Our Brothers

Hello Everyone!!!

So you may be wondering What happened to those girls?? That's if you check the blog at regular intervals. But if you are like me and do things Very sporadically you may understand a bit better. Sorry. i still love and miss you all. and I am still Immensely enjoying life here in Thailand! In Fact I am working to stay long term- taking a year at a time. We will see how it goes. :)Jehovah willing of course.

For a while I have wanted to post about the wonderful friends we have made here in the Land of Smiles. These friends have come from varied backgrounds and have more than the usual things to smile about. They have Jehovah God when at one time they had not.

 

First: I will begin with our brother Matthew from Korea.

 

 

He was introduced to the Truth when he was 12 years old by his English tutor who was a 40 year old sister. He said she was brave to offer him the study because she said if his family opposed him he could come to her house in order to study. They studied for one year until she came down with breast cancer and passed away. Before that she transferred Matthew to a brother to continue his studies.

He says that his parents knew nothing of his studies until he had already been convinced it was the truth and only then Jehovah allowed him to be tested.

The first time his parents found the literature they forced him to stop his studies and going to the meetings. On Sundays his father would sit by the door the whole day so that he could not leave. At times Matthew ran out the door when his father went to the restroom after which his father would run after him until he found a meeting to attend on Saturdays. After several months of his mother crying and yelling every day and his father trying to force him to choose their way they kicked him out of the house since they felt he had betrayed them. At that time his Bible teacher took him in. For one and a half years his parents would not answer when he went to their house to speak with them. He decided to try one more time and prayed to Jehovah for help. He finally met him mom and she invited him back home although they still do not support his being a witness. I think about one year later he came to pioneer here in Thailand and he supported himself by giving guitar lessons. However, he has since returned to Korea because he will have to spend 2 years in prison there for his Christian neutrality. As you can imagine his family is quite upset about this too. He is a wonderful example of putting Jehovah first despite obstacles and family opposition!!!And he is one of the nicest kids ever! Currently he is back in Korea serving with the Thai group and waiting to hear what will happen with his sentence.

 

 

Second:   This is Ferdor. He is from Russia and he and his wife Irina are the Most Lovable people Ever!!

Here I am telling Irina she has 3 daughters. 2 Russian and one American :) She is my sweet "Mamaschka" And they don't even speak English haha :)

Sadly they have since returned to Russia but I hope they will come back!

One day I was working with Ferdor and anther Russian brother who speaks English. I asked how did Ferdor come into the truth? I knew his whole family are pioneers including his 2 daughters one of which is in the circuit work with her husband. That's when he told me his unbelievable story through a translator. heehee :)

So Irina started studying first and taking the girls to meetings.

Ferdor was Furious! Can you imagine? With his sweet face? I couldn't.

It turns out that he hated Jehovah's Witnesses So much that he decided to divorce Irina and take the girls from her. He knew this would be difficult to get custody of the children so he met with a lawyer. The lawyer told him he would not have a good enough case to take the kids but that he knew a priest who was specializing in accumulating evidence against witnesses and that he should meet with him. So Ferdor went to see this priest. He discovered that he was not the only one who hated JWs but he also realized that the priest did not care about his case personally. If he was to get his children he was going to have to take matters into his OWN hands.

DunnDunnDuuunnn!

So he decided to blow up the Kingdom Hall.

Yes he was serious. He was SO serious that he planned his own defense because he figured he would have to represent himself in court.

In order to build a strong case for himself he decided to attend meetings. Hehheh. :)

 He told Irina he wanted to go to a meeting with her. She cried she was so happy. He thought to himself, "She wouldn't be so happy if she knew WHY I am going!"

Well you probably can guess the rest. It did take a while but he realized what a good thing his wife had found. He was a little critical of her at first pointing out how she was not fully applying things she should be, but then he began applying things as well and today he is a different person. He is our Brother. :)

 Last: This is our Beloved Anders. He comes from Sweden and is married to adorable Paweena :).
Anders has a Great sense of humor, is quite social once you get him talking, and has many tattoos as he used to live a life of crime! He says that if he had been caught for half the things he had done that he would be in prison for life. However he was only caught once, and it saved his life.
Anders used to despise Jehovah's Witnesses so much that he made a special sticker for all his friends to post by their front door forbidding Jehovah's Witnesses from preaching there.
Later on he had to preach at some of those same doors!haha :)
When he was in prison he met an inactive brother. He was able to spot the difference between this man and all the others right away. Only later on did he learn why. When the former brother started sharing Bible truths with Anders he saw the clear logic in what we teach and believe.
And now we get to serve along with him here in Thailand.
 and have silly parties together :)

Love and miss you all!

Your sis,

Amieeee :)