by gingerbread 27 Replies latest jw friends
Field service for up to twenty-four hours non-stop.... It's a bit of a fad in our area with pioneers - the twenty somethings especially. We've heard from other family members and a JW friend that it's a thing in their part of the country as well.
It sounds like a group decides on a day and then piles into a van or suv to 'work' the territory - 12, 18 and even 24 hours.
Anyone else hearing of this?
ginger
Wow. Not that much, but when i was 17/18 we would go out after meeting till abour 12 or 1 am. We would hit gas stations and truck stops.
So who is up at 3 a.m.? How many gas stations and other 24/7 businesses that want jws traipsing in and out?
So do they have proper chaperones. Even 4 single 20-somethings alone together at 3 a.m. might be considered fornicators.
What do they do stand on a busy sidewalk in front of a bar and hold up publications?
We used to start at 5:00 AM. My record I think is a 13 hour day. I'm pretty sure that was the last day of the month. ;)
I was aware of those that regularily did something close to what you describe. After midnight they would talk with store clerks at 7-11s and other 24 hour marts. They also would stake out gas stations and harass people pumping gas after midnight.
I was a elder at the time and thought this was totally crazy. The elder body did not share my concern. Most thought this was a wonderful opportunity and these poineers were being lead by holy spirit.
I remember the other 20 something's in the 90's going out all night stopping at the rest areas on 95 in MD and DE...maybe even further. I never had the gumption to do so although I was a pioneer at the time and those 90 hrs per month were a killer.
I think I started that fad back in 1998/1999, atleast in my area because nobody had done it before around here.
When I was a kid, my father and some brothers would get up at 3am and hit gas stations, hotels, etc, then go through till noon.
I thought one day, why not try to get 24 hours in 24 hours. Can take the rest of the month off and be well above the average, or if I did average time afterwards it would be practically pioneer.
I had a big car group, and I told everyone to bring all their old piles of magazines piling up, so we had a trunkful of stuff, 3 of us did the entire thing and throughout the night we had some come and go. We started at 6pm at mall parking lots, etc, then got kicked out of them, but the security guards took a magazine.
Then we did grocery store parking lots and some gas stations. Even talked to some homeless people sitting in the corners. They told us we should live like them for a few months, that Jesus had no home, etc.
By midnight we then went down the main roads stopping at the hotels, gas stations, etc and giving magazines to the clerks. We figured these people are sleeping and never answer the door so we'd get them during their midnight shifts.
Then at 6am we hit the laundry mats. Then met for the 8/9am morning service. Then the afternoon service.
It was HARD, by 6am was falling asleep but we kept getting a 2nd wind after some coffees, etc.
I never did it again, but the brothers I got to join me liked it so much they started to get groups a few times a year to do it. I know because about 2 or 3 years ago I ran into one of them and he told me he just did a 24 deal 'again' a few weeks back.
24 hrs of non-stop JW'ing? Why? Because the religious corporation cult long ago decided that the reported number of hours worked on a monthly timecard determined one's spirituality & devotion to the organization.
Think about it:
What's the diff if they sit from 10:30am - Noon at Starbucks
or if they site from 10:30PM - Midnight at 7-Eleven?
Counting time is counting time.
And that's what it's all about.
Doc
I kid you not, there was a pioneer brother that recorded 360 hours one month. He only slept 2 hours a day. He worked part time at K Mart and he lives in trailer park.
