Myanmar Special Convention

Hello All!
Sorry it has taken me awhile to write about Myanmar, but here we go!

As most of our friends are aware, Myanmar was highlighted in the 2013 Yearbook (and in the 1979 Yearbook as well).  What an encouraging experience! I had the privilege of spending two weeks there with one of my best friends, Joanna.  We met so many friends Burmese and foreign. I'll try to provide some of the best highlights.

So we set out on our travels from Washington DC and it took us about 24 hours to get to Myanmar (with 21hrs spent in an airplane). It was the longest series of flights I have ever been on.  Anyways, we arrived in Yangon shortly before 11pm on Friday January 3rd. We were a little haggard, but right on the other side of customs was a young sister holding up a Welcome Jehovah's Witnesses sign! She lead us to a welcoming group of friends that lived locally.  We met an American sister, Kendra who, with her husband, works at Bethel and an Aussie brother and a group of local friends.  We were some of the first delegates to arrive for the convention.  They were so excited to have us there.  Many times we heard that the local friends had been planning and anticipating the convention for a year and they couldn't believe it was finally here.  The greeting parties actually went to class to learn procedure of how to greet us, assist us with any airport issues and transfer us to our hotels.  For many of the friends this involved coming to Yangon about 2 weeks before the convention week.  What a sacrifice for them to give up their work and time preaching at home.  When we finally got to leave the airport for our hotel, I was shocked to see people still walking about, street stalls set up, including food carts and many vehicles racing down the roads.  In Myanmar there are many little trucks(tuk tuk) that they use as transportation, the beds are often filled with people and you jump on and off as they drive around the city.  The buses are also large, and quite packed with people.  Taxis were cheap, so we were suggested to just stick with taxis.  Anyways, we got to our hotel, an older hotel with a lot of carved teak wood. Our room was spacious and pleasant.

The blue signs on the other side of the glass were the welcoming Witnesses

Our hotel lobby

The side street next to our hotel on Independence Day. The crowd was for street Chinlone.

Just a normal street market.

Cleaning the trains at the station

Shanty town as seen from the train.

He hobo'd the train!

Just an average downtown street- electrical wires were always crisscrossed and messy.

Bethel

Bro Maurice Raj- greeting visitors.

Me, Doris Raj, Rebecca, Jovana

With friends from a local congregation at lunch

Kandawgyi Lake

Playing the scarf game at Kandawgyi Lake

Shewdagon Pagoda (one of the larger Buddhist Pagodas in Asia)

With Sisters from the Myanmar Sign Language Congregation

The baptism candidates 

Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset from Kandawgyi Lake

Petting/feeding elephants

Me and my friend Caiti from Delaware

Downtown Yangon

We got to meet and pose with the sisters from the yearbook cover

Panorama of Saturday at the convention

Some interesting things about the convention and Myanmar:
We couldn't tell any of the customs officials or much less anyone else that we were there for a convention.  In fact, at the convention, the signs that usually have the theme on them said "Bethel Branch Expansion Celebration" instead of 2013-2014 District Convention.  Our name tags just had Jehovah's Witnesses on it.  The branch told us that the government was aware of the convention and permitted it, but we were not to advertise it.  Myanmar had another Special Convention in 2009 at the same location.  In Myanmar the water is not safe to drink and the food is not always bled properly (especially poultry).  So we learned to ask if the meat was properly bled and to ask for bottled water.  The electric can come and go frequently and doesn't have much power as they are not up to speed with the electrical grids/supply that we have here in the States.  I'll have to put up a picture of all the crisscrossing wires that we saw frequently in downtown.  The water usually has to be hand pumped and brought into a person's home daily, so we were spoiled in our hotel with running water, constant electricity and wifi that came and went frequently.  It is not uncommon to lose your water or electric for several days at a time.

The average income of a Myanmar person is $60 US per month.  A teacher makes $100 US per month.  Often the level of education gained is based on a family's income.  If they can afford to send their children to a better school they will.  In Myanmar they only go to school for half the day, either morning class or afternoon class.  Most people don't have cars in Yangon, they walk, take a taxi, bus or the little trucks.  Drivers are required to have a driving license, but there is no such thing as car insurance.  If you wreck and kill someone, you are certainly going to jail. All of this leads up to some crazy driving.  The drivers don't seem to mind the lane markings, don't use turn signals, beep frequently and drive quite erratically.  One day we packed four sisters across a backseat and we went around a curve, hit a bump and the door flew open and Joanna almost fell out.  The taxi driver acted like it was normal, reached back through a window and shut the door and relocked it, all while we were screaming!! :)

On Saturday, Jan 4, we had our first full day in Yangon.  Little did we know that it was their Independence Day.  We decided to walk the streets around our hotel.  We saw many street soccer matches, beer carts, open air food markets (no refrigerated meat).  We frequently saw monks(male and female) walking down the streets. We were definitely a little overwhelmed by the amount of people and the fact that we were stared at wherever we went (staring isn't rude there).  We eventually wound up at the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Asia. After we walked around we returned to our hotel and sat in the lobby for a little while.  We eventually met some Australian friends who were going to be manning the information desk in our hotel and they invited us out with them.  What a wonderful evening getting to know everyone and their spiritual heritages.  We learned that for our friends that were formerly Buddhists and studied to come into the truth, they faced serious family persecution, even being beaten with sticks because they studied the Bible.  Living conditions here are very poor.  Shared sleeping quarters, often on the floor, communal bathrooms, poor electric and water supply, infrequent air conditioning, rats and bugs.

One of our favorite things we did was the Yangon Circle Train. It took us on a 3 hour tour (yes I sang the Gilligans Island theme song).  It took us out of the city and into the countryside.  We really got to see more of daily, average Myanmar life.  We saw many villages and shantytowns, farms, pigs, occasional cows, crop fields and the like. Along the way we got to see a large market at one of the train stops. The fresh produce was really beautiful. We took a few other friends from our hotel with us on the train tour.  Afterwards we were going to take a taxi back to our hotel.  Our taxi driver misunderstood our hotel name and started taking us to the wrong place.  Imagine our shock when we were finally able to convince him where we were to go and he pulled a U turn in the middle of 4 lanes of traffic.  Not to mention we went over some bumpy parts and the side door flew open on the taxi and Joanna almost fell out!!! Meanwhile the taxi driver nonchalantly reached back, shut the door and locked it, all while we were screaming... lol!

A tuk tuk

"Scaffolding"

Fish market

When the power went out

Drama

Karaoke Night

Chicken transport

During the week prior to the convention we were able to go on three tour days.  They included touring Bethel, Yangon Zoo, Kandawgyi Lake, Bogoye Market, Shwedagon Pagoda and Downtown Yangon tours.  Each took place with Myanmar friends, some from great distances away.  We got to meet several of the friends that were mentioned when Myanmar was in the 2013 Yearbook. We also got exposed to local culture, foods and practices.  One especially enjoyable night was our Evening Gathering night. It was complete with a program of traditional food, dancing, videos about the expansion in NY, and videos about the friends traveling from different parts of the country to come to the convention.  We were in mixed company with many different Myanmar friends.  They truly know the meaning of hospitality.  We were all asked to join their tables.  By the end of the night I was crying.  One experience that particularly touched me was of an older couple that daily walked 5 hours round trip to their rice fields and then would work there all day, just to try to earn enough money to come to the convention. Through the week we met many other families that traveled for days by foot, car, boat and train.

One of the things you may see in the pictures is the markets.  They have no grocery stores like we do at home.  The average home also does not have a refrigerator.  The electricity is poorly routed and often not enough to supply the demand so outages are not uncommon.  The water supply is usually pumped to a tank and has to be hand pumped and brought into a persons home.  So many luxuries we are used to are not available there.

One other touching little tidbit from the convention, 213 were baptized at the convention.  According to the 2013 Yearbook, that is more than were baptized in the entire previous service year! When we came into the convention center we noticed that there was a long line around the floor seating.  It is a tradition there to go around and shake the hand of all the baptismal candidates as a welcome to the organization.  What a long line and a wonderful brotherhood!! At the convention the Research Guide was released in Burmese.  What a precious gem for our Myanmar brothers.  They don't have access to Watchtower Library, the Publications index or Insight Books.  So any form of research would be based on when they guess an article came out. You can imagine how frustrating and time consuming that could be.  So the Research Guide will greatly help their Family Worship nights, the elders, and personal study.  Also on Sunday alone we lost power at the convention 3 times.  Miraculously the brothers were prepared. There was a backup generator ready so we may have been in darkness but we still had sound.  The translators did a wonderful job translating in the dark! We got to know one of the translation brothers named Thanny.  He was 19, a pioneer and spoke English like an Australian! We spent a lot of time with Thanny and an Australian sister named Johanna who serves in Yangon.  They took us around, out to a karaoke night and made sure we felt welcome and had fun.

There were so many other things we got to do and see, but I am forgetting them right now.  I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last bits of summer! Talk to you soon!

Long Time Coming

Hey Everybody!

We lost our internet that we had gotten through our neighbors awhile ago.  As of today we are proud internet subscribers, so my blogging can get back on schedule.
A lot has happened since I last wrote.  I know I have to catch you all up on Myanmar, the wedding and various other events that have since happened.  Bear with me my friends.  Let me post some recent pics of our goings on. We have had a lot going on between work, pioneering and working on our house and yard.  More coming soon! I promise!

We met this sweet sister, Sandy, on our most recent RBC build in Versailles, KY

Met some of the friends public witnessing in San Juan, PR

Mike saved an injured cardinal during service

Circuit pioneer meeting, May 2014

I'm not even sure where to start

So a lot has been going on down here in Southern Pike County. 
It seems like a lot of my time has been consumed by getting back in the swim of things. I was gone for three weeks- one up north visiting family and in laws and two weeks in Myanmar for the Special International Convention!

So a little rundown before I get to the good stuff. We had our special assembly day in November. For all of my friends on the opposite schedule, you are in for a treat. The theme is 'God's Word Exerts Power.' What wonderful reminders that Jehovah's word has power and can help us. What a great program!

In December we had our CO visit..... And we got a new elder appointed! What a blessing for our congregation.  We need lots of help (a little side note on that later). My dad was able to come down and spend most of the week with us for our visit.  How nice to have him in service with me everyday.  For our visit we got to have a substitute, Zach and Malissa Allen from Wytheville Va. They were super fun to be around! They were only supposed to be with us for two days but wound up staying for 5 days! The area they are from is much more suburban.... They'd never been to hillbilly central. So we even took Malissa to a 'beer joint.' She wanted wine and let me just say the selection was pretty awful....some sort of malt wine...yuck. You don't quite trust a name like mad dog wine...lol! 

The drive-thru wind at the beer joint.

One day's service group during the C/O's visit.  My dad even was there!

Gatsby promptly let Dad know who's couch he was on.

So at the end of December we crammed in our pioneer meeting amidst some nasty weather and my impending venture up north. How sweet it was to have our pioneer meeting! We still have 12 pioneers and now 4 of our 5 elders are pioneers. We try to stay busy in the preaching work. 

My time up north was nice, got to spend time with my family and Mike's family some. We even got to go to Brooklyn Bethel to see the Bible Tour and the Archive tour.  Never go right on Christmas weekend! It was packed out! I don't think Bethel even expected that many people. And to top it off we got to eat at a Thai restaurant.... my personal favorite! 

At the Archive Tour

At the Thai Kitchen on Montague St in Brooklyn. (excellent recommendation from a Bethelite!)

Back home in Maryland, my closest girlfriends and family threw a small personal bridal shower for me.  Thanks girls! I know some of you read this ;) It was so good to see them all and spend some time with them.  Thank you for taking time out of all your busy schedules for me!

Our silly face picture...Don't think my Mommom quite understood the concept

By the way.... the cake was wonderful!

We had one last little party... our ugly sweater/bon voyage party before Joanna and I went to Myanmar!

One last little bit about Pike County, as I hinted. ;) This week everybody should've had a letter read about seldom worked territory. You guessed it, Pike County is on the list. Also on the list is Mingo County, Wv and Buchanan County, Va. We have territory in all three counties. But as an interesting fact, Pike county is the largest county in Kentucky...lots and lots of land. We'll, if you checked out the list you may have noticed that Pike county is divided into northern and southern sections. I reside in southern Pike county. According to the letter from the branch, only about 26% of Southern Pike County territories were completed last year and 30% of Northern Pike County territories were completed. What a shocker that was to me. It's one thing to know its seldom worked but to know exactly how little was shocking. And we work hard to try to reach people. But like I said, there's quite a bit of land, not a big population, but loads of land. And down here in the mountains there is no short cuts, straight shots etc. It's not really a stretch to say we don't have more than half mile of straightaway roads here. 

This is a road map of the main roads in Pike County...curvier than they might look!

So if anybody feels adventurous, come on down and check it out! We'll organize a softball game, go hiking and swimming. We like to have fun too! And don't worry, it's been snowing a lot here and really cold too..... But that will be out of the way soon....at least it better be before my wedding next month!

 next post.....Myanmar!!!!

End of 2013 Service Year/Beginning of 2014 Service Year

August was filled with activity for me.  I got to go on my first KY-1 RBC build.  It seemed like an eternity since being on my last build in DE.  This build took place in Alexandria, KY which is on the border with Cinncinati, Ohio.  So for the first time ever, I stepped over into the state of Ohio.   This build was 5.5hrs away from home for me.  KY-1 RBC has a large area that they cover, seems to be slightly larger than the area that DE-1 RBC covers.  Anyways, I was able to join the Roofing crew here! I was a little nervous about joining a new RBC crew.  I was so comfortable with my crews and friends back home.  So I felt like a new kid at school when I went up to the KY roofers.  Much to my surprise they were quite excited to have me join.  They needed another girl on the roof.  Part of my introduction to the crew included their sharing of crazy stories of their antics, at that point I knew I would be right at home.  The crew was shocked to here that I'd been roofing for 7 years with DE-1 RBC.  They all thought I was about 16, maybe 18 years old.  So I stepped up on the roof, and after meeting more of the crew, their antics became apparent.  Some of the guys wanted to tease me and test me out a little, and if you know me, I dished it right back.  Here's some pictures from the weekend.

We took a little break while we were waiting for materials. 

Boy do they feed us good on RBC! I thought the little sign was so cute!

And the cleaning department has a bowl of candy out and free for the taking.  I'm really looking forward to the next build soon!

Also in August I got to spend the day with a group from the South Dundalk Congregation, Baltimore, MD that came down to work unassigned territory in Floyd County, KY, which is the next county over.  In this group was Sister Stephanie Battle who was part of Rising Sun's congregation when I was little.  I got to spend the day working with them in service.  Here's some of the friends:

From Left to Right: Damara and Tyrone Evans, Me and Nickell Crawford.

While we were out in service we contacted a woman who ran a wildlife rehab out of her home.  She brought out a baby bobcat that she was working with.  It was so cute to see her yellow lab playing with the baby bobcat as if it were one of her puppies.

Here the woman is holding the baby bobcat.

One day in September, Mike, Molly and myself were working in Matewan WV in service.  As most may be aware, this area of the country abounds with creeks and rivers.  Kentucky is second only to Alaska for the most waterways.  Anyways, while we were in Matewan we stopped to eat our lunch outside.  This man approached us, turns out he knew Mike from one of his old jobs.  This man now runs a business giving airboat tours that highlight different Hatfield/McCoy Feud landmarks.  If you weren't aware, the Hatfield/McCoy feud took place in Mingo County, WV and Pike County, KY, mostly in the areas that our congregation covers.  So this man offered us to take an airboat ride for free! Boy was that fun and we got to end the visit with him with a witness.

Molly, Me and Mike

One neat thing that I discovered over the past two weeks, is that I found territories that I still had never been to even though I've lived here for 10 months now.  I really felt out in the boondocks in this territories, named Vulcan and Beech Creek.  To get to them we had to drive down a gravel road right between railroad tracks and a river.  It was not uncommon to be riding right next to a train as we went to the territory.  Being there felt like being in unassigned territory since these people hadn't been reached in some time.   Here's a nice little shot of driving down this gravel road.

On our way to the Annual Meeting in Logan, WV, we stopped at Devil Anse Hatfield's grave.  It has been interesting living in Hatfield/McCoy territory.  I feel like I should know more of the story than I do.  However, the Hatfield/McCoy feud has become popular on TV and has spurned some reality shows that don't stick to the truth.  Just a little FYI, they are no longer feuding down here, the families generally get along.  Most people here can trace themselves to each family somewhere down the line.  

This is Devil Anse's grave.  The family had this statue made in Italy and sent here.

Finally, over the past couple months we have started the preparations for winter.  Down here my only source of heat for winter is wood.  So while my aunt and cousin were here in August, they helped stacked my supply.  However I was a little worried because I had no soft wood for starting up my fires. Then much to my surprise, one Thursday before the meeting we had a big thunder and windstorm roll through.  I hear a loud crack and looked out the window to see a tree fallen across my driveway.  Guess what? It was a poplar tree, yes, soft wood! The tree was already dead and the storm blew it over.  So while it blocked my driveway for a day and a half, it supplied my kindling for the winter!!! 

One thing I have learned is to not panic, but to wait on Jehovah and He will provide. 

Here is the tree right after the storm:

Finally, two weeks ago 10 friends from the congregation got together to help an older brother, Bill to get his wood for winter.  He had this giant tree that was dead up on the mountain behind his house.  So a couple went and cut up the tree into large pieces a few days before we went.  So between the 10 of us we cut and stacked this tree and it should supply Bill's wood for the winter.  Here are some pictures from the day.

This was the hillbilly slide that Johnny rigged up so that they could roll these giant pieces of wood down the hill. It sure helped the brothers get all those chunks down without helping them.

The wood splitter was running with a few manning it.  One to supply, one to move the wood and one to operate the lever.  These chunks of wood were huge!!!

We also had our human chopper, Herb, who was faster and we think split more wood than the machine.

Here's all the wood that came from just one tree.  My job was to stack it with the help of Rachelle.

What an adventure it is to live down here in the mountains.  It is really refreshing to see our congregation work together to help each other.  It is so comforting to know that many will help those who have a need. What a wonderful characteristic of Jehovah's organization.

Summer Catch-Up

Since the last time I wrote a lot has gone on.  So let's shoot for a nice, hopefully not too long update.

In July we had our District Convention in Charleston, WV.  I had a wonderful treat of visiting with Debbie Ball, Tana Blake and Brenda Roop.  All sisters from Rising Sun.  Tana now lives in WV though.  Also, my old study/child Alisa was there with her grandparents who are part of my circuit.  

From Left to Right: Brenda, Debbie, Me, Alisa (Tana was taking the picture)

After the District Convention, Alisa came and stayed with me for a week. She was such a treat to have around during service, the meetings and even a little hiking and swimming. She is really maturing into a beautiful, spiritual young lady.

Alisa and I at the Kingdom Hall.

I almost forgot.... Right before our District Convention, a group from the Nottingham, DE congregation came down to work unassigned territory nearby in Virginia.  They were working with the Grundy congregation, which close to ours.  I got to go over and visit with them for a meeting and a night for dinner while they were here.  It was really nice to see faces from home down here. I know the group had an AMAZING experience in service and some really want to come visit again.

  From Left to Right: Cameron Richardson, Morgan Cuthrell, Jenny Miller, Molly Smith, Me, Arielle Fraze.

One thing that we have really been enjoying is the children's videos on the jw.org website.  My pioneer partner, Molly has been using them on a couple little girls.  Molly's dad studies with their parents.  The girls are young and active, so Molly and I have tried to keep them busy so they don't distract their parents.  They really like watching the videos.  

Here is Molly showing a video to Hailey.

At the beginning of August my Aunt Beth and cousin Ian came to visit for a couple days.  They were auxiliary pioneering for the month and we made sure we got in a couple days of service.  Here is a picture of Ian and Beth witnessing to an older woman who lived at the main head of a far out holler.  This older woman invited them onto the porch and chatted for a long time.  My Aunt was able to give her a Bible Teach book.  The householder would not let them leave without a bag of tomatoes.

We stopped on a road that still had a swing bridge across the river so Beth and Ian could get on it.  We even took a turn rocking and jumping on it! 

at the very beginning of September, I got a visit from Craig & Michaela Young and their baby, Otto.  They were part of my RBC carpet crew and we rode our bikes together back home.  I hadn't seen Otto since March and boy how he has grown! Otto and my fiancé Mike made fast friends.  

While Craig & Michaela were here we got to enjoy service and especially some hiking.  Otto was such a trooper and so easy and fun to be with.  We went to the Breaks Park and geocached there.  For those of you who know what that is, there's over 100 caches in this park.  Finally we took them up to the waterfall that is across from our Kingdom Hall.

It has been so nice to have visitors over the summer.  Everyone enjoys coming down to our beautiful mountains and experiencing service down here.  

Boy Time Flies!!!

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post! Sorry everybody.  A lot has happened in that time! A brief overview: two of my best friends (Rachel and Joanna Knox) came to visit for a weekend, my Dad came down again, we had the Circuit Overseer's visit, and we are in the final days of the District Convention Invitation Campaign.

Where to start....

The highlight of May was definitely Rachel and Joanna's visit.  It was so nice to have my friends from home come visit.  They came down for four days and got to go to my meetings as well.  I thought it was quite funny how they were entertained by the comments of the friends in my hall and their accents.  Down here in small halls, the friends are very expressive and share personal experiences, which are often funny. While Rachel and Joanna were here, we took them on the hike I usually do 2-3x weekly.  They thought I was trying to kill them. I guess I've gotten a little acclimated to hiking in the mountains, though by no means am I an expert! I also got to take them to Breaks Interstate Park, which is called the Grand Canyon of the South.  Afterwards, we went to "town," Pikeville.  They got to see just how far it is to a Walmart! Here's some photos from their visit:

Me standing on Pinnacle Rock

Joanna and I at an overlook

Rachel and I the overlook

Joanna and Rachel at the overlook

Rachel and Joanna at Pinnacle Rock

Rachel, Joanna and I at the meeting

Another exciting thing from May was that I had a snake invasion in my house.  I had laid down to take a nap and was woken up by my puppy, Gatsby, barking at the snake.  It was a black snake and it went under my refrigerator.  Let me just say that I hate snakes, they give me the creeps! This just happened to be a day that all of the brothers who lived nearby were out of town.  I had to call an older sister from our hall.  She brought her grandson up to my house to get rid of the snake.  Let me just say her grandson found it entertaining that both me and his grandmother were afraid of the snake!

This is the snake in my kitchen.

In the beginning of June we had the visit of our Circuit Overseer. How exciting that was! Down here, when the C/O comes we all have lunch at the Kingdom Hall for everybody that goes out in service.  I really like that because we get to spend time together and its a great opportunity to share experiences.  I don't know how many of you have had your C/O visit recently, but on Sunday we were shown an amazing video entitled: 

Good News to Every Nation, Tribe and Tongue.

What a wonderful video! We had many visitors attend to see the video.

My dad came down for the weekend of our C/O's visit. Its so nice to have visitors even just for a weekend. While Dad was down we also went to the Breaks Park and Grundy, VA.  Dad was quite intrigued by the Grundy Walmart and their cart escalator.  Here's some pics.

So that's a little update for now.  I hope everyone is enjoying summer! It sure has been hot and rainy down here lately.  More to come soon!!!