SUPAH Week!

Ok everybody this week has been so SUPAH crazy and busy, I apologize in advance if it seems like I'm writing a novel haha. It's just that everyday has been jam packed with events, which honestly I can barely even remember them all. So let me recap for all of you of this SUPAH week.....

Welcome to Urbino!

This is how we roll

The weekend before we took a trip to Pesaro and Urbino to meet with some of our Italian friends! We had lunch at there house and Their food was sooooo good! Ate so much! actually too much haha. Afterwards we went to a small town named Urbino, which has a GIANT castle! Pretty mean! Then afterwards we went back to there place and had a pretty good size gathering at there house for dinner. It was so much fun because the only way I could communicate with them and our other italian friends was through my google translator because they know very little english and I know very little italian, put the 2 together and you have a very confusing conversation haha nah we could still have a conversation, it just took alot more gestures, explaing and typing haha. Then afterwards they were kind enough to let us stay for the night and in the morning even cook breakfast! They showed us so much hospitality it was amazing! We appreciated them so much.

Yeeeeeaaaaaa

Bro. Hodson

Next this week was Circuit Overseer Visit! Our Circuit Overseer is Brother Julian Hodson and his wife is Vivian Hodson.  He has been in the circuit work since 1998.  Really cool guy and an awesome speaker. His favorite word to say is SUPAH! hahaha (thus adding to the title of this post). But anywho This week we had a weird meeting schedule. We had our Theocratic Ministry School, Service meeting and C.O. Service talk on Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon at 3, we had our Pioneer meeting.  Friday night we had our Public talk, Congregation Book Study and C.O. Service talk. This is not even including all of the meetings for field service we had everyday.  Now your probably wondering why we didn't have our watchtower study and 1 more C.O. service talk, well I'll tell you why..... in a lil bit haha it's a surprise. But anywho On top of this SUPAH schedule, we had the privilege of serving him and his wife lunch in our house! We had salmon, shoyu chicken, white rice, salad, spinach and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. SUPAH Great lunch haha.

Feeding the C.O. 

Getting PUMPED!

During all of this Circuit Overseer activity tho, we were also working out everyday! Thanks to our personal trainer Luke Hernandez.  My body is SUPAH sore every single day! haha.  But it's so worth it. He knows his stuff. and We are determined to get in shape! haha.  So to stay healthy we are working out and also watching our diet, meaning grocery shopping together, getting healthy yet cheap food for the whole family.  Thanks to Zech and his SUPAH cooking skills, we barely have to cook haha.

Stretchin

Epic grocery shopping

On Saturday night, we had a farewell party as a congregation for Brother and Sister Hodson at the Cornetti's residents.  SUPAH great association and SUPAH food! At 1 point we had Ricardo and James (my little Italian brothers) interview them both asking them some pretty funny question like you know how they met, was it love at first sight, stuff like that. And then we played a fun bible game, which we did not do to good at, even though we had brother and sister Hodson on our team haha.

Bologna Boyz

James and Ricardo Interrogating Brother and Sister Hodson

Now for the SUPAH surprise! This Sunday we had the privilege of attending Italy's Zone Visit! Totally did not know until we arrived in Italy that they were gonna have 1.  But to have this SUPAH event, they had all the assembly halls across Italy video tie-in to Rome, where the brothers were giving the talk. This was the 1st time they ever did this! But only certain circuits were invited, and fortunately for us we were 1 of them haha.  We were assigned to the Imola assembly hall.  5,000 of our brothers and sisters were with us at that assembly hall. The total attendance which tied in was 55,409! SUPAH! The only thing that I could think of that kind made it not so SUPAH was that the 1st half of it was all in ITALIAN! even the watch tower (if you don't know me, I don't know Italian. Well very little actually but not enough for a assembly) So yea I was basically lost for the 1st half of the assembly and taking a little recess break somewhere with the boyz (not saying where but they had good chocolate milkshakes haha just sayin).  The last talk on the other hand was awesome! (partly because it was in english and translated into Italian this time). But really the talk was amazing. Such great reminders for us all. Overall the zone visit was SUPAH! Just being in that warm and loving atmosphere of our fellow brothers and sisters. Making many new friends, even if most of them didn't understand a word I was saying and vice versa haha the brotherly love was still there. A united brotherhood :).

Breakfast before Zone Visit

Outside seating

Inside seating

English talk being translated into Italian

So yea that was basically my week.  There were many more stories but it would of made this blog way too long.  Thank you all for following my blog! If you have any questions and comments just comment away or email me, and I will be happy to answer them.  Also if you have any suggestions on what you would like me to post, let me know! Other than that, that's all I have to say about this past week. So now I'm off to London and Dubland for a week! CHEEHOO!!! That will be my next post, so stay tuned! Oh and don't forget the SUPAH!!! :D hahaha



Oh yea and Zech gave me a awesome hair cut too haha.

good bye hair

Meet Da New Crew!

Ok everybody before I start, I just wanted to let everyone know that this post is ALL about my bro's! If you didn't know, this past friday night me and Javen moved out of "The Moke's" house and into a new place in a area called Casalecchio (Just across town from where we were) with 3 other brothers, 1 who just came and the other 2 who were here for 4 months already. They are.......

Luke

Luke Hernandez (just arrived)
-Age: 21
-Pioneer
-From the island of Oahu
-Personal trainer and Body guard of the house




-Trevor Barret
-Age: 24
-Pioneer & MS
-From Alaska
-A true Alaskan gentlemen

Trevor

Zech

Zechariah Fuller
-Age: 28
-Pioneer & MS
-From the island of Kauai
-Chef of the house
-Future C.O.
(I added his blog to my page so you guys can check em out too)







Javen Okumoto
Age: 21
-Pioneer & MS
-From the island of Oahu
-Angel 0:)
(I put him here so he don't feel left out haha)

Javen

So as I was saying we moved into a new place in a area called Casalecchio.  Picture a 1 bedroom, 1 bath (which has a crazy shower) , living room/kitchen and 5 grown men in it.  Thats my life. And to tell you the truth, its pretty awesome!  All these guys are so cool, I love em!  We have dinner together, work out together (Btw on a side note Luke is a certified personal trainer and a good 1, highly recommend him), go traveling together, also gonna have family study nights together and so many more great things. It's choke fun! We are 1 big happy and dysfunctional family haha. They are my brothers from other mothers! hahaha.  But more importantly they are my fellow brothers who love and serve Jehovah too :) I love all these guys because they all build me up spiritually one way or another. All are solid brothers and have great spiritual goals, which is great because it helps me to continue to pursue my own spiritual goals and to continue to progress and mature in life as a young man.Total BROMANCE!!! hahaha.  So yea thats basically the newest with me here. Just wanted to introduce everyone to my brothers haha. But I'll keep you all updated as much as I can. Take care now! Until next time :). POW!!!

A Bitter Sweet Week :-) / :-(

The Colosseum!

Wassup everyone! I know it's been awhile since my last post but this week has been crazy! Now some of you must be wondering why the title of this post is called "A Bitter Sweet Week :-) / :-(".  Well I'll tell you why... in just a minute haha.  I'll start off with the sweet and then end with the bitter and then you will understand, I hope haha.  So here we go, starting off with the SWEET! Cheehoo! :-)...

The Rome Crew!

    Last Thursday a group of us caught a train to ROME!!!! It was so much fun! So many adventures and memories were made in such a short period of time, it was really awesome. We stood there until Saturday night and during that time we got to see the Coloseum, The Roman Forum, The Spanish steps, The Vatican, Trevvi Fountain and some other places in Rome which I don't know the name too.  For 2 nights we stood in a hostel called "The Yellow" (Like the color) which was Awesome! Changed my mind about hostels, well only a little bit haha but it made the experience of Rome that much more exciting!  Oh and on top of that, 2 out of the 3 days it rained in Rome, but that didn't stop us from still having a good time, even though my shoes and socks were soaking wet and cold. But even though we did so much, we still didn't do everything we could in the city because it's such a huge city. But Rome is a very beautiful city and I'm glad I got to experience it.  And I highly recommend ppl visiting it.

So now that was the sweet part of this past week.  Now for the BITTER! :-( This week happens to also be the last week for the 5 other Hawaiians who were also serving here for a couple of months.  They are Stetson, Cooper, Micah, Imoani, and Joy.  They had there last 2 meetings with the congregation this week and the meetings were very, let's just say, not as happy as they usually were. During the announcements at the Wednesday night meeting, they got interviewed 1 by 1 telling the congregation what they enjoyed and learned from this wonderful experience.  It was a tear jerker :'-(. Even though I probably will see all of them again (since they all live in Hawaii too, just different Islands) I'm still sad they are leaving because they all made this trip so much more awesome and fun and not only that but also because they all contributed so much to the congregation while they were here. Just by the congregations reaction to them leaving, you can really tell that they all made a major impact on the congregation, so they will all be dearly missed. I'm happy that I got to at least have the opportunity to serve with them for the first 3 weeks of my trip, it really made a difference. 1 sister told me she never cried but (even though she is really close to all of them too). I asked her how come? Well she told me only because this won't be the last time she will get to see all of them.  They are only leaving for now, who knows they might just come back.  And even if they don't she said she will see them in the new system forever.  This is just 1 of the many reasons why being in Jehovah's organization is the best, because in even the saddest of times we can still look at the future with a positive mind because we have something to look forward too.  A world where we won't ever have to say goodbye to our loved ones but instead have forever to be with them and get to know them that much better. So even though this is a bitter sweet week, it's still overall in the end SWEET! All thanks to Jehovah. That's it for this post, thank you all for following along.  This month is so busy it's CRAZY! and it's only getting busier! But I will let you know all about it, in the next few posts, so you are just going to have to wait and see what we are up too haha. Until then Ciao everyone! :)

Aloha Cooper, Joy, Micah, Imoani, and Stetson! Take care!

Special Talk & a African Party!

Ciao everyone! Allora.... novita? (So.... whats new?) haha Just thought I'd update you on the latest that happened since the last post. Yesterday we, as well as all of Jehovah's servants around the world, got to enjoy our special talk entitled "Is it later than you think?" given by 1 of our elders, Gabriel.  He did a really awesome job and used a few illustrations, in which I'm going to borrow for future use haha.  Their were quite a few in attendance also, so that was very nice too see.  Oh and I almost forgot but on top of it being the special talk, it was bow tie day! Me and some brother's planned a bow tie day. Now I love bow ties! lol

Me, Ricardo, Javen and James Rockin the Bow Ties

African Food!

Later on that night, we had a gathering planned by Sister Grace at brother Ambross's house.  Pretty much the whole congregation was there haha.  It was so much fun! We ate awesome African food and btw She cooked choke food! There was enough food to last all of us for like a week!  I ate WAY too much food because my stomach was sticking out and I felt like I was gonna collapse lol.  Then after we ate, the African music started blasting and it became a full on dance party!  and boy can the Africans dance!  1 sister told me that Africans learn to dance before they can walk lol. They showed us there dance moves and then we showed ours haha but man it was so much fun! Everyone was dancing, from the little toddlers to even the older 1's!  Overall it was a really great gathering. Got to eat, dance, and talk story with everyone. I got to know the friends in the congregation better and now we are even better n closer friends now! And on top of that I formed many new friendships also.  It's so awesome to be in a worldwide brotherhood, in which everyone is united and where everyone is so loving, even when they barely don't even know each other, most of the time not even at all! But the 1 thing that we do know about each other, no matter where we are from, is that we love Jehovah and that's why we are so united. Their is nothing that comes even close to Jehovah's organization.

Meet my new African Aunties, Dora and Grace

The Lord's Evening meal!

Javen, Joseph (Javens Study) and Me

Hey everybody! Last night we had our memorial of Jesus Christ! It was AWESOME!!! I was so excited, not just because it's the memorial but because it was my first memorial in which it wasn't with my home congregation! A year ago I would have never have thought I would get to have the privilege of going to the memorial in a foreign land. So grateful!  But anywho back to the memorial haha. It was at the Amadeus Hotel at 8 pm.  We had a 135 in attendance! Most of them African bible studies!  Compared to last year where they had 74.  And there were also 42 who attended in the prison (1 of our elders has the the prison as there special territory) compared to 15 last year. You can really see how great the spiritual growth was in just 1 year!  Brother Phil Pantano gave the memorial talk for us, which was really wonderful and touching. He's a great speaker.

Brother Phil Pantano giving the talk

Me n Jerry haha

We all had amazing experiences with the brothers, meeting many new 1's and even starting bible studies right after the memorial was finished! For example I met this 1 African man named Jerry from Ghana. We were talking story and I asked him if he enjoyed what he had heard tonight and he said yes, very much! I then asked him if he knew any witnesses and he said no. So I then told him well now you do! haha And asked him if he would be interested in learning more about the bible and he agreed! So then we exchanged numbers and now I'm gonna try and start studying with him! CHEEEEEHOOOOOO!!! That just made my night! I even took a picture with him because I was so happy! lol. This is a memorial in which I will never forget.

Btw ppl if you haven't noticed I added Javans blog on here and my new friend Trevor (Who is also pretty awesome), his blog on here, just look on the right hand side.  He's a brother from Alaska, who is also serving here for awhile, so I get the privilege of sharing in this work with him. Oh and also I have 1 favor to ask of you all who have my email (it's eriklouis1@gmail.com), to send me some pictures of your memorials so I can see all of your wonderful experiences too! So if can I would really appreciate it! Thanks!  So thank you everyone for reading and following me. I'll try and keep everyone updated as much as possible. I love to share these experiences with you guys. And when I get home I have plenty more waiting for my family and friends. Thank you all so much for the support! Means alot to me :)

Phil, Me, Javen, Hans, Trevor and The Moke Andrea

This is how it all started....

Field with Andrea aka The Moke

Ok so it's been just about 2 weeks into my trip already, so I'm not even gonna try to back track what happened because to many things happened already and it will take too much time to explain it all. But here's a brief summary.... In the beginning we flew around the world, which took 24 hours. Landed in Italy, moved in with brother Andrea Burgo aka "The Moke", who is a MS in the Bologna English Congregation (The Congregation we are serving in).  

Afternoon witnessing with the boyz

Being in the Bologna English Congregation is like being in the foreign language congregation back home.  In field service we look for english speaking people literally EVERYWHERE! Busses, Markets, Train stations, etc. So it involves choke walking!  But to find out, our main territory is looking for Africans. Why? Well because most Africans are taught english when they went to school, so that they can interact with each other in Africa despite coming from different tribes where they have there own language. So to find out there are plenty of Africans in Italy!  All you have to do is go up to them and ask if they speak english and if it's a yes then you start preaching, a no then you don't, simple as that haha. Another way we preach is our territory, like back at home, but it only consist of those who speak english, which they know because they do this thing called "research" where they go to a part of the city which hasn't been researched yet and they ring every doorbell and ask if anyone speaks english. They mark it down and bam! theres our territory.  Then the final way is by referrals, those yellow slips in the back of the hall which people fill out if they speak another language.  We get those.

So that's basically how we do field service here.  Congregation wise, the congregation is so warm and loving! It's really encouraging to be here! The congregation has 41 publishers, 10 pioneers, and last month 23 were auxillary pioneering! And on top of that The first meeting we go to, we already have parts! Javen had the bible highlights and I had the congregation book study reading! We also have many assignments scheduled too so it's gonna be a very exciting and busy time here. 1 elder told me they're gonna squeeze us like a sponge and use us until the very end haha. So I feel very privileged to be here right now. Even though I'm sent here to help encourage the congregation over here, I think they're encouraging me more! So happy and grateful to be here! So thats just about it on everything that happened so far and how everything is going on here, I'll tell all the many other experiences I had when I get home. Tonight we have meeting and then tomorrow is the MEMORIAL!!!!! Can't wait! That will be it's own blog in itself! Until then, Ciao everybody!