japan.   One, I did not know much Japanese. Two,  I did not know if the friends would accept me well or if I would even enjoy it but,  I prayed to Jehovah and did not worry about the things that I could not control. By doing that,  I had so many highlights of Japan.  The friends there were so humble and nice, they poured themselves out to me. One of the best moments there was when I would go to the kingdom hall, right when I walked in everyone would look at me.  Even though I did not know much Japanese I would try to understand what they were saying. I would look at body gestures, a smile, frown anything that would help. The experience of going to Japan brought me closer to Jehovah because I was able to see his organization in another light.   That is what we are doing over in America;  they are doing the same thing. It stressed upon me the need to focus on spiritual things.   The reason why is because I saw new methods to preach and teach.  I learned a lot from the Japanese brothers and sisters.  They are whole souled to Jehovah without any regrets. So, even though I know I will always fall short of God's glory,  I will still try my best by the things I experience in my life. I plan on going back to Japan at the end of October 2014 to teach English.  I am working on my Japanese so I can be better at talking to people.   I plan on staying 3 months to a year.  If anyone wants to see how Japan is,  just contact me at ali_ricks@yahoo.com. If anyone is planning to do similar things in Jehovah's service I say stay close to the organization, get to know the friends around you, pray for it like you want it so bad, then if you are doing the right thing in Jehovah's eyes, trust me on this one,  he will "open the floodgates of the heaven and pour out every blessing there is until there is no more want. "