Never invited for so much as a cup of coffee. A handshake and a "thanks for coming" was it. I didn't really care. Most were within an hour drive and I was leaving before the WT study anyway. Sometimes I gave talks at two different congs. in the same day. My rendition of "A Godly view of Sex and Marriage" was a real crowd pleaser and was in much demand.
Hospitality experiences during public talk trips
by tsar_robles 19 Replies latest jw experiences
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finding my way
When I was living in Oregon as a child I remember our family taking the speaker out a lot and I remember people hosting our family of 6-8 depending on how many kids went. It was always a really fun time for me as a kid.
One time I spilled my Pop (soda) on the speaker though at a restaurant...oops
In Kansas I went with another large family to another town for a talk and they cooked for us at their home. It was SO good!! chicken wings, collard greens, corn bread and a bunch of other things. They were some really sweet people. I think it just depends on the area and what's considered polite. I personally think some of the less afluent areas have better hospitality.
~fmy
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tsar_robles
lol 'nice' experiences from all of you... I guess there must have been something wrong with me then lol
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NewYork44M
We assigned book study groups to do hospitality. I makde the schedule and we always had very good participation. I gave a number of talks within the area and was always given a meal at someone's house. This was one of the few good memories of my elder days. We even got fed when I gave the talk in the home congregation.
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blondie
tsar, I think it depends more on region, and how organized the elders are. I have seen lists posted on the "information board" with an opportunity to sign up by individuals or families. Then those that were not signed up for were the responsibility of the chairman for that Sunday. Others made assignments by book studies with the conductor making sure things did not fall through the cracks. If some areas left it up to chance, people did fall through the cracks. jws tended to like meeting new people, or old friends, for dinner. It was a little different from the humdrum aspect of jw life.
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Gopher
I gave several talks, and almost always got taken out for a lunch or something. The best times were when somebody had me over to their house. But I never really felt that I got to be close to anyone, except for this really nice elderly couple who lived in Wisconsin.
I started to ask every Sunday at our hall "who has speaker HOSTILITY today"? It always got a laugh.
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logic
tsar robles, yes they were at least hospitable. There are alot people in the all the congreations I have been in
that are very nice people, but they seem to be those that are considered weak. But they
were not self righteous. I just never could put up with self righteous people.
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Scully
I remember our family offered hospitality to several visiting speakers and their entire family.
They were usually the most ill-mannered gluttons we'd ever seen, rudely criticizing the abundant (free for them) food, then stuffing themselves to the gills... and not even a word of thanks, or an offer of help to tidy up after the meal. We weren't well off by any means, but my folks went out of their way to prepare a very nice, usually costly, meal, and the house was always impeccably cleaned before any of these visits. One family allowed their kids to instigate a food fight in our dining room. My siblings and I weren't angels, but we knew better than to do that and when out visiting, we were REQUIRED, on pain of being whacked with a paddle when we got home, to be on our best behaviour - so even we kids were horrified by this kind of acting out in a perfect stranger's home.
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chickpea
the KH i attended had a great rep for
hospitality... lots of people offering to
feed and house speakers and CO...older farm wives would bring the food to
the hall and invite others, esp elderly, to
join the speaker for a meal... down home
cooking at some of its finesti never heard any feedback from outgoing
speakers about lack of hospitality....upper mid-west folksy-ness i reckon
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troubled mind
Our hall was very organized about hospitality . There was a List and my father in law would make up reminder cards for you two weeks in advance .
When our kids we small we most always had the speakers family to our home for a home cooked meal . I can't really think of any one we had a bad experience with ....We did have one couple be very picky about letting their young child play in our kids room, because they had such a high standard of acceptable/unacceptable toys .They woulldn't even let the poor kid watch some Disney classic movie "Cinderella " because of the magic in it . (I requested never to host them again )
For the most part I think our whole family enjoyed the experience, even the kids . We always pulled our sons out of school for one day during a CO visit if we were host . Some of them made a good effort to be attentive to the kids and share funny stories with them . Of course there were a few staunch old timers that were nothing but business