by limbogirl 40 Replies latest jw friends
Ugh. I remember 1980 because that was the summer in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area where we had 42 consecutive days of temperatures over 100 degrees. The tar on the street was melting and sticking to our shoes. Newscasters were frying eggs on the sidewalk to prove the undisputed fact that it was HOT. And where was I???? Going door to door like a good little pioneer.
Nina
I remember the first of its kind around-the-world convention that began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then went to New York, then to Europe, Middle East, etc. I attended the one in Milwaukee, but, of course, that was the extent of my travels. Some people, however, went to each convention that travelled around the globe and ended back in the U.S. This was in 1963. Anyone remember those? I don't recall if it was here or at other conventions that we did street work, passing out invitations to the Sunday main talk.
blondie --
What galls me about the whole WT structure is that it is not designed for busy / productive people. If they were concerned about "spriritual food", make the sessions longer but over 2 days only. Really, you blow a whole day for only 4 - 5 hrs hours (9:30 - noon; 2 - 4 or 5pm) of feeding.
Also, never understood the WT study either. We read the bloody paragraphs already ourselves. Why read them A-G-A-I-N. When I have meetings with people, we assume we have all seperately read / digested the material we have exchanged ahead of time. Ugh. Such a waste.
-silent
I remember doing that for the first time at the 1978 International Convention in Montreal, Quebec. My grandmother and I travelled from Toronto to Montreal for the Assembly by bus. It was the one and only time I travelled with just my grandma. I loved it! (Not the assembly - long, boring and hot!), but just being able to have my grandma to myself (I loved her and miss her so much!). We stayed at a nice hotel (pool), etc. For a young girl from a farm it was quite an experience.
I have a picture around here somewhere of a group of us going door to door in French territory. We had little pre printed cards for the French speaking people to read, and a little plastic bag with some brochures in them. I think I still have the bag stored away with all my other books.
BB
Nostalgia - sure ain't what it used to be!
Pope
I remember that! We were in Montreal at the "international assembly" and I distinctly remember having a bag of magazines or whatever it was in French.
I took part in the special campaign when I was at Dodger Stadium in 1978. We were given yellow plastic bags with some JW message on them. The dismissive attitude of the good folk in LA were no different from that of the people of my home town. It must have been either Friday or Saturday morning.
3rd
Thirdson - Thanks! You just verified another memory for me. All day today I was thinking about those plastic bags and seemed to recall them as being yellow. Sounds like I'm remembering correctly.
A lot of these posts have brought back memories of long district assemblies -- at least 4 days if not 5 in sweltering heat. One of the earliest ones I remember was in the early seventies -- I was maybe four or five and my brother was one. The DA was in Illinois at an outdoor racetrack -- perhaps Springfield, Ill? Anyway, there was a woman sitting in front of us that had a large umbrella and I was so hot and miserable (we didn't have the foresight to bring an umbrella) I leaned in close under her umbrella and was promptly yanked back by my mom. And my poor little baby brother got quite a sunburn.
A couple of other memories of DA's past....back in the early seventies they had live music -- my dad played clarinet in the orchestra.
We camped at several DAs -- a couple in Colorado and I think one in Wyoming. Today, as a mother of only one child with no religious responsibilites to attend to, I'm amazed that my mother was able to retain her sanity with three small children and a husband on these expeditions. We are all dressed meticulously every day and she prepared elaborate meals on a campstove.
The craziness of it all!!!
They had one of those tract days in Pullman, Washington while my wife and I lived there. For those that don't know it, Pullman is a small college town that is (or was at the time) virtually deserted in the summer. So twenty thousand witnesses (roughly twice the population of the town at the time) go out in field service on Friday afternoon.
It was embarassing. There wasn't enough territory to go around so they ended up with a witness every twenty feet or so on the sidewalk trying to hand out tracts.
I think we did this one time in Biloxi, Mississippi. We handed out tracts at the local Mall. My little Italian JW grandmother got into a shouting match with some lady that told her off. I thought it was rather funny.
Jeff S.
