The journey continues

Well.  At my last post when I said "Til next time" I did not intend that the 'next time' would be 14 years later. 14 years.  Wow, how quickly time passes by (Psalm 90:9,10).

So much has happened since 2011. Um, let's see:

1. 2013 - We received the revised edition of the New World Translation! What an exciting moment in Jehovah's organization.
2. 2016 - I met my wife!  (But we were just friends for some time.)
3. 2019 - After 12 wonderful years, I moved away from Sonora and moved back to San Antonio.  I joined my younger brother, Rey, at an English congregation.
4. January/February 2020 - Rumors about a disease appeared somewhere in China.  Soon after, it was labeled COVID-19.
5. May 2020 - I got married!  I married my love, Ruth.  It was right dab in the middle of the pandemic.
6. 2020 - I moved to Mission, Texas where my wife is from and have been living here for the past 5 years.

There is, of course, much more, but those are just some of the highlights.

I plan to continue writing about the happenings of life and what I am continuing to learn in my new little corner of the universe.

First day of summer leads to spiritual banquets

Today is the first day of summer... Whoopi doo. It has felt like summer for 3 months already.

On a lighter note, we have our Special Assembly Day this weekend. "Refúgiese en Jehová" ("Take refuge in Jehovah") is the theme. These assemblies are awesome. Nothing new is given, really. Yet we are shown how to apply what we know. And the fact that our lives and the world are constantly changing (1 Cor. 7:31), we desperately need these reminders. For example Juanito Testigo is 15 years old. Just a kid. He hears at an assembly counsel for parents. He doesn't give it a lot of thought. 15 years later, Juanito is no longer Juanito. He's Juan and he's married and his wife is pregnant. They are at an assembly and counsel is given for parents. Naturally, he gives a lot of thought into that same information. Jehovah is so patient to do that for us.

And if that wasn't great enough, we have our District Convention in August. And in October, if I'm not mistaken, we have the Circuit Assembly. Wow. Jehovah is great.

I've had these conversations with this nurse here at work. She says she loves discussing Scripture. So we've discussed thigs like the trinity and how she beleives that we don't need works to accompanied by faith. She has been told that we, Jehovah's Witnesses, preach from door-to-door to win ourselves a place in heaven. After explaining that that is not the case, she cited Ephesians 2:8,9. It reads in The New World Translation: "By this undeserved kindness, indeed, YOU have been saved through faith; and this not owing to YOU, it is God’s gift. No, it is not owing to works, in order that no man should have ground for boasting." And by reading that alone, it may seem that works are not necessary. But what about James 2:14-26? It says, in part, that faith without works is a dead faith. This cannot be a contradiction for the Bible does not contradict itself. The key is in the context of Ephesians 2:8,9. The explanation was pretty interesting after I researched it.

Well, gotto go. Til next time.