Highlights from a recent letter addressed to our BOE:
-- A married couple is leaving Bethel, assigned to serve in our congregation as special pioneers
-- The Society will pay them $600 per month, and in addition cover their health insurance
-- The elders are to begin looking for "low cost housing" and part-time jobs for them
-- The hour requirement for him is 130 hours per month, for her 120 per month
Should be interesting, they won't find anything to rent for less than $500 per month around here, unless some do-gooders who want extra brownie points open up their home for them.
Jobs are plentiful here, if you don't mind earning $8 per hour or less. I'm guessing that the couple have no real work skills, after (likely) 20-30 years at the big house.
I wonder what it feels like to be in your 40's or 50's, with maybe 20 years maximum to accumulate any Social Security benefits (current balance - $0)?
30+ hours per week in field service, 15-20 hours at low-paid part-time work, plus 5 hours at the meetings, plus "personal study", plus doing things on their own for the first time, like buying groceries, paying bills, washing clothes, etc. They won't have much free time.
I'm curious to see what attitude they will come to have. I'm sure at first they will exude tons of "oh so spiritual" vibes, but after 6-8 months, will there be any bitterness starting to creep into their comments? Time will tell.