Day 2, Harare Bethel: Thursday, August 21, 2014

Addendum to yesterday. We met a German Spencer, named Maximillion, according to Daniel. He didn't look much like him, but their mannerisms are quite similar. According to him, "Maximillion is right, but you can just stop at Max" (our badges were prefilled out for us). He and another brother named Joel are delegates from Germany Bethel. We had such a fun time with them at our table. Another brother from Harare, Kouda, sat with us too. We had more than that. A couple in and English congregation in Harare, and another in a Chinese congregation in Harare, and a sister from Florida. Joel spent most of the night talking about how they learned to make peanut butter on one of their tours, and how he will try anything at least once. Even cow balls. Which, he said, tasted like really chewy shrimp. We also have perfected the Zimbabwean handshake.

Joel and Kouda.

Joel, Maximillion (Max), Daniel.

Today we had to be up at the crack of dawn. Daniel, myself, Ryan & Misty, Maria, and Jessica were all assigned to the Bethel and Assembly Hall tours. We caught our shuttle (Ms. Anna again) to another lodge to get our bus (6). Some of the friends had already arrived, and we had to get the rest of our crew. When we got to Bethel, I couldn't help but notice how green it was. Here in Zimbabwe, they often have power cuts, and sometimes will not be able to have water for an entire day. To have a generator and to get the special watering system during the hot, dry summer costs a lot more than most people have in this country. The smell here is different too. It smells like firewood, the best way to describe it. Bethel smelled of new flowers. At the entrance to bethel, there was another welcoming committee to sing us "welcome, welcome." The song was then stuck in most of our heads the rest of the day. After introductions, we divided into tour groups. Our guides were to take us to each station to describe what bethel is like in Zimbabwe. There are 126 bethel family members, with 34 commuters. There are 14 at the remote translation office in Bulawayo (over 400km away), along with some commuters. The brother in landscaping told us that they planted flowers just for us, he said they were originally going to let us all pick one, but if we did, then there would be none left for the last group of delegates. After our tour, we listened to the Bethel choir, watched a video, and ate some lunch. As we were handed our yummy desserts (brownies and chocolate muffins), they herded us into our buses to get us to the Harare Assembly Hall.

Jw.org media crew.

Our tour guide.

Landscaping brother. 

African delicacies.

Bethel choir.

The assembly hall is beautiful, and open air. It seats 3,000 in total in 3 auditoriums. One for the elderly and infirm, sign language, and everyone else. They built a mound behind the stage to block out sounds from the nearby highway and to block out the parking lot. Next door was a Kingdom Hall. The brother and his wife were the caretakers of the facilities. They built boreholes (necessary for fresh water, you drill down approximately 40m and draw it up via pumps) to access good water. They store about 40,000 liters of fresh water for the friends. In one day of an assembly, they will go through 40,000 liters, so they have to draw it up all that evening for the next day. Although now, they won't have to worry about that as we have only one day assemblies. Sometimes we don't even think about how all of these changes affect our brothers in other countries. It really is a loving provision. We watched a slide show, had snacks, and did self guided tours. It is interesting to note that they do all of the construction work completely by hand. They did the trenches for the foundations with shovels, they mix the cement, pour the cement, lay the bricks, plaster the inside and outside, add the metal roof, etc, all without the use of cranes/power tools. In the remote villages, they construct little shacks for the workers to stay in so they don't have to leave the property. It truly makes you reflect on how easy we have it. They have only been able to build proper Kingdom Halls since 1999, when the lands with limited resources fund was started. Since then they have built about 432 Kingdom Halls. Keep in mind that have 1,208 congregations. This has really given us a lot to reflect on and appreciate Jehovah's loving provisions for the everyone.

All of the hired bus drivers (not Witnesses).

He got up and posed for this because he wanted a special picture.

Little cat that kept posing for pictures.

Back at the hotel. We rested and then had dinner all together in the dining room. We ordered pizzas! It really has become our little family. Tomorrow is the first day of the convention! I can't wait to see what the day has in store. I have never been to one so large, or in an open air stadium. They are expecting about 40,000-45,000. Off to sleep!