Catalyst Castle

Saturday, March 26th, we had the spring cleaning of our Kingdom Hall. I didn't get any sleep the night before, so I was super tired by the time the work was wrapping up, but I did manage to keep going most of the day. Here are some photos I snapped throughout the day.

I have an odd habit of making comparisons between Star Wars and real life, especially to our worship of Jehovah. The reason for this is that Star Wars is an epic story of Good versus Evil, which reflects in many ways the true life conflict between Jehovah and Satan.

So, today I was thinking about Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in Episode IV and I was pondering, which one of them am I more like in my service to Jehovah.

When it came time for the Rebels to attack the Death Star at the climax of that movie, Han was ready to hightail it out of there. He recognized that this mission was practically suicide. He had been paid for his earlier heroics, and he had no desire to stick around and get killed. Luke, on the other hand, knew just as well as Han that this mission could likely kill him, and he wasn’t getting paid for it, but he still signed on without hesitation. He felt a moral compulsion to stand up for what was right and fight on the side of Good. He knew he might very well die if he took this mission, but he also knew he couldn’t live with himself if he walked away.

So, as Christians, are we more like Han or Luke? Do we serve Jehovah when the blessings are immediate and obvious, but run for the hills when faced with a real test? Or do we stick to Jehovah come-what-may, because we know that we couldn’t live with ourselves if we stopped serving Jehovah? Hopefully, all of us our more like Luke. However, the reassuring thing is that, in the end, Han came around and pulled through when Luke needed him the most. We can always adjust our attitude where needed as long as we see the need for that adjustment before the Death Star fires its super weapon.

My most recent obsession has been cleaning my room. It is a monumental task. When I moved back in with my parents a few years ago, I moved all of the contents of a small apartment into a single bedroom. What's more, I really didn't bother to settle in. Many things have stayed in boxes, and a lot of stuff has ended up being stashed wherever it was convenient at the moment. The result vaguely resembles the apartment of Yomiko Readman from the anime Read or Die, as seen in this video.



One thing I've discovered as I've been going through my stuff is that I have piles of old Watchtowers and Awakes that I didn't place. This really impressed on me the wisdom of the society's new arrangement for distributing the magazines. I'm looking forward to getting these issues placed and not acquiring another backlog of magazines in the future.

1. I won’t heave a sigh every time I’m alone.
2. I can let down my guard for a second without making a mistake.
3. Love won’t break my heart, it will fulfill it.
4. I will forgive myself.
5. I will break down the walls I build around myself.
6. All of my regrets will fade away.
7. I will look at myself in the mirror and like who I am.
8. I will not be anxious. The only surprises will be pleasant ones.
9. I will not doubt myself or others.
10. I will love someone else more than I love myself.

Those are just 10 personal little things that I look forward to in the new system, in no particular order. Are there any little things that you look forward to in the new system? If you would like to, please share them in the comments.

I had a nice day in field service today, thanks in part to the brothers and sisters I was out with. Speaking of which, do you ever find yourself out in the ministry all by yourself? Are you struggling to get in those last few hours, but discouraged because you're having to do it all on your own? Well then, here is the company you need!

Service Partners is staffed by qualified, experienced pioneers. We deliver them right to your territory! Our prices are very reasonable. (But don't expect them to offer you money for gas!)

On June 20th, 2009, I organized a group of 16 brothers and sisters from our congregation in Lake Mary, FL to go up to Keystone Heights to help with the preaching work there. Keystone Heights is a small, rural area near Gainsville. There were only 5 local publishers who met with us. Their congregation is small in relation to their territory, so they really need the help. I worked with my brother Aaron and my sister Heather in the morning. We had a lot of fun and were able to speak to quite a few people. Other groups had even more success. One brother and sister started a Bible study. For the most part their were very few bad experiences, though one young brother got chased by a dog, and another one got chased by a parrot. Here is a picture of some of the group breaking for lunch:

It's been a little while since we finished this project, but I've been lazy about writing for this blog so I'm just now getting around to posting a few more pictures of the (nearly) completed project. These were all taken on the last day I was there. We received and helped set up the chairs that day.

I thought I'd share some more pictures from the Kingdom Hall remodel in Crescent City. Here's a shot of the auditorium with all of the demolition done. That's drywall stacked on the left side of the picture. One of our responsibilities in receiving was to count the drywall and make sure we received enough.


Last weekend the RBC set up the cook tent and began providing cooked meals for the volunteers. We've had some good stuff, and they do a good job keeping the lines moving fast.


Last weekend the stucco crew began work on the exterior of the building.


The tile crew also did their job last weekend. You can't see the tile here because it's covered to prevent damage, but it covers the entire lobby floor as well as the restrooms.


Here is the only structural change they're making to the building. They've added a wall in the area where the literature counters used to be. I think this is to seperate that area from the main auditorium, but I don't know for sure if it will still be where the literature counter is or not.


That's it for now. I'm looking forward to going back this weekend. It sounds like the painters will be doing a lot of work on Friday. I'm not sure what else is scheduled, but I'm sure it will be exciting.

Last week we started work on a major remodel of the Kingdom Hall in Crescent City, Florida. Here’s some “before” shots of the exterior:




And moving inside, here's the lobby:




The library:


The auditorium:





The literature counter is right off the main auditorium:


Here's the conference room:


A shot of the men's room:


Here's where I'll be working mostly. These are the containers where we store materials for the project. This time we have a tent just outside the main container, though the trees on this property provide plenty of shade as it is.




Here is the computer cart Jeremy built for us. It has a pull-out drawer for a laptop, a printer/scanner for printing purchase orders and scanning ship tickets, and in the bottom compartment are car batteries and a converter for power.



Jeremy really likes building stuff, and he's good at it. Here's Gareth helping him build a gravel sorter. The kingdom hall had a foot and a half of gravel all around the parameter of the building that had become mixed with a lot of dirt and leaves and such, so the brothers wanted a way to sift out the gravel from the rest. The way this thing works is that shovel the gravel and dirt into the top end, and then as someone rocks it back and forth with the handles, the gravel rolls down into a waiting wheelbarrow while the dirt falls through the wire mesh.



Just the other day we received all of the frames and planks for the scaffolding:



We also received the portoilets:


Last Friday they began demolition. They tore the siding off the outside of the building, took down the ceiling and insulation, and tore out a lot of the lobby and restrooms.





A local brother who is a retired mason also replaced some brick on the front-right corner of the building:


That's what's going on so far. I'm looking forward to being back there next week. Thursday or Friday we'll probably be receiving the chairs, which is a big deal.