wedding

We went out in service for an hour. With Alan Jr. & Lesley, Yanitza, Brian and Sister Chastain. We had a really nice time, and I got to talk to Yanitza more. She's 17 right now and will graduate in 4 months. She'll go back to chili then, to her familly and work over there. She'll probably get a job real easy since she speaks both English and Spaninsh fluently! But by the time I'm coming over to visit the friends again she'll be gone. So now she has to come to the Netherlands!
I'm a part of the congregation now, according to Brian Broughton, before that I was 'new' and now I'm not new anymore..boring?:P Anyway, it's nice to be considered as a member of the congregation.

Birdie, Larry and I were all so tired so we tried to take a nap, but by the time I fell asleep it was time to get ready for the wedding! So I got ready and we went. They had changed the setup of the rows with chairs, so that an aisle was formed.
Vinnie had the talk, which was his first weddingtalk, and he was so nervous, but he did a really good job. So was brandon by the way. he was standing there all nerous and anxious at the same time. He walked down the aisle followed by the flower girl and the bride, Lori, and her dad.

After the wedding there was the opportunity to congratulate the brandnew couple and the family. Rene wanted to make pictures of everybody and made them pose, she also made santrail and me pose and santrail and her two younger sister together, as well as Brian Chastain and Hailey, his fiancee.

then finally we went back home, I changed clothers and drove to the Callier's place. they've got a real nice place, two wooden houses and a pond. Their son and his wife life in the other house. They took us and brother and sister Washington out to have dinner. We had a really nice time together, talking about all sorts of things. But also about spiritual things. It's so nice to share things you've learned or questions you've had and did research on. We were talking about how it'll be in the new system, the way people will be resurected. Brother Washington gave an example, a man sitting with his wife having dinner and asking her: 'Honey please pass me the ...' - and he dies. By the time he is ressurected, his first word will be: ..salt'. or a couple that is told that their baby will be ressurected that day, they've invited all the friends and the babyroom is ready. They're talking and allin once they hear crying from the babyroom. Of course we don't know what it will be like, but we know Jehovah will resurect everybody in the way they were with the memories they had. It'll be great, to live without worries, because we know Jehovah will take care of everything.

This morninga brother from a different congregation had the public talk. it weas about being wise and following Jehovah. The way we handle counsel and so on.
He told a true story about a congregation in California some years ago. The brothers had beards, and the governing body asked the brothers who conducted tasks in the congregation to shave their beards. This because they would be associated with french groups, other than Jehovah's witnesses. There was one brother who made a big fuss about it and said: "show me that the bible says I can't have a beard and then I'll shave''. Eventually the brother left the congregation and Jehovah's organisation.
Later on when the circuit officer visited the congregation he saw the brother walking on the street, clean shaved. So he asked the brothers what had happened to this person. they told him he got a job at Disneyland, and Disneyland required of her employees that they're cleanshaved. So concluded the brother: ''He wasn't willing to shave for Jehovah God, but he was for Mickey Mouse.''

He also had a good illustration about loving our brothers and sister as ourselves, and what to do when someone irritates us. He said, think about an oister, laying on the beach, perfectly minding it's own business. Then a wave comes in and a little sandgrain comes in the oister. Does the oister get angry with the wave? Or does it get irritated and leaves the shell? NO! It turns it layer by layer into a pearl. Something that used to be irritating has now become something very valuable.
He had some more nice illustrations, but these are the ones that I can recall the best:)

I'll upload some of the pictures I've made during the wedding ceremony and afterwards. Most of them are pretty dark, because they're inside and I didn't want to use the flash that much.

love and xox merel