Counting Time... Is It Part Of The Rot? (page 3)

BlackMan4Life

Here's a thought - The next time a JW wants to witness you, tell him/her/it the only way they can witness to you is by NOT counting it as TIME. I wonder how many JW will continue to talk.
Peace - Larry

troubled

I would.

blondie

Any WT historians know when it started being required for the R&F to report their field service time?

Double Dee

Pioneered for 12 years (with stint at Bethel in between).

Loved the breaks.....but more than that, loved doing RV's (return visits) when somebody got into a home for a long time..... took naps, talked, etc.

Counting time is such an issue.... the whole reason you would go out was 'cause you needed that last few hours! I started out wanting to do the right thing and really reach people. But after awhile, it became a part of my life that just made me feel guilty all the time. There was never enough time in the day without doing all the shortcuts that were mentioned previously. You would never make your time if you did not do a call first and just keep your time going all day.....no matter what!

Moxy

a big trend in toronto was night-time witnessing. we would arrange car-loads or van-loads (of course, the more the better) around 10:00pm. We would cruise around the city and hit any all-night gas stations, convenience stores, etc. we could find, ranging all over the city, considering any territory to be fair game. Between driving around, waiting your turn to do a call, and waiting for the customer-level to drop down to an acceptably low number, we could count a LOT of time with little actual witnessing, working until 3 or 4 in the morning. Some people even conducted studies every week like this. Of course, if someone got in on a study or, as was frequently the case, had a long conversation with a bored attendant, it was free time for everyone else in the van.

The breaks in this case would be at a late-night greasespoon for souvlaki that we all arranged to meet up at. As more people caught on to this free ride for hours, the late-night territory became over-saturated and i quickly got out of it. Once you started going to gas station booths and starting into your introduction, the attendant would interrupt you, reach down and pull out a pile of magazines from previous visits. The COs started telling the RPs to stop doing late-nite work outside of their territory.

Altho no longer a pioneer of course, im pretty sure this trend has died out by now. i dont think the current pioneers are as ambitious as we were.

mox

Quandary

I pioneered for 8 yrs right out of High School, I even graduated a semester early to be able to start ASAP! It was the early 80s and it seemed that every other Watchtower study article emphasized the pioneer work, I remember one article in particular posing the question for all JWs to ask themselves: "Can I excuse myself before Jehovah for not pioneering?" not exact words but something similar to that. Talk about a "guilt trip"! Besides, I had a mom and a sister who were reg pioneers, both STILL are. An uncle who served on a branch committee in the foreign field, dad was and still is the PO etc... it seemed the natural thing for me to do. As some others commented, I too started out with the proper motive, I really felt that the Kingdom message needed to be shared with as many as possible before THE END, which of course was "around the corner"! I remember praying before each door for Jehovah to give me the proper words to say to touch the householder's heart. Eventually though the whole counting time issue did take its toll and I too succumb to the "men pleasing" trap! I finally had to stop as I realized that I couldn't continue fooling myself.

JBean

Never pioneered full time... did one month of aux. years ago. Had a great time 'cos a bro. I was interested in was pioneering... ended up with another sis tho'. Bummer! Anyhow... never understood how ANYONE... even if they loved God with all their heart, would put themselves in a position of pioneering. Waaaaayyyyy too... well, there's not even a word to describe it. Who would want to clean toilets and not have any income or health insurance to go talk to people door to door instead of educate yourself and get a job of sorts doing what you are good at and actually enjoy!?!?!?!? Just my 2 cents! :)

ballistic

blondie, I don't know when they started counting time, I would like to know too.
I bet they'll consider stopping publishing some of the figures if their hours and members keep dropping.

Sherri

And what's the point of tallying up the hours and handing in all those slips, anyway? So the WTS can publish how many millions of hours were spent in 'preaching about God's kingdom'? I don't think so. They know that without some kind of measurable (and enforceable) target, individuals will just not put forth the required effort to sell those magazines and books. People do ministry-type work for many reasons, but it was my own experience (as a pioneer for several years) and my observations of others that dubs do it out of a sense of obligation to the organisation and not out of love for all those disinterested people behind the doors. (There were some exceptions, but they were few and far between.)

ballistic

Sheri, that's an extremely valid and good point. Do you know I hadn't even thought of that. It's obvious now.

Counting Time... Is It Part Of The Rot?

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