by Black Man 27 Replies latest jw friends
I know many that never made it to their assignment. I knew one bethelite couple around 2003 that went to Gilead, but for some reason never finished. People around bethel gossiped and talked about them so much it bothered me. I mean, its a huge commitment to do what they are asking, I didn't see any shame in a reality check and changing your mind.
I can only think of one MTS graduate that made it more than 2 years in his assignment, and from what I hear he is struggling quite a bit.
I was close to a couple that graduated Gilead and were assigned to some obscure town in Africa. They couldn't even finish a year there. They were so unprepared for the possible realities facing missionaries. The missionaries already living at the home were fried. He told me shortly after he and his wife arrived at the home it became evident there were serious problems.
The missionaries there didn't go out much to preach and didn't support them in their efforts. They explained to him that this was an impossible assignment, they were not going to continue the charade, so they just kept making up their field service hours and sending in the reports without actually going out to preach. They added that they got no real help from the WTS.
When this couple got back to the states they were changed people. The wife got physically sick and also had a nervous breakdown. She has trouble functioning, is no longer the woman I used to know. The husband contracted some parasites or something and will be sick with it the rest of his life. Oh, and the society didn't even want to pay their plane fare to fly them out and back to the states to get help. - So sad.
You won't see that experience in a Yearbook. Yes, these schools are mostly for show and further indoctrination imo.
SeventhSojourn
My congo in jersey had 5 brothers that went to MTS school.
The first never became a C.O. and is currently out the truth no more than 2 years after returning.
The second graduated, came back and married a sister 32 years his senior because she was loaded...................
The third got to married, got sent to Togo and he and his wife both acquired Malaria... dude looked like a walking skeleton. His wife not so much. He is still in his assignment I suppose
The fourth graduated got married then sent to congo in Minnesota... I have recently found out that he is in some form of legal trouble and has lost his priveledges
The fifth brother recieved his acceptance during a part on the assembly program at Jersey City... he graduated and got a beautiful wife. Was sent to his former congo and lived in the P.O. upstairs house. He beat the braks of his wife all most every night. He then got disfellowshipped for adultery all in 3 years of coming back....
Gotta love this org
So do they make you sign an oath saying you won't get married for xx number of years? I've never heard of that.
From soso's post it sounds like they go get married right after graduation!
LostGeneration: Yeah, for at least 2 years they don't want you to marry. As they explained in my class, you are property of the Society during that time.
Property??????
Wow, what a loving provision from Jah!
They know these brothers get sent to the middle of nowhere and have the pick of the available sisters, so having them get married means they have other commitments apart from the WT work.
On the flip side, I have some friends who were dying to go to Gilead- both pioneering for donkey's years, he an elders, acting CO a couple of times, served abroad- perfect for missionary work, knew exactly how to set up in another country, and they even offered to pay their own airfares to the USA. But time and again, they got knocked back, and were so peeved that people they knew in the USA who had only been pioneering a couple of years got chosen. So they took matters into their own hands and moved to Hong Kong to pioneer without Gilead. I haven't heard from them since, and it's been a couple of years.
bttt!
piitb!
We had MTS or Gilead family from Australia and UK after the fall of communism in our congregation. They were weird, they did not speak any local language and were clueless over the local customs. A few of us who spoke English were banned to talk to foreigner JW without approval, so we could not really get them to know. I had spent a weekend with one young missionary from UK in Prague and it was really refreshing. Next week BOE was doing visit at our house questioning about everything we talked to and were extremely displeased on my behavior (ie to be friendly to foreigner brother and get him taste native food) . The Australian family lasted only couple months -maybe three- as the woman had a mental breakdown and returned back to Bethel. I remember several other crazies passing by, where snobishly behaving women with 1960's hairdo a'la pompadour in 1990 and their artifical children that never say word on their own. This stopped around 1994.
