Yes and no. I hated going, but then again, sometimes interesting things happened and people show up who you only see once per year. I knew sisters who had to have new outfits to wear to the memorial. So their purpose in going was to show off the new clothes.
There was one sister who cared for an elderly woman who was quite senile and she decided to bring her to the Memorial. She had been studying with her (what a joke!) and when the wine came the old lady got all excited and grabbed it and tried to drink it all down and they had to wrestle her to her to get it away from her. That was intertaining!
Then there was the couple in the thirties and the wife was dingy and she had decided she was annointed, only she didn't tell anyone, she just waited until the emblems came and grabbed a chunk and started chewing on it and her husband got all upset and demanded to know what she was doing and he was trying to take it away from her. They were sitting right in front of us, right on the end of the row. The elder put his hand on the guy's shoulder and kind of squeezed a little to get his attention, and he calmed down. After the shindig was over, I of course mentioned it to one sister and the story went through that hall like wild fire! That sister continued to partake until this day, but her husband will not go to the same hall she goes to for the memorial because he does not believe she is annointed. What I find interesting is that he is a very overbearing husband and she could not as much as go to the store without his permission and yet she takes a stand against him on this. I came to the conclusion that the idea of living forever on earth with him is more than she can take and going to heaven is the only way she is going to get away from him.
So, the reason the Great Crowd goes to the Memorial is to catch up on who came this year, who partakes, to show off new clothes and catch up on some gossip they might other wise miss.
Millie
Edited by - target on 12 January 2003 9:56:44