TRIUMPHANT ENTRY TO THE HALL

In-Person meeting at last. Seeing everyone again felt awesome. The beautiful faces were filled with glamour, shinning like diamonds; some among us have grown bigger than they use to be, some have not changed in anyway, but one thing stand out among all, we all looked stunning. The warm embrace of longtime friends, the refreshing fragrances perceived as we hug each other and the ability to hold each other again felt so good, bringing back the good old days, the stuffs that made us human: our social abilities.

 The last time we all met together for such meeting was April 5, 2020. It seems like forever had passed since then. We had been forced by COVID 19 to stay in our homes to attend congregational meetings and participate in them.

When it was announced back in April 2020 that we would no longer meet in-person for worship, it felt like we wouldn’t be able to hold it together, like how would we do this? But we did for two years. Yes, we held it together but not without challenges. Sometimes, the network used in connecting to the meetings can be worrisome, the weather may be bad, sometimes some of us had no sufficient funds to buy data and sometimes electricity is the problem. We however, held it together in those troublesome times.

The adventure of zoom at the time was no coincidence, it helped us so much. After each meeting, we stay back a while to share our experiences and asked about each other’s welfare. We thus used the opportunity to encourage each other to incite to love and fine works. However, something was always missing during those zoom meetings, the ability to touch, feel and smell one another. I never knew such simple things can mean so much until the lockdown.

Our first in-person meeting in almost two years was finally here: Friday April 1, 2022 by 6:00p.m. Jehovah’s Witnesses all over the world are going to start opening their Kingdom Halls for worship again. I felt so elated and could not contain my joy. Everyone in my office knew something special was about to go down that day. You could tell from the way I dressed, my cheerfulness towards all, that day I refused to be angry no matter what anyone threw at me. For me, it meant so many things, first, that I am alive, hale, and healthy despite the challenges during the lockdown is a big reason to be joyful.

In my congregation, we lost two friends who slept in death. We really missed these dear ones and hope that the resurrection hope they also shared will come true soon. World over, about 26,000 of our brothers and sisters slept in death as a result of COVID 19, majority of the casualties are from the worst hit countries like Brazil, Italy, United State of America etc.

Our return to the Kingdom halls was to me a triumphant entry. We have triumphed over COVID 19, we are alive to tell the story, we held it together for two years.