Wednesday we visited Walkill Bethel. It was just as incredible as I knew it would be. It houses the printing presses that handle all the society's literature for the United States branch. They no longer print the Awake! and Watchtower, as most of you know that has been moved to the Canadian branch.
Sean and I got our own tour with a sister named Sally. She was so sweet and very knowledgeable.
One of the first things you notice about Bethel is how clean it is... I mean spotless. It's just amazing, but it's what you expect for Jehovah's house.
The printing presses are amazing. So incredibly fast. They print 120 books... per MINUTE! The rolls of paper used are 14 MILES long and last 25 minutes!
We got a special treat for our tour. Sean had met a brother in the lobby who is also an X-Ray Tech. So he was able to get us into the infirmary where we met the full time tech there. Her name was Jodi and she was so incredibly sweet. We saw the room she works in and we got to take some pictures.
We continued our tour and saw the packaging and shipping department which is run with such efficiency. Again.... everything was spotless! I just couldn't get over that.
We met up with Melissa and Robbie and had our first Bethel lunch! It was really awesome having that many brothers and sisters in the same room. There are 10 seats to each table. One brother acts as table head and after prayer let's us know which way to pass the food, this way things stay organized! 20 minutes later there is closing prayer but you can continue eating if you're not done.
Most of the Bethelites work 8-5 with an hour for lunch. Their day starts at 7am with morning worship which is required and there is assigned seating. The Daily Text is considered and I think 4 comments are shared. The comments are assigned just like we get assignments for our talks. Then a member of the Governing Body gives a 10 minute talk. This connected through video.
After lunch Melissa had to go back to work, but Robbie was able to give us an extra tour. We saw the new residence expansion that's being built and I believe he said it will house 400. He does electrical work for Bethel. We also got to visit the Documentation Department. They handle all the aspects of producing videos for in house use, safety videos, etc. We also got to meet a couple brothers who work in computer imaging. They add images and text to the videos.
After our tour Sean and I took a drive to New Paltz. The drive was beautiful and we stopped at the Watchtower Farm. They raise the cows that provide the beef for all three Bethels. We got to see a baby cow that recently had been born, so you know I loved that!
We met up with Melissa and Robbie for dinner and got to see where they live. A small modest studio... impeccably clean!
We drove to Poughkeepsie for dinner at Twisted Souls. The food was delicious... coconut curry noodles, pulled pork on corn cakes, sweet potato empanadas... so good!
The association with them was so wonderful and encouraging. What a self sacrificing spirit they both have and Jehovah is certainly blessing their efforts.
It was such a privilege to visit Walkill. Even though I've grown up knowing this was all run voluntarily, I had to keep reminding myself,"No one here is getting paid. They do it because they love Jehovah and want to help people." Just amazing...
I'm tired! More tomorrow. I'll fill you on on our visit to Patterson Bethel.
**Sorry about the pictures. They're totally out of order, this blog app is funky. :(
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