Just a post

Here are some more pictures of the land surrounding Bethel.
This is the view from the Audio Visual building...beautiful eh!

Today was a simple day:

Outside tour, dining room orientation and work assignments.

Jamin will be a part of what is called Exteriors. He will be tearing out and replacing the concrete that makes up the Central Walkway and sections of roadway. It is so nice to finally know how we will be used. Jamin met the brother at the lunch table today who services vacuums and other things that aren't functioning properly. This is the coolest vacuum ever! The brand name is Chariot. So Jamin can say that he has stood in one of Jehovah's chariots! heehee

(This one is for you Jensen! :D )

Another picture of our entrance group. This was our last day together. We hope to have a little get-together at the end of our three months to see where and what each of us will go or do.

Our address is

2891 Route 22 Patterson, NY 12563

Once Upon A Time...

Even before we arrived at Bethel this privilege of service has felt like a fairytale. Now that we are fully engaged in the Bethel schedule, training and assignments the fairytale feeling has intensified. The Bethel way of life is so amazing, so simple, so organized and suprisingly lenient. The way and reasons behind the way things are done are definitely directed by Jehovah. There are no gray areas and there is not one minute detail that has been overlooked. It's brilliant! Everything flows sooo smoothly.
Since our last blog we've experienced a lot. Friday night and Saturday were welcoming because Shawn and Trac came for a quick visit and to drop some of our things off. We spent Saturday together at a stellar outlet mall. The mall has every store you can possibly think of. We froze but enjoyed eachother's company shopping and people watching.
Sunday we went with our new friends, the Turners, to our congre-
gation meeting in Bridgeport, CT, which is an hour away. We are in the Seaside congregation. There are about 120 publishers of various nationalities and backgrounds, 16 pioneers (youngest 13, oldest 96!) and eight Bethelites. Sunday was our Circuit Overseer visit and 179 attended! It was a total blast. The congregation is so friendly and warm. The young ones in Seaside are very zealous and are fine examples for many. We had great experiences in the field minsitry as well. Our group worked in a six-story apartment building. The response of the people is so refreshing. Though they have many problems and live very demanding and harsh lives they are interested and hungry for help from the scriptures. I started a Bible study with a woman and placed several pieces of literature with two men.
Monday was another day of orientation meetings, brief lectures and paperwork. The highlight of that day was the Family Watchtower study. Jamin and I inadvertantly were surrounded by all the Gilead students! What a treat that was! There are 56 students from all over: Sweden, Germany, Japan, Spain, Canada and so on. Beautiful people. It is exciting to get to know them at the meals, each story is unique. Yesterday at lunch we ate with the couple from Canada. They told us when you recieve your invitation/call for you acceptance as Gilead students you are to start reading your Bible and have it finished by the time you arrive at Bethel to start school. They got their call about six months ago, some eight months, some three months and so forth, but one couple from Patterson recieved theirs two WEEKS ago!!!!!!!!! So two weeks to finish the Bible! Yikes eh!? :) The couple from Canada said they are doing pretty well and are about to finish. The first week they got to Daniel, they must have been cookin'!


Yesterday and today we have been in housekeeping training and orientation. The training is for me, because that will be my assignment (I will actually be what they call a Floater, one who basically floats to whatever needs to be done for whoever at anytime! ha! Kind of a broad explanation, but mainly it's just for housekeeping assignments and occasionally for other duties like, orchard help, laundry, etc.) and the orientation is for Jamin because he will be working in construction/maintenance. Everyone has to go through housekeeping orientation to get a feel for and to build appreciation for what the housekeepers have to do. Jamin will find out his exact assigment tomorrow...I think :/
Anyhoo, there are so many things I could keep going on about, but to be honest I'm VERY sleepy. It's only 7:32 p.m. right now but I got up at 5:30 a.m. and haven't had a moment to rest or even think. So I will retire for the night.

Rest easy friends...too-da-loo

First day, long day

Ok so very quickly, this is our sweet little room. It's very well furnished and we have waay more storage than what we thought we would have..total blessing and we love it!

What a day...We had the first of our orientation meetings today and our inside branch tour of Patterson Bethel. We had a great group; two other couples that are 3-month temps, and one new Bethel bride. The instructors and guides are of course the greatest. They are Bethelites of many years. You sure can tell how the years have refined them to be beautiful and useful vessels for Jehovah. They love what they do and who they do it for! It is so wonderful to be surrounded by these gems.

I think my highlights of the day are the meals and Gilead commons area, soo rad! Jamin says his highlights are the behind-the-scenes operations of Patterson (which was basically the whole tour, ha!) and eating lunch with a sweet Brother Lindam. Lindam is 80 years old and has lived at Bethel for 40+ years and he loves the lemon sorbet and had two heaping servings of it :)

Ok, here are some pictures

View from the Clock Tower

Favorite painting

Orientation Group ('Newbies')

No Sleep till...Patterson

Well, maybe a little. We left around 9:30 last night full of Oley's Pizza and with a mind set to get to our destination with a quickness. We ended up having to catch some z's somewhere around Punxatawney, PA. The snooze did us good and we drove on in the wee hours of the morning accompanied by our masterfully crafted mixed cd gifts. We arrived at Patterson Bethel at approximately 11 o'clock a.m.

The gate watchman and the lobby attendant thought we were here for the next Gilead class because our car was so full and our welcome package was so large! It made us nervous that they were questioning our assignment, like, Did we miss something?, are we here for Gilead and don't know it?

It was spitting snow and bitter cold when we stepped out of our car, a sure way to get the blood pumpin' after such a long ride in the car. I immediately started trying to remember all the warm clothes I packed hoping that some how the thought of them would warm my shivers, but of course that was just silly, I froze.

We found our room (I'll post pictures tomorrow), unpacked as quick as possible, disposing of any remnants that reminded us that we just drove 11 hours on les than four hours of sleep, ate at the diner down the street, came back to the room and crashed.

Now we are preparing physically and mentally for our first official day as Bethelites: Sipping tea, reading over our welcome packets again, choosing our outfits (for fear of not waking up on time and being late to Morning Worship), laundry, tv, so many things.

All we can say or rather write to you at this point is that we love you and appreciate all of the support and encouragement you have given us. We are here, safe, settled and we miss our Fort Wayne people.

Good niGHt