Los Poldens: Zone Meeting - Pearl Lagoon, April 28, 2013

Zone Meeting - Pearl Lagoon

Our congregation here in Pearl Lagoon were very excited to hear that we were invited to listen to the Zone Meeting broadcast from Mexico on April 28, 2013. A lot of thought and preparation was needed in order for us to listen to the program.

Due to the fact that we have a television (a small one but with a bigger screen than a laptop) it was decided that if it was possible to watch the program it would be held at our home.

First of all the brothers had to ascertain whether or not the internet strength was good enough to tune into the program. Unfortunately, the first "trial run" failed because the internet strength was too low for the bandwidth that the program was initially transmitted. Once we realized this we had a week to "keep the pressure on" our internet provider to provide better service. We are supposed to get 5 mbps but are usually receiving less than 1 mbps. This was a huge stumbling block because the first test was only high quality video which we would not be able to access. Pat was preparing to deliver a talk just in case we couldn't get the internet issue resolved.

The second test for the program was on the Saturday prior to the meeting and Byron and Pat worked with Rodney (our internet provider) to install a cable that was supposed to improve the signal. When it came time to perform the test they were able to log into the test with the low quality video - sufficient for us to view the program - we were all very excited!

On April 28th Byron transferred all of the chairs and the battery backup from the Kingdom Hall to our house along with a few fans to keep the living room cool. Pancho was really upset up us because in order to accommodate all of the chairs we had to move his cage into the kitchen - he hates it when we move his cage. Therefore, he spent the whole time supervising what we were doing.

Pancho making sure the rows are straight

The hour arrived for the program to start and what do you think happened?? The power went out - which means that the internet cable was useless! Thankfully, our forward thinking brothers had decided it would be a good idea to put some time on our "mobile modem" just in case this happened. So, although we all sweated through the program (because the fans didn't work) we all enjoyed the spiritual highlights that were delivered in Spanish and English for our enjoyment.

So, what was the attendance? Well, officially the brothers reported 20 attendees. However, unofficially there were 20 people and 1 very small parrot! Pancho would not stay on his cage and insisted on joining the audience. Thankfully he behaved very well the entire time.