Edwin's Big Mistake

This morning we went in the public ministry, accompanied by a Mexican brother and his German wife. It was a clear day, sunny and warm, and our territory was in downtown Zihua. Entering a side street I noticed a young man, with white paint spattered on his arms and shirt, sitting on the curb apparently taking a break. I asked him, in my sorry Spanish, if he had three minutes to watch a video. He was friendly and nodded yes. I showed him the one entitled "Why Did God Create The Earth?" (In Spanish of course.) I later learned that Carol took this photo ...

The young man followed it to the end with interest.

He has access to the Internet so I introduced him to

JW.org.

As we continued on a man from Ontario, who lives here six months out of the year, came along and asked if we were JWs. He said he was a Protestant. Our discussion was friendly enough but then he referred to Jehovah as some made-up name that was not in the Bible. Since he lived in the area I invited him to fetch his Bible so I could show him God's name Jehovah in his very own Bible. He declined my offer. Seems like curiosity is not the possession of all people.

As we continued in the ministry the sun grew more intense. My weather app said the temperature was 83 F but that didn't account for the sun's radiant energy beating down on us. I carried bottled water which helped but the power of the sun was starting to make me feel stressed. I couldn't have sought the shade more zealously if the sun was shooting bullets at me. When I arrived in Mexico I knew I needed a hat ... and I bought one. I made a big error not wearing it today.

By the time we finished we felt worn out by the heat. Walking toward our favorite refreshment spot, Bananas, we found a bench in the shade and we sat a while to rest. We noticed two nicely dressed ladies with shoulder bags walking by and Carol said, "I think they must be Witnesses." Not able to converse in Spanish we let them walk by.

Coming in the opposite direction was an English-speaking Mexican brother who had been part of our group this morning. He stopped to speak with them, then, seeing us, he brought them back to introduce them to us. He also served as translator. It's always a pleasure to meet with our brothers and sisters and they seemed very happy meeting us too. I took a group shot ...

A story about the brother on the left: He has been a JW for a little over a year.He lived in Chicago for a number of years. One day in Chicago, as he put it, "I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." There was criminal activity going on and shooting started. He ran away from the trouble as fast as he could but got shot in the back. He said, "I knew I'd been hit by a bullet but it didn't hurt so I kept on running. A second bullet hit him in the back. He was still able to keep running and managed to get away from the danger. It turned out the bullets did no irreparable damage to any organs. 

I asked him what persuaded him Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth. A big thing that stood out in his mind was being shown 2 Timothy 3:1-5. He was very troubled by what a bad place this world can be and when he saw such a thorough and accurate description of it in those verses, and that it was a sign of "the last days," his interest just grew from there.

Upon reaching Bananas we had a snack and a cold drink which recovered us, to a degree, from heat fatigue. Next time I will wear my Rancheros hat. This Mexican sun can broil.