Welcome back to Good Day.
What's the one thing we all have
but we barely exercise?
Yeah, I know you know the
answer to this one, Steven.
So we all have patience,
but sometimes it's hard to exercise it.
Exercise patience is the theme f
one of the biggest annual conventions
you'll find in the Glass City.
Mark Smith is here
from the 2023 convention of
Jehovah's Witnesses with what te
two weekends mean to the Glass .
So, Mark, good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
Patience, such a keyword.
Exercising that patience is something
that's difficult for so many,
and that's the theme of the convention.
Why was that chosen?
Well, when you think about
the world we live in today,
whether we're driving in traffi,
whether we're at work,
dealing with our kids
or any situation,
you're talking to me,
I think patience is needed,
and it's something
that is needed and we have
to exercise it. And if we do,
it helps us to be better people,
better husbands, better wives.
Helps us better in the workplac,
helps us even our in our health.
Being exercising patients can
help the whole community. Yeah,
I was thinking that too. You kn,
we just feel better when we're patient.
We feel horrible when we're
stressed out or you know,
anxious about something.
But if we just stop and take a
breath and be like. This is Oka.
This too shall pass, right.
Then, you know we just feel bet.
So talk a little bit about the
convention and you know what fos
will be experiencing as they come out.
Well, we're happy to be back in Toledo.
We had to exercise patience
for the last three years exactly. We had
to keep people safe.
So we didn't have our large conventions,
which we love, our large conventions.
We're one of the largest convenn
organizations in the world.
So we're happy to be back in
downtown Toledo and what we can
expect is a series of talks and.
Reenactments, demonstrations, videos,
fabulous videos of that'll cover that topic,
patients and the principles thae
can apply in our daily lives that can
help us exercise it in a better.
So who is this convention for?
Is it just for Jehovah's Witnes,
or are you guys inviting
everyone to be involved?
No, this convention is for the
whole Northwest Ohio community.
Anybody can come.
As a matter of fact,
for the last three weeks,
we've been going door to door handing
out invitations to individuals,
letting them know that they are.
Are welcome and we want
them to come to the Exercise
patients regional convention.
So this is it starts Friday, but
this is 2 weekends, is that cor?
Yes, this weekend will be Engli,
next weekend will be totally Spanish,
same program but totally Spanis.
And between the two weekends thx
days will have about 20,000 peo.
In downtown Toledo,
going to the restaurants,
maybe a Mud Hens game,
all the features that Toledo of,
but the main thing is being
there to learn those principles
about exercising patients. And
Mark, you mentioned for the past three
weeks you all have been inviting people
door to door and many people knw
Jehovah's Witnesses for doing t.
So delivering a message from the Bible,
is that something that people are going
to be able to hear at this convention?
Oh definitely, definitely.
All the talks they'll be given
have a Bible based theme.
Exercising patience,
we think about one of the talks
that will be given is about how
God has been patient with us,
you know, so how can we imitate
that in our daily, daily lives?
There'll be a feature film thats
going to run on Saturday and Su,
and it's about a family,
the main character Imani,
and and in that feature drama,
his family faces some.
Pretty rough situations that
come up unexpectedly and they
threaten the peace of their fam,
their livelihood, even their very lives.
But are they going to be patient
and wait on Jehovah to help
them get through the situation?
So that's a feature that
will highlight this weekend.
You know, you mentioned going door to door,
not being able to have these conventions
in person the last couple years.
Why is it so important that you are able
to go door to door to get back together
in person to host these convent?
In person is better.
We had a virtual plan platform for the
last three years which would work fabulous,
you know, but it's like a fire.
You can have a fire on a ATV screen and you
can see the flames flicker and everything,
but you can't feel the warmth.
So being together at our
large conventions, we love it.
We get to see our friends.
We haven't seen in a while the discussions,
the the just the camaraderie.
That brings the people together
for one purpose and has to learn
about exercising patients. And
you mentioned that the entire
Northwest Ohio is invited.
So how many people are you all
expecting over the next two weekends?
And also, is there a fee associated with
this? So first of all,
in the United States alone,
there's going to be over 708 conventions
in 144 different cities in 30-5
different languages around the world.
There's going to be 6000.
Conventions in 500 languages.
And so even here in Northwest Oo
is is bigger than that because u
have people coming from Indiana,
Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
And between the six days we're expecting
about 20,000 individuals to come here.
And is there a fee of social?
There is no fee.
It's the seats are free.
Come in. We want you to come
in and enjoy this exercise.
Patience, convention.
Very good. So what time should
they start showing up on Friday?
Doors open at 8:00 o'clock.
Musical and video program will start at 9:20.
And after that, it'll run the
program throughout the day. OK,
Very good. Sounds good.
Over at the Glass City Center.
Mark, thanks so much.
Thanks so much. Thank you.