When I was new witness in the late 70's I was assigned to young couples new home. We were required to park our shoes inside the back door and proceed in our socks to the front room...fine. The other piece to this was the couple hosting study had a big male blood hound dog of some kind. The old boy had big ugly genitals and he drug them all over the carpet that we had to walk on with our socks. I was always glad to get home and wash my socks and disenfect the inside of my shoes! Holy crap! Another hosting family had a large two story victorian home with large rooms however,we had to go to the basement and meet in the old coal bin. It was stuffy, cold and cramped. I was appalled they sported this beautiful home and then herded the group to the dungeon for the congregation book study! At another old couples home that I went to for years had a fur covered toilet seat! It was worn and stained on top of it all!
Congregation Book Studies in a brothers home-What weirdness did you endure?
by Thechickennest 29 Replies latest jw friends
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English Patient
lol.
yuk.
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new light
One book study I was stuck in for years was hosted by a retired couple with especially cold blood. The heat was always cranked to at least 75-80 F. Couple that with a 20 paragraph study and it was impossible to stay awake. Shame since my dad conducted.
I've also been to the one with a no shoes policy and an annoying, blind, nose-in-your-crotch kind of dog. The hosts were also to "economical" to spring for a decent amount of light or to crank up the A/C to accomodate 15 roasting people. Yes, Johnny, there is a hell.
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Purza
I once went to the bathroom at a sister's house and as I leaned over the sink to wash my hands, I got some water (or so I thought) on my skirt. Turns out it was bleach and ruined my skirt. I was pretty depressed about it since I didn't have much $$ to buy a lot of clothes.
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blondie
I preferred book studies at the KH even if that meant no goodie nights at some.
I loved the ones where the dog got more enthusiastic greetings than most of those attending. I hated basement ones...many didn't want the good furniture spoiled. A mold/pet allergy kept me out of many basement/pet homes.
Parking was always a pain. The neighbors usually hated JWs who had book studies at their home where twice a week all the parking on the street for 2 blocks was hogged by the JWs. Many times the police were called. Although the parking was "legal" it was not "upbuilding" to the neighbors.
A couple of brothers had their cars keyed one evening.
It was hard to find "qualified" people who wanted to have the book study in their home. Usually the husband volunteered and the wife did all the work.
Blondie
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Englishman
Do they still have group talks?
About 45 minutes generally. It was like a public talk, only given at a group study.
Englishman.
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blondie
I don't remember that, Englishman, but the service overseer visits a book study once a month and the study is shortened to 45 minutes to allow him to give a 15 minute talk addressing an issue the book study overseer thinks they group needs to hear. Then the service overseer makes arrangements to work with the ones in the group in the ministry, mostly on Saturday. Like a miini CO visit.
I remember the days the CO used to visit one book study group out of the congregation and gave a short talk afterwards (that was way back in the 60's and early 70's). Now the whole congregation gathers at the KH for the book study.
Blondie
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Corvin
Been to many different book studies hosted in bros' homes over the years. Brother comb-over Joe and sister Cathy bleach blond hosted the one where we had to remove our shoes. The other notable study group was hosted in the home of an aspiring ministerial servant and his latin wife who pretended she did not have an accent as thick as Agador Spartagus and claimed to speak not a word of spanish. Across the culdasack was really old elder-about-to-retire postman who conducted the study and his latin wife who took offense at her neigbors denial of her latin heritage and often said so openly.
I remember how that poor old elder would pause sometimes in the middle of a statement as if he were about to say, "God, I hate this crap. If I have to come over here and conduct this stupid study with you stupid people in this stupid house one more time and rehash anymore of this stupid recycled garbage . . . two more months to retire, two more months to retire . . . I can do it. I can do it."
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Holey_Cheeses*King_of_the juice.
blondie,
You stated that "now the whole congregation gathers at the hall for the book study." Am I to understand you correctly that the JWs no longer meet in small groups for study? What about for field serviceTM?
I thought the rationale for such a format was that it would be easier for the dubs to operate in smaller groups during the great tribulationTM.
Another matter that someone may be able to assist with - I have realised that the last lot of mags which I had the displeasure to view, did not have the old subscription section in either of the mags (either that or I didn't notice). So, can the mags still be received through the post?
cheeses - been out for so long and with so little interest, that all these 'progressive changes' (read further evidence of acute paranoia on behalf of the jws) that they have passed him by.
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Sunnygal41
Hello, everyone! I was one who was a hostess for a bookstudy. When we first started, we had it upstairs in our dining room. Since it was an apartment, and small, this required us to remove all the contents from the dining room each week. It was ALOT of work. I also asked the friends to take their shoes off at the door, eventually, as there was alot more sand and dirt than you can imagine being tracked in. And, in the winter ice and snow that would melt and create mud puddles. Fortunately the floor was tile. Then, we got dining room furniture, so we moved the bookstudy downstairs to a part of the basement we had fixed up. It had indoor/outdoor carpeting and panelled walls and fluorescent lights, plus two windows. In the summer it was cooler than upstairs since we didn't have AC, and in the winter we warmed it up with a space heater. Still, each week, I moved all the chairs and vacuumed the whole room. I tried to make it as comfortable for the friends as I could. I considered my opening my home as an act of love for my bros. and sisters, even though some felt I should also provide coffee and snacks. Anyone who hasn't hosted a BS cannot begin to realize the amount of work this requires each week..........everything has to be clean and neat and friends with small children need to have an area that they can take their kids to deal with upsets. Still I did it for MANY years. I know there are/were some that were not as accommodating, but, many of the friends in our KH did their best.
Terri