I know that this has been mentioned before, but after a chat with a friend about this I decided to scan the article for people to use when chatting with JWs.
It certainly has raised some eyebrows with the ones that I have spoken with.
Juicy bits include :
*** w05 9/1 p. 24 Mennonites Search for Bible Truth ***
Certain colonies forbid radio, TV, and music. Some even forbid learning the language of the country they live in. "So as to keep us under their control, the preachers don’t let us learn Spanish," commented one colony resident. Many feel oppressed and live in dread of being expelled from the community—a terrible prospect for one who has never experienced life outside
*** w05 9/1 p. 25 Mennonites Search for Bible Truth ***
Later, during a family discussion about the pressure the Mennonite elders were putting on them, one young man spoke up. "I don’t know why we complain about our church elders," he said. "We all know which is the true religion, and we haven’t done anything about it."
*** w05 9/1 p. 25 Mennonites Search for Bible Truth ***
A few days later, the church elders came to the home of Johann’s family with an ultimatum for the interested ones: "We heard that Jehovah’s Witnesses visited you. You must forbid them to return, and unless you hand over their literature to be burned, you face expulsion." They had had just one Bible study with the Witnesses, so this presented a formidable test.
*** w05 9/1 p. 26 Mennonites Search for Bible Truth ***
"We cannot do as you ask," replied one of the family heads. "Those people came to teach us the Bible." How did the elders react? They expelled them for studying the Bible! This was a cruel blow indeed.The cart belonging to the colony cheese factory passed by the home of one family without collecting their milk, denying them their only source of income. One family head was dismissed from his job. Another was turned away from buying supplies at the colony store, and his ten-year-old daughter was expelled from school. Neighbors surrounded one home to take away the wife of one of the young men, asserting that she could not live with her expelled husband. Despite all of this, the families who studied the Bible did not give up their search for the truth.
The article goes on to cite how after the Mennonites were shunned, the Witnesses were there to pick up the pieces.
Another notable mention of Menonites in Watchtower literature :
*** w04 6/1 p. 8 ‘Step Over and Help Us’ ***At first, many of the Mennonites did not welcome the visits. But repeated efforts have helped them to appreciate what the Witnesses have to offer.
So, looking at this from our perspective, it MUST be okay to keep persisting with Witnesses who do not welcome our visits