Reports From Other Lands...

The convention program was pretty much the same as ours except twice a day, we would hear a special part of the program called “Reports from Other Lands” . This was- you guessed it- reports from other countries on their theocratic activity. As mentioned before, there were 2 other conventions in France going on the same time as ours- one in Lyon and one in Bordeaux. For this part,we were tied in to these conventions to hear the experiences from a Bethel family member from that country. Here are some highlights:

French Guana- A worldly man looked up our website and submitted a request for a visit from witnesses. 48 hrs later, a brother knocked on his door. He was amazed that he had submitted a request to the USA and 2 days later he was contacted in his own country. He attends meetings now.

Luxembourg- There are 5 members at the Bethel branch. In their country, government officials visit citizens on their 100th birthday. A sister was turning 100, and she refused to have any visitors or pictures on her birthday- but she said she would accept a visit after that day. 4 days later, the Mayor, the family minister of the Duke of Luxembourg, and other city officials visited her because they wanted to know about her life. She explained to them that prior to being a witness, she had been in concentration camps. She couldn’t understand why these so-called Christians were causing all this suffering. She explained she then learned about the Bible and she showed these officials scriptures explaining her beliefs for the next 30 mins. With old age, the sister was unable to see clearly to read, but she knew the Bible teach book by heart. She placed the book with each official and they all said they really would read it.

France- has 9,500 pioneers which is double than what they had 5 years ago. Many are learning multiple languages. There are 517 congregations and groups that are in 41 languages other than French. There are 360 members of the Bethel family.

Spain- I didn’t take good notes on Spain, but the English translator for this experience was Sebastian DelGrande. I don’t know if you remember, but he’s the French brother that gave a talk at our convention in Portland this past year. He’s really tall!

Martinique- They have 56 congregations and cover their territory every 2 weeks! As of 2008, they have 1 publisher per 89 inhabitants. The city mayor of one of the towns put a sign up on the road to the kingdom hall that says “Entrance to the Kingdom.”

Tahiti- 1 of 14 publishers is a pioneer. 1 of 30 inhabitants attended the memorial in 2008.
Ukraine- Around 144,000 publishers. In one village, every 4th person is a witness. In the same village, over half went to the memorial.

We also heard experiences from:
Cote D’Ivoire
Guadelupe
Switzerland
Portugal
Brazil
Canada
Poland
Maurites
New Caledonia
Belgium
South Africa
United States

Sisters wrapping a Sari- it's more complicated than it looks!

Brothers from South Aftrica

This is Andre- he's from Poland. We talked to him all 3 days. He's such a nice brother and trys so hard to speak English to us. He could be Journeyman's brother!

Cowboys from good ol USA (sorry for the sideways pic)