After-meeting conversations

by Gopher 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Joyzabel

  ROTFL @ Sangdigger's comment! Sounds like my family.

  j2bf
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  jurs

  Iv4fer, I would be the one explaining why I had missed the last meeting!!

  I use to try and make an effort to talk about spiritual things after the meetings. I would go and tell the visiting speaker that I enjoyed his talk and I would always go and talk to someone that was new or visiting our hall. I use to label myself as the "weak " witness but looking back I was probably doing more than many others. It use to bug me how some of the strong families never made much effort "widening out" and visiting with others. Many seemed to visit with their own friends and didn't even try to reach out and get to know someone new. Only on the day where a talk was about widening out did I notice any effort and then the very next meeting things were back to the clickish normal. I did try as a JW to be encouraging after or before a meeting but I didn't notice many others trying.

  jurs
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  Gopher

  Laura,

  You're exactly right! Things are normally cliquish.

  I really noticed that when sometimes I went out of state to a congregation where nobody knew me. Only if I was the "visiting speaker" did I ever seem to get much attention. I remember one hall (I think it was Overland Park, Kansas) where I once stood and waited about 20 minutes near the back of the hall, waiting for everyone (standing in their little circles) to finish their conversation, before someone finally noticed me (and to their credit, asked me over for lunch - they must have felt bad, LOL).
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  shera

  My dad would drill me and my brother for the 15 minute ride home after nearly every meeting, asking us to tell what we "got out of the meeting" some useful point or topic. I remember his surprise when i told him a sore butt after one thursday night meeting. I then spent the next 5 minutes dodging his hand as he tried to get a hold of me while zig-zagging down the road.

  I knew a family that was like that with their 5 yr old son.They would make this child stay awake on the nite meetings and ask him after what he got out of the meeting.I felt sad for the child.
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  Lady Lee

  Ok I admit it - I was one of those who spoke to the new ones about how wonderful the dribble talk was. I had a husband who was a spiritual go-getter and quizzed not only the kids but me too. I dreaded it. And as the dutiful elder's wife I had to go chat up to people -and hated every minute of it. Once that was done I got to sit and talk with some of the people I was friends with.

  Then for a while I got into organizing Sunday picnics until they stopped that - told me I should be going out in service instead of spend some quality time with my kids and friends.

  By the time I left I was actually taking the kids home after the meeting in the car and leaving him to walk home or get a ride with someone.