Blessings Until There Is No More Want...

Things have been absolutely crazy in the Chinese Congregation! As of September there was officially a Chinese Circuit!!! Trust me on this, I know what I am talking about. Despite the number of Chinese Congregations, there was no actually Chinese Circuit. There were Chinese Assemblies, but they were always held as a part of one of the New York Circuits and therefore we met at the Assembly hall in Queens, NY. There was no Chinese Circuit Overseer so all visits to the congregations were from the local English circuit and all talks would have to be translated, including talks at the assemblies! Now that we are our own circuit things are taking off!! We now meet at the New Jersey Assembly Hall, also known as THE STANLEY THEATRE!! It is soo awesome! We also have a Chinese speaking circuit overseer. He and his wife were missionaries in Taiwan for many years and therefore are fluent in their Chinese. It was also very exciting to have a personalized needs of the circuit talk. Two of the points brought out were that of the need to not be prejudice with each other. For the Chinese Circuit that mainly applies to dialects. We should not only be close to those who speak Mandarin for Cantonese and let there be a division there. I found that interesting because even I have joked with some native sisters who speak both saying not to speak Cantonese saying that we only speak Mandarin here! The other point was the need for native Chinese people to move out west. One of the first questions a Chinese person will ask you when you invite them to a meeting is how many Chinese people will be there. It's frustrating cause if they came they would make more! Many of them are more interested in being able to go somewhere and associate with Chinese people, and that's fine with us! Once they get there and start listening, that's when it really sinks in. The large majority of Chinese brothers and sisters is in New York and luckily for us we have a connection! Curtis and Karolynn Lewis were assigned to our group last March as Special Pioneers and know most of the brothers there and are workin' real hard to convince some to move out here! Hopefully some with pray about it whole heartily and decide to follow this suggestion :)

The next blessing we received was that as of February 1, 2009 our little group became and official congregation!! It's hard to believe that 5 and a half years ago when I first started this there was only about 5 or 6 other people who went in Chinese service only 1 day a week. I am so glad that I made the decision to do Chinese despite those who thought it was not the best course for me to take. Jehovah has truly blessed my efforts! From the small group that used to go out in service, one is now in China and two are now missionaries in Columbia working in the Chinese field and I have the privilege of calling them my friends! It is crazy to think that this year was our third Chinese memorial! We had 61 in attendance and we have about 30-5 publishers in the congregation! We have been able to meet so many other brothers by having one brother a month come in to give a Chinese talk, usually from the New York area. We truly felt the love of the Central Congregation of Columbus when we become a congregation. Not only did they host our group and help financially support our Advanced Learning Class but when we became an official congregation they gave us a more then generous donation of some $10,000 to start us off!!!!!!! We have been able to us that to help bring in brothers from other areas for talks and also assist our brothers and sisters go to the assemblies in New Jersey if needed.


When the announcement was made about the International Conventions that would be held this year I beg Chris to apply, especially with places like Greece and Trinidad and Tobago. I cried when we were unable to, but realized it was a good decision when he was recently laid off. Needless to say when our Convention assignment was read in January I cried again. The Chinese Congregations are all assigned to the International Convention in Long Beach, CA!!!! Not only was it International, but it was by the ocean like all my choices were and it was in California, a place I have always wanted to go!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! The convention is in Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog (Philippines), and English. It is going to be amazing!! Chris has never flown before and never been to the Pacific so I am excited to get to do both.

Another blessing is that we have been assigned a Ministerial Training School graduate!! His name is Brandon Whitmyer and he is currently living in Oregon, but is originally from North Dakota. He has been here all week visiting. His assignment begins June 1st, but he will be here May 2nd. We are all very excited. He is in his early 30s and has only been baptized for 5 years! He has been learning Chinese for 3 years and gave the most amazing Chinese bible readings I have ever heard! We are all really excited to have him and to have him help us get our congregation off on the right foot!

Oh, forgot the mention our Chinese Territory. I don't know the actually number of territories, but we have 22 counties in Ohio. More or less everything south of I-70!