An elderly brother came up to me the other day and said: "You are a True Christian"! I asked him what he meant by that and he said because I "really care about the older ones in the congregation". He went on to say that the Elders and Pioneers are so busy, they have to "get their time in the Field Service", no time left to check on the the older ones. That statement really hit me, because I have heard many pioneers use the line this has got to wait because, "I Have To Get My Time In".
Someone asked for more info on my week at Patterson. When I first arrived, they handed us an envelope with a key(plastic card) to all the doors and 1 for your room. Also just basic info on how to dress while there, proper use of the Internet, and our class schedule (all these materials had to be returned upon leaving, even the class schedule). Every Elder was assigned a part in the classroom, either a talk, demo or conduct a meeting part, then the rest of the class gave comments or their observations on it. One thing I noticed that lacks in most Elders that conduct a Q&A part is that they (the conductor) talk too much. It was stressed the "Watchtower and Book Study Lessons belong to the Friends", not you. Just ask the questions," we do not need to your life story week after week". Still this goes in one ear out the other.
Each day was 8 hours of classroom instruction. I really enjoyed when it was focused on the Bible. I remember we did 4 hours on just Jehovah God, 4 hours on just Jesus, and 4 hours on why the NWT was the best Bible out there. Then we focused on the Art of Teaching, Proper Handling of Judicial cases etc.
I remember very well morning worship because Guy Pierce of the GB conducted it evry day that week, including the monday night WT lesson tide in from Brooklyn. My first time ever hearing him speak and did enjoy listening to him speak. More later