by Xena 32 Replies latest jw friends
We had it at our house most of my growing up years. I liked it............dressed casually, and no one cared. The 50's were very laid back.
Dave and I had it in our house the last 15 years we were active JW's. When I had our last baby in 1979, it was pure heaven to not have to go out that one night. I could put him to bed, and relax. I actually liked having it at our house.
We had it at our home for a few years while we pioneered. And, unlike Mulan, when I had a baby it made it worse. I came home from the hospital and was staying in the bedroom that morning to be with the baby and rest. Well, I woke up and the bookstudy was circled around the bed! Coulda' been embarrassing as I nursed all the babies! That was kind of the beginning of the end for me. That, and digging peanut butter sandwiches out of my sofa....and I made coffee and brownies and let everyone keep their shoes on
Yep, for a long time.
And back when I was a teenager, I was a conductor (yeah, I was a real go-getter LOL).
The book study was my favorite meeting.
Then I fell into independent thinking, and the demons entered my mind, and I'm really depressed to think that now I'll never be one of the 144,000.
We had it too,for many years.I was the conductor,many tried to come to our home as word got out that I was the best conductor around.I really think it was my wife's goodies that brought them in.We always had a happy hour after the book study without the hard stuff.
Even other elders and pioneers would stop by on a pretense to say hi or ask if any one needed a ride to Bethel or elsewhere.Some elders would comment after the book study that they thought that they studied the material until they heard from me, and said that I had a fresh way of doing the study.
I never let any of it go to my head,I was just being me.Still, I know it was my wife who really deserves the credit for making our home so warm and friendly to all who entered.I was the only elder who had children and this also added to fun in the home, and the elders would assign other chldren to our book study.
Blueblades
during my 1st marriage we had the book study in our apartment for a while. we lived in a tiny tiny place while we pioneered. our lr was maybe 12x12 and we used to cram 20-25 people in.
my worldly alcoholic uncle was our landlord and lived downstairs. in the final days of the study at our house he had a very old dog that he loved so much, but the dog was incontinent at that point and the whole house smelled. i remember spraying every inch with lysol - i was determined to make things as acceptable as possible, -- i don't remember the details but the study was eventually moved from our house.
I almost thought I couldn't post to this interesting thread when I remembered that up until I was around 8 or 9 yrs old, we had the bs in what was later to be my room, in the basement. The elder who was the conductor not long after, got married and promptly became inactive. And I used to try so hard to figure out such ones and 'what could be wrong with them'? hmmmmm?
Anyway, the bs was ok for most of my jw career. I've been in some strange ones though. One where a former elder (it was in his home as well) was always trying to take over the study from the conducter. (?) Ones with goody-nights - they were usually pretty good overall. But the best one I think was the one where the bro had a pool table and some other games AND goody-night quite regularly. We would arrive early to play pool, have the bs (and most of us probly thought about pool during it), then after during goodies, we would play pool some more - rock on!
i really disliked the bs we attended last (haven't gone for around 18 mnths) because of the material studied from the wts 'Isaiah' books - very downer, depressing, repetitive, uninteresting, uhhh, did I mention downer? They sucked big time imo.
boa
oh yah, i had a crush on a girl once at the bs, so that one was a favourite to me!
We had a book study at our house for many years during the 60's. Since it was in our house we (the young kids) got to go to bed instead. I was 6 years old before I was "allowed" to sit in and even then I wore PJs. We had the BS at our house again later when we lived in Australia. (There's a close connection there to Uncle Bruce).
We had some characters at that time. Two members of the group claimed to be of the annointed. One was the mother of the Cong' Servant (later the PO). We had a hippy couple join us. Les had long hair and a beard. I think he enjoyed studying the Babylon Book and the Finished Mystery book. Years later he and his family ended up in my congregation again. He rarely ever went without a beard and during all that time was never promoted. He had a large unruly family and few, if any, of his kids became JWs. (The Book study was held at his house at some point in time, it always smelled of boiled cabbage!)
For about 4 years I conducted a study group. I used to take my shoes off and conduct the study in "stocking" feet. I wouldn't bother with a jacket either in the summer. I know being shoe and jacketless used to annoy a fellow elder but he never tried to tell me what to do at "my group." He was the same elder who made my Bro-in-law wear his paint stained slippers when BiL forgot to bring his with him and was the only brother in attendance capable of reading the paragraphs.
When I was a teenager we used to dash off after the BS to a local sports center for a game or two, which usually ended with a few pints in the bar. One of my best friends tended to be regular only at that meeting since we usually planned some event immediately afterwards.
The book study was the best meeting of the week. It was a relaxed atmosphere, short, and had time for socializing and treats. It had everything that was missing from the Kingdom Hall.
3rd
Growing up in a JW household, we had bookstudy at our house. This was when I was 9 or so. Some wise-ass kid in the bookstudy went in my room (during the study) and spilled silver Testor's model car paint all over my dresser. (At least he didn't mess up my model car that was in progress.)
Goodie night was always cool, some decent memories I guess.
What is it about sitting on metal folding chairs during bookstudy that make you have to fart as never before?
Huxley
We have a potluck every Friday night and study! I diet all week and loose all control at potlucks. Too good and too much.. our study class is basically an investigation into the various belief systems, how they converge or diverge as the case may be, and what is relevent and what is not.
carmel
we only had one a couple of times, fortunately. I didn't like the idea. No option for laying out of the meeting.
