I fell in love with the religion when I was 15. I got baptized when I was 16 and graduated a year early so I could get a head start on pioneering. I became I regular pioneer when I was 17.
Around that time a young man in the hall who was two or three years older than me decided he wanted to pioneer, too. He worked a full-time job and I barely saw him out in service. We would agree to meet early in the morning for service and he wouldn't show up. I had to go to his house to get him out of bed a few times. When the service year was at an end, I had to bust it to get my 1,000 hours in. Lo and behold somehow this other guy had already finished his time for the year a month ahead of time. I also knew that he liked to go partying with other young JWs and hit up the nightclubs. He often missed meetings...you get the picture.
After that first year was up he was appointed ministerial servant and I was passed over. Apparently I was too young. It took everything I had not to walk out of the kingdom hall when the announcement was made. Within a year or two he had been reproved for having sex with a married woman.
Thankfully, by that point I had seen too many inconsistencies in the religion and my zeal had begun to wane. I still stuck around for a few more years, but l'm glad I didn't get appointed. It would have made it harder to fade.