A circuit overseer friend of mine serving in Latin America called me today to say hi. I asked him what's new and he dropped the news that they have received notification that the branch in Mexico will be closing!!
This branch also called the Central American branch (although located in Mexico) oversees all of Mexico's 800,000+ publishers plus all 7 countries of Central America of over 100,000 publishers. He told me that the Governing Body wants to direct everything from N.Y.
Another news flash was that the Governing Body will soon require all young Circuit Overseers to work for themselves and support themselves financially. The older ones will not be required to do so but only the younger ones.
3rd point mentioned was that the Governing Body wants the Circuit Overseers to work more independently, in other words not depend so much on the branch for direction. Perhaps to avoid liability and lawsuits.
My friend sounded so discouraged and very tired emotionally and burned out. He said he's ready to step down as a Circuit Overseer after over 2 decades of traveling work. He does not want to wait to be 70 to leave the Circuit work.
How can the Watchtower encourage young ones to pursue goals such as Missionaries, Special Pioneers, Bethelites and Circuit Overseers when they will leave them dead in the water without any financial support after giving their best years to the Watchtower Corporation? Those privileges don't mean anything anymore.
All this indicates that the Watchtower is hurting for money.