Obviously, as the revised OD book brings out, we wouldn’t want to impose our conscience on others in this regard. So, this is basically my own interpretation of what the OD books says. For myself personally, as long as I am out in the ministry, I am counting my time. Regardless of the possibility of sitting in the car for X number of minutes if someone wants to do a return visit, you’re still involved in the ministry. The OD book says that the hours we report “is the time you spend participating in the house-to-house ministry, making return visits, conducting Bible studies, or otherwise witnessing informally or publicly to people who are not dedicated, baptized Witnesses.” The conjunction “or” means any or all of those things are acceptable in counting your time.
The first part there about participating in the ministry – I am out in the ministry, participating in the ministry work, whether or not I’m at the door or talking to people. I could work an entire morning and not talk to a single person. I’m still out in the ministry. That being said, if we know an RV is going to take a while or possibly turn into a study, we may plan ahead and run and do another RV, a few doors, or something while the others are at their RV/study. But, sometimes that is not possible. It still doesn’t mean you’re not out in the ministry.
If we stop for a break of more than a few minutes, I will stop counting my time because technically we are taking a break from the ministry. However, it doesn’t have to be. During those times, instead of stopping your ministry, you could just switch to a different form of ministry – from house-to-house and return visits to informal/business witnessing. “Breaks” aren’t what they used to be, in that, if we view them the right way, we can still be out in the ministry – and thus counting our time – during those times.
Just my interpretation of what the OD book says, though.