Another Bethel report on Hurricane Sandy

by sir82 10 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sir82

  I posted this a couple of days ago:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/241645/1/Report-from-a-Bethelite-after-Hurrican-Sandy

  As I know you've all been waiting with bated breath, here is another report courtesy of our non-apostate friends at jwtalk:

  http://www.jwtalk.net/forum/read.php?49,132709

  A very comprehensive report from an elder at Brooklyn Bethel that gives us an excellent overview of how our brothers have been affected by this traumatic event:
  
  "Many are wondering how we are doing here in Brooklyn after the Hurricane. The Branch Committee was monitoring everything and were prepared. They had brothers stationed in the office complex, at Bossert, and other buildings in case there was damage or flooding. The rain did not really come and there were a few hours of severe winds. The biggest event was the storm surge. The 30 Columbia Heights office building had some flooding in the basement because it faces Furman Street which is at the levels of the piers. The water came up to the loading dock area but the brothers sandbagged the main areas where water could get in. They were able to pump out any water that got in.
  
  A portion of the facade that was on Building 5 was torn off the building and blown all over the street. It is more of a cosmetic facade so it can be replace. We never lost power so that was good. The waterfront park was all flooded, the lower potions of the DUMBO area were all under water but the rest of our properties are all on high ground so we were OK.
  
  We were directed to stay home on Monday and Tuesday morning. We were able to go back to work on Tuesday afternoon. There were problems with the computer connections and the telephones
  so we did what we could.
  
  The biggest problem of course is the effect on New York City. The storm surge came up into Manhattan and flowed into the openings of the subway and roads and flooded the subway tunnels
  between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the Brooklyn Battery tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan and the tunnels between Manhattan and New Jersey. The subway system is shut down and the buses are not running. Everything south of 40th street in Manhattan lost power so when you look across the river, there are no lights on. It is erie. New Jersey really got wiped out, especially
  on the barrier islands.
  
  It will take some time to get things back up and running. We had trees down in the area so we have to walk the streets that are cleared. We will see how things work out over the next few days. The subways are a key to the life of the city so without it, the traffic is terrible and people cannot get to work.
  
  The Bethel family is doing well and pulled together through this event. The cooks and waiters were positioned from their residences to where they would need to work so that nobody would have to go outside. Wallkill and Patterson had power outages but they have emergency generators that sustained them until the power was restored. Getting around will be the biggest problem for the next few weeks. The airports are closed and getting there is a challenge. Many guests and visitors were stuck but should start clearing up over the next few days.
  
  So we will keep working hard and see how matters turn out. We are doing well and are staying safe.
  
  Bye for now"
• 

  Christ Alone

  How good it is to see that Jehovah's protection was on his organization!!!
• 

  sir82

  They had brothers stationed in the office complex, at Bossert, and other buildings in case there was damage or flooding.

  What were they going to do, huff an puff and blow real hard to turn back the floodwaters?
• 

  james_woods

  What were they going to do, huff an puff and blow real hard to turn back the floodwaters?

  Stand with sword in hand and turn back the tide - like King Canute.

  Blub-blub.
• 

  WTWizard

  Too bad they didn't lose their electricity even before the storm came, and have their backup generator ruined immediately. Then the pumps would not work, their basements would totally flood, and everything would get all soaking wet. Then, once the wind reaches 50 km/h, the whole building is so weakened that it comes tumbling down while there is barely any damage. Even winds barely strong enough to knock down empty rubbish barrels would blow down the whole building, particularly that monstroth at 90 Sands Street.
• 

  Simon Morley

  What about using a portion of the $162 million in assets towards helping their negihbours? As I recall there were only two laws given by Jesus - (1) Love God and (2) Love your Neighbour.

  Here in Canada I am amazed and heart warmed by the simple acts lof love of neighbour demonstrated by people supposedly doomed at the end of this so called system. Examples like the blind woman on Staten Island making meals and distributing them, while her seeing eye dog guides her past very trecherous conditions. Yeah, I am sure God is looking down saying: "thats all well and good but you did not take the latest braille copy of the Awake you were offered last week, so I don't care what you did".
• 

  minimus
• 

  solomon

  The wt will always spin the story so that they weren't affected as badly as the "worldly" people in order for it to appear that Jehovah is protecting them.

  It is a well orchestrated publicity campaign.
• 

  Simon Morley

  Solomon: I am with you on that one. Just wait for the urban legends to emerge from NJ/NY congos to show up in 2013 DC's. Meanwhile Satan's organizations are opening up churches and public buildings for people who have incurred significant property damage regardless of their religious affiliation, encouraging people to reach out in tangible ways, open up locations for food, clothing and financial assistance,making routine calls and not just wishing people keep warm and weel fed. It seems that at times like these Satan's system shows up the dubs for what they are (in a large part) shallow, uncaring and selfish. It is at times like this that the WTB&T$ make me sick as the gloat with some image of this all being a precursor to the big one. Having that poor view of humanity simply leads one to become calloused and uncaring.
• 

  applehippie

  My mother received this update that has been passed along from a friend (forwarded to a long chain of recipients) originally from Bethel:

  Bethel, November 9, 2012
  
  Dear Ones,
  We received an update today at morning worship regarding Hurricane Sandy . We were told that the Society's DRC (Disaster Relief Committee) and a number of our RBC's have been fully engaged in assessing the damage and bringing relief to the brothers in the areas affected. Relief Centers have been established in several Kingdom Halls where water, food, and other provisions are available for those who need them - even accommodations are there or in the homes of other brothers.

  They have received reports from 2004 congregations and 103 circuit overseers. The latest figures are: 710 homes of brothers with minor damage, 169 with moderate damage, and 219 with major damage or destroyed. Also, 96 Kingdom Halls sustained minor damage, 10 has moderate damage, and 2 had major damage. Our three Bethel complexes had only minor damage, and one Bethelite had minor injury, although both Paterson and Wallkill had to resort to being powered by generators right after the storm.

  I have lived in New York City all my life and have never seen anything this bad before. "Adding insult to injury," as the paper put it, was the blizzard that followed three days later with high winds and heavy snow, toppling more trees and causing more power outages. While power had been restored to most of the over 3 million who lost it, there are still hundreds of thousands of homes without it as of this writing. A number of project buildings in our territory where brothers live do not have power yet either, and many of those living in the lower areas of the city boroughs and in New Jersey were evacuated. My sister lives in the NYC borough of Staten Island , and she says that many parts there were completely devasted. She is helping with the relief work, as are many other brothers and sisters. We also now have gas rationing, as it is scarce here, with very long lines of cars waiting for hours at the few stations that have gas and electricity to pump it. One nice thing, though, is that the traffic congestion we normally face has eased a lot and it is easier to get places (if you can). Most flooded tunnels are back in operation, as is most of the subway system.

  Now for some good news - our yearly report from 239 lands: The refinements the Society made to the theocratic schools is having great success. Sending brothers back to their own countries upon graduation is working very well. Besides not having to adjust and learn a new language, they are more readily accepted by the local populace. Many temporary special pioneers have been assigned. Missionaries are being sent to the more populated areas, and more are coming into the truth. Instead of many in a missionary home that may be far from their territory, couples are being housed by themselved in a modest apartment or home in the area where they preach.

  As to the year's statistics, the worldwide total of publishers (average) is 7,538,994 (a 1.9 percent increase over last year) and the Publisher Peak was 7,782,346 (+1.6%). There was a 2.4 percent increase in hours to 1,748,697,447. The average of regular pioneers increased 6.2 percent to 921,292. Average Bible studies went up 3.2 percent to 8,759,988. There are 111,719 congregations worldwide, an increase of 2.1 percent. However, the number of branches has decreased to 96. Other statistics will be printed in the new yearbook.

  We are happy to say that we have both been well this year. And, the Lord willing, I'm looking forward to achieving 60 years at Bethel next year.
  We hope this finds you all well and rejoicing in your service to Jehovah.

  We send our love and best wishes.

  _____________________________________

  I removed the names of the writer and his wife-