Posts by Country Girl

Volunteers Lucero Ocon, left, Michel Gil and Vanessa Gil haul shingles away from Rafael Duran’s home. Jehovah’s Witness volunteers have been repairing damage done by Hurricane Rita.

BEAUMONT - Each weekend since October, Danny Farrow has driven about 90 miles to the Golden Triangle, where he lives in a trailer and feeds thousands of homemade meals to volunteers.

He could be golfing. He could be fishing.

Instead, he's feeding hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses who come to the area to rebuild hurricane-damaged homes.

They arrive at the area Kingdom Halls from all over the state - and some from beyond its borders - to repair more than 850 homes that belong to their "brothers and sisters," other Jehovah's Witnesses.

They will stay until the work here is done, about three to four months, J.C. Avila Beaumont hub coordinator at the North Major Drive site, said. And after that, some volunteers likely will help out in Louisiana, he said.

"This is probably the one organization you will see that will see this project to the end," Farrow said.

(Seems somewhat arrogant).

Jehovah's Witnesses who can't drive to Southeast Texas donate money to help the cause, Avila said, which is used to buy supplies and food. Also, several nonprofit groups, like the Red Cross, have donated frozen and canned foods.

Since early October, the volunteers have completed more than 400 homes. About 260 homes remain in Beaumont and Orange, with another 150 in the northern counties, Avila said.

No one is paid. No one is forced to work.

They volunteer their weekends because the Bible tells them to, Avila said.

The Bible instructs people to love each other, Avila said before quoting John 13:34-35:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Helping someone rebuild a home is the best way these men and women know how to show their love right now, they said.

Jehovah's Witnesses also rebuilt homes damaged during Hurricane Allison in 2001 and Florida homes damaged in recent hurricanes.

"I can't fix everything in the world," said Michael Perham, 47, of Rosenberg. "My little contribution is the best I can do."

Perham said he would like to help more people who are not Jehovah's Witnesses but added, "You gotta look after your family. You can't take care of everyone in the world."

Taking care of other Jehovah's Witnesses is a large enough task.

On Christmas weekend, close to 1,000 people volunteered, Avila said. On New Year's weekend, about 800 assisted. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate holidays.

So many volunteers and so many homes could become a logistical disaster.

The volunteers obviously are experienced. They have set up stations - assessments, food service, administration, first aid, and trucking - to keep everything running smoothly.

Chris Alberga, 28, of Van Vleck in Matagorda County, began volunteering last month in the administration office. He makes sure the programs that chart people's names, phone numbers, addresses and problems are working.

At the first-aid station, volunteer nurses, paramedics and doctors take care of cuts, burns and other medical problems.

When workers were chopping trees off homes a couple of months ago, a few people hurt themselves with chain saws, said Perham, a paramedic. Those people were taken to the hospital for stitches, he said.

Now, most injuries are related to food service, he said.

Volunteer cooks wake at 3 a.m. to start breakfast. Meals must be packaged and taken to other volunteers in Orange, Silsbee and Port Arthur by 5:45 a.m., Farrow said.

On a recent Saturday, volunteers ate Italian sausage for lunch and gumbo for dinner. That was 160 gallons of gumbo - one batch with shrimp and crawfish, another without.

Cooksy work in two trailers equipped with two long grills, 12 low-boy burners, five convection ovens and one char grill.

Farrow won't let the men (the women don't cook) talk while cooking because saliva could end up in the 20- or 25-gallon pots, making diners sick.

Dennis Cantrell, 49, of Houston travels every weekend to rebuild homes.

Usually, dozens of people (as many as 50) work on one home, he said. It makes for a tight work space but gets a house done quickly, he said.

People often have tears of thanks in their eyes, Cantrell said. But that's not why he does the work. He volunteers because it's what the Bible instructs him to do.

"We live our lives around our religion," Cantrell said. "Not our religion around our lives."

Many volunteers want the work here to finish quickly so they can get back to door-to-door witnessing.

Evangelizing has fallen off since the storm because so many people are busy repairing homes, volunteers said.

20

Muslim stampede - religion strikes again!

by Crumpet in

muslims killed in stampede during ritual stoning of devil at hajj pilgrimage in saudi arabia; reuters reports at least 50 dead.. watch cnn or log on to

http://cnn.com

and watch free video, plus live, commercial-free video with cnn pipeline.

Country Girl

Death.

Just to throw a rock.

And they call Westerners uncivilized animals and infidels? There's some serious CD (cognitive dissonance) going on here.

CG

24

Cruising for chicks/guys @ assemblies.

by avishai in

jw
friends

yup, the one thing i miss about assemblies.

the chase.

sneaking off at lunch and/or half the afternoon session to make out w/ someone you just met.

Country Girl

I just wanted to sit in the "high" seats at any stadium with the BAD "teenangers." Unfortunately, my Mother made me sit with her and babysit my siblings, unless I could con her into sitting with one of my friends and their parents. I trolled alright, it was just under the stadium seating for whatever toy my siblings lost. Sigh....

CG

60

Without naming your city, tell us more about it

by JH in

jw
friends

where i live, you can smell the odor of paper mills.

it's a port city and people speak french here.

i think the average age of people here is one of the higest in canada.. there is a shrine that attracts many tourists in the summer time.

Country Girl

Population 25. The last remaining store has a hitching post and sometimes there are horses hitched to it. I know all the neighbors, and they know me. We are 30 miles from the nearest large city, and we like it that way. Guess I'd have to tell you about the nearest, largest, city for you to guess.

It's about over half a million people. We won the National College championship in football in the Nation this year. It's a small, but the most liberal, city in the State. We are surrounded by hills, lakes, trees, and we are characterized by the slogan "Keep _____ wierd."

This city is part of a state that once used to be a nation.

CG

18

What does "born again" mean?

by Country Girl in

to most of the people on here, the term "born again" reminds them of fanatical christians who try to impose their beliefs on all other people, have an agenda (which is sometimes co-mixed with politics), and want to convert the rest of the world.

to me, born again is of a different nature.

it's different from my understanding of it as a jehovah's witness, and it's different from my understanding of it as a baptist.

Country Girl

Shazard:

Being born again is a new life, as it sounds. You are born again in a new spirit, and a new life. When you accept Christ as your savior, as he asks of you, you are a baby, and yet you know somuch more. Nobody is perfect, and we are all caught in the spirit of the world... but we have to define what for us, is CHRISTIANITY, and stick to that.

CG

7

Billboard rental....

by Country Girl in

i was thinking of renting a billboard on highway 71, which is a major thouroughfare in texas between austin and houston, that has a pic of the silent lamb with the "x" on his mouth that says:.

"silent no more".

<pic of the lamb>.

Country Girl

I am still wanting to rent a billboad on Highway 71 between Austin and Houston. I am still looking for ideas to put on it, and am still looking for contributions. Let me know by PM if you'd be willing to contribute for a full year rent of the billboard. AlthoughI am not sure of the price, I will let you know.

C

18

What does "born again" mean?

by Country Girl in

to most of the people on here, the term "born again" reminds them of fanatical christians who try to impose their beliefs on all other people, have an agenda (which is sometimes co-mixed with politics), and want to convert the rest of the world.

to me, born again is of a different nature.

it's different from my understanding of it as a jehovah's witness, and it's different from my understanding of it as a baptist.

Country Girl

To most of the people on here, the term "born again" reminds them of fanatical Christians who try to impose their beliefs on all other people, have an agenda (which is sometimes co-mixed with politics), and want to CONVERT the rest of the world.

To me, BORN AGAIN is of a different nature. It's different from my understanding of it as a Jehovah's Witness, and it's different from my understanding of it as a Baptist. I've come to believe in it as a deeper connotation of very profound things and realizations in my life, and I wanted to share those with you.

The term "born again" is sometimes viewed quite suspiciously by many groups. Of course it is. With the JWs, it's viewed as another religion. Recently, when I told my JW mother that I was born again, she asked what it meant. I told her it simply meant that I had allowed Christ into my life, and accepted him as my savior. She asked further what it meant, and I told her that it meant that I accepted Chris as my only Savior and that I was saved from all my sins. She said "So you can keep on sinning and then ask Jesus the next day to save you and you will be automatically forgiven?"

I said it wasn't like that. Jesus knows all of our heart conditions. By virtue of us being imperfect humans, we will always be committing sins, and the hard part was to try NOT to commit sins, and the virtue was that we would try NOT to do that when we accepted Christ. Our goal was to try to be more Christ-like in our dealings with other human beings by virtue of Christs' two laws in the New Testament. The New Testament is what we live by. I said it wasn't works.. it was faith.

For me, being born again has been a real challenge. It all boils down to: love your neighbor as yourself, which seems really simple, but is not. In this case we are making someone that is not even related to us, or someone foreign to us, EQUAL to us in our wants, desires, etc. That's pretty hard.

For me, being born again only means agreeing to Christ's last two laws... and minus the Mosaic law, it's pretty hard. What does "born again" mean to YOU?

CG

39

Are you paranoid about posting?

by wombat in

poor jwfacts got sprung when the jw trawlers were able to join the dots.. no, that's wrong - they knew it was him but it took something else for them to be able to prove it.. i am not game to post a bio about myself.

my jw siblings are very litigious.

one even sued another jw for libel.

Country Girl

Well, no, not really. My family members that are JWs know that I "flock" with apostates, so I don't think it would surprise them one bit if they found my posts on here. They also know that I do paranormal investigations and they still hang out with me, so I guess it doesn't really matter. They might take exception to some of my characterizations of our family life, but that is only because that is the way I perceived things, and not through their viewpoints.

Of course, I have never been baptized, only raised in it, so I am sure that makes a huge difference.

CG

19

Why is the WTS still building in Brooklyn?

by jwfacts in

the wts is building a huge new construction in brooklyn.

if they are laying off 1200 bethelites what do they do with all the new space.

is all the brooklyn property used for watchtower related things or is some of it leased to others as a realestate investment?

Country Girl

Probably just leading everyone to BELIEVE that they need the apartments, and then going to cash in on all that DUMBO affluence by selling them to worldly people for a large sum. Free labor, after all!

CG