What kind of safety precautions do dubs take for field service?

by Check_Your_Premises 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Virgochik

  No matter how many go to the door together, in pairs, or groups of 3 or 4, once inside the house it only takes ONE gun to take them prisoner!

  I remember taking horrible chances, now that I'm old enough to know better. Sisters in pairs, or teen girls would go inside homes with men. The cargroup would fret, and check their watches every few minutes. Sometimes we weren't sure which house the sisters had gone into, even. There'd be some sighing, and tongue clicking, and another story told, more watch checking, then somebody'd say, "Which house did Sister Naive and Sister Gullible go in? Maybe we'd better go check on them."

  Just a disaster waiting to happen!
• 

  Undecided

  I remember back in the 40's a sister was calling on the homes in a black neighborhood in a town near here and she was raped by several of the men there. If I remember correctly they were given the death sentence back then.

  Where was that big angel then?

  Ken P.
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  morwen

  I remember a few years back (maybe 3 years ago) at an assembly in California (the Bay area) there was a "brother" on stage who was telling the story about what had happened to his wife. She was a "pioneer" I believe and was conductiong a "free home bible study" with a women, when in comes some guy( I can't remember if it was the womens ex boyfriend or gang related or what??) but he pulls out a gun and starts shooting and kills the "pioneer sister" and I think the other women died as well(not sure though). That poor "brother" was so heart broken,understandably,and they had 3 or 4 kids that he had to now care for himself,and he had a typical low paying JW job. As I sat there listening to this I wondered about all the millions of times I heard how angels and holy spirit was helping/protecting all those in the witnessing work especially the "pioneers". I had just went through a tramatic event with our second child dying within minutes of being born. So my preception of how alot of the JW's think about things like this, changed for me. I even had a long time "pioneer sister" who was dying from cancer come up to me, a few days after loosing our son, and say,"now we're even". And all the other stupid remarks you hear like how "jehovah blessed me this time" with the birth of our next child( he forgot to bless me the time before ya know,my faith needed to be tested). I guess I've got a little off subject but I was a 4th generation JW and the only thing I was ever told was if your a "sister" to go in "service" in two's.

  Morwen
• 

  proandcon

  I always wore a condom in service...as an ex boy scout I was always "prepared"...can't be too careful these days....
• 

  Oroborus21

  Howdy,

  The #1 rule is to use one's good common sense. If the situation looks dangerous, a JW will have no qualms about skipping over the house or if two sisters are concerned about going to a particular door they will ask the brothers to do it.

  The buddy method is in part a safety measure. During the field ministry, the entire group pretty much sticks together. if a pair is invited inside one of the houses, the brother in charge will wait or the entire group will wait on the corner until they come out. If it takes longer than 15 minutes the brother in charge will usually go over to check that they are ok. If they are discussing he may give them more time or the JWs will make arrangements for a return visit.

  My former congregation here in Los Angeles encompassed a lot of rough neighborhoods here in South Central Los Angeles and neither we nor any other congregations ever had trouble while in the ministry from street gangs or criminals, etc.

  The only time I have ever been threatened was during one of the few times that I went in service as a teen back in New Mexico, it was quite rural territory, and the guy yelled at me and my brother to get off his porch and threatened to shoot us. I think that rural territory presents bigger chances of danger since people who live out separated like that feel somewhat immune to the law and also tend to have a greater sense of ownership over their land.

  Overall, it is extremely rare that Witnesses are in any significant danger in the ministry. However, your observation regarding the sex offender database is a good one and I had included such a question in the guide that I am working on since a parent would want to ask such a question of their ex-spouse if that spouse planned on having the child(ren) accompany him or her in the ministry.

  -Eduardo
• 

  BizzyBee

  There was a (no doubt apocryphal) urban legend-type story back in the old days about two lone JW women who witnessed to this man at his door without incident. It later came out that just before they had arrived, an Avon lady had been at his door and he'd dragged her inside and murdered her. When he was asked later why he had not assaulted the witness women he said incredulously, "Why, because there was a man with them." The spin in the congo was that an angel had appeared behind the witness women to protect them.

  This story made quite an impression on me at the age of 10. I took fearless risks - because I figured I would be protected, too, since I was doing Hovah's work.