It's Not Personal...It's Just the Longest Blog Entry Ever!

After breakfast Monday, we checked out and tried to ship our one garment bag home. After finding out it would be 300 euros – which is like a million dollars because our money is worth NOTHING here- we left to check in at our next hotel. This one is closer to the Eiffel Tower and was very French, with a cute courtyard.

The concierge told us to take the bus to the Louvre, and told us how much it would be. Turns out he was way off. Bret, Jessica, Billy, and Teri scrambled on the bus to get the right change, but Shawn and Emily didn’t have enough and they missed the bus.

While the 4 of us were outside the Louvre waiting for the 2 others to catch up, a brother approached Billy and Bret because they were also wearing their badges. He had 2 extra tickets he accidentally bought and gave them to the guys. Just another example of how Jehovah will take care of us if we just obey him- in large things and small.

Once we got into the Louvre, we were in yet another line, and a girl from England saw Bret’s badge and asked about it. He told her he was a Jehovah’s Witness and was here for a convention. She was a bit puzzled for a moment, and then said to the woman that was with her, “Oh, hey they are the ones that came to our door.” Then she turned to us and said, “You guys know everything about the Bible, right? I’d like to know more about the Bible.” We almost thought someone was playing a joke on us. When we checked in for the convention, we were given a packet of French invitations to the convention and the “Would you like to know the Truth?” brochures. Of course the one person that is really sincere in asking us what we were doing here speaks English and all we have is French literature! Jessica gave her the brochure anyway, and showed her the back to fill out for a Bible Teach book. The girl asked how much it was, and we told her it was free. She was really impressed by that and said she would definitely send in the request.

These things happened all because we were wearing our badges- even after the convention. In such a large, foreign place we could have felt alone and unsafe. But since we saw brothers and sisters EVERYWHERE (literally), it was really nice. You see a badge and you instantly know you have something in common with that person. This time, the worldly people noticed that they were the minority- surrounded by witnesses. It makes me think what it would be like if we wore badges everywhere...

The Louvre can be done in 2 hours- you just have to not care to see anything! We didn’t have a lot of time, so we made a beeline to the Mona Lisa. Imagine being at a concert, and you are on the floor trying to get through the hot, stinky crowd. A few whiffs of B.O. and there you are up at the front of the stage. Only, instead of your favorite band, there is some little, weird lady smirking at you. You stare back for a few minutes while people are leaning on you, breathing down your neck, and then you get the heck out of there. That’s how I describe seeing the Mona Lisa.

Where's Mona?

She looks different up close...

We then went to see some things on a do-it-yourself Bible tour. If we got lost, we would just follow the convention badges. The highlight was the Moabite stone, that has Jehovah’s name on it. Very cool. This was of course where all the witnesses were- it was a little crowd and not as stinky as the Mona Lisa. The Louvre is a feat in itself. Every room is so ornate, and it goes on forever. It’s definitely a must see if you have time- just don’t go during busy season.

Witness mosh pit..

Next, we made our way to the Montmarte area to see the Sacre Couer and grab some lunch. A brother we met at the convention ran out when he saw us wandering the street. We went into the café he was at with some friends and ate. Oh and by the way- Dave, the term “ESB” and “IPA” don’t exist in Paris. The beer is watery at best. Hopefully it will be better in London.
One of the girls we met at the café is from New Zealand (she knows Leif!), but has lived in Paris for the past 6 years. She proceeded to tell us about the difference between the French and the rest of the world. This brings us to the Quote du Jour, “The French don’t care about you-they don’t care about anybody. It’s just not personal…they just don’t care. It’s quite liberating actually.” You could say this was our “Ah-ha moment” a la Oprah-style.

Sacre Couer..

The bees here are CRAZY. I have never had to swat so many bees in my life. They are everywhere and they are evil. They have been in my hair, in my face on my glasses- even in the porto-potty at the convention. One in particular wouldn’t leave me alone, and I almost had to run out of the porto-potty with my dress up around my waist and my underwear at my feet. It was the fastest bathroom break ever! I thought it was a miracle no one has been stung yet. Well, today at the café, Teri got stung. Every bee that came around after got smashed into the window behind us thanks to Bret’s shoe. Hitting things onto the glass probably added to the stupid loud tourist reputation that we have!

We walked around the area for a bit. Then we split up- Bret and I went to meet with my Aunt and Uncle at the Champs-Elysees. The others stayed longer to see more of the area, including the Moulin Rouge, then met up. Paris is expensive in general, but the Champs-Elysees is a very expensive part of town. All the designer shops and fancy restaurants are there. I was soooo thirsty, so I ordered water in the lobby while waiting for everyone. Turns out it was 7 Euros, which is like a 9 dollar bottle of water. This was just a foreshadow of the things to come…

My Aunt and Uncle live in London right now. They are letting us stay in their flat when we go, and we had to meet up and get the keys and directions. They just happened to be in Paris when we were so it worked out. We went to a cool bar for drinks- this place was really nice and also spendy. Emily ordered a half-n-half martini that came in –not a martini glass- but a beer pint glass. Turns out, all the vodka drinks that were made were accidentally made with black licorice vodka. Unless you really love licorice, they were disgusting. After, having the waiter-who spoke no English-smell the drink, he remade all the drinks. Which brings us to the new drink he made- a vodka gin and tonic. It had an interesting taste to say the least. She didn’t know the vocabulary to object in French to the drink (again), nor to dispute the 19 Euro price tag. Do the math…Ouch! With that being said, it was nice to hang out with family and it was a small price to pay for having a free place to stay in London!

Drinking our money away....in one drink!

My aunt, uncle, and cousins....they say hi!

We wrapped up the longest day of our lives, by seeing the Arc de Triomphe. We were so tired, and poor by then that we didn’t want to pay and wait in line to walk up to the top. Nevertheless, it was cool to see and a good way to wrap up seeing Paris.

The guys at the Arc de Triumph

The Best Breakfast Yet

Monday morning it was time for one last breakfast with our brothers and sisters. We got to visit more with our bus captain Pete and his wife Deborah. They are in the circuit work in a rural part of North Carolina. One night,5 years ago, Pete was eating and his food wouldn’t go down his throat. The doctor told him he had esophageal cancer. With the painful surgery and chemo, he had a 5% chance of surviving. Those who do survive, end up dying of malnutrition because the pain of eating is too much to bear. Despite this, Pete had no doubt that he was going to be in that 5% who live. The organization gave him 2 months off to take care of his health, otherwise he would be taken out of the circuit work.

With a positive mind, and reliance on Jehovah, he was back in 2 months. His doctor said it’s a miracle that he is alive and in the good condition he is all because of his positive mindset. He says focusing on the ministry and the congregation is the reason he’s still alive and continues as a circuit overseer. He still continues to be in pain, but you would never know it. We had no idea up until now. He’s always cracking jokes (funny ones at that) and smiling. We will miss seeing him and his wife every morning.

Here's Pete doing the bus captain thing- sorry I don't have a better picture!

Last Day :(

As usual, the last day always comes before you know it. We were determined to talk to as many people as we could so we could get rid of the rest of our awesome magnets and bookmarks that no one wants. We can't hand them out back at home, because that would be weird :)

A sign from our Polish brothers and sisters

Brother Lett of the Governing Body gave a surprise special talk during lunch entitled, "More are with you than against you." He talked about how we may have the whole world against us, but we have our brothers & sisters, the faithful and discreet slave, the angels, Jesus, and Jehovah on our side. Even though it was a short talk, it was so encouraging! He traveled around to all the different groups to deliver this talk during lunch and we were the first group. It's very heartwarming to think he sacrificed his lunchtime to encourage us all.

The rest of the lunch we had planned to visit the other groups, but there were so many visiting the english that there was no way we could make it before the drama. It was the first time Bret and I got to see the whole entire drama. It was interesting to see all the differences.

Star and Esther- Here's our scene!

After the drama, there were alot of people crying outside the facility. We also got to meet the sister that was the voice of Brittany (the girl that Laura played in our drama). She just so happens to be married to Tim Blaisedell. He says hi mom and dad!

The last talk of the day, Brother Lett said, “The Faithful and Discreet Slave has started making plans for next year’s 3 day convention. But, one of these days, the next convention will be in the New System.” He went on to say, although we do not know the day or the hour, if this convention is the last one in Satan’s system, it was a fitting one.

Total attendance at this convention: 59,598
Total attendance in France: 161,560
Missionaries that came back to France: 311
Baptised at our convention in Paris: 330
Baptised in all of France: 917

We sang 2 songs, and then Brother Lett gave the prayer from which the Quote du Jour comes from: “Please, Jehovah, help us not to be losers.”

We then sang 5 more songs after the prayer. Earlier that day, they made an announcement not to do the wave or rhythmic clapping after the session because it didn’t have a place in Jehovah’s house. There was one sister walking/dancing her way down the aisles waving her hands in the air with a scarf. People were videotaping all the singing. Even though we weren’t together with the other groups, it was still moving. We just hoped we didn’t sing Life Without End at Last- because everyone would totally lose it!

After the session, people were saying their goodbyes. A brother and sister approached me and asked if I was from anywhere else besides Oregon. I told them my maiden name, and that I have family in Hawaii. They are Brother and Sister Ockert – he is a C.O. in Hawaii, and had just visited my grandma along another brother we know back there. It was nice to know she was being looked after when we can’t be there. This was especially amazing since I had just been thinking about my Grandma that day. Jehovah always knows what you need at the time you need it.

This was just one example of us meeting people ALL OVER THE WORLD that know people back home. It really is quite amazing. It has been so encouraging to us. I personally have not talked to so many circuit overseers in my life. I am usually very scared of them! I hope I don’t sound braggy- its such a great experience that you want to share it with everyone. The only thing missing was all our family and friends back home. (Awe) The French sisters were singing songs as we all were leaving. Everyone saying goodbye- very bittersweet. If you have a chance to go- GO! Even if you can just go for the actual convention. It’s not cheap, but it’s well worth it. Jehovah won’t let you down. We all agreed if there is another international, we want to be there again. No regrets.

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.

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)

Single Ladies, Put Your Hands Up!

In case you didn’t know (we didn’t), the international convention is a single person’s dream! There are so many beautiful brother’s and sisters here. Not only are they good-looking, but they are very nice and many are in expanded forms of service. Add to that awesome accents and you pretty much hit the jackpot. Unfortunately, it's difficult to actually get pictures of the pretty people unless we talk to them. And who wants to talk to boring married americans? Sorry girls! The first day, we saw 2 sisters talking to a group of 6 brothers- all exchanging gifts and information- it was pretty obvious they were all single- lots of googly eyes!

Super nice brothers from Paris.

All of Jehovah’s people are awesome, but it seems us Americans are lowest on the totem pole. Everyone else speaks multiple languages. Some will say they don’t speak English, but then the next thing you know, you are having a conversation with them and they are telling you all their info- in English!

This brother was raised in Portugal, lives in France, but is still Korean at heart. He speaks all 3 languages too. Thumbs up!

Their clothes, accents, faces, backgrounds- even their gifts are better. When someone can't speak your language that doesn't know you, gives you something handmade, homemade, and unique and all you have to give to them is a bookmark you made at Kinko’s, you feel like a total loser! We will have to go to another international convention just to redeem ourselves!

After the session on Friday, we went on a sightseeing cruise on the Seine River. Jason and Krystal Young went with us. We got off at the last stop, which just so happened to be the Eiffel Tower. We got ice cream and beer and watched the sparkly lights at midnight. This is the third time at the Eiffel Tower and it hasn’t gotten old yet. I don’t think it will!

Notre Dame

Boys being silly on the Seine River

And yes, another picture of the Eiffel Tower..

First Day Jitters....

First day of the convention- it started in the afternoon. The afternoon started off with us trying to find seats in the English section. On the search, Shawn accidentally knocked someone’s pop can over and it spilled everywhere. Immediatley, he went to find the cleaning department- seeing as he was working with emergency spills again. Because of the language barrier, he ended up getting sent off on a wild goose chase- doing various things for the brothers. Each time he tried to explain that he needed cleaning supplies, he was sent somewhere else to help move something or clean something.

Not to be a Debbie downer, but we were a little disappointed to find that we weren’t going to be in a giant arena where everyone is all together. Our facility is a huge convention center with 7 different buildings or sections with each language in it’s own section. If we wanted to see people from another group, we have to walk to that building- which can be quite a long walk depending on where they are. But, don’t get us wrong- it’s such a great experience being here with all the different nationalities. It’s a bit like Epcot Center. Today we visited Poland and France!
For most parts, we have English speakers and then when it’s a governing body member or special report, we are tied into the French stage (which is the main stage) and we listen over the speakers to the talk.

It was soooo hard to stay awake today! We were so tired, but everyone around was sleeping too, so we didn’t feel that bad. But the fact that the whole program was about keeping on the watch and staying awake to our world conditions made it worse. Every speaker seemed to have analogies or an illustration having to deal with sleep and waking up. One brother asked, “How could Jesus’ apostles could have fallen asleep the night of Jesus’ arrest?” Well, maybe they had jet lag! Not even when Jessica was nursing has she been so tired. I’m talking about the ‘sleep- with-your-mouth-open-in-public-and-you-don’t –even-care’ tired. You know it’s bad when you don’t know you are sleeping until you are woken up by applause.
Nevertheless, we got thru the session. 3,000 English were expected to be in attendance, but today we had 5,346 English speakers and a total of 49,338 for the whole convention. In addition to the Paris convention, there are conventions being held in Bordeaux and Lyon as well. Total France convention for Thursday: approximately 149,000.
Our bus took 2 hours to get back to the hotel that night. By that time, it was late, so we got food at the store and ate in our room. It was just what you’d expect to eat in Paris- bread, cheese, and wine. All I can say is, the cheese definitely stands alone. Why? It’s alone because it kills everyone and everything around it with it’s FOUL STENCH. This cheese we got is the worst smelling thing ever! And if any of you are familiar with the McNulty’s, then you know we’ve dealt with our fare share of gross smells. But this cheese pretty much tops most things- sorry Laura!
The night was spent eating and talking- which brings us to a new addition to this blog entitled: “Quote Du Jour”. Bret was making fun of us girls wearing make-up and Teri replied:
“If I didn’t wear make-up, I’d look like you.” Touche' Teri, touche.'