Where we used to live in Chester the Jehovah’s Witnesses came round all the time. We had to put up with it because my Dad is a Jehovah’s Witness, and it would be rude to turn them away. Also when he comes to see us he likes to go to their church.

We thought that moving to Abruzzo we would be safe and sound, I mean it’s the country, who can find us out here. But they did…..

In October 2008 my Dad visited us and we knew he would want to visit his own church so in anticipation for his visit we started looking out for a kingdom hall of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Now we lived in the middle of nowhere at that time and even our nearest shop was over 15 minutes away. So we did not think that finding a kingdom hall would be that easy.

One day we took a different route to our local town of Lanciano and were staggered to find a kingdom hall in the middle of nowhere on a country road just 10 short minutes from our house.

So when my father turned up dutifully we all went to the local kingdom hall to their Sunday morning sermon. Well as fate would have it, this was not just any old sermon, the Jehovah’s Witnesses had their head honcho in town, and that meant a party. So we were all invited back to some-ones house later that evening and there was a huge party with 5 courses served including the divine porchetta. Wow, we get the feeling these guys know how to party.

Now during this party my Dad (who I never thought even knew my address) dobbed me in and told the witnesses exactly where I lived and asked them to call round regularly for a bible study. (dammit)

So the witnesses kept on coming, many a heated debate, but they were always pleasant.

Anyways a few months later we moved house to a place about 45 minutes away. “they will never find us here” we thought and conveniently forgot to pass the local Jehovah’s Witnesses our forwarding address.

You would never believe it but the very day we moved in they turned up. The local English congregation were doing their rounds and they spotted our English number plate and called in. Well shucks dam and blast, of all the bad luck!! (Or some may call it divine intervention) They found it again…… Yes they kept on coming, but they are a really nice bunch, and again, they always invite us to parties, we never got a single invite in Britain despite the woman coming round for years. But from the Italian Jehovah’s Witnesses there is always the invitation to enjoy good times with them and not just for religion. Fair dos I say.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses come regularly and we got to know quite a few of them. Around Easter time they celebrate a memorial of Christ’s death and we were invited most persistently. This along with a firmly worded note of encouragement from Dad lead to our arrival in the kingdom hall to attend their memorial. When we arrived we could not believe it. We knew literally everyone. And they all knew us too!! It seems each time they come round they bring a different and new companion, this results in us being well known to them all without having ever set foot in the place.