Jason's Travels

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Here are most of the photos from the trip, and yes there was a lot after Ukraine.

We are currently at Vinnytsia Ukraine and in a week we go to Kishiniv Moldova.  It finally snowed, and it got as cold as -15 celcius which is only about 5 degrees but is should be getting colder soon.  We went to a wedding a little while ago which was very interesting.  Not a whole lot of time for internet but having a lot of fun in service.  Hope all is well back home.  Until next time....

We are still alive and kicking.  Currently we are in the city of Shepitovka Ukraine.  Weather has been nice, but I think the cold is coming(-30).  We dont get online very much but we will try to keep everybody updated.  The first part of December we should be in the town of Venitsya Ukriane to help out a small group of Witnesses preaching in English.  After December we should be in Moldova.  Service here is great but its all in Ukrianian, and so is the Congregation.  Thats all for now, check the new photos.

We are back in Ukraine again and its been interesting so far. It was sad to leave Moscow but I felt at home once we entered Ukraine.  We spent the first 10 days with a family we know here, and the Mom Sveta cooks really good.  The weather was nice a couple of days so we went to the sea of Azov, which is within walking distance of our friends in Mariupol.  We left for Cherkassi on Tuesday on an overnight train and had some interesting event occur.  According to the schedule of stops, the train was going to stop in Donetsk for 30 minutes so we decided to get off and get some food.  When we came back the train was gone with all our luggage in it.  We didn't know what to do so we went to the ticketing office and explained what happened and she said we might be able to catch the train at the next station if we took a cab and hurried.  So one crazy fast taxi ride later we make it to the next station, and the train is there.  So we run up to it and start banging on the windows and finally they let us in.  It was great seeing the looks on everyone's faces, especially since they already knew we are Americans because of our huge luggage.  Life would be boring without things like that happening:D 

It has been a month already?  Time flies when you are not working:).  We are currently alive and healthy for the most part. I learned something new today, don't pick your nose after cutting up a hot pepper!  Ouch!   Moscow is a very exciting place to be for a Jehovah's Witness, and especially this month.  In case you didn't know the preaching work of Jehovah's Witnesses is banned in Moscow and has been for some time.  And recently there have been some new developments which are all posted on the www.jw-media.org website. 

 Things are getting very serious here, just earlier today while at the meeting for service for the english group, the brother told us not to preach at all in Russian only in English.  He said this because most of the ones in the English group are foreigners and if they were taken to court for preaching, like some Witnesses here have already been, they would be sent out of the country.  Of course the Witnesses in the Russian Congregations continue to preach, but they are well prepared for any trouble that might bring.  At a recent meeting for service in Russian, they discussed what to do if they are ever stopped by the authorities.  Every publisher has a copy of their rights under the Russian Government on them at all times. They were also directed to record by video or audio any conversations they have with the authorities.  They were told to get names of the ones questioning them and even the names of who they report to.  Exciting times!  Below is a photo of the "Extremist publications list".  Next stop Ukraine!:D

In case your Russian isn't that good, some of the interesting/shocking publications on this list are:

#1 Bible Teach

#5 Young people ask Vol 1

#7 Draw close to Jehovah

#9 My Book of Bible Stories

#13 You can be God's friend Brochure

#14 Jehovah's Witnesses, who are they, what do they believe Brochure

#23 What does God require of us Brochure

Hey everybody, just so you know the new Sing to Jehovah Vocal Renditions Disc 2 in English just came available for download this morning!!!   Click here www.jw.org/index.html?option=QrYQZRQVNZHFVP

Привет всем! Да, я пишу на русском, потому что я в России. Сейчас мы находимся в Москве. Все  хорошо.  Hello again, Saint Petersburg was great! But we only stayed there one week. We were sad to leave:( but while we were there we got to go in service in Ajerbijanian which was great.  And we also got to visit the Bethel and met lots of brothers and sisters.  It was interesting to see that the Watchtower  and Awakes here dont have those titles.  And they dont study the same book as us for the congregation Bible study because it is on the "Extremist" list.  If you have one of the book on the list and the police search you they fine you quite a lot of money.  Right now we are staying with a brother and his wife that go to the French group, and last night we went to the English group's meeting which reminded me of the Russian group's meetings in Kennewick.  Thats all for now, got to get ready for service in English.

Hello from Berlin!  Tomorrow we fly to Saint Petersburg!  So far our trip has been just amazing and the brothers here in Germany are really taking good care of us.  I had no idea that Germany was so international!  I was speaking Russian with a sister at a turkish meeting in Germany, is that strange or what!  One of the brothers we are staying with goes to the French congregation and on Sunday we stayed with a Polish brother in Bremen that goes to a Turkish congregation.  On Sunday after the Turkish meeting we ate dinner at a Greek family's house.  The food was really good, and I assumed it was Greek but it turns out it was Labanese food and that is where the Father was originally from.  Its a little confusing.  I met a couple deaf sisters last night at the meeting.  I was at the French meeting and there was a German congregation meeting at the same time next door.  I attemped to sign to them, and they understood when I finger spelled in English.  The meetings are interpreted in GSL and I guess they dont have the Watchtower on DVD for the Sunday meetings so they have to interpret it.  Goodbye Germany, Hello Russia!

Hello everyone, we made it to Hamburg Germany and all is well.  We drove on the autobaun(check the flickr video) and we drank some good beer:D  Today we are going in service with a German brother that is in a Russian Congregation.  It turns out they have 5 Russian congragations in Hamburg.  We are staying with a very nice brother who knows english really good.  His name is Ben and he is very hospitable.  Time to learn German!  Catch you later, check out the new photos.  

August 24th 2010

We arrived in Copenhagen yesterday, and we found the hostel easily, so all is well. Denmark is a very expensive city in my opinion so I cant wait to leave. I bought a .5 liter bottle of water for about 2 dollars, which might not sound too expensive but I am cheap. We leave tomorrow for Germany where we will be staying with a family. Today we are going to look for a Kingdom Hall and some affordable food. Thats all for now.