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Please pray for us brothers, it's a difficut siituation here in Pereira. so much devestation.... Jehovah has been kind and we are endevoring to press on, but the amount of detruction is beyond anything I have ever ecperienced.

Our Hall was upgraded with AC last year. Meanwhile, Twickenham Convention starts tomorrow and we have received advice re. the hot weather: “We care deeply about those most at risk in hot weather and many have expressed appreciation for the option to enjoy the live convention programme using JW Stream. Congregation elders have the details to access this provision. We’re sure you will carefully weigh Bible principles when deciding what is best for you personally.” Along with sensible advice for those that do decide to attend.

43 now +33 = 76 Some of family died in cancer in their late 30s. Im having problem with my stomach and im having a tumor in different parts of my body .. I dunno if they're benign or cancerous .. Life is shorter these days..

Speak for yourself lol

True, we don't know the date but sometimes it's fun to guess as long as no one takes it too seriously. My latest guess is the GT will start in 2029, 2000 years after Jesus baptism and Armageddon will start in 2033, 2000 years after Jesus death. But my guesses are just for fun, it gives us something to look forward to and you can tease me if I'm wrong 😁

I don't care if AC makes me soft, at least I'm not sweating. 🥵

Lots of structural damage.🙈😢

My first Kingdom Hall in the '70s had no AC, no fans, only small windows. It was miserable in the summer 🥵 Nearly impossible to keep the children still, babies whining, pregnant sisters gasping.. Yay for air con - and my sincere condolences to those without it.. 🙏🏼💐

Of course you are all in our prayers, as well as our family in Venezula. These disasters happen so fast and furious that it is hard to wrap our minds around it all. How Jehovah's organization keeps up with all the disasters is beyond me! The cost and the volunteer manpower needed for disaster relief committee's has to be enormous, yet it is always there and ready for the next disaster. Keep donating, keep praying and keep the faith!

That's what I'm thinking. We have all of the signs that we are in the last days so whether Jehovah has a predetermined date or not really doesn't affect us, it will happen right in time, whatever determines that time is.

A major, shallow quake has just struck Ende, Indonesia. That makes five Major quakes in just the past four days.

It's getting hotter everywhere brother. It's not the same world as back then. We have KHs without AC that have had to go Zoom only in London during the 5 heatwaves so far this year. This is unprecedented and will only get worse. All fans and AC units in the UK sold out in June and we have none in the shops. Last week in our monthly Announcements from branch we got a reminder to check our go bags because of the risk of wildfires in the UK. Yesterday we got the fulfilment ... From BBC news.

Sorry to hear. These are truly difficult times hard to deal with.

Saturday, August 15 Go on bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.—Col. 1:10. Good work, as mentioned in today’s text, includes the preaching of the good news. So when we read God’s Word and meditate on it, our faith in Jehovah is strengthened and the importance of sharing the Kingdom message becomes clear. To get the most out of God’s Word, we should avoid rushing through our reading, study, and meditation. Take your time. If you come across a scripture that you have trouble understanding, do not skip over it. Instead, use the Watch Tower Publications Indexor the Research Guide for Jehovah’s Witnesses to find an explanation about the verse. If you take your time when studying, you will strengthen your confidence in the truthfulness of God’s Word. (1 Thess. 5:21) The more convinced you are, the more you will enjoy sharing what you have learned with others. w24.04 15 ¶4-5

We are praying for you and others (Venesuelans). We are devastated as if we were there with you. I can speak for myself that the emotional pain I am experiencing confuses me and hurts me because our brothers are going through so much. I wonder at times why Jehovah does not bring this system to a close. But, he has his schedule and will bring it on time. Continue praying for strength, faith and help others. We should ALL be out of this soon.

There was a 4.8 in Spain this morning. Not a big one but it made some damages and was felt in Madrid. https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/earthquake-measuring-richter-20260815014340-nt.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0gvsx3xZl4

The earth is definitely in peril. The weather patterns are so far off and every single decision greedy men and corporations make just plunge it further into disaster after disaster. These data centers going in all over the world are the last nail in the coffin I think. They will cause untold damage to the water and atmosphere and sink innocent people who depend on these resources further into despair. It's no wonder the Bible tells us that "men will become faint out of fear". The news media is geared to make people afraid of absolutely everything - everything we eat, every kind of medicine we take, every phone call or message we get, every place we go, - every decision we make is a wrong one. The stress of life is getting too great and people are going nuts because they can't handle it. Seems like life is nothing but mass murders, natural disasters, fear of another world war and general craziness. And this all BEFORE the GT happens! Life after the GT starts is something we all must spiritually and mentally prepare for now - I have a feeling what we are experiencing now will feel like a cakewalk compared to after the GT starts.

Many prayers my brother.

Thursday, August 13 God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out so that you may be able to endure it.—1 Cor. 10:13. Seeing Jehovah as a living Person will allow us to view our trials properly. How so? We begin to see our trials as part of a bigger issue between Jehovah and Satan. The Devil claims that when we suffer hardship, we will abandon Jehovah. (Job 1:10, 11; Prov. 27:11) But when we deal with our trials successfully, we show our love for Jehovah and prove the Devil a liar. Are you facing government opposition, economic hardship, negative responses to your preaching, or some other trial? If so, remember that your situation gives you an opportunity to make Jehovah’s heart rejoice. Remember, too, that he will never let you be tested beyond your limits. He will give you the strength to endure. w24.06 22 ¶9

This is a favorite scripture of mine,.. It became my favorite as my mother-in-law used to quote it often, as she suffered so many physical ailments that ultimately led to her death. We would visit her daily in the hospital. little. One day I walked in to find her hanging over the edge of her bed. She's said "I just told Jehovah he's got more confidence in my ability to suffer than I do." Jehovah was right. When it was too much, she was out, then gone. I will introduce you to her in the future. You will love her!

Archive.org has several old bibles in foreign languages. I have Biblia Sagrada - Joao Almeida 1903 (27M). Codex Vaticanus in its 3 columns of Greek (17M). Diatessaron (1867) (.5M). Latin Vulgate -Gutenberg 1462 (1.2G ouch)

Antarctica now at 2nd lowest. Massive Ice losses for 3 days straight during refreeze season. Melting season starts around Nov 1st. Ocean are at its hottest ever since record keeping began.

At least 20 dead following 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/10/world/live-news/colombia-earthquake-san-jose-del-palmar

I agree. If price needs to be adjusted, I can understand that. But a software you pay for cannot have a support like that. There are programs I have bought for $25 or $50, one single payment, not a subscription, and when I ask a question I receive a kind answer. I am not required to read the whole working manual and write a composition about it before asking. If many users ask the same questions, that means the interface is not clear enough. Fix the issues and the number of support tickets will greatly decrease.

I have had quite the opposite experience. But at the same time because I also work in tech support I know the value of gathering all the evidence and screenshots. I do that anyway even if they did not ask for it. I have check many of my replies and this is usually what I get.

well, purely statistically speaking, none of us will experience armageddon in our lifetime..

Exciting and interesting, but it is good to remember that "no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation." (2Pet.2:19). All these time references are just a product of human chronological categorization. Our key focus has to be Jehovah's mercy (Is.55:9), and its relationship to why the end of this system has yet to come, 2Pet.3:9.

Don't forget to put a case of beer in your survival kit, it could save lives! 😁

Climate change has increased the frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves, significantly elevating the risk of heat stroke. The old days are gone.

Beautiful report. I don't know why, but it has always irked me how much trouble people have with a little apostrophe S in "Jehovah's Witnesses." Even some fellow believers struggle with it. To me, that little apostrophe S carries real weight. It's the difference between simply being witnesses and being Jehovah's witnesses, people who belong to him and represent him specifically. Getting it right feels like a small way of honoring what the name actually points to. I do understand that in some pidgin and creole languages, the apostrophe S isn't used, and that's simply a language thing.

Yes the scence of this world is getting worsen everytime as it is closer to the GT. But remember what Jesus said "...for these things must take place, but the end is not yet." (Mat 24:6) We need to endure all of this things in the last days until GT. Eduring this means our lives. fruitage of Jehovah's holy spirit helps us to make until the new world.

Well said sis, it's shocking how many disasters this poor old earth is going through. Love to all.

Might we all be getting a bit soft. Oh I enjoy air-conditioning but I reflect back on the first 40 years going to the KH with no air C.

A lady was walking down the sidewalk when she met a little girl with a box of newborn kittens. So she asked the girl all about her kittens, even asking what religion they were. The little girl said they were Catholic; the lady thought that was adorable. The next week, the lady was walking with her friend and boasted about the girl's kittens being Catholic. When they came to the little girl with her kittens, the lady's friend asked what religion they were. This time, the girl said they were Jehovah's Witnesses. The two women gasped: "Why?" and "How?" The little girl replied: "Well, their eyes have opened now".

Hm, that is interesting, I thought that these instructions apply worldwide, but probably not. We have to close and lock all doors and windows 25 minutes before the meeting at latest (usually it happens even earlier than that). They also stay closed and locked during and after the meeting. Brother that is responsible for that unlocks and allows others to enter/exit kingdom hall. Not only that, locked are even doors in the fence at the entrance to KH premises (but these are locked only during the meeting and there is no impact to parking because we park outside KH premises). These are specific instructions we received from the branch and it is like this for some time already (it started few months after shooting attack in Germany). Good AC is therefore really required here.

In Japan, there are AC everywhere, but I remember in my cong in France, getting people to accept AC 20 years ago wasn't easy, it was delayed many times, now they are very happy with it

Until recently, our two-story Kingdom Hall had ceiling fans. After submitting an application to the Bethel office for renovation, we had air conditioners installed on both the first and second floors. Now we can practically freeze ourselves while listening to the program and the prepared talks.

We are fortunate to have air conditioning in our Kingdom Hall, and given the brutal heatwaves hitting Europe—and so many other regions around the globe dealing with record-breaking temperatures—it really makes a world of difference. My heart goes out to all the brothers and sisters worldwide who are sitting through meetings in high heat without AC; it definitely takes extra perseverance! On a lighter note: Do you know who would appreciate AC very much in the new world? Jonah!

Wednesday, August 12 By means of him we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness.—Eph. 1:7. As a perfect man, Jesus was the equal of the first man, Adam, before he sinned. (1 Cor. 15:45) So by Jesus’ death, he was able to atone for Adam’s sin, that is, to replace what Adam had lost. (Rom. 5:19) Jesus thus became “the last Adam.” There is no need for another perfect person to come and pay for what Adam lost. Jesus died “once for all time.” (Heb. 7:27; 10:12) What, then, is the difference between the atonement arrangement and the ransom? The atonement arrangement is the action God takes to restore a good relationship between him and mankind. The ransom is the price paid to make atonement possible for sinful mankind. This price is represented by Jesus’ precious blood poured out in our behalf.—Heb. 9:14. w25.02 5 ¶12-13

Record breaking El Niño, +2.76C now. we are going to have a really dangerous winter coming up, forecast models are calling a very dangerous winter this year.

I have to live stream mine, been doing it for about 5 years now. Nothing like being there though. I have to say I like live stream. I feel like one of the crowd, I see what they see and I get to know the brothers from my new circuit.

I wish they would charge more. This is global enterprize software that needs better development, support, etc. Their motives are good and the basic foundation of NWS is more stable now than I have ever seen it. We pay $45 for one year and have 16 brothers as shared persons. I am not aware of any other robust global software that is this inexpensive. I commend NWS for trying to keep the costs to a minimum especially in poorer areas. There needs to be a recognition though that they are often not providing first-rate software and support. If an electrician or a plumber comes to my home and he is a brother, I don't expect a discount. He has to make a living. Our entire servant body would happily pay a little more to avoid all of the time spent in troubleshooting and fixing things. Maybe it would be fair to charge the annual congregation fee but add an annual $1-2 dollar user fee for each brother that would be using it. That way smaller congregations would pay less and larger ones would pay more. With some additional revenue they could consider adding another developer, some experienced beta testers so new versions wouldn't get launched with so many bugs, and a dedicated crew for a help desk. The last time I looked they mentioned all the developers were pioneer elders. That is great and very commendable but this is commercial software and needs serious business attention. Part-time workers can be great but only if you have enough of them to do the job right. If they need more money to do that, maybe they could poll the users of the software to come up with the best way to increase the fees. Just some imperfect brainstorming...

I have contacted them several times for issues, suggestions and questions and my experience in general reflects yours. The support system comes across as patronizing and is definitely designed to make you feel that you are bothering them. It's commercial software that you pay for, but they try to present it as if it were freeware. Sometimes they give snarky answers to try and make you feel stupid for wasting their time. Honestly, our congregation uses NWS because we are not aware of any current alternative that does everything it does, but if there were another with friendlier support I think we would switch without hesitation. On the other hand, whenever I have contacted them they replied within one or two days, or directly solved the issue with an update in the same term, which is good.

I had to cook today. If I do a big cook once in a while I can have an easier time when I make food for my man-child Adam. He is a BIG eater. He's 6 foot 4 and 270 pounds of muscle. His lunch box is a big Stanley chest. So today I made 2 baked potatoes for twice baked spuds this week, 8 deviled eggs, egg salad for sandwiches, 4 pounds of roasted bacon, baked spaghetti squash to eat with the spaghetti sauce in the freezer, 1 pound of fried beef kielbasa, Mac and cheese, 11 slices of French toast in the freezer for later. I hope breakfast and lunches this week will be a bit easier.

well stats can fail 😄

“Then Jehovah’s spirit empowered him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands.” — Judges 14:6 Just picture the scene for a moment. A young man is walking along a dusty road. The sun is high in the sky. Vineyards stretch out on both sides of the path. It seems like a completely ordinary day. No war. No battle. No danger appears to be anywhere in sight. That morning, Samson surely did not wake up thinking, Today I’m going to fight for my life. He simply wanted to continue on his way. But then something completely unexpected happens. Suddenly, a deafening roar shatters the silence. Not somewhere in the distance. Right nearby. A young lion bursts out of the vineyards. Hungry. Powerful. Fast. Its eyes are fixed on Samson. There is no fence. No tree to climb. No weapon in his hand. No one there to help him. In that moment, everything is decided. And that is exactly how life sometimes feels for us too. We wake up in the morning, perhaps read the daily text, pray to Jehovah, and expect it to be just another ordinary day. Then suddenly... ...the doctor's phone call comes. ...a job loss. ...a painful disappointment from someone we trusted. ...a diagnosis. ...news that completely knocks the ground out from under our feet. Or perhaps we suddenly realize that our own courage is fading. That doubts are growing louder. That worries have taken hold of our heart. No one goes looking for those lions. They simply appear. And very often we ask ourselves, “Jehovah... why now? Why me?” Maybe that isn't the best question. Perhaps a better question would be, “Jehovah, what do you want to teach me through this lion?” Because one thing stands out immediately in Samson’s account. Jehovah did not keep the lion away. He certainly could have. Jehovah could have caused the lion to run in another direction. He could have prevented Samson from ever meeting it. But he didn't. Why? Not because Jehovah is cruel. Not because Samson didn't matter to him. But because Jehovah knew: Beyond that lion, something even greater was waiting. Sometimes Jehovah protects us, not by removing every difficulty, but by giving us the strength to walk straight through it. How often we pray, "Jehovah, please take this problem away." Yet Jehovah may answer, "I will give you something even more precious. I will give you strength you don't even know you have yet." And that is exactly what happened to Samson. The Bible does not first say that Samson was strong. It says, “Then Jehovah’s spirit empowered him.” That is the key to the whole account. The hero of this story is not Samson. The hero is Jehovah. Samson did not possess superhuman strength on his own. His strength came from Jehovah. And that completely changes the way we look at the lions in our own life. Because we do not have to defeat them by our own strength. How often do we think, "I can't do this anymore." And you know what? Maybe that's actually true. On our own, there really are some things we simply cannot do. But Jehovah has never asked us to fight with our own strength. He doesn't say, "Be strong." He says, "I will make you strong." What a tremendous difference! Perhaps right now you are facing a lion that no one knows about except Jehovah. Maybe you smile at the Kingdom Hall. Maybe you share in the ministry. Maybe no one realizes how much your heart sometimes aches. No one sees the sleepless nights. No one hears the quiet prayers. No one knows about the tears you try so hard to hide. But Jehovah knows. He sees every single one of them. He hears every unspoken prayer. And that is exactly why he can give you the precise strength you need today. Not tomorrow. Today. There is something else that is interesting. The lion did not disappear simply because Samson had faith. He still had to face it. That is often true for us as well. Faith does not mean that our difficulties disappear. Faith means that Jehovah walks through them with us. And sometimes we experience God's nearness most deeply in the very places where we least expected to find it. Many servants of Jehovah could tell you that. They would probably say, "The hardest period of my life was also the time when I felt closest to Jehovah." Isn't that remarkable? Very often, our darkest valleys become the places where our faith grows the deepest. Later, Samson passed by that place again. The roaring lion was no longer there. Instead, he found honey. Sweetness. Nourishment. Something precious. What a beautiful picture. Where there had once been fear, he now found something sweet. Danger had become a blessing. Pain had become something valuable. How often we don't understand that until much later. While we are in the middle of the struggle, nothing seems to make sense. Only years later do we look back and say, "Now I understand why Jehovah allowed me to walk that path." Perhaps without that illness we would never have learned to pray so earnestly. Perhaps without that disappointment we would never have discovered how faithful Jehovah truly is. Perhaps without that loss we would never have experienced the love of our spiritual family so deeply. Perhaps without that lion we would never have discovered the strength that Jehovah could develop within us. The lion was meant to destroy Samson. Yet in the end, that very lion became part of his story. Not because of the lion. But because of Jehovah. Perhaps one day your greatest struggle will no longer be the chapter of your life that fills you with shame. Perhaps it will become the chapter that gives someone else courage. Perhaps one day someone will ask, "How did you make it through?" And you will be able to answer, "Not me. Jehovah carried me." Isn't that the most beautiful answer of all? So let us change where we focus our attention. Not constantly on the lion. But on the One who is stronger than every lion. The lion roars loudly. But Jehovah's voice is stronger. The lion brings fear. Jehovah gives peace. The lion wants us to give up. Jehovah wants to show us that, with his help, we can accomplish far more than we ever thought possible. Perhaps today you are standing right in front of such a lion. You don't know what tomorrow will bring. You feel small. Weak. Perhaps even alone. Then remember Samson. Not his muscles. Not his courage. But the one sentence that changed everything: “Then Jehovah’s spirit empowered him.” That same Jehovah is still alive today. He has not changed. He knows your name. He knows your story. He knows your tears. And he also knows the lion standing in front of you right now. So don't step into tomorrow filled with fear. Walk into it with Jehovah. Perhaps he will not remove the lion immediately. But he will never leave you to face it alone. And perhaps one day you will look back and realize: The lion was never proof that Jehovah had abandoned me. It was the very place where Jehovah showed me more clearly than ever before just how close he had always been.