Memorial 2014 - Mindehøjtiden 2014

Last year just and hour before the start of our Memorial it started to rain heavily and it didn't stop the rest of that night. Such a downpour had of course an effect on the attendance - with a congregation of 98 publishers we had only an attendance of 202. So this year we were praying for clear skies. And we did get a nice sunny day from morning to dawn.

Right now we are the congregation with the largest weekly attendance in town, due to our southern group and our sign language group which are all counted into our congregation attendance numbers. Because of that we had volunteered to have our Memorial in a rented hall. So early in the morning before everyone was going to work we meet and cleaned the hall and especially the chairs, they were very dusty and dirty.

It was the same hall we rented last year (when we also volunteered. Are we not nice people?) with little less than 200 chairs so what would we do if I hope of a higher attendance came true? Well we had already planned for that, we were going to have two Memorials succeeding each other. At 6 p.m. the Sign Language Group and our Southern Group was to meet. And at 7.15 p.m. the main congregation was going to meet.

The sign language group was meeting in the small adjourning dinning room. And they had a very nice turnout. We currently have one deaf sister, but 11 bible students came to join their hearing teachers. Making the attendance in our small Sign Language Group 24. The south group did very fine too, with 110 in attendance.

All tasks during the Memorials was going to be done by the same person twice. The talk was given by our coordinator - a wonderful and very experienced brother and also a very gifted speaker, but not of the kind that abbreviate his discourses. So the time was 7.15 when we had the last prayer. Outside the main congregation was waiting and the doors to the hall was not wide. 

I think in Europe, or at least in Denmark this would have ended in chaos with cars and people blocking each others. But this is Africa so there was really no problem. In just 15 minutes everyone got either in or out and had good time to great everyone. In the same 15 minutes we took all the chairs from the dining room to the back of the hall so we were sure there would be enough chairs for everyone.

The only real problem was the fact that our coordinator now couldn't see his manuscript since the light at the platform was rather bad. But with a torchlight this problem was solved. Notice on the picture that he is keeping it in his hand during the second talk.

The main congregation had an attendance of 152 - making the total attendance of Ho Central Congegation of 108 publishers to become 286 happy persons that shared a great night in the Hall of the Regional Health Training Center.

If you attended the Memorial of Christs death this year, how did it go in your area?

En time før vi skulle begynde Mindehøjtiden sidste år begyndte det at regne kraftigt og det holdt ikke op resten af aftenen. Sådan et regnskyl havde selvfølgelig sin effekt på fremmødet - med en menighed på 98 forkyndere havde vi kun en fremmøde på 202 personer Så dette år bad vi for skyfri himmel. Og vi fik faktisk en dejlig solrig dag fra morgen til aften.

Lige nu er vi den menighed i byen med det største ugentlige fremmøde, nok mest på grund af vores sydlige gruppe og tegnsprogsgruppe der jo tæller med når vi skal regne ud hvor mange stole vi skal havde. Da vi er den største menighed meldte vi os frivilligt til at have vores Mindehøjtid i en lejet sal. Så tidligt om morgenen, før alle skulle på arbejde mødte vi frem og gjorde sallen ren. Og her tænker jeg særligt på stolene, de var meget beskidte.

Det var den samme sal som vi havde lejet sidste år og dengang var der lidt mindre end 200 stole. Så hvad skulle vi gøre hvis håbet om et højere fremmøde blev til virkelighed? Det havde vi selvfølgelig allerede planlagt. Vi skulle havde to på hinanden følgende Mindehøjtider. Klokken 18 skulle Tegnsprogsgruppen og vores Sydgruppe mødes. Og klokken 19.15 var det så hovedmenighedens tur.

Tegnsprogsgruppen holdt mødet i en mindre tilstødende spisesal. Og de havde et meget flot fremmøde. Vi har i øjeblikket kun én døv søster, men 11 bibelstudieelever sluttede sig til deres hørende lærere. Så fremmødet i gruppen blev på ialt 24. Sydgruppen havde også et meget fint fremmøde, de var 110.

Alle opgaver unden de to Mindehøjtider blev udført af den samme person to gange. Foredraget blev holdt af vores koordinator - en vidunderlig og meget erfaren bror, også en meget begavet taler - men ikke af den slags der taler i korte sætninger. Så da klokken blev 19.15 var vi i gang med den sidste bøn. Udenfor ventede nu hovedmenigheden og dørene til salen er ikke brede.

I Europa, eller i det mindste i Danmark, vil jeg tro at det kunne havde endt i kaos med biler og folk der blokerede hinanden overalt. Men dette er Afrika, så der var ikke rigtigt det store problem. På bare et kvarter kom alle enten ind eller ud og havde naturligvis også god tid til at hilse på hinanden. På det samme kvarter fik vi alle stolene fra spisesalen ind i den store sal, så vi kunne være sikre på at der ville være stole nok til alle.

Det eneste virkelige problem var at vores koordinator nu ikke længere kunne se hans manuskript for lyset på scenen var temmelig dårligt. Men med en lommelygte var også det problem løst. På billedet kan I se at han har den i hånden under det andet foredrag.

Hovedmenigheden havde et fremmøde på 152 - hvilket fik det samlede fremmøde hos Ho Centrum Menigheds 108 forkyndere op på 286 glade personer, der delte en stor aften i vores lejede sal.

Hvis du overværede Mindehøjtiden for Jesu død i år, hvordan gik det hvor du var?