After reading your April 3rd musings and being invited to share my own experience, I feel led to do just that.
But first, I’m very sorry about your personal experience during the pandemic. I’m afraid there were far too many who had a similar experience in feeling isolated, neglected, and disappointed in their spiritual shepherds. Conversely, how nice that you were able to cultivate a relationship during that time and find a life companion in Sarah! (I’m actually Sarah’s aunt on her mother‘s side and I attended your beautiful wedding virtually with my elderly mother.) Congratulations! And my best wishes to you both!
Looking at family photos, I’m not sure what led me to randomly find, select, and read your newsletter of April 3rd, but I was very impressed with it! I appreciated, above all, your drive for truth and a careful self examination. After all, if we don’t constantly aim for truth and honesty, wouldn’t we be heading toward the father of the lie? (John 8:44b) Perish the thought! So many Scriptures on truth vs. lies…
When the pandemic hit and lockdown commenced I guess I had a very different experience from other people. Our congregation was fortunate to have some very tech-savvy members who immediately set up a congregation website which continues to be regularly updated. And inside of a week, each family was contacted in order to determine their needs and address their concerns. Within the congregation, provisions were made for daily spiritual feeding, worship, and association via Zoom, while material needs were thoughtfully addressed as well.
Besides frequent communication and assistance from our local elder body, news of our brothers around the world came to us through pandemic updates as well as a regular monthly video broadcast. This is easily accessed from either the JW ROKU app or the website; jw.org. These had already been in place pre-pandemic and had been regularly expanding so all or some of this content is now available in over 1000 languages. Yes! One thousand!
Isaiah was inspired to write that God’s servants would eat while others went hungry. Please consider such verses in your favorite translation. (Isaiah 65:13).
Again, congratulations on your marriage as well your interesting newsletter. I wish the best for both of you.
Hi Ben,
After reading your April 3rd musings and being invited to share my own experience, I feel led to do just that.
But first, I’m very sorry about your personal experience during the pandemic. I’m afraid there were far too many who had a similar experience in feeling isolated, neglected, and disappointed in their spiritual shepherds. Conversely, how nice that you were able to cultivate a relationship during that time and find a life companion in Sarah! (I’m actually Sarah’s aunt on her mother‘s side and I attended your beautiful wedding virtually with my elderly mother.) Congratulations! And my best wishes to you both!
Looking at family photos, I’m not sure what led me to randomly find, select, and read your newsletter of April 3rd, but I was very impressed with it! I appreciated, above all, your drive for truth and a careful self examination. After all, if we don’t constantly aim for truth and honesty, wouldn’t we be heading toward the father of the lie? (John 8:44b) Perish the thought! So many Scriptures on truth vs. lies…
When the pandemic hit and lockdown commenced I guess I had a very different experience from other people. Our congregation was fortunate to have some very tech-savvy members who immediately set up a congregation website which continues to be regularly updated. And inside of a week, each family was contacted in order to determine their needs and address their concerns. Within the congregation, provisions were made for daily spiritual feeding, worship, and association via Zoom, while material needs were thoughtfully addressed as well.
Besides frequent communication and assistance from our local elder body, news of our brothers around the world came to us through pandemic updates as well as a regular monthly video broadcast. This is easily accessed from either the JW ROKU app or the website; jw.org. These had already been in place pre-pandemic and had been regularly expanding so all or some of this content is now available in over 1000 languages. Yes! One thousand!
Isaiah was inspired to write that God’s servants would eat while others went hungry. Please consider such verses in your favorite translation. (Isaiah 65:13).
Again, congratulations on your marriage as well your interesting newsletter. I wish the best for both of you.
Your aunt-in-law,
June Winger