Transcripts: Family

Transcript: “We Recommend Ourselves as God’s Ministers . . . by Patience” (4:06)
[At a table cluttered with a drawing of a family photo, tracts and purple envelopes, Olivia doodles on a scratch pad while writing letters with her stepsister Sue. On her laptop JW Library. Olivia answers a video call from her brother Gabe]

Olivia: Hey, Gabe!
Gabe: Oh, hey, Olivia! How’s it going?
Olivia: Uh, you know, it’s going good, just doing another letter writing territory, so you know how that is.
Gabe: OK, well,
Sue: Hey, Gabe,
[Sue joins in]
good to see you!
Hey, Sue! It’s good to see you too.
Mum: Is that Gabe? Aww, hey, baby. How’s Bethel?
Gabe: Hey, Mom. It’s busy but great. I’m learning a lot.
Mum: Oh, look who just got home from work.
[Max squeezes in]
Max: Hey, Gabe.
Gabe: Hey, Max.
[They squish together]
Gabe: So, if it’s possible, can you send me some more of my things? I can text you a list.
Max: Absolutely! I’ll get right on it. Great. Thank you so much. Olivia, I’ll let you get back to letter writing.
Olivia: Great.
Mum: Hey. All right, we’ll let you go, love you.
Gabe: OK, love you too.
[Family: Bye!]
[As Max, Irene and Sue gather behind her in the kitchen Olivia continues letter writing. Later all four eat pizza around the dining table]
Mum: So, Olivia, I thought that you enjoyed letter writing?
[Olivia purses her lips]
Olivia: I don’t know, it just
[Her fingers rest on her temple]
feels like another letter, another envelope, and another black hole.
[Irene frowns]
Max: Hmm. Black hole?
Olivia: Yeah, you know, stuff goes in, but nothing ever comes out of it.
[Max looks concerned]
Sue: It’s not that bad.
Olivia: What do you mean? You were just telling me that no one has responded to you.
[Olivia raises her eyebrows at Sue]
Sue: OK, yeah, I get a little antsy for replies. Like I texted my old classmate Sarah, but she just hasn’t said anything back to me yet.
[Sue picks up her phone from the table]
I just hope I didn’t overdo it. What do you think?
[She hands her phone to Max; he scrolls and scrolls]
Is it too much? Do you think it’s too much?
[Eyebrows furrowed he smiles nervously]
It’s too much.
[Sue takes her phone back]
Max: I’m sure she’ll, uh
[Max taps his fingers on the table]
I’m sure she’ll get back to you.
[Shaking her head Sue re-reads her text. Another day Irene packs a box. Max enters handing more items to Irene]
Max: All right, this is everything on Gabe’s list.
Irene: Thank you!
Max: At least we’ll have a little more room for, uh, when your mom moves in.
Irene: Yeah.
[Irene forces a smile]
Irene: Anyway, Gabe will love this. He already told me how much he misses fishing.
[Max picks up a photo of himself and Gabe fishing. In the photo their arms around each other’s shoulders and wide smiles]
Max: What if we do something a little different for family worship this week?
Irene: Sure.
[On the tree lined bank of a placid lake the family sits on the grassy slope]
Olivia: So, this is where you and Gabe would fish, right?
Max: Yep. We learned a lot of lessons about fishing here. So lately, preaching’s felt like a black hole, right?
[Olivia and Sue nod]
We have the right equipment, but what does a fisherman need more than anything?
[Sue glances at Olivia with an uncertain look. Olivia looks up at Max and shrugs]
At 2 Corinthians 6:4,
[They all read from their phones]
It says: “But in every way we recommend ourselves as God’s ministers, by . . .” Now, what does verse 6 say, Olivia?
Olivia: It says, “by purity, by knowledge, by patience.”
Max: Patience. It helps us to keep trying again and again, to not give up. And we’re not casting into a black hole but into a blue sea full of deserving ones. Now, maybe we can’t see it, but Jehovah knows they are there. And it may take some time, but if we’re patient, together we’ll find them.
[Irene and the girls exchange smiles]
Now, Irene has some great ideas on how to make our letter writing more personal.
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