Monday, August 3, 2009

Better Late Than Never...

The past 2 days, our group has been one of the first ones to leave for the convention so we had no problem finding 6 seats together. Saturday was another story! Our bus was one of the last ones to leave and there was bad traffic. We got to the convention late and there were no seats in the English- at all. There were at least a couple hundred of us standing in the back because of no seats. We ended up sitting on the floor for a while, and eventually the brothers found seats for 4 of us. We would rotate the seats so everyone would get a chance to sit in a chair. We tried to sit in another language group, but there weren't any seats there either!

Emily and Teri volunteered to help clean since there weren’t enough seats, and there was a need for volunteers. They ended up cleaning the bathrooms (which stunk!) for 2 ½ hours! They were supposed to only help for 1 hour, but no one came to relieve them!

We had bathrooms in the facility, and there were outhouses set up on the outside of our section. One side is for the sisters, although occasionally a brother would be in there(it was open so anyone could walk around). The other side was for the guys. They had covered urinals set up, but there were no doors so the guys felt like they were peeing next to a tree. Occasionally there would be sisters on that side too- but they would be taking pictures usually.
Total attendance for Saturday: 54,425 people

That night, we were so tired so we just ate in our room again. We were talking about Skyping people back home- this brings us to the “Quote du Jour”:
Billy: “What’s with all these scabies?”
The rest of us: “It’s not SCABIES, it’s SKYPE.”
Cute little french girl
Filipino sisters in the Tagalog congregation- Jessica told them she was filipino 3 times and they didn't believe her.
South African outfit
Wonderful brothers and sisters from France.

7 comments:

  1. OH how exciting!!! Isn't it amazing how united our brotherhood really is?? And to see it firsthand like this is truly a gift from Jehovah! Can't wait to see ALL the pictures when you get home!
    -Heather

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  2. Theres so much I want to say...but I guess I'll wait til I talk to you guys again. Or maybe just wait til you get home.
    This has got to be one of the greatest privileges created by the society for us. Talk about being worth every last penny. This blog is the best thing that ever happened to me.

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  3. I agree with Laura! Thank you so much for the blog. I look everyday to see if you guys have written. I miss you guys, but what a wonderful gift to get to be with all those people who live for Jehovah. I got choked up on this on for sure. Love you guys so much!

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  4. What a moving experience! Cleaning the crappers for 2.5 hours. And for 54,425 people no less. Wow!

    Joking aside, you guys have been doing an awesome job with the blog. Keep up the good work. It sounds like a truly amazing event; to be with the brothers and sisters praising Jah as one united congregation.

    Looking forward to more "deep thoughts"

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  5. Hmmm, whats the QUOTE DE JOUR? Sounds yummy., ...I'll try that.
    You guys look like your having a good time, but you must be wiped out. Thanks for taking time out to blog. Hows Uncle Billys goiter? (p.s. dont look up goiter on google images) :)

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  6. WOW...CUTE LITTLE FRENCH GIRL IS BRAVE! TAKING CANDY, STRAWBERRY STARBURST? FROM A CURLY HAIRED "BOY BAND" STRANGER IS IT?? ONLY IN THE ORGANIZATION~NOT CREEPY FOR ONCE. SUCH A SWEET DADDY BM!

    "E" FOR EFFORT BM ON WRITING THIS ONE, NICE OF YOU TO GIVE JESS A BREAK...WHAT WOULD BE EVEN MORE FUN? EACH ONE TAKING TURNS ON WRITING DAY 2 DAY? THEN WE COULD GUESS WHO THE AUTHOR IS! I KNOW...I KNOW THAT WOULD INVOLVE TOO MUCH EFFORT RIGHT? "ALOHA" SINCE I AM IGNORANT & CANT SPELL "ORVWA"!

    ~KIMI N JB~

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  7. C'est Manifique!

    This blog is the reason why we can't have a blog. No other can compare. Have an awesome trip throughout the rest of France!!!!

    Bissous,
    **s+e

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