Jehovah's Witnesses Go Trick Or Treating

I just got back from an eight day trip to Aruba with Supernurse. Fantastic beach, beautiful sunsets, iguanas, spending each entire day drinking Balashi......feasting on unlimited assorted food........and gambling in the casino every night.............needless to say........I had no election, no problems, no stress, no aggravations, no nothing to pester me..........I was one happy man on one happy island. A man has gotta like this stuff.

In the next few days or so, I will be writing here about the trip to Aruba. Unfortunately, as with all vacations, those wonderful days are far too short and we must return home. We returned to Baltimore around midnight Wednesday. I cannot say that I was tired, but I can say that I was exhausted.......I guess my adrenalin decreased rapidly as we approached Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall Dixon O'Malley Obama International Airport. I went from mid-80s tropical weather to a very cold 40 degree vacation ender.........blahhhh.

So I spent Thursday "resting".......getting things in order......yakking on the phone.......and giving attention to the dogs. It is good to be home........but it is not always so good to be where home is. Home is in Baltimore and I am back to the world in which I live. The election is fast approaching and just maybe I will get to actually vote this time. Two years ago my absentee ballot was never sent to me........can you say "rigged" election? This time around, I am here and I will be at the polling booth on Tuesday.........I will be right there in line at the poll......standing in line behind the homeless, illegal aliens, non-residents, felons, deceased, illiterate, brain damaged, uneducated morons....that will also be voting. This is the Maryland political tradition and it seems that the rest of the country has followed suit...............ain't it wonderful?

Okay....okay.....I have veered off course and went political on you...........let me get back on track.........after resting on Thursday and getting stuff in order at home, I began Friday with tending to grandkids because their schools were closed. This was not a bad thing.......I love my grandkids and I did miss them while I was away. It was about 10am Friday morning when I looked outside my window and noticed a car had pulled up and parked across the street from me. Three women and a child exited the car and began to scatter and head for the homes in the neighborhood. "Oh yeah!......make my day!"..............this was gonna be fun.......well, maybe not so much fun for whichever one of these people head my way...........let's just say this was gonna be one of those moments where somebody was gonna get an educational experience. Education should be fun, right?

The woman with the small child headed towards the front of my house........and she never got to knock on the door.......I popped the door open and stepped outside before she could even get up the front steps...........this was gonna be interesting.

Here is Signtopia doing one of the things he does:

She says: "Hello"
I said: "How ya doin'?"

She says: "Fine"
I said: "Let's see, you must be one of two things.........either you are with ACORN and you want to get me to vote for Obama.....or you must be trick or treating dressed as an alleged Christian"

She smiles.
I said: "Seriously.....I know.......you are a Jehovah's Witness.......it IS Halloween"

She smiled some more.
I smiled as well.

I said: "What brings you out today?"
She begins to pull a two page tract out of her bag.
She says "We are just here to give out these......."
I said: "I don't want one of those, thank you."
She just keeps it in her hand.
She says: "Its just some information for you about some things......."
I interrupted her and said "Yeah.....but I have some information for you though and I am glad you stopped by to receive it."
She smiles.
I smile.
She smiles some more.
I say: "How old is your child?"
(the kid was standing next to her and kept looking up at me as if he had no clue why he was here)
She says: "Two"
I said: "Two?......He really should not be outside...it is very chilly and he could catch pneumonia"
She nodded and smiled.

She begins to turn around to walk away but she is on MY time now and I plan on continuing the conversation.

I said: "I am very familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses"
She smiles and her eyes light up.
I said: "I have two sisters who were Witnesses......one was for over 30 years....but they are both out of it now."
She says: "Oh.......you had some bad experience"
I said: "No, I always have a good experience.......I have never been a Jehovah's Witness"
She smiles.
I smile.
I say: "Let me ask you something."
She says: "Yes?"
I said: " I have conversed with Jehovah's Witnesses countless times. I have had many discussions, particularly on the internet, around the world......and I have noticed that the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses do not seem to realize a few things that they are being taught."
She looks at me curiously and smiles and says "Oh?"
I said: "Yes.......it seems that the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses are not fully aware that they have a very peculiar view of Jesus. Aside from believing Jesus is NOT God and that Jesus is also Michael the Archangel, they don't seem to realize that they are taught that Jesus is also the fallen angel of the abyss named Abaddon."
She smiles and says "You must have had a bad experience"
I said: "No.......I know you have studied the Revelation, It's Grand Climax Is At Hand book......it is in there........and the Insight book has it as well.......and maybe one or two other of your books that you have studied."
She smiles and says "Yes"
I said: "But you never realized that the Watchtower view of Jesus is that he is the fallen angel of the abyss?"
She says: "You must have had a bad experience"
I said: "Not at all.......I do not "study" those books, but you do"
She smiles.
I said: "For your information, you can read about Abaddon in your bible......it is found in Revelation 9.
She smiles and says "Maybe you have a different translation of the bible"
I said: "No......I can use any bible"
(that line had to send a chill up her spine)
She smiled and said "We have a translation......."
I interrupted her with "I know.......but I would question the validity of that translation since they keep the translators names anonymous. It is hard to verify any qualifications of anonymous people, wouldn't you agree?"
She smiles.
I said: "One other thing I have noticed........your organization has this thing called a Memorial every year."
She smiles and says "Yes....the Memorial"
I said: "Yes......the Memorial......The Memorial is the only ritual, I have found, that is exercised.....where the symbolic flesh and blood of Christ is rejected by all. In fact, your organization very specifically encourages and advises its members to reject it."
She ain't smiling any more.
I said: " I cannot find ANY Christian organization that would teach rejection of the symbolic flesh and blood of Christ. I can only find Satanic groups that would do that. Isn't that a bit odd?"
She says: "You must have had a bad experience"
I said: " In your bible, if you look at John 6:53-56....you can see where Jesus was speaking and said that those who do not partake of his flesh and blood have "no life in them".........and he wasn't speaking to just his apostles......he was speaking to a crowd."
She smiles.
I said: "I found that to be very interesting.....you might want to research that."
She smiled again.
I said: "Oh......and another thing.........How is it that Venus and Serena Williams can do what they do and participate in patriotic stuff like carrying around the American flag at the Olympics, but YOU cannot get away with even reciting the pledge of allegiance in a school?"
She smiles and says: "I am sure they will be dealt with......Jehovah sees everything."
I said: "I am sure Jehovah DOES see everything.......even I could see them with the flag. I wouldn't think that He is asleep at the wheel, do you? I mean he would treat the Williams sisters equally as He treats you, right? He wouldn't give them different rules than He would give you, would He?
She smiles and says "No"
I said: "Do you suppose that it is because they are celebrities and have donated tons of money to the organization?"
She says: "It was nice to speak with you."
I said: "Before you go.....I have one other thing I need to ask you"
She smiles and says "Yes?"
I said: "You came here to day to my door.......was there some sort of message that you wanted to bring? Is there something you would want to tell me.....share with me.....some sort of message?"
She thinks for a moment and says "It's a message of hope for life from the bible."
She smiles.
I said: " Ahhhhh.......hope for life from the bible."
She nods.
I said: "It seems to me that it was ME that gave YOU that message and it is found in John 6:53-56 and the last time I checked...........yep......that's from the bible!"
She smiles.
I said: "Well, you have a good day now, and get that kid out of the cold air before he catches pneumonia."
She walked away.
I said: "God Bless ya!"

The woman then walks across the street and tries knocking on some more doors. Needless to say, nobody was answering their doors. All she could do was leave her pamphlet. Hopefully, her conversation with me would click..........nothing else to remove it from her mind.
After a few more doors.....she headed back to the car and, with her child, sat out of the cold air waiting for the other two women.

About fifteen minutes later, the other two women got back to the car and they drove away. I wonder if the woman with the child told of her conversation with me.

I am sure the others couldn't help but notice how much time she spent speaking with me. Maybe somebody gets the message...........then again........maybe they were disappointed that they didn't get any candy on this Halloween.

You have to wonder about people.

Jamaica Part 6 - Halloween

It's wet..........very wet. The clouds have come in. Okay.......it's the tropics.......one should expect a bit of rain here and there...........but Tropical Storm Noel isn't very far away and it is frustrating.......it is taking what seems to be an eternity for this storm to get the heck out of here.

Tropical Storm Noel is almost a hurricane now and it seems to have stalled a while over the eastern portion of Cuba. While sitting there, Noel has dumped a barrage of rain and high winds......punishing Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Me?..........I am sitting on the very western point of the island of Jamaica......in Negril. To our northeast sits Noel.........yes.......a "dark cloud" has been lurking...........I have to admit that it is a bit to worry about, but I have been through this kind of thing before.

That's Noel....swirling right over eastern Cuba........as you can see.....the clouds cover a huge area.........this is not a tightly knit storm at all and it has far reaching effects. The worst is always in the northeast quadrant of these storms. Jamaica happens to be in the southwestern to southern quadrant. This is a good thing........however..........as you can see......the entire area is congested with activity. For us...........it's just squalls of rain and lots of cloudbursts.........very cloudy and the sun only occasionally bursts through it all. It appears that mornings are the best shot for some sun with the remainder of the day a bit of hit or miss.

This is not gonna stop any of us from enjoying ourselves.

It was Halloween......and a Halloween party was in order. Supernurse had brought our costumes with us on the trip. She was Tinkerbell and I was a pirate..........hehehe.......pirate in the Caribbean......hehehe. The party was held at the pool bar and the entire Chesapeake Medical Staffing group was there.................oh.......and did I mention the humidity?

Captain Morgan and Nurse Stickemoften strike a pose. They are husband and wife and great friends of ours. We travel together quite often.

They even got the bartenders in on the fun...........notice how happy? Chesapeake Medical Staffing had given all of us a "goodie bag" for the trip which included sunglasses that had flashing lights. As you can see...........the bartenders are wearing them too. One of them, when asked what he would do with the glasses after that night, said "I am saving them for Christmas"..........I don't quite know what that means.........maybe he wants to wear them again then....or maybe he intends to give them as a gift.......who knows?

There was a steel drum band..........guess what their name was?........."Steel Drum Band"

They were very good and you could see that they were very serious about their music. It was amazing how they were able to play just about any kind of music with those steel drums....they even did the Mission Impossible theme.....imagine that!

The drummer was very animated and very into his craft........the bass player........well.....more on that later.

This party was just getting started.

Now we're talkin'............look at all of those nurses! Supernurse is in that bunch somewhere.....hehehe.

Anyway..........as it happens.......when a man drinks Red Stripe at a Halloween party, that man will also find himself having to go take a leak at the nearby necessary facilities..........as it happens.........while in those facilities, I bumped into the "Steel Drum Band" members who were on a break. They seemed to be having some sort of discussion/disagreement amongst them. As it happens.....I interrupted that. I said to them..."Hey, you guys sound great." The drummer looked at me, smiled really big and asked me if I played drums.......I, of course, said "No."

That is where one would ordinarily stop the conversation and move on..........but there was a Red Stripe influence about me that this little pit stop could not remove.............so I also said "I can play guitar and a little bit of bass". The drummer's eyes lit up........uh oh..........he asked my name......I told him my name and he said "I am gonna call you up"........so.......after that........I said "okay".........and it did not register immediately what I agreed to. I walked out of the restroom and went back to the bar and told the wife what had just taken place. I said "They are gonna call me up". Uh oh........better get me another Red Stripe........hehehehe.

As it happens............the band didn't wait very long after their break......they cut to the chase and ..........as it happens..........called me up. Oh shit.....what have I gotten myself into now?

I had no clue what I was doing...........they hand me the bass.........."Hey, I play by ear"..........and so I test out the bass by playing a little bit of Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream. The drummer got a huge grin on his face.....he was very happy.......and he said "okay....let's play". I tell them to just play and I will follow along. I had no idea of what they wanted to play. Well......they started playing a song.....as far as I can remember....which was a typical steel drum kind of song.......and I just followed along by ear. The steel drummer with the huge scarf over his dreadlocks kept leaning back towards me uttering "Am.........D.........Dm"....etc. The traditional drummer would keep telling him that "he plays by ear".............anyway.........we got through the entire song.

The drummer was elated and looks at me and says "One more"..........oh well.....here we go again.

They want to play Unchained Melody............hey....I am familiar what that one! So they start playing and while I am following along.....I notice that their bass player doesn't look too happy and he is staring at me.

Oh well..........I kept on playing...........and to my surprise....it wasn't all that bad. The band seemed to be getting into it.

I knew that Supernurse was taking pictures of this. The band kept playing......and I kept my eyes mostly on the drummer.........he would show alot of emotion when he played and he would nod in acknowledgement of what I was doing. I tried to focus on him.

But the bass player kept staring at me.......and he was standing right next to me as I played. It was just a little unnerving.

And he kept staring and looming. I figured he wasn't very happy.

So I gotta look the other way now.........he is still standing right there.....watching.......and a bit disgusted.

Okay.........the second song is over...........can I go now?.............the drummer says "One more!"

Oh geesh..........here we go again......what are we gonna play this time?

As it happens........they start playing "Can't Help Falling In Love"........an Elvis song! Okay then......I am a bit familiar with that one too...........alrighty then. But look over my right shoulder and what do you see?............yep.........he is still looming there and staring at me. The rest of the band is smiling and happy........but not him.

I thought about the situation while playing.............hmmmm.......how can I diffuse a possible event here? Something else is going on here..........it's not just that I have stepped on this man's shoes.....there is surely a reason I was called "up".

I figured out what I would do..........finish the song.......thank them and shake the bass player's hand....pat him on the back.....tell him how good a bass player he is.......and tell him to "do his thing".........yep.......that'll take care of him. I surely am not good enough to show anyone up on a bass..........but I did follow along fairly well........at least the drunks at the party, with their limited capacities, would never have been able to be aware of the parts of songs where I messed up........and as it was......I finished the song. Wow.....it's one thing to get called "up" for a song......but THREE of them?.........me?.......you got to be kidding me........whew!.....did I mention how humid it was?

Anyway, take a look at the next picture.........it was the end of the song......and lo and behold!........there was ELVIS! ..........and I don't think that bass player ever saw him........hehehe.

It felt good. I had never done anything like that before. A personal victory for me........but back to the staring band member..............I followed my plan...........I thanked him for allowing me to use his bass and bearing with me........I patted him on the back.......I told him how great a bass player he is and how I wished I could play like he does. I even looked at the other members of the band and told them that the bass player is very good. And then I told him to "tear it up" and I walked away.

I thought about what had just happened. A friend told me that the bass player had been "falling asleep" on the job...............maybe he looked a bit "out of it" during the first set they played. That would explain their discussion in the restroom during the break. As it happens.........I walked into the middle of that discussion and.....as it happens......served myself "up" to prove a likely point to that bass player. I could imagine that the drummer had told him something like "we could get anyone to take your place tonight".........and as it happened.....they got lucky when I had to take a leak right then.

So there you have it.......Halloween in Jamaica.

Stay Tuned.

Next Up: Jamaica Part 7