Positive developments

Two things happened on Thursday that are of interest:

First, my roommates' dad, who is also in the English Congregation and owns and manages a large apartment complex, offered me a studio apartment free of charge for 2 months! He said he appreciated that I came here to preach to Chinese. I think, also, he felt sorry for me because where I am staying, there is no water and no cooking facilities, and the location is a bit out of the way. But this studio apartment is 2 minutes' walk to the Kingdom Hall, and is fully furnished! It is close to many services, and the bus ride to town is very convenient.

My old place

New studio apartment. Comes with mosquito net!

The other great experience occurred in the ministry. After preaching for over 6 hours that day, and feeling frustrated because my calls were either not there or too busy, I invited my roommate Epimaque to accompany me in the evening. We visited a compound on the lot of a business where quite a few Chinese live, hoping that they would be available after work. The building had an open front gate, and we wondered if it would be okay to walk in and knock on the doors of the residents. I spoke with one guy walking toward us and left him a tract. Then, he went inside the residence and promptly closed and locked the gate, telling us that, sorry, we couldn't come in. I understand, it must be their policy. So we left.

Down the street was a Chinese restaurant. This is where I had previously spoken with the owner, who was polite but not particularly interested. However, there is a younger Chinese man from Fujian working there who invited us to sit down and talk. We spent 45 minutes with him! He had some knowledge of the Bible, but wanted to know what was the relationship between Adam, Eve, and Jesus. Was Jesus their descendant? How could he be called the Son of God? I pulled out the Good News brochure and we considered the first two questions of Lesson 4. So I started my first Bible study!

We learned that Jehovah sees our effort (and sometimes our frustration) and at the appropriate moment gives us a blessing.