OLD NEWS

 So... we're back! And as you all know if you read DuShey's blog... this post is OLD NEWS (hence the title). But no matter if it's old news or not... it never hurts to read about the joy of a new Kingdom Hall in another part of the world, even if you have read it before!

So this is where the small group met for about 4 years... it's the Hopkins Community Center also known as the Help Age Center. The small group grew and was made a congregation in July 2011! The hunt was on for our own spot in Hopkins... a place of worship for the new students to call their own...

This is the set-up in the Help Age Center... good... but not great... and each meeting brothers would have to arrive SUPER early and stay late to set up/put away the chairs, and set up/breakdown the sound system for every meeting... not to mention if it was a holiday, we would have to try to mask the Christmas decor, etc. it's the little things you take for granted when you've always had a proper place of worship.
 

We finished the hall just in time to write 2011 in the concrete! The first meeting was on Sunday, January 1st, 2012. What a wonderful way to start the new year! And pretty ironic seeing that there are many Mayan villages here, which Mayans thought the world would end in 2012... but Jehovah says there is more work to do! ha ha ha

April did the finishing touches to the stage. She drove out to Sittee River to cut some exotic foliage... but it's the official Year Text from the branch that really made it feel like "home".

Just a few of the brothers in Hopkins... the black brother in the middle (Ken, the first baptized Garifuna male in Hopkins at 19 yrs old) recently had a chance to join a popular musical group here in Belize (last week the group performed with Omarion at the Belize music awards)... he turned down the offer... and when he saw this picture he said, "This is my group now!"

This is Ebony... she is wonderful. And we're sure you will read about her in the yearbook one day. For an 11 year old girl her zeal is amazing! She studies every week, walks to the meeting; which she is never missing, comments at the meetings, has joined the Theocratic Ministry School, and is working towards becoming a publisher so she can preach during summer break from school... all of this with with no support from her family. She is an encouragement to us all... and she is the loudest singer in the Hopkins Congregation!

I'm having a hard time moving this picture up under the one of Eric giving a talk in the Help Age Center so that you can really see the difference... no comparison!

The Hopkins Brothers...

But the WOMEN... are a large army!

The DuShey's are so encouraging! Their zeal for the truth, and love for Jehovah and his sheep is contagious! They have seen Hopkins grow from when they were the only ones representing Jehovah in the village... to now a congregation with 30 publishers, and average 60 - 100 attending meetings! Today must have been surreal for them! 

 

 

The first song we sung was "Labor of Love"... man, the group of people who wrote that new song definitely captured all of the feelings of the day! There was not a dry eye in the house!

Aaron, Eric & TJ

One of Hopkins' favorite Englishman.... Harry Ashton. The first Ministerial Servant produced by the Hopkins Congregation! He was appointed just after we arrived the first time in November 2011, and he gave his first public talk at the end of May! He is such an asset to the congregation, his mild, laid back spirit suits this place :)

Lacy, April, Sue, Reg... although the foursome didn't last long... we have some great memories together!

 

 

Some sisters traveled in from Dangriga (45 minute drive north) for the special day. The sister second in from the left is Beverly. She is a Special Pioneer focusing on the Garifuna field. She comes to Hopkins every Wednesday to conduct back-to-back studies in the Garifuna language... she is amazing in the ministry!

So I'm realizing in all of my pictures I don't have one picture of the Kingdom Hall completely finished! ha ha ha BUMMER! So I will take one on Sunday, and add it to the post so you can see how beautiful it is! What a blessing from Jehovah that it's one of the first things you see on your way in to the village!

BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL

 

It was about 10pm Saturday night before the first meeting in the new Kingdom Hall and Harry and TJ get a wild hair to frame the year's text and hang it on the wall!

 The midnight crew.

 They were right... the year's text DID make the hall look complete.

 Poor Aaron was so tired, he was slap happy.

 It took all 4 of them to hang it straight... at this point it was midnight.

Time to rush home for a shower, a good night's sleep, and then back to the hall at 9am for last minute touches before the meeting at 2pm.

Oh yea... by the way the power went off when we got home while we were showering... ha ha ha NOT FUNNY! That means the water doesn't work... and neither does the pathetic "water heater"... thank Jehovah it came back on 10 minutes later. But 10 minutes never seemed so long when you're standing in the pitch black with suds in your hair at 1 o'clock in the morning! ha ha ha

THE DAY BEFORE...

Harry Ashton, a young brother from England serving in the Hopkins Congregation. He is the first homegrown Ministerial Servant in Hopkins! He is a GREAT brother... everybody LOVES him, and he makes GREAT nachos! Here he and Eric are putting Liquid Nails behind the sink in the bathroom to keep it from wobbling. Can you believe this is the day before the first Sunday meeting?

The finished podium.

Lacy, Carole and Lindsey go to work trying to get any last minute over spray off the floor.

April was trying to decide where to hang the mirror in the bathroom... and I caught her in the act :)

The guys downstairs laid the concrete walkway between the 2 staircases. Can you see the the person in the concrete is barefoot? That's the Belizean way...

A trial run at what we were going to write in the fresh cement... but somehow all the different names just weren't cutting it...

I was asked to write something timeless and classic...

It now reads: Hopkins Congregation 12-31-2011

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The last three days before the first meeting were INTENSE! It was all about the finishing work...

 Eric's trade came in handy to say the least :)

Stefan, a Norwegian brother who came with his family for 2 months came to our rescue! His experience with carpentry and building homes in Norway came in so handy... it was definitely not a coincidence that he was there right when we needed him! This is him putting together the stage... to help the short brothers with their audience contact :) ha ha ha

So fun to have Will Shin in town during the finishing stages...

Aaron received the year text from the branch... it was official!

This is our wonderful young pioneer sister Azula Perez. She got to work sanding the stage to prep it for staining... Take a look at the floor. In the States that beautiful hard wood floor wood cost a fortune! But here in Belize... it comes standard!

This is Marisha. Recently appointed as a publisher at 14 yrs old...  for the month of December she got more than 14 hours in the ministry, and that doesn't include the time she spent helping on the Kingdom Hall! Here she is working with Cris to build a podium.

Staining the stage.

 

 

 

 

IT'S WHAT IS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS

We had done so much work on the outside of the hall to the property... that it was now time to work on the inside. First things first:caulk EVERY seam!

This metal frame is the start of the partition that soon blocked off the bathroom. The little work station in the back left was where I cut the pipe to size... Yoni trusted me with the pipe cutter! The little boy in the picture is Christian Aibengbae, originally from Dallas. He's 6 yrs old... he's supervising :)

While the girls filled gaps with silicone caulking... Eric and TJ went to work with the spray foam! There was NOTHING getting in here that wasn't welcome!

Yoni, Hopkins' new special pioneer, and our fearless leader on the project.

In the middle is Don Niebrugge (probably butchered the spelling). He was mentioned many times in the 2010 yearbook about Belize. He has over 35 years of experience living in Belize with his wife as a special pioneers... the wisdom oozes out of his pores! 

BLURBS FROM HOPKINS

This is Sue Rose and her bible study Carmelita. Sue is originally from Tunisia, and grew up in France. She moved to London with her husband Paul (introduced in an earlier post)... so imagine her awesome accent! I LOVE HER! Her study Carmelita cannot read, but is soaking up the truth from the Listen to God Brochure. Her children sit in on the study most of the time, and they answer too. Did you notice they're having their study on a random set of concrete stairs in her front yard?

Same scene... just different cropping I guess?

This is Ebony. She is 11 yrs old, and comes to ALL the meetings by herself... on foot! While her bible teacher is out of town I have the privilege of studying with her, and we make an evening of it. She comes over around 5pm, we eat dinner, we study, and then we play games, Eric included :) This particular study was on a Saturday when she came over to study for the meeting so that we could prepare simple answers for her to participate. This is her practicing the Kingdom song we were going to sing at the meeting the next day... SO CUTE! She sings at the top of her lungs at the meeting, her zeal is amazing!

This is baby Sanjay. Look out... Azelia is NOT coming home! ha ha ha

This is baby Sanjay's real mom :) Her name is Rosie. She is studying with Sue Rose. We were studying about the ransom with her the other day, and as we used the pictures in the Listen to God Brochure to illustrate what Adam lost that caused us to need the ransom... she asked, "Where did they get those clothes from?" (You know, the picture of them being expelled form the garden of Eden wearing skin garments). So we turned to Gen. 3: 21 to show her that Jehovah clothed them. Then Rosie said, "That is how we know that we worship a loving God... he didn't send them out naked to be ashamed, even though they deserved it!" I could not believe the connection she was making... I NEVER got that from reading that verse, but she was absolutely right! The studies here are SO encouraging!

Can you see the 3 guys on the scaffolding? Which one do you think is Belizean?

She's got the knack!

The Belizean way to move scaffolding...

Do you think this is RBC approved? ha ha ha I took the picture but did not stick around to see if they fell...