I was assigned security detail for a three-day quick-build in my hometown. One evening, a sister walked onto the lot to pick up her mother. The sister was accompanied by her "worldly" cousin, who stood out like a sore thumb with his shoulder-length hand. The brother in charge of security told me to remove the "worldly individual" from the premises.
What a great Witness it must have been when I approached the sister and her cousin and told them that he had to leave the lot.
"Why?" the sister rightfully demanded.
"Well, er, you see, um ..." Finally I blurt out the words. "Only Witnesses can be on the construction site."
"But he's with me!" the sister retorted.
"Well, yes, but ... that brother," and I pointed to the head of security, who had his back turned, "told me to tell you. It's not me. I'm sorry."
Anyway, they left. I felt like a bigot and a jerk, which at that moment, I was.
There was also, as I recall, a lot of fighting between the brothers in accounting (who worked in an air-conditioned trailer where donations were tallied and entered into a computer) and the brothers in construction (who worked out in the blazing sun like the slaves of Egypt). It was not uncommon for the construction brothers to unplug the extension cords that ran out of the accounting brother's trailer, crashing the computers inside. "How the hell do those assholes think we're going to pay for this shit," said one elder before he rushed outside to plug the extension cord back in.
Ah, the brotherly love and unity I miss so much ...
Dedalus
