Zooming In

In the third month of 2020 the first direction came through regarding adjustments made in response to the growing pandemic that had at that point gripped the world. You are all aware of the changes that resulted afterward, but this post will serve as a future reminder as to how those in Monto, Queensland were affected by them.

When we were first informed that the use of Kingdom Halls would be suspended until further notice, the initial result was shock. The buildings we had used for so long and come to associate so closely with our worship were now sitting empty. This was especially significant here as the Kingdom Hall had been wonderfully renovated only one year earlier with the intention of making frequent use of it. The direction from the Queensland government was to quarantine, staying at home and remaining a minimum social distance of 1.5 meters between yourself and anyone not related to you. Those over 70 were considered high risk and so needed especially to be isolated so as not to get sick, something which was likely to be fatal. So needless to say it was quite an adjustment. Not being able to talk to our brothers and sisters face to face meant that the support and comfort we so relied on could now only be had from a distance or over a phone call, text message, or email. It was a hard thing for many to adjust to. For a socially awkward introvert like me, though, it wasn’t nearly as bad.

These social restrictions would have an effect not only on meetings, but also the ministry, assemblies, conventions, and the Memorial as well. Instead of meeting in person, our meetings would now be conducted virtually. Although specific guidelines and direction had been given, learning a new process involved a learning curve and it was certainly uncharted territory for all of us. Fortunately the friends here handled it extremely well, and this was all the more impressive given the advanced age of most of them. Yet these ones managed to get their heads around new technologies to which they were quite unaccustomed, and their willingness to adapt made the success of such online meetings possible. Jehovah’s Spirit helped us all out and almost from the get go things went smoothly and a meeting was never missed. Making things easier was the fact that we had only thirteen in our hall, so there was a smaller group to train, assist, and manage, and the timely arrival of a brother who already had online teaching experience and was able to offer suggestions and ideas was an added, if not coincidental, bonus!

The ministry, too, changed since we could no longer go visit people at their homes and even the witnessing carts disappeared. This was at first a bit isolating as we would meet together virtually and then break off to write letters separately, but after a few months we began to do more phone witnessing and got to spend more time together in the Zoom room, which was much more like the witnessing outings we were used to. Letter writing and making calls to strangers weren’t areas of strength for many, including myself, but the upsides were that we saved quite a lot of money on gas and postage. Even with the Postal bulk discount on letters in groups of over ten, it still cost $27.10 to mail twenty seven letters a few days back! I’m still just so glad I didn’t buy a car before all of this hit, since the entirety of the funds set aside for that purpose ended up being used for groceries instead.

In addition to the field ministry, the Memorial was very different as well. I got to give the talk this year, but it was so odd to be Zooming it in from my bedroom with a small plate of bread and a small glass of wine on hand which wasn’t passed so much as lifted and set back down. It was certainly the shortest amount of time passing the emblems has ever taken! While the wine was not hard to find, the proper flour was. Fortunately one of our sisters was able to make the ingredients needed for the unleavened bread and a small portion of bread and wine were provided to each family. Originally the idea was to have a small handful of us gather at the Queenslander, but instead each family ended up observing the event from their own home.

The Assembly and 2020 Convention were likewise viewed from home, but this proved to be a boon because almost all of the talks were given by our dear Governing Body brothers and these recordings could be watched and re-watched as much as each of us wanted in order to glean points we had missed the first time through. This was especially true with our three day Regional Convention program since so many of the talks contained too many excellent points to digest in a single viewing. The program was broken into six parts spread over two months and by that time the government restrictions had lifted so that we were able to get together to watch the program, enjoy fires at each other’s houses, and practice the new song that would be sung on the final Sunday afternoon part. As with the Memorial, the plan was to have a few gather here to watch the Sunday afternoon portion together and be able to sing the song as a group, but the way things worked out I ended up watching the last video alone and singing alone as well.

But that wasn’t all bad.

This year’s new song, entitled Our Joy Eternally, was especially poignant for me. Singing alone allowed me to really meditate on the joy I had had in 2020 serving a congregation in another country as well as all of the other blessings that had come as result of being among God’s people during a difficult time. The year had also been a glimpse into paradise and a real evidence of how Jehovah cares for his servants Earth wide. More on such blessings in future, but really none of this year would’ve been possible without Jehovah’s help and the love of his people.

And something else wonderful happened too.

At first the BOE here had decided to conduct the meetings through Skype, but very soon afterward, before our first meeting in fact, direction had come from the Branch that we would be using a hitherto unknown program called Zoom. Little did we know it at the time, but a new verb was about to come into use. We no longer ‘went’ to meetings or ‘went’ out in service. Instead we now regularly ‘zoomed’ into meetings or ‘zoomed’ into someone else’s. And what an unexpected blessing that program turned out to be.

Despite not being able to meet together physically, I now had an opportunity to spend time with people I had not seen or talked with in years!

On one occasion I was invited by a friend to a Zoom gathering in Wallkill, New York to sit around and draw pictures with some of the local brothers and sisters while chatting with each other. It actually felt like we were all sitting together at the same table sharing the same crayons and pencils as we talked about absolutely nothing. On another few occasions I was able to meet up with my brother’s family in Ohio, my cousin in Atlanta, and my other cousin in Arizona as we played online party games together. We hadn’t actually gotten together like that in quite a while, but now here we were remotely gathering and enjoying each other’s company as though we were all in the same room. I was able to give a talk in Brecksville, Ohio and see many old friends and well as attending a funeral service for a friend’s father in Cleveland along with another friend who now lived in Ecuador. I was also able to get in touch with a family friend in Chicago who I had been meaning to visit for a year and got to hear his wonderful guitar.

Though the meeting changes had at first seemed so very limiting, they had actually opened up opportunities for many more virtual gatherings with brothers and sisters all over the Earth! And so long as the Zoom arrangement continues, once I’m back in the US I’ll even be able to drop in to a meeting on the other side of the globe in Monto, Queensland whenever I want. Or Atlanta. Or Ecuador. Or really anywhere in the world!

There’s so much more to this subject, but next we’ll take a moment to stop and smell the roses before talking a bit about work.