I missed the meetings here!

I mean, obviously the material is the same everywhere in the world, but the secret is that the brothers are not, meaning that the approach and the quality of the meetings changes a lot. For example, the comments the brothers and sisters give here at the Congregation Bible Study regarding the feelings Jesus may have showed to others in different circumstances, simply shock me! I mean, for someone coming from Europe or US, Italy in my case, where feelings are kind of showed one way or another (where I come from feelings ARE VERY WELL EXPRESSED IN WORDS, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND HANDS!), the culture here could be a bit...tricky! It's difficult for the Ugandan to show their feelings. It's a culture... thinghy! They will probably express it very well in words, but sometimes the facial expression is completely the opposite of the feeling they're expressing in words. For example, the line between laughing and crying here is so THIN that sometimes, when they're talking about something dead serious, they laugh about it instead of crying. So it could be challenging sometimes to work them out, if you know what I mean.
That is why I'm shocked every time they give an answer regarding Jesus' feelings...they really get them, while sometimes I struggle trying to imagine that type of feeling.
Then we get articles regarding DEEP THINGS OF GOD and I spend hours sometimes trying to understand completely a concept so that I can make it mine and therefore explain it (not being in my mother tongue doesn't help). Then, at the meeting, the deep comments the brothers give explaining perfectly what that paragraph meant, are simply amazing. 
In Fort Portal we're also blessed as the majority of the speakers are really REALLY good, but even when someone is not, you can really FEEL the spirit of Jehovah wondering "above our heads" :).
This last Sunday, we had only the watchtower study as there was a ZONE VISIT in Kampala so majority of the brothers went to attend being a very important event. Well, we were still in 50 between publishers and interested ones and it was THE BEST WATCHTOWER in a long time. 
In addition to that, I had the joy to see 2 of my studies coming and commenting. One of them, Susan, never came. Actually every time I would try to invite her, she would change the subject and every Sunday I would be disappointed. So last Wednesday, after the study, I told the sister that was working with me that I was ready to "sift" this study as she quite advanced into the book and never showed the intention to come to the meetings. So I received a nice "slap" on my face from Jehovah when I saw her coming in and sitting down....and then when she commented. 
The other study, Queenie, stopped studying at least 2 months ago because she started University and I was really disappointed as she now lives 5 minutes from the Kingdom Hall, but came only once and then disappeared. Well, another slap, when I FOUND HER THERE 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE MEETING STARTED!!!! She explained that she was trying to adjust the lessons (yes, they study even on Sundays here) so that she could come on Sunday and do the study after the meeting at the Kingdom Hall. So now, she promised she would be regular.

I was SOOOOO glad to find out that one of my studies, Sarah, went to all the meeting when I was in UK and that the mother finally changed her tune as she was attending the study and be argumentative about everything. So when I was away, Joy, the pioneer sister looking after Sarah, told her that if she thought that our teaching was "confusable", she shouldn't attend the study. From that moment on, she attended the study and appreciated the fact that every single teaching is supported by the Bible (she got to a turning point at Judgement Day). So now she's happy to attend the study and participate actively in a very humble way. 

And I felt amazing the first day back in the field doing first call on a business territory. Even when they're busy, they always listen to you, often stopping what they're doing to check out the scriptures you're reading to them.

So anyway, as you can see, we're really happy to be back! 
The brothers welcomed us again with much love! And we have many good news! For example, from March there will be a Rutoro meeting after the English one on Sundays! This is wonderful news as we have brothers and sisters who don't understand a word of English and can't follow the meetings properly. So now, we have to resume our Rutoro lessons and try to get serious about it! 


Nyniega mpora mpora!


Bye for now!