For this final day of the convention, all of the foreign delegates were assigned to sit in a specific section of the stadium. And since our bus was the first to arrive on the previous days, we were confident that we would get the choicest seats (in an open air stadium, on concrete seats with no backs under the African sun). Much to our surprise, when we arrived at 6:45 am, there were already two buses parked and another bus right behind us! Nonetheless, we got seats quickly for our group and went about the business of meeting more friends.
So much love to bring back to the congregation from the friends in other lands. Met friends from all over Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Germany, Switzerland, Cambodia, Malawi, England, Brazil. . . In fact, the reason I'm looking forward to getting home is so that I can pass on all the love the friends here entrusted me to take to the home congregation. Besides, no one was willing to adopt me :-(
If you are on Instagram, you have probably already heard the latest stats on this amazing convention. Final attendance: 82,409 (did I mention that there are only 42,000 Witnesses in Zimbabwe). Over 1,500 were baptized! That's almost 20 new congregations formed in one day! What an enormous shout of praise to Jehovah - I think they heard it all the way in Arkansas.
After the program ended, we hugged, laughed, sang songs, took pictures and reluctantly left the stadium. With hearts full of appreciation, we will prepare for our last day in Zimbabwe. But one thing I know for sure. I am changed forever.
By the way, we lost our camera media drive which has all of our pictures saved on it. Hoping it will be retrieved soon but meanwhile our pictures may be a little limited. Glad we sent some of our favs along to you throughout the trip :-).
I truly enjoyed what you wrote and how you wrote the events of this day. Tears in my eyes, a sense of sadness in my heart, coupled with love as your trip nears its end. Jehovah our God, how well you have done. A trip of a lifetime.
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