If you have never served out of this country or spent any time preaching in another country, you may have certain ideas of how a C.O. behaves and talks and acts. What is the youngest C.O. you have ever seen? In the country I served in, it was 23. I was 26 when I was trained, and I was 28 when I started full-time C.O.work.
I arrived in my assignment in 1989. I lived in a missionary home, I had to put in 140 hours per month. Lots of experiences. I came back to the U.S. and gave talks and slides and stuff each year. After two years, I was trained as a substitute C.O. It was two weeks of training, one week I observed the C.O., the next week he observed me. That was it, then I got a letter of appointment from the branch as a sub, but I didnt sub at all. But less than a year later, I was called to the branch, and they told me to get ready, in three weeks I was to start permanent circuit work. I realized my dream. They said I had to wait for an official letter from the Governing Body, since they appoint all circuit overseers, so for now I was a sub. About four months later I got a letter from New York.
They also give the C.O. a binder filled with letters. If the previous C.O. is not up to date with his binder, you can get the letters from the branch. The letters are supposed to stay with the circuit. They are all the letters to the C.O.'s from 1973 on. So I read all those letters.
I had no car at first, so I rode the bus. I felt great, even though developing countries are pretty difficult to live in. I had to stay with the friends, all cold showers, and sometimes just a cot and curtains to separate you from the family. Or I slept on a cot in the Kingdom Hall. I loved it though. I really felt I was doing great, I read about missionaries and C.O's in the WT and wow, I was one now. After two years I got a car. Cheap, auction car from the States. Nice car for that country though.
What else can I say? I wasnt the best C.O., but I wasnt the worst. You would be surprised at some of them. I tried hard, I didnt get into trouble, yes some other C.O.'s did. I tried to be a cool C.O. though.
But one of the ways the branch judges you is how good your recommendations for elder and servant are. A lot of people don't realize that the local branch appoints elders and servants, not Brooklyn. I averaged about two or three rejections a year. That means I along with the body of elders recommend someone, and the branch rejects it. The branch said that is a good percentage, and that I had pretty good judgment. Also, when the Zone overseer visits, they have a one-hour meeting at the branch with a District Overseer, a Circuit Overseer, and a member of the Branch Committee. Twice they invited me to do that, probably because I speak English. But that was a great privilege. I was not the youngest C.O. either, some of the really tough areas had brothers even younger. Some had not even been appointed as elders before. They went straight from servant to C.O.
I taught pioneer schools, the first few times, it was fun. After that, we got a letter with a bunch of strict instructions, so it kinda took the fun out of it. I have the pictures of me teaching those pioneers schools, the group photo.
I acted humble, but I really felt important. I preached with the congregations even in the evenings, to show that we should be zealous. I tried to be fair in judicial committees. Here they seem way more merciful. In that country, any sin and you are disfellowshipped. Seems like that, anyway. I would consult the D.O., who was from Europe, he had a lot of wisdom, or so I thought.
One big mistake I made once was changing the C.O.report. The congregation report was in duplicate, and the recommendation report was in triplicate. So this one elder was pretty mean to the friends, and the branch said to maybe delete him. But when I served that congregation, he was the only elder. So I called in two other elders from another Hall. They didnt know him, so i made the call to delete him. I reconsidered that night and looked up more information, so I informed the D.O. He said we could revisit the matter the week of the assembly. So I didnt sent in the report to the branch. The next week was the assembly. We met with the D.O., and the elder was not recommended for deletion. We all signed it, and gave a copy to the elder to put in the congregation file.
A few months later I was called to the branch. About 45 minutes from the missionary home. They called me into a private room. They held up two reports, one recommending deletion, and one saying to give him another opportunity. I had left the third copy in the congregation files before I left that Sunday. Oh no. In the meantime that congregation had been reassigned to another circuit. So the next C.O. who took over that area saw two copies with dates six days apart, one recommending deletion, and one not. Looked like he had paid me off or threatened me or something. They also called the D.O. in to corroborate my story. He did. They told me it looks bad to change your mind, but I really felt it was Holy Spirit. Anyway, they laughed at the end of the discussion. They said I could have made worse mistakes.
Those memories feel strange now. I had one life here in the States, then another life as a missionary C.O.,then I came back and another life working again. Now even another life as someone who has learned what is really going on in the organization, and why things are the way they are.
I appreciate those who support me on this forum, my situation is not as bad as some, but it is hard sometimes.
And for those of you who don't believe me, go right ahead.
I don't need everyone's approval anymore.
BF