by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends
Being so close to the anointed ones I felt that my family was a sure thing to make it into the Paradise Earth that was soon to come in 1975. Those early days in that first congregation really had me chewing on the "Carrot" ala Bugs Bunny style"
Blueblades
yeah, I remermber being in awe of the "anointed" elderly ones. But as a kid they all seemed cranky to me.
I was thinking at the time, who had it better then me. Hanging out with Jesus' Brothers, eating and drinking with them, working in the field with them, never having to face death, I ws going to live forever as if I was holding unto the hand of Jesus Himself. What was not to like with my very first congregation!
Blueblades, who was eating that carrot big time!
First congregation, Pullman, WA 1973-1982 (I don't care if anybody ID's me) was a nice place. Frequent get togethers of various sizes, mostly good people. One of two were a bit off, but that has nothing to do with JWism. The sense of belonging was one of the things that attracted me. Later congregations in Spokane and Bellevue were mostly indifferent.
Now, everything and everybody are like Stepford families. No fun. No originality. Nuthin'.
My congo. was pretty good except for the fact that most had been raised in the truth so they really had no clue as to what the "real" world was and how to offer any "real" advice.
My 1st cong was full of arseholes. Jumped up window washers who though they were on to a good thing. 2nd was fine apart from a few pricks who moved in to help out. I cringe when I think of those ballbags! 3rd one was full of drunk elders and had a history of paedo trouble which lead to us moving out pretty quickly. All in all, your average JW was ok. I always found many elders and servants were nothing more than a bunch of strokers.
Jambon, you have a way with words.
i was in 4. 1st - i was young and had lots of friends. but kids were dropping out left and right. and stupid issues.
2nd - almost everyone in the hall was related and it was really annoying. pioneers were mean, a lot of gossipy women. pioneered right out of high school in that cong.
3rd - very cliquish (sp?). u were either cool or u weren't. somehow my husband and i were "cool" so we were in. it was his cong. when he and his best friend (who wasn't cool) pioneered, my husband who petered out after like the first 2 months was always very encouraged and even though he missed his hours by a long shot he still got to go to pioneer school. his friend who worked his arse off and might have been slightly down on his hours one or 2 months was constantly berated. even though i was in the "in crowd" i couldn't stand it and hated to hear the things the "cool" elders would say about the "uncool" people in the cong. i felt so bad for them.
4th - very, very nice cong. nice, down to earth people. sweet. caring. i felt so bad leaving them like i did. one day i was their best friend and the next day i was gone. (by the way, cong. #3 warned me about cong #4 saying that they were all old, boring, uncool...)
The one I grew up in, not really. It was just ok. The one I am in now completely sucks, the elders may as well wear purple cloaks and stand on street corners to pray. All the ones I was in between these 2 were pretty good.
