The Special Talk!!

Hey guys,

It's Sunday afternoon, and I just wanted to take a minute to post a quick blog about the Special Talk today.  I heard that Wayne Cox did a great job in Corbin...

We had 39 people there, including several who are studying and a couple who are disfellowshipped.

The talk went very well... Brother Dennis Kay came over from San Pedro to give the talk ("Is There A True Religion From God's Standpoint?")  He did a great job...

I took some pics today before and after the meeting, and here they are:

1st pic:  That is Dennis Kay. Again, he gave the talk today and did a great job...

2nd pic: (From left to right) Dennis Kay, myself, Dan and Dolly Houghton, and Betsy Chalderon

3rd pic:  (From left to right) Buddy Jr., Brendan, and William Magania.

4th pic:  Shirlette Gomez, her son Keanu, and her daughter Kimorra.

I'm sorry this is such a short post, but I have a Bible study this evening...

I will be posting again in a couple of days.

By the way, check out these blogs from back home:

http://katelynmesserofcorbin.blogspot.com/      (my little sister)

http://jaredofcorbin.blogspot.com/    (my cousin)

http://krisinky.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4      (Kris Terry - family friend)

http://www.blogger.com/profile/17214052607136694585    (Brett Wells -  family friend)

Love ya'all,

Josh

Thursday's Pics and Some Updates...

Hey guys,

In service on Thursday, I went back to the guy at the hardware store.

He had read the last magazines I left him and had looked the "Teach" book over...

He mentioned that he would like to talk about Chapter 6: "Where Are The Dead?".

So, I'm supposed to go tomorrow (Saturday) at noon, when he gets off work, and study a few paragraphs from that chapter.  He say that he has questions and wants to find the answers!

So, we will see what happens, but he sounds sincere and very interested in learning what the BIBLE says!

While we were in service, we went to this guys house (Kenny) who has taken in some of the stray animals on the island...

Three out of the first four pics are from inside his yard...

1st pic:  That is a big, "testosteroned up", male iguana in Kenny's yard...It lives there and was actually pretty cooperative while I was taking it's picture.

2nd pic:  This is one of the dogs in Kenny's yard...its name is Benji.

Don't you think he is definitely part hound dog?

3rd pic:  This little guy was lying under a tree just up the street from Kenny's place...

Jeremy and I are pretty sure he was dreaming...

4th pic:  This is a "wild" cat that is in Kenny's yard, too.  Jeremy started petting it and this was one of the shots I got of it...

5th pic:  There is kind of a funny story about how I got this pic...  I went down to one of the piers that we swim from in regular clothes.  It was in the evening and I was just going to see if I could get some more pics of the sun setting and because the breeze off the water makes it so much cooler. It's really relaxing to sit there in the evenings.   Anyways, I had my camera and my MP3 player, but I saw this huge starfish out in the water...So, I emptied my pockets, pulled my shirt and belt off, and in I went!  Then, after I picked up the starfish, I brought it back over by the pier and took some pics...So, there you go...I hope you like it!

Then, when I got back to the "treehouse", Karen Scriver stopped me in the yard and wanted to know if I fell in or something...haha!  It was really funny!  

Today (Friday), Jeremy was at Kenny's doing some work on his kayak and I went down there for a while... While I was standing there, looking at this freshly painted kayak, the wind started blowing and we were underneath some kind of fruit tree...All of a sudden, this piece of fruit about the size of a lime, but with a harder shell, fell out of the tree and hit me right in top of the head.

Haha... It didn't hurt me or anything, but it was funny... Then, it broke open and landed in Jeremy's freshly painted kayak!  No biggie though...I'm just glad it wasn't a coconut!

Now, this video is one that I shot while I was sitting out on the pier Thursday.  I saw this guy "wind-surfing" and thought it would be an interesting video for the blog...Let me know what you think...

Anyways, I gotta go...I hope you are all still enjoying the blog!

Keep in touch...

Love ya'all,

Josh

Wednesday...During and After the Meeting!

Hey guys,

The meeting went well tonight...I only had 2 parts in the Service Meeting and both of them were question-and-answer.  It wasn't too difficult, because the friends here comment very well and then I had to cut some time off the last part.  We were running a little bit behind schedule.

Now for the pics:

1st pic: Keanu Morgan and his sister, Kimorra.  Keanu really helps his mom with his little sister, which is good to see.

2nd pic: That's Keanu doing the Bible reading. He is such a good reader and is only 9 years old!!

I wish  you all could have heard him,,,I was very impressed!

3rd pic: ICE CREAM!! I had the mint chocolate chip if you were wondering... (Starting at the front left) Karen Scriver, Betsy Chalderon, and Carol Pugh. Then, Dolly Houghton and I are in the back row. The ice cream was really good!

4th pic: We are all standing in the same order, but Dan (who was taking the pic) wanted to get his ice cream in the pic, too.  So, there it is.  He had "Belizean Fudge" flavor, I think.

Anyways, nothing too exciting tonight, but I wanted to post these pics and just say hey...

Love ya'all,

Josh

What A Week!!

Hey guys,

Here is the post I promised you...Things here are going great!

We have had an early group for service almost everyday for the past week.

I have to tell you about a really good call I had last week...

I was out in service around 8:30 am...I went to Dan Houghton's place to get the Kingdom Hall key because I lost mine while I was snorkling at the reef.  So, he gave me his key to the Kingdom Hall and told me where to go get another one made.  When I go in, I already had my bookbag and I was in service and the store was empty...no other customers.  So, I decided to offer him the mags.  He said, "Dan already gives me those, when I see him".  It just so happened that he hadn't gotten the March Watchtower entitled "Is Your Life Decided By Fate?"  So, he said he would like to read it and told me that the previous week he'd had 2 friends on the mainland get decapitated in a car accident on the mainland...this magazine was perfect for him and what was on his mind.

So, I left the March mags. with him...

Well, the very next day we were out early again and I saw Dan on the street, coming back from that same hardware store...he had a problem with a key I'd had made for him the day before...

He said the guy working there said he had read BOTH mags. the day before and wanted to know if I had some more.  When Dan told me that, I went straight back to that store and sure enough...

he had read both mags. and showed me his favorite articles from both of them!!  I showed him the new April magazines and he took them eagerly and he also accepted a "TEACH" book...

I don't know what will happen with it, but he did say that he was checking out several different religions and that he wanted to know which one was correct...I'm going back tomorrow to try and start a study...I will keep you posted about what happens.

Then, yesterday, Dan Houghton gave the talk here and then had to go to San Pedro to give it again, like I did last week.  That meant I would be conducting the Watchtower again...which I did yesterday.  I was much more comfortable conducting it this time and the commenting was great...the problem ended up being that I mis-managed my time and ended up rushing through the last 6 paragraphs or so.  But, that just comes with not having much experience in doing it, I guess.  I enjoy conducting that meeting though.

I just came back from about 4 hours of kayaking/fishing...I'm exhausted.  I found out that I love kayaking though.  I went with Jeremy and he did the fly fishing while I played around in the kayak...Check out what he caught...

This was an "amber jack" weighing approximately 10 pounds...and it was tasty!!

Jeremy was fly fishing and it took him about 30 minutes to actually get it in his hands...that fish fought with everything he had, but he didn't get away.

I'm definitely going to be doing some more kayaking here though and hopefully once I get back home, too.

I had better go for now...service in the morning!

I hope you guys are enjoying the blog so far...please keep in touch.  Check out BJ's, too!

Love ya'all,

Josh

Another Blog...

Hey guys,

I'm planning on posting a new blog tomorrow...its too late tonight.

I just found out that my friend over in San Pedro, BJ Vista, just created a blog...

Here is the link... http://bjvista.blogspot.com/

Check it out...he and his wife are in Belize for the long-haul!

They will have a lot of interesting things to post.

Remember to check mine tomorrow for a new post, too.

Love ya'all,

Josh 

Pics of the Island!

Hey guys,

I just wanted to post this quick blog before the meeting to show you some recent pics I've taken.

Three out of the five I'm posting were taken in service yesterday (Saturday)...the sailboat, the parrot, and the turtles.

The pic of the sun starting to set, was taken from the top of one of the hotels here...it has a really good view and one of the sisters here knows the owners, so he will let us go up to the top and try to get good pics of the sunset.  The clouds actually covered this one up, but I thought it looked cool as the sun went behind this cloud.

The basketball court in the next pic is here in Caye Caulker...I tried to play there one day, but the basketball I bought here busted as a young brother here was dribbling it.  I'm pretty sure it was dry-rotted.

Anyways, I will be posting another blog today or tomorrow to tell you all about this week.

I had a nice experience in service and will be conducting the Watchtower again today!

I will tell you all about it...so watch for a new post in the next day or two.

Love ya'all,

Josh

Basketball on the Carribean!!

Hey guys,

When I was in San Pedro, I finally got to play some basketball.  The court had lights on it, so we played after dark. The court was right on the beach, and there was a vicious wind coming off the ocean.  Shooting from outside was really difficult. The last game we played was another brother and I versus Barry Vista and Rob Colon...They are in the 1st pic... Barry is in the brown shirt and Rob is in the white shirt.  The game was tied and Rob shot a three-pointer to win the game and just nailed it. I couldn't believe it!!

Even though we lost, we had a blast!  It was cool getting to play right on the beach like that.

We were so close to the water that the officials there in San Pedro are having to build up the beach next to the court so the ball doesn't bounce into the water!

The 2nd pic is Rob's son, Gabe...he is 2 years old and is doing dishes.  He actually did a really good job. His parents are learning Spanish, so he speaks some Spanish and some English.

It is really cool.

Well guys, I have to go for now, but will be posting again soon...

Love ya'all,

Josh

My Trip to San Pedro...

Hey guys,

After giving the talk here in Caye Caulker on Sunday, I jumped on a boat and headed to San Pedro.

Their meeting did not start until 6 pm, so I had a chance to rest for a few hours before giving the talk again.  I was told the talk sounded good.

I decided to make a few minor adjustments to it, but the majority of the information was just as needed and beneficial here as it is in the States.

It was a very interesting couple of days...

Giving 2 public talks in one day is exhausting, but also makes you feel really good because you know that without the help of Jehovah's holy spirit, you couldn't do it.

The chairman at the meeting in San Pedro, was a brother named Denny Sunderman.

When he announced the opening song, the music didn't start...so he started to hum, and then led the entire congregation in an ocapella version of song #178 (The Excelling "Peace of God").

It was really cool. I had never seen that done before.

Then, after the meeting, a group of us went to eat at a little restaurant right on the ocean.

The food was great. 

Then, I had to stay overnight because the last boat from San Pedro to Caye Caulker runs at 4:30 pm.  I stayed at this brother and sisters house, and they live at the "Belize Yacht Club".  There was basically an extra apartment downstairs, which is where I stayed.  It was the first night I've slept in air conditioning for a month...so that was nice.  To be honest though, I kinda missed my "tree house".

I ended up having to stay another night to get my passport stamped by the immigration office here in Belize.  You have to do that once a month and you have to go to either San Pedro or Belize City to do it.  The second night I stayed with Barry and Danielle Vista, a young couple who has moved down here from North Carolina.  They are planning to stay here.  Actually, Barry took the lead in laying the tile for the Kingdom Hall here in Caye Caulker. I had a really good time with them.

Now let's get to the pics...

1st pic: I am standing outside the Kingdom Hall before I go in to give my talk, with a man named "v-mail", i think...He is studying right now and is deaf.  So, he comes to the meetings and the brothers in San Pedro play the meetings on video, which translates the material to ASL.

2nd - 4th pics:  These are just pics of the inside and the outside of the Kingdom Hall in San Pedro.  Since their Kingdom Hall has air conditioning, all the brothers wear jackets when they are giving their talks. However, I didn't even bring a jacket down here with me!

So, I had to borrow one from Dan...it was pin-striped and my pants were not, but it turned out ok.  I always look funny anyways, right? Haha

5th pic:  Closest to the camera is "v-mail", to his left, the brother in the blue shirt is Nate. He is 18 years old and fluent in ASL...he actually did the translating for the meeting on Sunday.

Next to him, the couple in the back of the pic is Randy and Cameron Smith. They both served at Bethel and moved down here a few months ago.  They, too, are planning to stay here permanently.  Last, but not least, is Dennis Kay.  He and his wife, who was sick Sunday, are who I stayed with on Sunday night. They are also here permanently.

Anyways, that's what I did the last couple of days.  I heard the Special Assembly Day went well.

Congrats on getting baptized Brother Bellevance!!

By the way, we figured up the ratio of people at either the Spanish or English Memorial compared to the number of people on Caye Caulker...1/ 8-10 people living here were at the Memorial!!!

Thanks for keepimg up with the blog everyone.  Please keep in touch. I've heard that it can be difficult to post a comment on here, so if you are having problems with it, just e-mail me at:

messer_23@hotmail.com

Love ya'all,

Josh

The Memorial!!!

Hey guys,

These are pics of the fully remodeled Kingdom Hall here in Caye Caulker about 45 minutes before the Memorial started.

It was a really cool experience to be at the Memorial on an island in Belize!!

The biggest difference that I noticed right away, is that, people didn't get there much earlier than they do for a regular meeting.  It was 20 minutes til time to start and there were 5 people there.  That was different for sure.

The turn-out was awesome though...there were 82 people in attendance, in a congregation with 12 publishers!!  That was unbelievable to see!  It was a tight fit.

It makes you realize what kind of brotherhood we have, though, because I was down here and knew that the very same thing was happening in every congregation in the world on the night of April 9th!

I got to be the chairman for the Memorial, and was asked to say the prayer over the wine.  Those were both new and exciting priveleges!

I heard that Corbin had 166 there last night...if I remember right, we only had like 157 there last year.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was somewhere in there.

Anyways, look at the other pics I posted from the Memorial, too.

Keep in touch.

Love ya'all,

Josh

Memorial Pics!!!

Hey guys,

Here are some pics I took at the Memorial last night...

1st pic - That is Keano Morgan and his little sister Kimorra.

2nd pic - That is Dan and Dolly Houghton.

3rd pic - That is Jeremy and Karen Scriver.

4th pic - This goofy looking guy is yours truly...I did get a haircut yesterday before the Memorial though.

5th pic - This was a group of 3 couples visiting the island from San Diego.  They found the Kingdom Hall on Tuesday and we actually met them while we were in service that morning.

The guy in the white shirt, Aaron, actually spent a year in Ecuador a few years back.

We went and ate after the meeting and Carol Pugh, a sister who is here for another month and who lived here for 2 1/2 years until her husband passed away last year, discovered that Joe, the bother in the orange shirt actually grew up in her congregation in Montrosse, Colorado.

It was really neat.  She had been good friends with his parents when he was a kid.

He remembered her husband, Jim, from that congregation.  What a small world!

Anyways, I'm gonna post another blog right after this on and give you all the details of the Memorial here, along with a couple more pics.

Love ya'all,

Josh

Tuesday In and Before Service...

1st pic - We went past the Fire Station in service.  I didn't even know the island had a fire truck... but there it is.

2nd and 3rd pic - This gecko was on the wall in the Kingdom Hall...then Jeremy caught the gecko.  That is a scary pic, huh?

4th pic - Jeremy was helping Willie "fly".  Willie said he was "Superman"!

5th pic - Brendan (to the left) had a new hat that he wore all morning.

Willie (to the right) is so proud of his new sunglasses, that he's worn them for the last 3 days.

I just wanted to let all of you see these.  I'll put a longer blog on in a day or two and let you know how the Memorial went here.  I hope it goes well back home tonight...

Love ya'all,

Josh

More Pics from the Island

1st and 2nd pics - I finally got a good sunset Sunday evening.  I didn't get a pic of this, but just after the sun disappeared, about a 4-foot sting ray swam right out from under the pier where I was standing. That was cool!

3rd pic - An eagle's nest, in a telephone pole down by the airport.  Icould not believe this shot...they stuck their heads out at just the right moment for me to take the picture.

4th pic - I don't know what kind of spider this is, but it looks really neat.

5th pic - If you look really close, you can see a lizard on this branch.  It's a gecko.

This one camo'd himself so quickly, that I could barely find him to get the pic.  I was trying to zoom in and not scare him off, but it turned out pretty good.

I hope you like these pics, too.  I've posted 3 new blogs tonight (total), so make sure you don't miss one.

Love ya'all,

Josh

Pictures of the Friends and in Service

1st pic - The couple to the far left in the pic is Jeremy and Karen Scriver (originally of Canada, now of Caye Caulker).  The couple in the back of the pic is Ronnie and Maria Brown (College Park, Maryland). They were here all of last week visiting.  We had a lot of fun.  The young brother to the far right of the pic is Jeremiah Lund (Idaho / Portland, Oregon).  He actually stayed with me for a few days to avoid paying for a room.  That dear sister in the front is Carol Pugh (Montrosse, Colorado).  She is here until mid - May.

2nd pic - This was taken Sunday night when a group of us were playing a new dice game , which the kids here just love.  I think the name is BRUNKO, or something like that.

3rd pic - That is myself, Karen Scriver, and Willie Magania out in service on Monday morning.

We worked the end of the island called "new side" and as you can see, it's an area that is not as well developed as most parts of this island.  It's really cool back there...actually it's hot and has a lot of mosquitoes, but I liked it.

4th pic - This is an awesome bridge we got to cross while working that territory in "new side" on Monday.

5th pic - Jeremy found a rib to something big...not sure what exactly.  Kinda cool.

I'm gonna post one more group of pics now...I hope you like all of these.

Love ya'all,

Josh

The Watchtower...

Hey guys,

You might have heard that I was sick for a couple of days this weekend.  It was evidently a combination of dehydration and just too much heat.  The sun is so intense down here, and I'm just not really used to it.  Now I know to drink, drink, drink.

Anyways, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do that Watchtower on Sunday, so I went to the coordinator of the Spanish congregation here in Caye Caulker (he speaks pretty good English), to see if he could conduct the Watchtower if I was unable.  He was willing to help so that eased my mind. However, when I woke up on Sunday morning, I felt like a new man!!

So I ended up being able to conduct the Watchtower study!!  It was very difficult too.

I think it's a toss up between overseeing the School and conducting the Watchtower, as to which one is more difficult.  So, please, thank your school overseer and your Watchtower study conductor for the hard work they put into their responsibilities every week.

We have almost completed the territory in the tract campaign.  We are expecting a good group for the Memorial on Thursday!  It's unbelievable how quickly upcoming events get spread around the island here, because it is such a compact area.

Then, after the meeting on Sunday, I had my first study with a man here on the island who has known the truth his whole life and has now really started to take it seriously.  He and his family are at ALL the meetings and he has his VERY FIRST Bible reading coming up in the first week of May.  He knows he will be nervous, but has a great attitude and said he is determined to do it.

He was so excited to get his talk slip at the meeting on Wednesday.

Oh, I almost forgot...this Sunday, I give the public talk here in Caye Caulker at 10am, then I'll eat lunch, get on a boat headed to San Pedro (a neighboring island), and give that same public talk at their 6pm meeting!!  I'm excited.  Most of you know that I've had some difficulty with homesickness and now physical sickness, but it's these priveleges and new experiences that I thank Jehovah for everyday. Being able to keep busy with spiritual pursuits is one of the things that helps in those moments when I get homesick.  Thank you all so much for your support.

You friends have made all this possible for me and I will never forget that.

I've heard the weather back home has been cold and even snowing the last couple of days.

I wish that I could send some of this sunshine back to you. The best I can do is to send you some pics.  So, I will probably post 2 more blogs with pics after this one.

Love ya'all and keep in touch,

Josh

That Was Not Easy!

Hey guys,

Well, the friends here said that I did a nice job on the Theocratic Ministry School last night.

I'm not so sure, but I don't think they would lie to me.

Anyways, I didn't post this blog to talk about myself.

I just wanted all of you to know what a taxing responsibility our School Overseers have.

Overseeing the School last night was the hardest thing I've done up to this point.

It's really difficult to think about how the student did on their counsel point, look for the good things about the part, and try to think about something for them to work on next time. 

Anyways, to all you School Overseers, I have a whole new appreciation for your responsibility in the congregation.

Love ya'all,

Josh

A Week of Firsts

Hey everybody,

This is going to be an exciting week!

Tonight, at the meeting, I will be overseeing the Theocratic Ministry School for the very first time! Many of you know how nervous I can get about my parts on the meeting. I thought I would be ready to have a stroke, and I am nervous, but not as bad as I thought...not yet anyways. However, it is still early in the day.

Then on Sunday, I will be conducting the Watchtower study or the very first time! I think I will be sweating bulletts for that!!

I hope that these kinds of experiences will help me when I get home to be able to do more in the congregation in Corbin.

The last 3 mornings, we have gone out from around 6:30 am till around 8:30 am, in an effort to beat the heat. It gets hot here fairly early in the morning. We do "approach" work on the street. Its basically a combination of door-to-door and street witnessing. We walk around the island in groups of 2 or 3 and if we see someone that is in a position to talk or who looks any bit interested in what we are doing, then we go talk to them. It's kinda cool. Early morning witnesseing is going to be a regular thing for me while I'm here.

I didn't have any new pics to put on today, but wanted to let all of you know what the spiritual routine here is like.

I truly appreciate all of your loving support from the time I first started making arrangements to come here! The friends here do too. There is such a big need for brothers here in Caye Caulker. The friends are grateful for any help others can provide.
I'm excited about the Memorial. We're expecting a big crowd. There were 70 here last year!
There were 42 at the meeting Sunday, which is a lot, in a congregation of only 12 publishers.
We have had about 10 brothers and sister here on vacation, just in the 2 weeks since I've been here. Thats really neat. It gives you a chance to meets friends from around the world. In fact, a young brother from Idaho showed up yesterday and needed a place to stay, so he stayed here in "the treehouse". Only Jehovah's organization has that kind of unity! If I don't learn another thing from this trip, I have definitely found out that we are truly part of a WORLDWIDE BROTHERHOOD!

Please keep in touch and let me know how things are going with the congregation and the Memorial campaign at home. I love to hear from you.

Love ya'all,
Josh