We're Done!

After many long hours of burning calories and burning shoe rubber(oh and preaching too!) we finally finished our time this morning.  We went to Doug and Kam's for the meeting for service, where a surprisingly large group was crammed in their surprisingly tiny flat.  After some confusion and bartering about each pair obtaining enough territory, we were off-to Ealing of course.  It actually wasn't to far from their flat, so I wont complain too much.  Our group was Doug, Eric, me, and a sister named Agnes.  Our menial selection of NH's was finished rather quickly, but with the walk in both directions the time worked out just right.  (Doing about 15 doors almost all of them not-at-home took 2 hours. Yeah that's how much walking we have to do sometimes. -Eric)  We went home and watched a little football, and then went out to an Asian buffet to celebrate getting our time.  We contemplated going into the city, but had no idea what to do and didn't want to spend the underground fare just to walk around.  (It was actually kind of freezing today. I don't have a casual jacket so i need to buy one soon. -Eric) We ended up being completely lazy all afternoon, watching the World Cup.  The Ghana-Australia game was good, and the Denmark-Cameroon game was very very exciting.  In the evening we watched an Indian movie with Sister Elkington; it was called "Paa", I highly recommend it.  Not the most exciting day, but one of rest that we needed.  We have big plans in store for next week, so stay tuned!

The Day We Finally Conquered the Procrastination

We went out today and met the group at the usual time. The groups worked out so that 6 of us were assigned to a far out territory, so we got to drive again! We were working with the brother and sister from Peru and 2 other brothers. We were squished into an SUV/van thing(Eric called it a van and the brother was terribly offended). (Apparently it's called a MPV, multi-person-vehicle. To me that's what every car is but oh well. -Eric) We drove all the way out to the territory, where the driver announced that he needed to go see his mother in the hospital, and he would see us later. That's fine, but when he left he took the car with him! O well, we've walked before. We spent all morning doing NH's, and because the list are turned in each day by different people there was some confusion. Add in the fact that street signs are only place in the most inconvenient location, we ended up doing the wrong numbers on the wrong streets. After lots of scribbling and head scratching we managed to somehow finish the list. Then we had the long walk back to town; it took over half an hour for the 5 of us to get back, but we did street witnessing and got to count the time. The whole way back she as making me talk to her in Spanish, boy I wish I was better. We stopped in at a Portuguese cafe for a light lunch, which was very good. Afterward we went home and watched the USA barely hang on for a draw with Slovenia. (The game was incredibly entertaining, maybe one of the best i have been able to see. -Eric) Then in the evening we went to John's flat to watch England play terrible and draw 0-0 against Algeria. We're finally starting to like watching soccer, a little more each time. And that brings us to now, almost 3 weeks into the trip and we're finally caught back up to current on the blog. Hope you've enjoyed it so far, and it should be better now since we will actually we talking about the current day. Cheerio!
-blythe & eric

Meetings are So Much Fun!

Thursday morning we were out once again, met a very large group. I was put with Doug, which aside from the wealth of experience that I can learn from, also puts me with someone with many calls and a car. It may sound lazy, but it was much appreciated after all the walking on previous days. (And guess who did street work all morning? Yep 2 straight hours of walking around town. -Eric) We did a number of his calls, one of which was a Muslim man. It is quite difficult to reason with them because they think everyone just chooses their own path, and almost all think that they believe fundamentally the same as us. So with this belief there is no reason for change, but at least they are nicer and more willing to talk than the English people. Doug invited me in for tea afterwards, which turned into a light lunch. Kam is originally from the US so we talked about some of the differences between here and home. Eric had plans in the afternoon and I forgot to get the keys, so I got to spend some time in the park locked out of the house. In the afternoon we went to the park for some more tennis action, and were able to play many competitive games under the bright sun. (In the afternoon i got to work with Estera. Man i think it is her goal to make us pay for us working with her all the time. She slept in in the morning then when we met at 12 we walked through Acton doing calls, then we walked out to Ealing which just to get there is a 25 minute walk. Then walked all around there then another 25 back. -Eric)
That evening we studied for meeting and grabbed a quick dinner. In typical fashion, we were terribly late getting ready and just barely rushed into the hall a few minutes before the meeting started. It is always very warm in there, and I stripped my jacket at the first amen. Many of their brothers and sisters are gone this weekend for their listening convention(they often go to one they aren't assigned to for their "listening" convention so they don't miss their information from their "working" convention), so a few assignments were unfilled. They discovered that the bookstudy reader was one of those assignments when the first paragraph was asked to be read. There was a scramble as they ran to check the list. 20 seconds later and no solution. I rushed to put on my jacket, and 10 seconds later still nothing. Eric and I looked at each other, and both of our hands shot up at the same moment. The brother was a bit surprised, but after looking around a few more seconds, he invited me up to the stage. It went ok, not the best I'm my opinion and would have been better with my glasses. But hey, finally got to do something, I get antsy at the meeting if I'm not doing mics or stage or something else. After that a brother did an excellent job on the reading, a hilariously awkward moment when the audience laughed at statement that was meant to be serious, and we concluded with a letter about convention cleaning after which the brother took an extended time to emphasize the importance of not dumping rags in the toilet along with the used soapy water. We laughed all the way home, it was one of those you had to be there moments. After meeting we did some blogging and got some shut eye. (Right after meeting was also fun. They are a very warm congregation and are always in the mood to laugh and have fun. There are so many different types of people here you can really see: Rev 7:9 John 13:34, 35 -Eric).

Start-Stop-Start-Stop

Wednesday's are a bit odd around here for service arrangements.  We started out with the group as usual.  I had plans with Big Tony, also called Tony of Anakim by one brother.  We(Tony, Michael(that you met earlier), Eric, and I) went out again to one of the further territories.  We are starting to get soft again, we went by car for the second day in a row!  We worked on separate streets most of the morning, met largely by the common British apathy to our message. We finished up with a row of flats above some shops, and called it a morning.  (I worked with Michael while Blythe mostly worked with Tony. Michael is the pioneer/MTS grad/formal bethelite brother we have previously spoken about. He is a very fun encouraging brother, always having a good word of advice for our future. -Eric)  We all went to a nearby pub, and ordered the fish and chips.  It was a really nice time, the conversations swayed between Bethel and British alcohol, we learned quite a bit.  (The conversation even combined the two at times. -Eric) Then Tony drove us home so we could rest a bit.  At 2:00 we arrived at Rose's house for the next meeting for service, it was the same 5 as last week: Michael, John, Rose, Eric, and I.  Micheal only had his small car this week, a 2 door, but we needed it to get to the territory(Told you we were getting soft).  So we squeezed in, John, Eric, and I; it was a jolly good time.  This afternoon i was able to work with Rose, and had a great time.  She's in her early 70's, but still fun and a little feisty.  The neighborhood was predominantly Muslim and Japanese, and they were pretty satisfied in their mansions.  After an hour we were done, so we headed back into town.  (I mostly worked with John and got to learn a little about his past and how he learned the truth. -Eric)  John invited Eric and I in for a cup of tea(it's just what you do here).  We watched the Spain-Switzerland football game, and were surprised to see the favorite and very popular Spanish team get upset by the Swiss.  We went back home for a little snack, and then half an hour later we were out walking again.  We were off to Brenda's for the 6:00 meeting.  The groups worked out so that I was with Rose again, but we still had a good time.  (I got to work with Tony. -Eric)  An hour later we were done again, and ready to eat.  Sister Elkington had made another curry, of the lamb variety this time.  Earlier in the day we had received a text from a young brother in the hall, Michael D, about playing football with the brothers.  He picked us up around 8:50 for the 9:00 game.  It was a half size field at an athletic club, and about 14 brothers were there.  The game was fast and fairly competitive; even though I was terrible it was a lot of fun, we're going back next week. (Yes it was lots of fun. It's defiantly a game that requires a lot of practice to become proficient in.  My highlight of the night was fighting for the ball then brilliantly passed it over the middle to a team mate who scored. Had hand shakes and cheering all round. -Eric)  A short hour later the time was up, and we went home and fell into deep sleep.

I Don't Know How She Puts Up With Us!

Our goal for this month has been to get our time in first so then we could go play.  After the previous day's laziness, we got right back to it on Tuesday.  In the morning i went out with Japanese sister named Acki(complete guess at spelling, that's how it sounds).  Her and her mother have been in England just over a year.  They had the goal of joining the English congregation back in Japan, and the circuit overseers recommended they come here to learn the language better.  Since the Beavors were missionaries there, and through some connections the two sisters came to live with them.  Just recently the sisters went to Tanzania for a month to help out, just cause they heard there was a need.  They just got back 5 days ago, and are full of experiences.  They are heading back to Japan at the end of this month, its quite an amazing story, more then I can tell in writing.  We did intercoms all morning, and had a nice discussion near the end.  I must confess that we drove to the territory, as it was quite far.  I had no plans until 4, so left Eric and went back home.  Then around 2:30 I received a call from Estera that her mid-afternoon partner had cancelled, and needed someone to go out with.  She was already my 4:00 appointment, so it worked out.  Because of the lack of territory explained earlier, we had nothing to do at the moment, and started out just street witnessing.  We eventually worked out way to the High Road, and caught a bus out to Ealing.  She then showed me a park I didn't know about, Gunnersbury Park, which is amazingly large for the city.  We walked on the paths talking to people as we went.  Park witnessing is easier than on the street, they are much more relaxed and in less of a hurry, not to mention less noise.  It took us over half an our to walk the perimeter, talking to people with varying success.  We found a man just sitting on a bench, and I asked to sit down a share a scripture.  He said he wasn't interested in religion, but we asked why, and eventually he opened up.  I was able to talk to him for close to half an hour; thank goodness I was with a pioneer to remember all the scriptures!  He declined a Bible study, but took the book and said he knew where to go if he ever changed his mind about religion.  Just as I was getting all fed up with this territory, I have one of the best conversations I've ever had; that will teach me not to complain!  Afterward we caught a bus back to the High Road for a call and a quick bite.  We had the NH list from the morning, and this time we ended up walking all the way there to finish up. Then we walked all the way back to some calls near the High Road, then south and west to a call near the infamous Ealing.  We street witnessed again all the way back to Acton, did one call of hers and then one of mine.  Finally by 7:00 pm our day was done.  Somehow we had survived each other from 2:30-7, guess it says something about the pioneer spirit(or desperation to get our time in;).  (In the morning i worked with a sister named Mercy. She is the wife of an elder in the hall and they are both pioneering. Almost everyone that was at the meeting for field service went to the same territory so we got a lot done that morning. Mercy is a mid-wife so she had some interesting stories as well. We then went back to the hall and i met a younger brother named Michael. He is i think 26, but is still active and fun to be around. It was nice to be with another younger brother and talk about sports, cars, and food. Sorry sisters but you just don't get it. After we worked in the territory for awhile we did some street work. Then he asked if i wanted to go watch the Portugal vs Ivory Coast game. In case you don't know, the World Cup is going on and so everything kind of revolves around that at the moment. Well of course i agreed to go. So we walked down to an authentic Portuguese pub and got some food and drinks and settled in to watch the game. Since it was a Portuguese place, the tele was all in Portuguese and everyone there was speaking Portuguese. But it was still very fun. People have so much energy when they watch football that it makes it easier to get into. -Eric) The long day was no excuse to avoid our evening ritual, so Eric and I went out to get in a few matches.  Admittedly they weren't the most energetic, but we were pretty pleased with our skills.  We then hunted down some ice cream and fell into deep slumber.

A Day Off, Sort Of

Monday morning we went out with the group as usual.  I went out with a sister named Brenda, and we worked not-at-homes on two different roads.  Working with different people in service has been really nice to get to know every ones story.  Sometimes, though, after you run through your standard list there can be some long breaks in conversation.  This morning I didn't encounter that problem, she talked non-stop the whole time, but that's fine with me.  To finish up our time for the morning we did a little street work on the High Road.  We only have one key to the house, which Eric carries, so I went back to the hall to wait for him.  This is usually a solid plan, for all the paths back to home go right past the hall.  This one morning he of course was working the road that we live on, so my wait was in vain.  Neither of us had service plans for the afternoon, so we stayed home for lunch(there is always leftover curry in this house).  We got our daily tennis match in early today, and went home to rest.  I'm afraid this isn't the most enthralling entry, we just decided to chill watching TV for the evening.  Not to worry though, the next day we were back, nose to the grindstone. (I got to work with a sister named Naomi. I have worked with her before and so i think we had more things to talk about. She is a nurse so we got to swap interesting stories. One of the last doors we took we had a good discussion. A young woman came to the door and once she noticed we were Jehovah's Witnesses she invited us in. Her mother seemed to object to this but we came in anyway. We had about a 30 minute discussion about several Bible teachings. Since they were both Catholic a big topic was did Jesus have any brothers or sisters. I'm not quite sure why its so important but oh well. Another topic was about the condition of the dead. I have done research on those subjects and I have made plans to return Saturday at 12 with another sister since Naomi is at a Convention. The daughter seemed very interested in learning what the Bible says so i hope the seeds we share will sprout. -Eric)

Twinkle Toes

I think afternoon meetings were invented as a gift for weary auxiliary pioneers.  The week of constant action finally caught up with us a little; we used every minute of spare sleep time and breezed in the door just as the meeting was starting at 12:30.  A brother from a neighboring hall gave an excellent talk on showing hospitality.  (I'm not quite sure if its just the accents, but all the brothers here seem to give amazing talks. They all seem like its just a normal 1 on 1 conversation they are having with us. -Eric) Then the school overseer, Brother Franklin, did an excellent job going through a potentially confusing lesson in a clear understandable way.  He is also a RBC committee member who we worked with on Friday; I would just like to gush a bit about how these brothers work so hard on the physical part of the organization, but once in a suit and tie are top-notch spiritual men.  I love RBC brothers(and sisters:).  Anyway, after the meeting we did our usual scramble to book service partners.  I met a sister and her son just here from Portugal who will be staying a bit to only witness in Portuguese on the streets of London.  I had plans with a sister for service after the meeting, and I happened to be the only brother so I got to make groups and say prayer.  Don't be impressed, there were only three of us.  We went out for an hour, did a street of territory and then some street work to finish up out time. (He was the spiritual one. I went home and chilled on the bed and played on the computer. -Eric)
 I went home to get ready to get ready for a dinner we were invited to; i was poking around for a snack just to hold me over, and Sister Elkington saw me, forced me to sit down, and made me some food even though she knew we were going out.  It has been that way the whole trip, we are in good hands.  (We will be nice and chubby when we get back. Maybe that's why they walk everywhere here? -Eric) At 4:45 we left with Karin, a sister who also rents a room here, to go to the party at family's house.  They are from Peru originally, so i got to practice my Spanish with the sister for a little bit.  Estera, 3 sisters that share a room across the street, and 2 young brothers here for awhile from Italy were all there as well.  It was quite the multinational group, we had Polish, Peruvian, French, Italian, and American(if that counts) backgrounds there.  Dinner was great, lasagna with many many side dishes, and some wine that the Italians brought. (Definitely a crowd favorite. -Eric) Afterwards we played the  guessing game with the Watchtowers on the floor and the pointing stick, not sure what it's called.  Then the Italians stumped us with a similar game while we were eating about 5 different kinds of dessert.  Finally there was a round of Bible pictionary, which got a little competitive.  (Getting the games started was pretty interesting. Not everyone spoke the same language very fluently but somehow the rules would get explained to everyone in either Italian, English, Spanish, or Polish. And when we played pictionary, the words were all kind of yelled in whatever language you could. -Eric)  Then, as we learned is tradition at these parties, we started to dance.  We learned the salsa and merengue, and then sampled or watched some dances from the other cultures.  It was so much fun, and I learned alot.  Before we knew it it was 11:30, and we walked home with big smiles and sore feet once again.