Thursday, May 7, 2015

Bethel Tour

So Beccs and I decided to sleep in a little and catch the 11:00 am Bethel Tour. Poor Beccs is having a bit of a time being pregnant, not sleeping well, constantly having to get up an use the loo. But only a few more months of this and then she gets her prize! A baby girl, probably named Frederique something or other.

So, all spruced up and looking presentable we head into the car and towards the UK Bethel, only about 15 minutes drive from Beccs place. Driving is still at this point a bit of a trial for me. The roads are so small, but so are the cars. Its the left side that still gets me! Swing wide to take a right hand turn and I instinctively scream in my head 'on-coming traffic!!!'. But nope, not here. (I am pleased to say that this feeling gradually faded, but only a little).

Reaching the Bethel I come to a lovely smallish building make of, of course, brick. IBSA House with the JW.org blue sign on the front. I asked about the IBSA part, apparently that was the name of the building when they bought it. (It would work if the building was from the beginning of the century...International Bible Students Association... divine providence? )

Inside we're greeted to a very calm, almost spa like atmosphere. Beccs and I sign up for the tour and then poke around a bit in the forgeir. They are building a new Bethel for London out in Temple Farm, Chelmsford. It looks to be huge and rather self-sustaining- I think thats the direction the Faithful Slave is really taking now with our projects.

Round the corner from the front desk is the literature counter and general information about the bethel. Our tour begins with a video specially made for the tours and introducing Bethel to visitors. Our tour guide is a lovely ditzy girl named Fiona. Welsh background, in the Persian congregation, Fiona works in laundry and her husband is likely in the translation department.

The UK Bethel looks after packing and shipping, printing of magazines and kingdom ministries for several countries, and is a meeting point for other shipments moving around the world. Our tour flows through the building and we learn several very fun facts that have been printed on the walls near their department for ease of tours. Examples: They do 5 tons of laundry per week-the average weight of an adult elephant. This Bethel has 18 acres of landscaped gardens, creates their own compost and uses this for the green house, which of course supports the staff. The kitchen makes 20000 meals a day. They pack 750000 magazines per day- stacked, thats twice the height of The Shard. Printing is able to print 94000 sets of mags per hour, that means that a congregation can get their order printed in just 20 seconds. They maintain and repair all their own electronics- for the 2014 international convention 60 computers were used to link 29 sessions simultaneously in 18 languages.

It was a small branch, but they do a lot there. Many of the congregation members in Beccs hall work their full time or part time. It really is quite amazing to see how efficient Jehovah makes his people. And now the building is on the market, as they are relocating. The branch is in a great location and so should fetch a great price.

Thus concludes the tour of the British Branch of Jehovah's Witnesses. I recommend all go if they can as this branch wont be there much longer.