Finding the love of the brothers

[RaymondG]

I've been thinking about doing a thread relating to my visits to many congregations, Assembly Days and Regional/International Conventions over the past 14 years. And there have been visits to Bethels in four countries.

 

In that time I've made five trips to the USA, with two of them branching into Canada and one extending to 21 countries in Europe. Whenever possible I've attended meetings wherever I have been, often timing my trip to enable me to do so. Two trips were based around Conventions.

 

This is particularly relevant following the Watchtower study article last weekend, in which paragraph 16 asks, "When travelling have you ever visited a different congregation?" It goes on to explain why we should, "The next time you do, reflect on the love and unity among our brothers and sisters. It will underscore that Jehovah is indeed using his Witnesses to accomplish his will today."

 

And I have to agree. As this thread progresses I will post pictures relating to congregation visits and tell how that love and unity was shown. It's a 2-way thing, of course, and while I consider that I have benefitted more, I hope that I have also conveyed to the hundreds I've met something of value to them. 

 

 I've not put this into the publicly visible section as I will be using names of our brothers and sisters as the story progresses. I welcome comments, in particular - but not limited to - comments from people who are members of the congregations I've visited or others who see something they want to discuss.

 

[RaymondG]

My first trip began in October, 2012. The first congregation Janet and I visited was at Weston, West Virginia. We were to revel in the topography and autumnal colours of the 'Hillbilly' country and I was in that area to visit an old friend who'd worked as a teacher in Australia.

 

We stayed at Buckhannon the night before and drove to Weston, following the Garmin GPS to...

 

 

...Kingdom Drive, which really tickled us. The first thing we noticed, and it was to us quite outstanding, was the lack of windows in the hall:

 

 

Our old Dodge pickup is at the extreme left of this pic and Janet is there talking to Brother Edwin Stalnaker who I was to learn had a large part in bringing this hall into being. He provided the land and used his earthmoving equipment to level sufficient ground for the hall, also building the entry road.

 

There'll be more about this hall much later in the thread as I returned there in 2024, but for now it was eye-opening to an Aussie couple finding their way with accents and getting to know people. One sister, Jo Ellen Fitzwater, spent some time talking with Janet and later wrote to her back home. Janet really appreciated that and it's a shame that the correspondence wasn't able to continue much longer.

 

No, it's not a large congregation, but it's firmly established and spiritually strong. It was a nice place for us to begin our 'International Tour' and to spend valuable time with brothers and sisters.