Spiritual Family Vacay

My family and I went on a trip from May 26, 2012 – June 1, 2012. This was a religious trip that not only us but, other people went on as well. We are Jehovah’s Witnesses so, the trip was about taking us to our United States headquarters in Brooklyn, New York and our Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Canada. I was so excited because I had never been out of the South or out of the country. Also, my mom was born in Brooklyn so, I wanted to see where she kind of lived for part of her life.

This was a bus trip. So, like I said, other Jehovah’s Witnesses went with us. The bus wasn’t all that great because (1) the company that let us borrow the bus sent us the wrong bus which they probably did on purpose and (2), there were two stops to pick up people and, my stop was the last one so, my family and I had to sit in the back of the bus where the bathroom was which was not fun.

We spent the first night on the bus. We left Atlanta and drove all the way to Richmond, Virginia. Of course there were stops along the way which wasn’t bad. In Richmond, on Sunday, we went to their Holocaust Museum. That museum was/is highly depressing. I really don’t know why we went there since, of course, the main focus was on the Jews even though they weren’t the only ones killed during the Holocaust. Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as other people Hitler hated, were murdered as well. We eventually left the museum and the city, which I was glad because Richmond is not attractive at all.

The next real stop was in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was where our hotel was because it was cheaper to stay in New Jersey than to stay in New York City. It actually took a while to find the hotel because our drivers had no idea where they were going. Eventually, we did and that’s where we spent the night. The next day we went into NYC to go to the World Watchtower Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn. We would be getting a tour of the place. I really liked it there because everyone was so nice and dressed nicely as well. You can’t wear jeans and a t-shirt in there. You have to dress up and look presentable because we are a clean and organized people. Even the sidewalks around the building were very clean. I learned a lot there about how our organization is run. After that, we were supposed to go to Manhattan to shop but, there were a lot of older people on this trip that have been before and, they didn’t want to because they had medical needs. As a result, that did not happen.

The next day we left New Jersey and headed to upstate New York because we would be going to our other branch headquarters in Patterson, NY and Wallkill, NY. The next day we moved further upstate to Niagara Falls City, New York. Riding through the mountains was awesome. When we got to Niagara Falls City, we went to Niagara Falls. That was really amazing. The following morning, we headed into Canada to go to our headquarters there. We got to eat lunch with the Bethelites there which was a good experience. After that, we began to head home.  Overall, this trip was a good spiritual experience despite the let downs that came with it. I will keep the positive moments in my mind.