That night we went for a walk round a festival that was on and it became obvious that the people in Phayao don't see massive amounts of tourists so there was a lot of pointing and staring.
We got back to the hotel and both felt a bit nervous as we had no idea where we would live, what Phayao is really like and also the next morning was our first meeting at the congregation.
The congregation
As we have found time after time during our first month in Thailand there was no need to worry, the congregation were lovely. We were announced in the meeting (the only bit I understood as every clapped and looked at us), everyone came and said hello or saa-wat-dee-krap to be precise, they had all brought food for a special lunch after the meeting, a brother and sister said as soon as we wanted we could stay with them until we got a place to stay and they took us on the ministry. Why did we even worry!!
The meetings in Phayao happen at the weekend. There are 3 elders and 3 ministerial servants and the average attendance is about 25.
On a Saturday at 10 they have the ministry school and service meeting and on Sundays at 1:30 they have either one of 2 elders give a talk, watch a DVD or listen to a talk recorded at the assembly (neighbouring halls are over two hours away so they don't have visiting speakers really) followed by the watchtower. On both days they go on the ministry and dedicate the weekend to spiritual things. The reason they have the meetings on weekend is for a few reasons. Some of the older brothers and sisters live far away and cannot travel in twice a week because of health or cost, so they all arrive on the weekend and live in a house joined onto the Kingdom Hall and the brothers and sisters take it in turns to drop them home late Sunday afternoon. Also the brothers and sisters work very hard and at all different times to earn a living so weekends are the best time. One of the elders works on a street food stall late into the night but also prepares the theocratic ministry school, watchtower, public talks and service meeting items .... Yet he is always very positive and happy. Another elder is from Japan and moved here 8 years ago with his wife to do ministry even though they are in there late sixties. Then the last elder is from Korea and him and his wife also came to do ministry 7 years ago and said they will never leave now until the paradise.
I'll write about the first few weeks in the next blog ...
Lunch after are first meeting.
Sunset at the lake in Phayao
No comments:
Post a Comment