"God's Word is Truth" 2013 District Convention

“But what about us? Do we have the same faith (as that of Abraham)? You know sometimes we are presented with opportunities to expand our service to Jehovah. And sometimes it challenges our comfort zone doesn’t it? We’re settled in our easy chair and we can come up with reasons why we can’t move. Or we can tell others reasons why they can’t move. Well let’s not let that happen to us brothers and sisters. Let’s accept the challenge of whatever Theocratic assignment is offered to us. Let’s not get distracted as to the blessings. Let’s walk straight ahead according to the Truth.”

(Bro. Alan Shuster, United States Branch Committee, “God’s Word is Truth” District Convention, St. George, UT, 7/13/13)

Jesse & Shirley at the convention

We just got back from our 2013 “God’s Word is Truth” district convention in St. George, UT, and even though I’ve been to 50 or so  district conventions over the years, the latest always seems to be the best.

Oddly enough, there are no suitable facilities available for us in Las Vegas (a metropolis of 2,000,000) so these past few years we’ve been assigned to St George, which is a drive of about two hours. The facility is actually the gymnasium of Dixie State College, where we also have our circuit assemblies.

In the past we’ve been assigned to much larger facilities in Long Beach, CA or Phoenix, AZ, and it still feels a little strange attending a district convention that is the same size as a circuit assembly (around 3500 in attendance).

But the material is the same, and we were thrilled to have as special guest Alan Shuster from the US Branch Committee out of Patterson. The brothers from the Branch always give outstanding talks.

If you haven’t been to the convention yet, you can get an idea of what’s presented from the downloadable program on the jw.org site. As usual, there was something for everyone, but I focused in on the parts that addressed the goal Shirley and I have of expanding our ministry to serve where the need is greater.

 In the talk on Saturday entitled “Walk ‘Straight According to the Truth’”, Bro. Shuster discussed Abraham as a role model for us. How he essentially got up out of his easy chair in Ur and left his comfort zone to accept his theocratic assignment in a far-off land. Then he made a direct application for us in the quote at the beginning of this post.

Scene from Sunday's "Esther" drama

And what do you do when it’s 117°? (Hint: Service & Celine)

Gerrie & Shirley in the invitation work

Finally June is over, and it went down in the record books as the hottest June ever in Las Vegas.

We set a record of 117, which is really a misnomer, because the official temperature is taken at the airport and it’s much hotter in other parts of the city. At my house, I've measured in the 120’s in the heat of the day. But that still doesn't compare with nearby Death Valley, where it was 130!

After I gave the Service Meeting part Tuesday from the 2013 Yearbook which dealt with the experiences of our brothers in Myanmar walking 170 mile to the convention, fighting off leeches and all sorts of wild animals, there was no way to miss Saturday service when all we had to contend with was heat.

CJ, the friendly congregation secretary

Plus at 10 in the morning, the temperature has barely hit 100. The real heat doesn't roll in until around 3 or so, and by then we’re inside in the AC or outside in the pool.

So we went out, handing out invitations to the upcoming District Convention in St. George, UT, about 2 hours drive north. I don’t know where people go on Saturday morning, but we only found about 3 people home. Of course, we leave the invites at the not-at-homes, or we’d never get them out, and on a positive note, the people who were at home accepted the invitation graciously.

Since I like to deal with positives, the 5% humidity means you don’t feel yourself sweat. Meaning it evaporates so quickly off your body, you stay fairly dry, but constantly thirsty because all the moisture is being sucked out of your body. So we never leave home without a bottle of water in the bookbag.

Just another sunny day in paradise

Unfortunately, July is the hottest month of the year in Las Vegas so we’ll still suffer plenty of heat abuse, but on the bright side, summer is half over, and then we’ll have 9 months of generally pleasant weather to look forward to.

If our plans work out, this may be our last summer in Las Vegas before heading to our need-greater assignment. Right now, we’re looking very seriously at La Antigua, Guatemala, and hope to check out the lay of the land no later than next spring.

Typical Las Vegas territory. Note the lack of shade.

ENTERTAINMENT IN SIN CITY

Sometimes when we visit other areas, brothers will ask if there are really Witnesses in “Sin City” (Las Vegas). And if there are, what do we do there?

CJ & Gerrie

Well most of us work normal jobs (I’m an IT guy) and actually there are more than 70 congregations in a number of different language groups, so things are progressing well. Just another reason why some of us are planning on moving to different fishing grounds where the need is greater.

And because literally hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world fly here to vacation every week, there is any number of entertainment options.

Shirley & Jesse

Many of the friends work in the hotel industry so they often receive perks that they pass along, which means cheap (sometimes free) entertainment opportunities that tourists may have to pay 100’s of dollars for.

So it happened that last week we scored some Celine Dion tickets, who is in residency at Caesar’s Palace for the summer. Those who know me know that it’s not really my type of music, but Shirley and Gerrie loved the spectacle and at least it was nice and cool in the
auditorium.

Update: Finally we got a nice rain shower on Sunday, July 7. It was the first rain in 80 days. Yes, it’s a desert out there.