Who pioneered with the promise of having 'Jehovah provide' and ended up dirt poor anyway?

by Julia Orwell 66 Replies latest jw friends

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  life is to short

  When I got married my husband told me all I needed to do was relay on Jehovah and we would have all we needed. He made $200.00 a month and our car gas bill for field service was $120.00 a month, simple math says we could not live on it but he insisted that Jehovah provided for him though he did admit to me that he went hunger many times before we were married.

  I was young and in love and thought I could do it also, I only lasted a month before I looked for work, I than worked 30 to 35 hours a week plus pioneered 90 hours a month and supported not only myself, my husband but also as many pioneers as my husband could pack into our Honda Civic which was amazing that sometimes he would get seven into it. None of the other pioneers gave us a dime for gas and none of them wanted me to ride in there cars. One pioneer couple my age got a brand new car and would park it a block from the hall so as to not get door dings on it and then they would squeeze their fat bodies into our car.

  I never went hungry as I worked in a restaurant but I look back on those time with total sadness. I was so depressed and sad all the time, I had no joy at all. Here I was newly married and I truly did love my husband but all we did was field service which meant just driving around aimless lee packing on miles and miles on our car we put 35,000 on a year as no one wanted to really do door to door work. My husband and I had no time together as a couple it was all field service or him doing elder stuff.

  I hate every minute of it.
  LITS
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  Julia Orwell

  That is so sad LITS! I wonder how many ate like that now, but their cult identity tells everyone they love making the sacrifice and are happy and blessed and their marriages are stronger for it. I can think of some candidates among my Jw friends but know,they'll never admit pioneering, being newly wed to an appointed man and broke is anything but great.
• 

  Crazyguy

  I think all the pioneers in my hall except one retired couple gets help from the government. Its really unfortunate that so much time is wasted, because who are we to judge some one as being a good christian or not, Jesus does the judging. Anyway there's a woman that's a sister but doesn't go to meetings that collects food thats about to go beyond the expiration date from the local store a distributes it among the witnesses and probably others who need it, that's probably stored up more treasures in heaven then all the pioneers in my cong. put together.
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  HarryMac

  omg. I'm so glad I never pioneered.

  I hate every minute of it.
  LITS

  Please, please tell me this is over for you.
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  Julia Orwell

  Anyway there's a woman that's a sister but doesn't go to meetings that collects food thats about to go beyond the expiration date from the local store a distributes it among the witnesses and probably others who need it, that's probably stored up more treasures in heaven then all the pioneers in my cong. put together.

  And yet is considered not spiritual or doing Jehovah's will and to be clobbered at Armageddon. Heartless cult!
• 

  jam

  One scripture I always kept in mind, even when I pioneered,

  Proverbs 6; 6-11. Go to the ant, you sluggard (if you don,t

  heed it,s ways) So shall your poverty come on you like a

  prowler. LOL
• 

  life is to short

  HarryMac

  I meant to say I hated every minute of it. I get in a hurry when I post sometimes sorry.

  I have not pioneered since we came back from Bethel. But I always felt such huge guilt about not doing it. I was such a true believer. Even after seeing so much bad a Bethel I chocked it up to imperfect men. That it was still the true religion but that Jehovah was allowing me to be tested, etc. I totally still bought into what my husband was telling me, to just "keep my blinders on", "not to look to closely at what other were doing only what I was doing", "Jehovah would bless me for what I did", etc.

  But after Bethel we had NO MONEY and no one helped us, I prayed by brains out to Jehovah and I heard nothing. So I worked and worked, we got a home all the while I told myself that I would start back pioneering, then it was after I could save just a little bit more, then I felt such huge guilt because I did not want to pioneer. When you pioneer you have to work low paying jobs with no health insurance, etc and I just could not stand to think of it, plus you have to spend huge amounts of time with people who you do not like and how HATE YOU and who make sure you know that they hate you in the car groups for service.

  Anyway a pedophile moved into my hall and the whole house of cards fell down and I realized it is truly a cult and my guilt of not pioneering went away.

  LITS
• 

  HarryMac

  *Phew* Well, I'm glad it's over for you. Your story is the one that's not heard from the platforms. Feeling alone, broke, etc. Ughh.

  I've noticed that pioneers can have a hate or each other that their not allowed to acknowledge. Actually, come to think of it it was pioneers that were the most brazen about who'd they would and wouldn't like to work with in service at the arrangements.
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  Julia Orwell

  I found some pioneers very clique-y, but then there were others with whom I was very close friends. I guess it takes all types.
• 

  finally awake

  all the pioneers in our hall were married women whose husbands had good jobs. we live in an area where it is still possible to live on one income if that person has a good job. It never seemed to me that any of the pioneers were poor - a couple of them went on regular fancy vacations and they all had very nice homes and cars.