Marathon Days

Tuesday was once again designated a service day, I went out in the morning and Eric did a tiny bit more. We went for a late English breakfast with Kate and Estera after service. In the evening we went to East Acton's meeting, as we had commitments for Thursday. The meeting was good as usual, and we were able to see people we had met previously at RBC work or gatherings. Afterwards a group of about 15 of us went out to eat at a Portuguese restaurant. The food was good and the association was excellent. One of the brother's is recently back from his first 3 month International Volunteer construction assignment in the Congo. He had so many good stories and adventures to tell us about, and can't wait to go back. Talking to him reaffirmed my desire to do the exact same thing. We got home a bit late, but it was worth it, a really good day.



(For some reason Tuesdays are a good long day here. It's easy to set up dates and times to work with people. In the morning i worked with Michael D again the same as last week. We met at 8 and did some street witnessing out to Chiswick again. It was about 30 minute walk there and 30 back but we needed to burn some more time so we through in a loop around Acton too. I don't remember any specific talks with people that stand out. Street witnessing is usually more about having good association with your partner. Then if you do meet someone interested it's its own special thing. Most of the time people quickly brush you aside when you try to speak to them. But we did have fun talking about and planning for Thursday. When we met the group at 9:30 we decided to keep working together. The territory that was assigned is out toward Ealing so we got to take a half hour peregrination out to the road that we were entrusted to work. Two sisters were also going to work the street with us. We thought that they took the bus because they were talking about doing that at the meeting for service. Well since we had walked there we thought they must have arrived prior to us we so walked up the street looking for them. After failing to find them however we just decided to at one end and work towards the end where they would be arriving. It worked out fine and we met midway through the road. Then i walked with Michael all the way back to the hall then headed toward lunch. The restaurant makes very good traditional English breakfasts so Blythe and I had that. I of course having the large double portion size. The meal was lavishly palatable and the company was very refreshing. I had made plans to meet then work with Estera at Morrison's at 15:00 but after further contemplation we decided to meet at McDonald's for some ice cream instead. There aren't many good ice cream shops in Acton so McDonald's is the place to go for ice cream. After a short battle over who should pay for the ice cream, the Regular Pioneer with a job or the Regular Auxiliary Pioneer on holiday, we got our milk shakes and got on the bus towards the calls and territory. So many people were not home we tried to do some of her calls. They were also not home. It can be a bit discouraging at times. We headed out to do some more territory and we finished a few blocks of flats that were partially worked earlier that day. I needed to be back at 6 for the meeting at 7 and Estera was coming over to Doug and Kam's for dinner anyway. So the 5 of us all crowded around the kitchen table and ate a good meal of rice and stew. Wine was offered to everyone but we woefully had to abstain. Only because we were going straight to meeting however. Like Blythe said the meeting was fun. And we surprisingly knew many people. Its amazing how in Jehovah's service if you put yourself out there you can meet so many people and make many friends then somehow meet them again later. It really shows we are all just a big family. After meeting we got invited to "go get some coffee" which we soon discerned is just a code expression that's used in the Kingdom Hall to mean "hey lets go get some drinks at the pub." It became very apparent at the pub when nobody ordered coffee. Who drinks coffee at 22:00 anyway? After we were there for maybe an hour and a half Michael and his sister Prisilla took us home and we relaxed for awhile then went to sleep after a long day. For me at least.
Oh and about my future plans. Well after Bethel for awhile I am just going to continue the full time ministry. And make sure I available to get called in for disaster relief whenever it is needed. For Haiti they said they had enough volunteers but the problem was some either weren't qualified or they couldn't handle doing what was needed to be done. I was a little disappointed I wasn't able to offer myself because of still being in school. But hopefully i will be able to be used soon. And Blythe and i can make a good team. I get the people out of the destroyed home and make them well again, then he can rebuild their home and Kingdom Hall. -Eric)