I have been looking for dates and places when JWitnesses hold their congegrations in their kingdom halls but i have failed to find the dates, i did find one kingdom hall within my city (within a 25 minutes action radius). But when do they hold their congegrations? I'v never been to one but that you can supposidly walk into any of the congegrations is something.
About a 9 months ago (august 2005) i red an article about a phenomena i would later know as Peak Oil which is generally about how the Western society is very dependant on oil and is incapable of turning away from it before it becomes to expensive of a commodity for us (very generally speaking). Then i basicly shut down my "global issue interest" and proceeded with playing computer games in my free time, school was coming along just fine and life was good (and still is). Later i dug topic back up again (out of my virtual backyard) and learned more about it and discovered some sites. Now i dont remember a lot about it but i stumbled over an article that studied the biblical prophecies which generally mentioned an economic recession the reign of the anti christ and a 2nd economic collapse (in that order). From there on i became more and more interested about the Anti Christ and stumbled over 666 or The mark of the beast and stumbled upon infowars.com (under the sign of microchips), a zealos site ran by someone, i dont trust him a lot because he uses a lot of marketting techniques and propaganda that i really really hate (but he does mix up a lot of hard truth with delusions). Infowars basicly tells us the western society is gonna be enslaved by a police state government. Somewhere inbetween the story of above i stumbled over articles about the John's Revelation (i think) and related which basicly mentioned people would be really really nasty in the end times and i began to notice more of what i thought was wrong with world as i knew it, in there (greed, wars, selfishness, anger, violence etc.). But if you were a good christian you would be spared (unless you were one of the 144000 chosen in which case you were quickly resurrected). I recognized a lot of things in the bible, including something i believe and try to follow, universal love and tolerance. A few times in my lives i met a few homeless peoples and my classmates (i was going out to city's with my school) scoffed at them and usually laughed but i felt very sad because they had no love and those people needed some help and love but got none, i hadn't much to offer them myself and was afraid of attention i might draw by anything i would have done myself. (One of my classmates noticed me giving 8$ and managed to tell me that a 6-ish times that day). Nowadays i cant help but feel sad when i notice the failures of people on the earth.
Because i Learned about the things that were wrong with the world before i red the bible i started believing the bible completely and accepting just about everything in it (except some pieces of it which might have been inserted like where Jesus points out the sin in everyone by asking any sinless one to stone an adultress). I am however finding myself in some trouble now, because i am beginning to see the world around me as pointless and i am finding it harder and harder to be motivated to do what other people want me to do in this society, i want to go my own ways but need to do things that are though not directly despiseable i still dont want to do them.
My interest for JW's started about 1-2 months ago when i was visited by 2 JW's coincidentally 3 days after i started reading the bible. I had a nice litle short chat with them and managed to agree that the world is as we know it now is not what its always going to be (within the next 25 years). They left a litle book about what the bible teaches (or something like it) of which the adresses in the end pointed me to the site of the WTS.
I do want to read all of the bible but first on my own before discussing much of it with anyone else. I am naturally suspicious of any organization that is much bigger then 3 people, the watch tower society though holds a lot of my confidence despite many story's how EX-JW's were traumatized from being expelled, or something. I started writing a letter to one of the JW offices in Holland but i never send it because the anti JW sites kind of freightened me and from there on i wanted to finish reading the bible on my own (and i have finished reading most of it, both the old and the new testament) before getting into contact with the WTS.
I havent yet found any place to turn to where i could find information on the watch tower society and their congegrations which i wanted to be at some time. Altough they invited anyone to come i knew no JW's and there is no big fat and colorfull McDonalds sign to be seen anywhere either. (I think i heard) Anybody is free to accidently run into any kingdom hall but one has got to know where it is and when there will be anyone there.
PS. i live in the city of Groningen in Holland (Europe).
Regards, Sander B.