Texas, Part III

Fort Stockton, TX:

This is perhaps my third or fourth visit to this west Texas town. It's also my longest visit....over a week. I decided to "hole up" here for a number of reasons. One reason was to let my mail catch up with me and the other reasons had to do with straightening out records and files that I've been carrying for years and needing atention. It's also beneficial to stay in an area for a while to get to know the congregation better. Two congregations share the Hall: one Engish and one Spanish. I didn't note the exact number of publishers but can state that the cong is roughly "medium-size". Both the English & Spanish brothers are very warm and friendly and my stay here was quite pleasant, indeed. As is the case with many areas, the brothers have a large expanse of territory to cover, often traveling an hour or more to reach outlying towns. We were successful in completing the KN #37 campaign on Sat the 11th, just one day before the deadline.

Fort Stockton is not an especially attractive place, but that's the norm for most west Texas towns. Nonetheless, the people are generally outgoing & friendly and I DO prefer the dry climate found in the southwest over the sticky humidity found back east, although the eastern US is more visually pleasing (more trees & water and nicer homes & neighborhoods). Driving into Ft Stockton on the interstate one gets the impression that there's not much to be found here, but exploration of the town reveals a fairly extensive neighborhood (about 8,000 people call it home).

Bro Hoppy Turman, whose mother is Japanese, works as a biologist. But, he also owns ranchland further south where he and his family will often stay for a period of time. This allows them to preach in the surounding area without having to make the long drive from Ft Stockton. The Turman family enjoy a very close relationship since they're almost always together, the children being homeschooled. Bro Turman may be classified as a real "cowboy" since he loves the wide open spaces here and has no inclination to live in or near a larger city.

One of the sisters (I'll withhold her name) with whom I worked in the ministry is fairly young yet must endure numerous physical problems. She takes 18 pills a day, has a bad back and broken bones in both feet (for some reason, they don't mend). Amazingly, she fulltime auxilliary pioneers and doesn't display the appearance one would think she would display with so many physical problems. She and I went door to door without difficulty. Her drive is so strong that she won't let anything slow her down in the ministry. What a lesson for those of us in reasonably good health!

El Paso, TX

I've visited El Paso a few times in the past, usually staying in the small town of Clint near the southern fringe of the city. This time, I opted to stay in El Paso itself. When I travel I like to stay in smaller towns with small congregations but occassionally I make an exception. El Paso is by far the largest city I've visited since leaving California in early April. El Paso reminds me very much of Los Angeles in the appearance of its various neighborhoods, traffic density and large Latino population, which is even higher than L.A.'s because of its proximity to Juarez, Mexico... a city even larger than El Paso. I visited Juarez one time about 2 years ago. I opted to walk across the border rather than take my car...a wise decision considering the volume of traffic trying to cross. Juarez has the distinction of flying the largest flag in the world. I photographed it on my last visit (on regular film, so I can't post it on the blog). It wasn't flying this time due to concern over winds. The flag weighs 2,000 lbs and takes about 30 people to raise it on the pole.

There are many congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in El Paso and surrounding towns. El Paso has at least 20 congregations, many of them Spanish due to the large concentration of Mexicans living here. Clint, mentioned earlier, has one Kingdom Hall and both Spanish & English congregations. As you can see, Jehovah's people are well entrenched in this city. I only spent 2 days in El Paso so I was able to engage in the ministry just one morning. I visited the Kingdom Hall on Alamo Street, which happens to be the location of the original Kingdom Hall in El Paso. There are one English and two Spanish congregations sharing this Hall. The English congregation has 86 publishers and 5 elders, although two of these are limited due to health concerns. I worked with one of the elders, Bro Turner, and 6 sisters that morning. Considering the fact I only spent a few hours with these friends I was still able to gather some experiences and observations.

Bro Turner relates an experience he had while in the army in Vietnam in 1968: He was already familiar with the Truth and had brought his copy of the "Make Sure Of All Things" book. He worked in the supply section, so he hadn't seen combat and his conscience was clear in that he had killed no one. Of course, he wasn't a Witness yet but was interested in becoming one. Well, one day the supply depot was overrun by the Viet Cong and the only object they didn't carry off was Bro Turner's "Make Sure" book. This experience convinced him all the more that he should become one of our brothers, which he soon did!

Sister Gutierrez and her twin sister are both in their 50's. Sister Gutierrez has never married and has been a pioneer for many years. She and her twin sister (who is also a Witness) have an interesting arrangement: Her sister works secularly and provides housing & support for her twin so that she can pioneer. This has been the arrangement for the past 25 years! It's certainly an act of love for one sister to support the other so that she can pioneer.

More info: There is a group of about 30 English-speaking persons in Juarez who have been formed into a group (the brothers think this may become a congregation early next year if qualified elders can be found). Brothers from El Paso frequently visit this group in order to give public talks and provide other assistance. The brothers also travel to another town in Mexico, which is a 4 hour bus ride away (I forgot to note the town's name). The bus ride is about $40 round-trip and the brother pays for the tab himself. Such are the sacrifices these brothers make to accomodate their Mexican brothers and interested ones.

Well, I really enjoyed my visit to Texas. As I move on to New Mexico I'll have fond memories of this vast state and the friends with whom I visited.

To view photos relevant to this blog, click on the following URL:

www.picasaweb.google.com/brothersappo

New readers of this blog having coments may e-mail me at: mred1914ce@hotmail.com.