Greetings!
Yeah so I was catching up on some of my back issues of the Watchtower and I was surprised to see a dear old friend and his wife, Shannon and Rosaliya Rainey, in the Gilead graduating class pg. 15 of the July 1, 2005 issue. I didn't even realized that they were at Gilead since it has been over a year since I saw them last.
Shannon, who is about my age, is just one of the best persons you can ever meet. I always admired his skills and we had a lot of mutual respect. I remember one the day that I was in field service and I sidled up to Rosaliya and Marie Washington and started chatting with her. I think Rosaliya made it a point to announce to me that her and Shannon were now officially dating which was completely unecessary but very delightful to me as I thought they made a great match and indeed they do. Shannon's bachelor party was pretty small, just a handful of us brothers there. It is the only Jehovah's Witness bachelor's party that I have ever been to and I remember being a little shocked at the amount of contraceptives that Shannon received as gifts from the other brothers. Shannon learned to speak Spanish and he and Rosaliya soon left University congregation to help out the spanish speaking friends. It is so great to see them doing well and I wish them well on their travels to their foreign assignment(s).
I think that it will be interesting to see what becomes of them and in the future, when a lot of the Organization has changed, I will be very curious to talk to Shannon if I get the chance.
-Eduardo