Did you do very early morning field service?

by truthseeker 28 Replies latest jw friends

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  truthseeker

  In my old congregation, there was a group of dubs who started field service at 4am - yes, that's 4 o'clock in the morning. I went with them on a few occasions.

  To be ready, you'd have to be up at least 3:30am to get washed and dressed and maybe get a bite to eat.

  At 4am, our designated driver would show up along with a couple of sleepy eyed JWs trying to "get their time in." Many times we'd go pick up a JW only to find they forgot about service and overslept.

  You don't realize how much activity goes on in the wee hours of the morning till you've done early bird service.
  
  So who is up at 4am?

  For starters, we'd drive to the local hospital and leave literature in the reception area.

  We'd go to different gas stations and leave magazines with the attendants.

  We would even leave tracts at ATM machines

  By 7:30am, most laundromats would be open so this was easy work and a great way to lighten one's briefcase.

  By 8:00am, we were hungry, so we'd stop at a local eatery to refuel and leave a tract with the waiter to keep our time going.

  By 8:30am we would do street work until the main group for field service and then we'd go out with them and finish at 1pm.

  By 1pm I was too tired to do anything else for the rest of the day - but what a great way to get 8 hours of field service in!
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  Mad Sweeney

  I did some early morning work but I would do it 6am to 9am and be done for the day. Do that twice a month plus have one Bible study and I've got my 10 hours for the month.
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  Magwitch

  Yes, we would do it every Wednesday morning. Now that I am on the other end of the stick, it is not so cute. I was filling up my car with gas the other day at 6:00 A.M. and this teenager came up to me with a JW tract. What the F***? It was like being handed a rose at the airport by some Rastafarion with frisbee eyes.
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  superpunk

  definitely did the laundromat route early in the morning. ATMs is brilliant you can waste a ton of time driving around AND not talking to anyone which is a double bonus and I wish I had thought of it!
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  VIII

  Insane.

  No, I mean that.

  I thought 9:30 am on Saturday was bad. Holy S&it!!!

  I used to get up for work at 4:30 am. That was a paying job. I liked getting paid. $$$$$$

  Insane. All for what? You poor thing. I mean that sincerely.
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  brotherdan

  I used to start at 4am when the hour requirement was 90 hours. And it was the most pointless fruitless thing in the world. I would stand in front of the donut shop with a blank look on my face and watch all the early risers go in to get their coffee. Twice a week I'd go from 4 to 9 and then 9:30 to 12:30. You had to keep that kind of schedule up to get the 90 hours, especially if you got sick that month.
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  cult classic

  We (as in the young people in my congregation) used to do "gas station witnessing" starting anywhere from 1am - 4am. Our parents thought we were crazy but did nothing to stop us.
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  nugget

  Makes my 7:30 am car park witnessing seem a little light weight. Never went out earlier than that no one in my town was awake before then.
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  miseryloveselders

  I remember visiting relatives out West, and was surprised to learn they start early in the morning around 7 or so for field service because it gets too hot to start at 10 or so. I'm in the East, and occasionally I'd start service at like 7:30am or so, by dropping off magazines in laundry mats, or other open public facilities. I don't what others call it throughout the States, but I always called it, "starting my time", or "getting our time started." Funny how none of that jibes with how Jesus and Paul preached.
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  brotherdan

  Never went out earlier than that no one in my town was awake before then.

  No one else really was for us either. Most of the time you are alone. We listened to lots of music and did lots of goofing off.