00:00:01 Now we have the opportunity
00:00:03 to enjoy this edition that we’re accustomed to of The Inside Story,
00:00:08 and it’s hosted by another instructor,
00:00:11 Brother Trent Lippold.
00:00:13 Enjoy it.
00:00:41 The past year has been a period of change for all of Jehovah’s people.
00:00:45 We’ve had to show flexibility, caution, and reasonableness.
00:00:50 Here at Gilead, for us too,
00:00:52 Class 150 has presented us with change.
00:00:55 For example, all the students of Class 150
00:00:59 are from or serving in the United States.
00:01:02 Five couples and one single brother
00:01:05 all serve in the circuit work.
00:01:07 That represents approximately
50 percent of the class.
00:01:10 Today we’re going to meet three couples
00:01:13 from different parts of the United States
00:01:15 and see how they learned to cope with change in their lives
00:01:19 and how they, like the apostle Paul,
00:01:22 worked to ‘become all things to all people.’
00:01:25 So let’s meet our first guests,
00:01:27 Joey and Taylor Bornschein, from the state of Texas.
00:01:43 Joey and Taylor, welcome to The Inside Story.
00:01:45 Thank you. Thank you.
00:01:46 You’re from the big state of Texas.
00:01:49 Where specifically are you from?
00:01:51 From Dallas.
00:01:52 Dallas, Texas. All right.
00:01:53 Well, again, nice to have you with us.
00:01:55 You know, to come to Gilead (here you are in the 150th class),
00:01:59 it all starts with regular pioneering.
00:02:01 So how did you both start regular pioneering?
00:02:04 Maybe, Joey, how did you start?
00:02:06 So for me, I feel very grateful that my foundation
00:02:09 started a long time ago with my family,
00:02:11 especially with my grandparents.
00:02:15 They were the couple that after they got married,
00:02:17 really just wanted to serve Jehovah the best way they could.
00:02:20 They would ask circuit overseers where they could move that needed help.
00:02:24 If they were ever asked to go to another congregation,
00:02:26 they would always do it right away.
00:02:29 And so that really affected my mom, which in turn affected me.
00:02:33 How did that affect you?
00:02:35 So for a while after my parents got married,
00:02:38 they might have just gotten a little distracted with marriage,
00:02:41 family, taking care of the family.
00:02:44 But at one point, they made a move across the country,
00:02:47 and they used that as an opportunity to simplify.
00:02:50 And my mom was able to start regular pioneering at that time.
00:02:53 And I just— I remember as a child
00:02:56 how different both of my parents were,
00:02:59 just in their happiness and in life in general
00:03:03 because they were able to do more for Jehovah.
00:03:05 Nice.
00:03:06 How old were you when that happened,
00:03:08 when your mom started pioneering and you saw this change?
00:03:10 I was about nine.
00:03:11 OK.
00:03:12 And so when did you start regular pioneering then?
00:03:15 So, actually, the next year
00:03:17 my sister and I both got to join her in pioneering.
00:03:20 So you were 10 years old?
00:03:22 Yeah.
00:03:23 That is amazing!
00:03:24 Thank you.
00:03:24 Ten years old when you started pioneering? Great!
00:03:26 What about you, Taylor?
00:03:27 How did you get your start in regular pioneering?
00:03:31 So we pioneered in Texas, but I’m originally from Colorado.
00:03:35 So my parents, like Joey’s, set a really good example for me.
00:03:38 Most of my life they pioneered as a couple.
00:03:41 And so pioneering was always just something
00:03:43 —full-time service was something— that I grew up with.
00:03:46 When I was in my mid-teens,
00:03:48 my parents got appointed to the substitute circuit work.
00:03:51 So that was fun.
00:03:52 On the weekends, I would travel with them to visit congregations.
00:03:55 I was in public schools, so I couldn’t go with them during the week.
00:03:58 And I appreciated about them
00:04:00 that it wasn’t just what they said, but they set the example by what they did.
00:04:03 OK.
00:04:04 I mean, that must have been cool.
00:04:05 You had your parents, and they were in the substitute circuit work.
00:04:08 But personally, how did that affect you?
00:04:10 Yeah, so that was just some good motivation for me to start pioneering.
00:04:13 I graduated about six months early,
00:04:16 a semester early, and then started pioneering.
00:04:18 And then as soon as I was able to, I hit 19
00:04:21 and submitted an application for Bethel, and soon thereafter
00:04:24 I was accepted and was able to spend a few years in Brooklyn.
00:04:26 OK.
00:04:27 After that, I know you left Bethel.
00:04:30 The two of you got married.
00:04:31 You’re there regular pioneering in Dallas.
00:04:35 What made the difference for you to reach out
00:04:37 and progress in Jehovah’s service?
00:04:40 So we were pioneering as a young couple.
00:04:43 We had goals, but it can be hard when you’re new
00:04:46 and trying to figure marriage out with some distractions
00:04:48 or with maybe even just knowing what direction you should take.
00:04:51 So we just feel so thankful to Jehovah
00:04:53 that we had some very instrumental circuit overseer couples
00:04:56 that came just at the right time.
00:04:59 We’ve tried to express it to them, but I don’t think
00:05:02 they’ll ever fully understand the impact that they’ve had on our lives.
00:05:05 Well, that is one of the great things about the impact
00:05:08 of those in the circuit work: what they do for young people, for young ones.
00:05:12 And we’re all— I think we’re all so grateful for that.
00:05:14 Would you say then—?
00:05:16 Was that your inspiration to get into the circuit work?
00:05:19 Not really.
00:05:22 We actually had different goals.
00:05:24 We really wanted to go to Bethel together as a couple,
00:05:27 so we applied and applied, and it just didn’t seem to happen.
00:05:30 But you ended up in the circuit work.
00:05:32 So I wonder what changed then.
00:05:35 Did it just grow on you, or what happened?
00:05:37 Well, one day we opened up a piece of mail, and it was a questionnaire
00:05:41 for the substitute circuit work.
00:05:43 So while that might not have been the direction
00:05:46 that we thought we would go down,
00:05:47 it seemed like that was the path that Jehovah laid out in front of us.
00:05:50 So we happily accepted, and little by little
00:05:52 it started to grow on us —the idea of the circuit work.
00:05:54 We were then able to attend
00:05:56 the School for Kingdom Evangelizers.
00:05:59 We just continued to get training and motivation
00:06:01 to do what Jehovah wanted us to do.
00:06:04 And so after our graduation, within just a few months,
00:06:07 we were appointed to the circuit work,
00:06:09 and we love the circuit work.
00:06:12 Where was your first circuit, Joey?
00:06:13 So we went to the suburbs of Chicago,
00:06:16 so it was great—from the big city of Dallas
00:06:18 to the big city of Chicago.
00:06:20 What did you think of Chicago?
00:06:22 It was everything that I could want in a circuit
00:06:26 —so two big-city people from Dallas now going to Chicago, an even bigger city.
00:06:30 We love diversity of background, culture, race, and it had everything.
00:06:35 So we were just eating it up.
00:06:36 We loved being in the Chicago area.
00:06:39 It sounds like a “but” is coming—a change.
00:06:41 What changed for you both?
00:06:43 So after just about six months of being in that circuit
00:06:46 and still falling in love with the circuit work, we got a call
00:06:49 from the branch office that we were
00:06:51 now being reassigned to a different circuit farther north
00:06:54 and a more rural circuit in Wisconsin.
00:06:58 OK, Wisconsin.
00:06:59 Well, what did you think? Tell us about it.
00:07:02 What was Wisconsin like for you, Taylor?
00:07:05 So it was very different for big-city people
00:07:08 going into a rural circuit that was
00:07:10 mostly dairy-farm communities.
00:07:13 So, out of our element, we would drive for miles and miles
00:07:18 when we were out in service with no stores or shops
00:07:20 or bathrooms or coffee shops.
00:07:23 So it took a little getting used to.
00:07:25 Probably, timing now became something you had to learn.
00:07:28 Good.
00:07:29 What about for you, Joey, coming from Dallas,
00:07:31 what was it like for you?
00:07:33 For me, the big change was the weather —the winters.
00:07:37 We didn’t have extreme winters in Dallas,
00:07:39 and Wisconsin had very long, very cold winters.
00:07:42 So we invested in really good coats,
00:07:45 wool leggings, great boots.
00:07:48 I jokingly told Taylor that some mornings I would wake up
00:07:51 and feel exhausted just getting dressed in the morning.
00:07:53 Putting on so much, I guess, also affected bathroom breaks and things like that
00:07:57 —new skills you were learning in Wisconsin.
00:08:00 Right.
00:08:01 What helped you to adjust to this new change?
00:08:05 So although it was a different environment, it was just beautiful to see that, yeah,
00:08:09 it was cold outside, but that didn’t affect the friends, their hearts.
00:08:12 They were warm in their service to Jehovah.
00:08:15 They were so warm in the way that they treated us.
00:08:18 They just adopted us so quickly into a different environment.
00:08:22 We very, very quickly fell in love with the friends in Wisconsin.
00:08:26 Jehovah’s people are amazing, aren’t they?
00:08:28 What about you, Joey?
00:08:29 What would you say helped you to adjust?
00:08:32 Well, of course, like Taylor said,
00:08:33 the love from the friends; it helped us immediately.
00:08:36 But we also actually learned new ways to have fun that we never had in Dallas.
00:08:41 Yeah, you brought a picture.
00:08:42 This photograph is a great picture.
00:08:44 You’re obviously having fun there.
00:08:46 Joey, what can you tell us about it?
00:08:47 So this is actually a gathering that we went to
00:08:50 on the middle of a frozen lake, and this is actually us ice fishing.
00:08:54 Did you catch anything?
00:08:55 We did.
00:08:56 You’re telling yourself, ‘You’re not in Dallas anymore.’
00:08:58 Right.
00:08:59 Great!
00:08:59 There’s also another photo, and I love this one.
00:09:02 What can you tell us about this, Taylor?
00:09:04 So there’s a brother in the circuit who raised beef cattle,
00:09:07 so I got to spend some time getting to pet the little guy and also hand-feeding it
00:09:12 —so an amazing experience and not something that I would have been able to do
00:09:15 in downtown Chicago or downtown Dallas.
00:09:18 You were really there, just ‘becoming all things to all people.’
00:09:22 What would you say you learned
00:09:24 from the changes you’ve gone through in your lives?
00:09:28 So if I’m just being honest, the circuit work
00:09:30 was not something that I had a desire to do.
00:09:33 I didn’t feel like it would make me comfortable or happy.
00:09:37 But Jehovah at times puts things in front of us
00:09:41 that we might not think that we would like or make us comfortable.
00:09:44 But it does.
00:09:46 And I’m so glad that he did allow us to have the opportunity
00:09:49 to be in the circuit work because we love the circuit work.
00:09:53 So it’s just a nice little reminder
00:09:55 that Jehovah will choose things for us or put things in front of us
00:09:58 that maybe we don’t think is going to make us happy
00:10:00 or is not going to make us comfortable in how we
00:10:03 feel with the circumstance or environment.
00:10:05 But Jehovah always chooses what’s best for us if we just let him do it.
00:10:09 What would you say, Joey? What did you learn?
00:10:12 I think for me, anytime there’s a change
00:10:15 there’s always going to be a little bit of anxiety,
00:10:17 uncertainties, worries.
00:10:19 I just really learned to just leave it in Jehovah’s hands
00:10:22 —to pray to him about it— because a lot of times those things
00:10:25 never even happen; they never even come true.
00:10:27 So whatever Jehovah asks of us,
00:10:30 we will be able to get through it because either they won’t happen
00:10:34 or Jehovah will help us and bless us through them.
00:10:36 Those are two great lessons that you’ve learned.
00:10:39 Thank you so much for sharing them with us, and those are two lessons
00:10:42 that will probably help you out in the changes that are to come in your life.
00:10:46 Taylor and Joey, thank you so much for being with us on The Inside Story.
00:10:49 Thank you.
00:10:50 Let’s welcome our next guests coming from the state of Michigan,
00:10:54 Ben and Whitney Frey.
00:11:08 Ben and Whitney, thank you for being with us on The Inside Story.
00:11:11 You’ve come to Gilead from the circuit work,
00:11:14 and the circuit work also starts with regular pioneering.
00:11:18 So maybe you can tell us: How did you, Whitney, start regular pioneering?
00:11:21 So my mom taught me the truth when I was growing up.
00:11:24 And I loved Jehovah,
00:11:26 but by my late teens, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life.
00:11:30 I had a girlfriend who invited me
00:11:32 to support her at a funeral of a young brother
00:11:35 who had passed away in a tragic accident.
00:11:37 That’s interesting.
00:11:38 Maybe you could make—
00:11:39 What’s the connection of starting to pioneer and a funeral?
00:11:42 Maybe you can make the connection for us.
00:11:44 Yeah.
00:11:45 So for me, when I got to the funeral of this young brother,
00:11:48 even though I didn’t know him personally, I had seen
00:11:50 that he had just started regular pioneering
00:11:52 and that he had the goal of going to Bethel when he got old enough.
00:11:54 And I just compared his life to mine.
00:11:57 He was going to give everything he had to Jehovah.
00:12:00 And I had the circumstances to do the same thing, but I wasn’t doing it.
00:12:04 And so I just thought, you know, ‘He didn’t get to finish his story.’
00:12:07 So I wanted to pick up where he left off.
00:12:10 I wanted to start pioneering.
00:12:12 And so when I went home, I prayed about it and I turned in
00:12:15 my auxiliary pioneer application with the goal
00:12:17 of starting to regular in September.
00:12:19 Well, that’s really encouraging —something so tragic
00:12:21 and yet something very positive came out of it.
00:12:23 What about you, Ben? How did you get your start?
00:12:25 So, similar to Whitney, my mother taught me the truth.
00:12:28 My dad was not in the truth during my youth.
00:12:31 I grew up in a rural congregation in Michigan,
00:12:34 and while I respected the truth
00:12:36 in my late teens and early 20’s,
00:12:39 I struggled spiritually.
00:12:41 And the reason is because I wanted a lot out of life
00:12:45 and, at that point, the truth felt very restrictive to me.
00:12:48 It felt like it was holding me back and not allowing me
00:12:51 to get the rich life that I wanted.
00:12:53 What changed in your life then? What helped you?
00:12:56 We had a couple of pioneer elders move into our congregation
00:12:59 who were a great source of encouragement to me.
00:13:01 They helped me to see that serving Jehovah is not about what you can’t do;
00:13:05 it’s about all the things you can do.
00:13:08 And the way I illustrate it is with a board game.
00:13:11 If all you did was just learn the rules of that game
00:13:14 but you never played it, that wouldn’t be a lot of fun.
00:13:17 And that’s really how my view was at that time of the truth.
00:13:20 I knew the rules, so to speak, of the truth.
00:13:23 I respected the truth, but I wasn’t involved in it.
00:13:26 So with the encouragement of these two brothers, I really got involved.
00:13:30 I started playing the game, so to speak,
00:13:32 and I started studying the Bible like I should have all along.
00:13:35 And then I also started regular pioneering shortly thereafter.
00:13:38 Nice.
00:13:39 Well, we’re happy you “got in the game.”
00:13:41 Was there anything else, Whitney, that helped you
00:13:43 or maybe inspired you to reach out?
00:13:47 Yeah, when I started wanting to pioneer, I also got into studying more.
00:13:52 And one thing that really affected me was the video To the Ends of the Earth.
00:13:56 I remember watching it and, as I watched it, thinking: ‘That’s it.
00:14:00 ‘That’s what I want to do.
00:14:01 I want to go to Gilead, and I want to be a missionary.’
00:14:03 Very nice.
00:14:04 Well, that video is still available on jw.org in the video library.
00:14:09 And that video probably, like for you,
00:14:11 inspired hundreds of people to reach out
00:14:15 and enter missionary service and attend Gilead.
00:14:19 And many of them are still out there
00:14:21 strengthening and stabilizing the brotherhood.
00:14:24 So you both then had
00:14:26 the goal of foreign service —missionary service.
00:14:30 Did you keep pursuing that goal?
00:14:32 Yeah, we certainly did.
00:14:33 After we got married, six months later,
00:14:35 we served where the need was great in the country of Guyana in South America.
00:14:39 Nice.
00:14:40 And you brought along a couple of pictures.
00:14:42 Maybe you can explain these.
00:14:44 Well, the first one is obviously your photo, Ben.
00:14:46 What can you tell us?
00:14:47 So we were motivated by the motorbike scene
00:14:50 in the To the Ends of the Earth video.
00:14:52 So we got a motorbike when we were down there
00:14:55 —not quite as big or as cool as the one
00:14:57 in the To the Ends of the Earth video, but it served its purpose.
00:15:01 We were able to travel the territory efficiently
00:15:03 to our different Bible studies and return visits.
00:15:05 Good.
00:15:06 And the next photo —what can you tell us about it, Whitney?
00:15:10 So when the bike couldn’t take us any farther,
00:15:12 we would park it and then we walked.
00:15:14 And a lot of times, that meant through mud across the trenches.
00:15:18 But we didn’t mind. It was fun.
00:15:19 We were enjoying it.
00:15:20 So Ben is being careful on the bridge.
00:15:22 Yeah, you had to be careful because there were black caiman,
00:15:25 which is a form of alligator, that was in those trenches,
00:15:27 so you chose your steps carefully.
00:15:29 Sure.
00:15:30 Well, I know you came back from Guyana.
00:15:32 Did you continue to pursue Gilead?
00:15:34 We did.
00:15:35 Once we returned to the United States after serving in Guyana,
00:15:38 we applied for Gilead, and to our surprise,
00:15:41 we were invited to serve as special pioneers
00:15:44 in the state of West Virginia here in the United States.
00:15:46 OK, so did Gilead remain your goal, though, even though you were there in West Virginia?
00:15:50 It did.
00:15:51 We continued to apply for Gilead,
00:15:53 but then instead we were invited to the Bible School for Christian Couples.
00:15:57 Very nice —so more theocratic education, though.
00:16:00 Uh-huh.
00:16:01 And from there you returned to West Virginia?
00:16:05 That’s correct.
00:16:05 So we continued special pioneering in West Virginia,
00:16:08 and we also got training for circuit work.
00:16:11 Good.
00:16:11 Did you end up in the circuit work?
00:16:13 So we were invited to start circuit work
00:16:16 in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area
00:16:18 similar (close by) to the Bornscheins.
00:16:21 And we loved it.
00:16:22 We loved the friends there, and we loved that circuit.
00:16:24 Nice.
00:16:24 But, of course, change came —didn’t it?—a big change for you.
00:16:29 Yeah.
00:16:29 So one day Ben came home.
00:16:31 We’d been there about four years.
00:16:32 We were loving it.
00:16:33 And he came home and told me that we got field missionary applications.
00:16:38 There it is—foreign service.
00:16:40 So how did you feel? Ben, how did you feel?
00:16:42 At that point in our life, we were really enjoying
00:16:46 the circuit work and we loved the friends.
00:16:48 So admittedly at that point, the idea of now going foreign
00:16:52 and having another change maybe lost a bit of its luster.
00:16:56 And we had gotten so comfortable that we had potentially gotten too comfortable.
00:16:59 What about you, Whitney?
00:17:01 Yeah, I thought, you know: ‘It had always been my goal.
00:17:04 ‘But now, Jehovah?
00:17:05 ‘Now after I got into circuit work
00:17:07 and am enjoying it, now you want me to go foreign?’
00:17:10 So, what helped you?
00:17:13 So we were explaining what was happening
00:17:15 and talking to my family and telling them how we felt.
00:17:17 I was talking to my sister and my brother-in-law,
00:17:20 and he said, “You know, Whit, you feel like you got trained for circuit work,
00:17:23 but maybe circuit work was training you for the next assignment.”
00:17:26 And just shifting my thoughts in that way really helped me.
00:17:29 Yeah.
00:17:30 That’s great advice.
00:17:31 What about you, Ben?
00:17:32 Was there something in particular that helped you?
00:17:33 There was.
00:17:34 I spoke with a brother in the Service Department at Bethel,
00:17:37 and he said that ones in our situation come across his desk frequently.
00:17:41 And he said: “You’re at a crossroads.
00:17:44 “And there are some who turn down the opportunity
00:17:46 to accept this form of foreign service.”
00:17:49 He said, “But for those that accept it,
00:17:51 “who take that step of faith,
00:17:53 “they receive blessings that they
00:17:55 could never have imagined from Jehovah.”
00:17:58 And we can rightly say that has been completely accurate.
00:18:02 We feel exactly that way.
00:18:04 Well, it shows.
00:18:06 So you went off to a foreign assignment.
00:18:07 You continued in circuit work there.
00:18:10 What would you say, Whitney?
00:18:12 How did foreign service help you?
00:18:14 In so many ways.
00:18:16 But a couple of them are just getting to express our faith and trust
00:18:19 in Jehovah in a way that we never would have if we didn’t go.
00:18:23 And one of the greatest gifts was the people that we met
00:18:26 —the local brothers and sisters,
00:18:28 our fellow missionaries, and circuit overseers.
00:18:30 Their faith and self-sacrifice taught us so much.
00:18:33 Beautiful.
00:18:34 And now you’ve come to Gilead.
00:18:36 How has Gilead training helped you?
00:18:38 Again, in so many ways.
00:18:41 While we loved our foreign assignment, it did have challenges.
00:18:44 And I remember praying to Jehovah, asking him for help
00:18:46 with certain things that I struggled with.
00:18:49 And the first week that we were here in Gilead, I saw the answer
00:18:52 to those prayers —specific things that I had prayed about—
00:18:54 answered right in week one, and it never stopped since.
00:18:58 Yeah.
00:18:59 And I’m sure Gilead training will just keep helping you in the future.
00:19:02 You said at the outset, Ben, that you wanted to get a lot out of life.
00:19:05 And I think we would all agree:
00:19:06 You’ve gotten a lot out of life —both of you so far.
00:19:10 And maybe in the next 30 minutes, you’ll find out
00:19:12 just how much more out of life you’re going to get.
00:19:15 Thank you both for being with us on The Inside Story.
00:19:17 Thank you.
00:19:18 Let’s welcome our final guests.
00:19:20 They’re also serving in the United States.
00:19:22 It’s Joshua and Solaydi Rechanek.
00:19:36 Josh and Solaydi, welcome.
00:19:38 It’s nice to have you.
00:19:39 You’re our final guests on The Inside Story for today,
00:19:41 and I should clarify that although you’re serving in the United States,
00:19:44 you are actually from Puerto Rico, correct?
00:19:47 That’s right.
00:19:48 It’s a beautiful tropical island in the Caribbean.
00:19:51 So my mom and dad moved there
00:19:53 before I was born to serve, and that’s where I was raised.
00:19:57 And they were a tremendous example
00:19:59 for entering full-time service for me,
00:20:01 because when I was one, they actually started in the circuit work.
00:20:05 So it’s just that from a very young age,
00:20:08 it just seemed very natural to have that as a goal, and I’m very grateful.
00:20:12 OK, Solaydi, were you also born and raised in Puerto Rico?
00:20:17 That is right.
00:20:18 I have an older brother, Rafi,
00:20:20 and we both were raised by our mom,
00:20:23 Lydia, as a single parent.
00:20:26 She raised us in the truth, and a little bit
00:20:29 after Joshua came to our congregation, I started to pioneer.
00:20:33 And also I had the privilege to serve as a commuter
00:20:37 in the Puerto Rico branch,
00:20:40 but we were happy to have him in our congregation.
00:20:44 But something happened.
00:20:46 OK, before we get to what happened, we have a nice photograph.
00:20:49 There it is.
00:20:49 So that’s you with your mom, Solaydi?
00:20:51 Yeah, that’s my mom, Lydia.
00:20:53 So, Josh, just to clarify this also,
00:20:55 how did you get to Solaydi’s congregation?
00:20:57 So after I started pioneering, I went to what was called
00:21:00 the Ministerial Training School in 2003,
00:21:03 and after a little bit, I got assigned to this lovely rural congregation,
00:21:07 where I just happened to meet a very beautiful sister.
00:21:10 I like the way you say lovely congregation.
00:21:13 But a change came.
00:21:14 You said, Solaydi, that something changed.
00:21:16 What changed?
00:21:18 Well, I had gotten some training as a substitute circuit overseer,
00:21:21 and then there was a need for a circuit overseer.
00:21:26 But it wasn’t in Puerto Rico; it was in a Spanish circuit in Ohio.
00:21:30 And so I prayed about it,
00:21:33 and off I went from Puerto Rico to Ohio.
00:21:35 What was that like, Josh? Tell us about it.
00:21:36 How did you feel when you got there?
00:21:39 I was— It was very different.
00:21:41 I remember dropping my dad off at the airport (because he helped me move up),
00:21:44 and then when I was driving away, I said,
00:21:46 “I know nobody and nothing even nearby after that plane takes off.”
00:21:51 Because not only was the place different but also everything was different.
00:21:55 It’s very interesting because the congregations
00:21:58 in the U.S. in Spanish tend to be very mixed culturally.
00:22:01 And so I got to be with brothers from many different cultures
00:22:04 that I hadn’t experienced before.
00:22:07 I even had to learn to speak Spanish in a way that everybody would understand
00:22:10 instead of just the brothers from Puerto Rico.
00:22:12 So that’s a huge change for you
00:22:14 —a change of culture coming to the United States and then,
00:22:17 as you say, all these other cultures.
00:22:19 You brought along a really nice picture, Josh.
00:22:21 What can you tell us about this?
00:22:22 I learned this day a very important skill,
00:22:25 which is to check the weather report before you leave home to preach.
00:22:29 Right.
00:22:30 Do you not check the weather in Puerto Rico?
00:22:31 Nope.
00:22:32 It’s either going to be sunny, or it’s going to rain.
00:22:34 Two choices.
00:22:35 Interesting.
00:22:36 What about you, Solaydi?
00:22:37 So Josh has come to the United States.
00:22:41 How did that affect you?
00:22:43 Well, I was happy for the assignment.
00:22:45 It was a privilege, so I wanted to support him.
00:22:49 So we kept in touch.
00:22:51 And in 2010, we got married.
00:22:54 And after that, we received an invitation
00:22:57 to continue as a couple in Ohio.
00:22:59 Well, that’s a big change for you then.
00:23:01 Again, just like Josh, you came to a new country, in a sense,
00:23:06 a new marriage, and a new assignment in circuit work.
00:23:10 What were some of the hard moments for you?
00:23:12 Maybe, Josh, you could share first.
00:23:14 Well, as I said, there was a lot of adaptation.
00:23:17 When you start a new assignment, I don’t think you ever really feel
00:23:21 qualified for it or prepared for it.
00:23:24 And so we were very young when we started the circuit work,
00:23:27 visiting congregations where sometimes there were brothers that had been serving
00:23:30 as regular pioneers longer than we’d been alive.
00:23:33 And then all of a sudden, we’d have the responsibility
00:23:35 to encourage them and help them.
00:23:37 So that could be a bit intimidating.
00:23:40 Sure.
00:23:41 And you brought along another photo.
00:23:43 You can see the confusion of the adaptation.
00:23:45 What can you tell us about this, Josh?
00:23:47 So this was a field service day
00:23:51 shortly after getting married.
00:23:52 And it wasn’t that I was distracted or anything, but we rushed out the door,
00:23:56 went to field service, took the group out, and made all the arrangements.
00:23:59 And then a dear brother, a very good friend, came up to me,
00:24:04 and he put his arm around my shoulder, and he took me over to Solaydi.
00:24:06 And he said: “I’m not going to say anything.
00:24:09 I’m just going to look.”
00:24:10 And he looked down at my shoes,
00:24:12 and, well, it just turned out that I had
00:24:14 put two different shoes on.
00:24:15 And he was kind enough
00:24:17 to point that out before I went out in service.
00:24:19 But he didn’t point it out before he took the picture.
00:24:21 Of course.
00:24:22 Solaydi, what were you thinking?
00:24:24 I was like: “Baby, what happened?
00:24:27 What did you do?”
00:24:29 So you always check his shoes before he goes out then.
00:24:31 Yes, I try to check him before leaving home.
00:24:35 But maybe in all seriousness, Josh,
00:24:37 what would you say were the keys that helped you?
00:24:41 I got some really good advice
00:24:43 from brothers with more experience, including my father.
00:24:46 And there are really two keys we found.
00:24:49 One is to love the brothers, because that’s really what they need.
00:24:53 They need love and affection and your time.
00:24:57 And the other is to be humble,
00:24:59 because the brothers greatly appreciate the arrangement of the circuit overseer,
00:25:03 whoever the circuit overseer is.
00:25:05 So as long as you remain humble, Jehovah can use you
00:25:08 to encourage the friends and then all glory goes to him.
00:25:11 It’s very nice to love humility,
00:25:14 and that’s really what helps us to “become all things to [all] people.”
00:25:16 What about for you, Solaydi?
00:25:18 What were challenges for you?
00:25:21 Well, for me it was the emotional part.
00:25:24 Because it is true: It is a beautiful privilege
00:25:28 to be able to know so many brothers and sisters
00:25:31 and make bonds with them, but at the same time, you face reality.
00:25:36 You see all the struggles that they are going through.
00:25:39 So some are dealing with health problems
00:25:42 or economic problems
00:25:44 or even their status in the country.
00:25:46 So I was not able to help them
00:25:49 in the way that I wanted, so I felt helpless.
00:25:51 So, what could you do for them?
00:25:54 So I had to leave that part
00:25:58 in Jehovah’s hands and give them my time.
00:26:01 So I try to go
00:26:04 with them in service, try to encourage them.
00:26:07 Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry,
00:26:10 but I try to show them my love
00:26:13 —and even more important that Jehovah loves them.
00:26:15 Nice.
00:26:16 Well, I’m sure you left a little bit of your heart with all of them.
00:26:19 That’s very nice.
00:26:21 Now you’re here in Gilead.
00:26:22 Was that a surprise for you?
00:26:24 Yes, a big surprise.
00:26:26 And, Josh, I know Gilead actually has a special place in your heart.
00:26:30 Why is that?
00:26:31 It does.
00:26:32 It’s because my parents attended Gilead,
00:26:34 and that’s actually what brought them to Puerto Rico.
00:26:37 They attended the 52nd class.
00:26:39 Right. Good.
00:26:40 So having parents who went to Gilead, did they
00:26:44 keep Gilead in their heart even after they had a family and were raising you?
00:26:47 They did. Absolutely.
00:26:49 I remember they had their graduation photo
00:26:52 up in the hallway, where all of us would walk every day.
00:26:56 So every day of my life growing up I walked past that photo.
00:26:59 There it is, the 52nd class.
00:27:00 That’s them.
00:27:01 And also the way they were,
00:27:04 the way they served Jehovah, the love and zeal that they have:
00:27:09 It’s clear to me—even clearer now—
00:27:12 that Gilead had a big impact on them.
00:27:15 What would you say that impact was on them?
00:27:16 How did you see Gilead training in them?
00:27:19 I think of two things.
00:27:21 One is that they’re excellent students of the Bible and always have been.
00:27:25 My mom’s Bible has so many notes that I don’t think it can hold any more.
00:27:28 And my dad, I remember he would be reading the Bible with us at night,
00:27:33 and he had an envelope that he’d mark the family Bible with.
00:27:37 And all of a sudden he’d stop reading and stop to make a note on the envelope
00:27:40 because he came across a scripture that he wanted to use for a talk
00:27:44 or a shepherding call or just a point that he liked.
00:27:46 So that was an excellent example.
00:27:49 And also they’ve always worked very, very hard for Kingdom interests.
00:27:52 They’ve always had the goal to do as much as they can for as long as they can,
00:27:56 and that just kind of became the family motto.
00:27:59 So it’s interesting now going through Gilead
00:28:02 and seeing so much emphasis placed on exactly those things
00:28:05 —to feed your love for Jehovah and do as much as you can for the organization.
00:28:09 Yeah, I was going to ask you that as well.
00:28:11 Here you are sitting in class, and you’re hearing
00:28:15 to a great degree the same things your parents heard.
00:28:18 Has that helped you at all?
00:28:20 It has.
00:28:21 They must have had those qualities to an extent when they came to Gilead.
00:28:25 But I think, listening to the classes now,
00:28:27 it’s clear that Gilead stirred that up in them
00:28:31 and kept that flame burning for many, many years.
00:28:34 That’s beautiful.
00:28:35 And they must be very proud of both of you
00:28:37 as you apply yourselves and as you will apply the training
00:28:40 and look forward to applying it in your future assignments.
00:28:43 Thank you both very much for being with us today.
00:28:45 Thank you.
00:28:47 In the introduction, we quoted Paul’s words
00:28:50 at 1 Corinthians 9:22.
00:28:52 He said: “I have become all things to people of all sorts,
00:28:56 so that I might by all possible means save some.”
00:29:00 The apostle obligated himself to adjust his life
00:29:04 and personal tastes “for the sake of the good news.”
00:29:08 We hope today’s program has been encouraging to you,
00:29:12 whether it’s trying something you just don’t prefer
00:29:15 or something you didn’t think you could do in Jehovah’s service.
00:29:19 Maybe it’s just getting in the game, so to speak,
00:29:22 or giving someone a little piece of your heart to encourage them.
00:29:26 Today’s guests have shown us
00:29:28 that by adjusting our life
00:29:31 and personal tastes for the sake of the good news,
00:29:34 with Jehovah, we can cope with any change
00:29:38 or make any change for Jehovah’s service.
00:29:41 Thank you for being with us, and we look forward to seeing you
00:29:44 on another edition of The Inside Story.
