One of my close friends who is a JW has been employing the "full court press" with me to persuade me to get reinstated. I've been disfellowshipped for more than five years and told him a year ago that I would cease any and all efforts to return. But it has only been in the last three months or so that he began urging me to return to meetings and particularly to attend next Sunday's Memorial "celebration". He has cited the urgency of our times and how the organization is making an effort to get "lost ones" to return. I am very touched by his love and concern, but my resolve to stay the hell away is firmer than ever.
This friend lives in Southern California and I live in Northern Colorado. I mention this because while my friend has made every effort to get me back to meetings from long distance, the local elders and Witnesses don't give a damn. I have not received one phone call or visit. I have not been asked if I want to attend the Memorial or if I need transportation to the Hall for the "celebration". There has been no communication since I last spoke to the elders in June 2010. I have received only one of the annual visits the disfellowshipped, disassociated, and the "faded" are supposed to get. So it is clear to me that there is no real concern on the part of the WTS about recovering lost or lapsed Witnesses.
Had they found me in the door-to-door work, I have a feeling that someone would have made a return visit on me just to gauge my intentions. As it is, the elders certainly know how to reach me and have made no efforts to do so. I have counted that as a blessing. If the WTS wants its lost sheep to come back, they have evidently left it up to local congregations to retrieve them without any direction from Brooklyn. I find that strange considering how the WTS feels it necessary to dictate to Witnesses about every other aspect of their lives. That is just a clear indication about how they really feel.
Quendi
