Sheep

That was a good one too. A few of these songs are done "a cappella."

Once again, there is a song included for us in "The Inside Story." We were treated to Song 129: "We Will Keep Enduring." It was beautifully rendered, in my opinion. WOWW, what marvels Jehovah has created, to make voices that are able to sing so beauteously! I have converted the song to mp3 format for those who would enjoy listening to it on their iPhones or other electronic device. It's in my collection of songs.

Thanks, Michael, for keeping me up to date with these. As each one comes out, I've been redoing them in mp3 format for those who like to listen to them on their iPhones. All six of them are now in my collection of songs. Enjoy...

The brother in my congregation is still in contact with mutual friends in Denmark. Through them he received some communication from Dennis' sister Majbritt. She is the one who provided those instructions. I have no direct knowledge of him receiving any letters containing Jehovah's name, as I imagine there might be a chance the authorities might not let them pass through to him.

That's true in most respects. But even jw-russia, the stories there being written by JWs, mention the bias of the Russian courts and the prejudged cases. (For example, this story.) If we write to any brother or sister held in a Russian prison, we might have a tendency to mention something similar unless we had a warning not to.

I posted the following back in February. It explains where those instructions came from. At the time I wrote that, jw-russia had not yet posted his story with the address. So I wasn't sure if it would be right to post it here; I thought I should keep it private

When I was given instructions on how to write to Dennis Christensen, they said to make sure the letter is written in Russian so it wouldn't get rejected by prison authorities. But some other things were: don't say anything negative about Russia, comment on his court case, or mention the name Jehovah (although God or YHWH would be okay). In that case if we're copying songs from the Russian songbook, what can we do if a song mentions the name Jehovah in it? Is it best to choose a different song?

What is the connection between President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church? What is it that led to a complete reversal of the Church’s position between the time of Russia's communism and today under Putin's rulership? The Al Jazeera TV network did some research on it and came up with this fascinating documentary. This story is not new, but first appeared last October. Even at 25 minutes it's worth the watch. We are so close to the end!

That's okay. You can use Google to go from English to Russian, but I don't want our Victoria using it to go the other direction.

Oh, please don't rely on Google. Your English is perfectly understandable, Victoria. (I find your English better than some native English speakers here!) I always appreciate the efforts of those non-English brothers and sisters who participate on this site. If a non-English brother or sister visits my congregation, I would like to hear their English, not a comment that's taken out of Google. We used to have a brother from Moldova in our congregation. His native language is Romanian, but he and his family also speak Russian fluently. His English was perfectly good, so he had no problem giving comments. But his mom, who still lives in Moldova, speaks barely any English. Whenever she visited Canada and came to our congregation, she wanted to participate in the meetings. So she would give a comment in Russian (we have a couple of Russian-speaking sisters here), then her son would translate it into English for the rest of us. It was always a delight when she visited. But there was once she surprised us and gave a short comment in English! (She must have had some coaching from her son beforehand.) That was so encouraging to hear that effort! We appreciate your effort here too.

When a smiling selfie gets out of hand... Now, which one took the picture...?

I know there's an English congregation in Berlin. I visited that one in May or June of 2000. I'm half-German, but I only know two phrases of it: "Ich spreche kein Deutsch," and "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (I'm also half-British, but I don't speak that language either.)

...and for those who would like an mp3 version of it for your phone, it's in there somewhere with the other children's songs...

I've been following this story in the news (Montreal Gazette, Globe & Mail, etc). It should be interesting (or perhaps very uninteresting) where this will all lead. I don't have any financial worries now, but what about a few years down the road?

You're right! Does anyone on JWTalk live in the Western Sahara...?