We used to live in a cold climate and one December the CO was visiting, so of course we all had to show up for service on Saturday. It had snowed for a few days and then cleared up, which meant the temperatures plummeted. The morning we were out in service it couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 degrees F.
I wound up in the car with the CO and we parked at the curb and got out and walked to the first door. A householder appeared and I attempted to speak but my lips were numb from the cold! The householder shook her head and said, "Why don't you guys take the day off?" The door closed and we looked at each other. We shuffed off to the next door; nobody answered. By then neither of us could move our mouths to speak so without a word we walked back to the car and turned up the heater. Finally, the CO said, "Is there anyone we could visit?" Conveniently, there was a sister who lived a block away, one of those chronically ill types who had some mysterious ailment that kept her from most meetings and service but disappeared when it came time to go shopping or to the movies. She asked us in, we sat by the warm wood stove, and she poured coffee. We sat for an hour and talked about her illness. The CO assured her that "in the new system" her ailments would be fully cured, and weren't we all looking forward to that.
She ran out of coffee and the four of us got up to leave. It was no warmer outside. We drove around the territory to various "return visits" (none of whom were home) until it was close enough to noon to take the CO back to the KH.
Showing up no matter what was a mark of true dedication and "spirituality." Having been seen at the hall, the vast majority of those "out in service" that morning had not gone door to door, but made a stab at some RVs and then headed for the coffee shop and home, anywhere to get out of the cold. But you can bet there were a few whack jobs knocking on doors that morning, depending on the makeup of their car group. See, it's all about appearances.
