Are/Were California witnesses REALLY different? (page 2)

metatron

Knorr hated Californians. The best disfellowshipping stories always came from California. Too much Californication out there...

metatron

cruzanheart

Very interesting, metatron. I lived in Anaheim, CA from 1962-65, and our district overseer was none other than Ted Jaracz. Guess he wasn't Knorr's "good boy" then.

Lax in CA? Oh, maybe a little bit back then -- the beehive hairdos were a little higher, the skirts a little shorter, than in Horsham, PA, where we moved from in 1962. And some of the kids (*gasp*) were actually allowed to listen to The Beatles when they got popular!!! Surely Armageddon was nigh.

Nina

upside/down

I got the troof in SoCal. Didn't seem to wierd to me. What I did notice was that the "wierd witnesses" as we called them were almost always from the Midwest.

When I moved to serve where the great were needed (western Iowa), I found more WIERDNESS than you could shake a stick at.

Brother had to wear white shirts only, when giving a talk and a suit coat at ALL times (even @ 102+F w/100% humidity)
Sisters HAD to wear panty hose
People form either the East or West Coast were much LESS "spiritual" and decadent.
A congregation was dissolved for elders wives being lesbians
I first encountered incest and child molesting
I (a brother) was "counseled" that I had immodest dress. I wore yellow pants in spring and someone could see my underwear lines(?).
Owning a microwave was "worldly" and "materialistic".
If you didn't get government milk and cheese, you weren't "relying" on J enough.
WOMEN ruled the roost. Many sista's wrote their hubby's talks.
Men were "whipped".
Everyone in the local halls worked for the local "entrepeneur" brother (in cleaning of course)
Californians were "demonized".
many people had a chip on their shoulder
Social retardation was rampant
I met my first truly illiterate (couldn't read o r write and had a HS diploma) adults.
witnessed what happens when cousin's marry (no joke)!
No one drank alcohol or danced- where other Dubs could see you.
Anyone with a "real" job or talent was "humbled" and persecuted
Farmers DON'T LIKE "city folk". Especially "uppity" bro's from "the Coasts"

I found it all very "quaint" at the time, but it got old real fast. The bro's in my original congo in Cali were a fairly descent bunch as far as Dubs go. Probably the most "balanced" of any congo to date I've experienced. They were pretty much just like "worldly" people except they "went to Church" at the KH n Sunday.

Wasted 12 years of my life in self imposed exhile "serving" these ungrateful people who lived on the property of their great grandpas, never had to work a "real" job and bitched all the time of how HARD life is. These people had the life of Riley and never stopped bitching.

All our CO's were 1st timers in the Midwest (MTS grads). In Cali they were being "put out to pasture". Very old and for the most part descent guys. Out of touch- but descent!

u/d

roybatty

The best disfellowshipping stories always came from California. Too much Californication out there...

When I was a JW, it always seemed that California was the land of apostates. lol. There seemed to always be a story about some local, midwest, JW family who, after moving to Cal., turned apostate. Yeah, and it seemed that JW's out west were able to bend the rules more (aka have fun).

freedom96

I grew up in Northern California, in an extremely strict hall. I left there when I was 18, and moved to another state. But I clearly remember what happened there.

The main elder there, had warned against other nearby congregations, that they might not make it through armegeddon. In fact, his own son was an elder in one of those "other" halls, and they were just in the next city over.

I think each congregation, regardless of where they are on a map, each have their personality.

Preston

I wore yellow pants in spring...

Did you own a monkey?

- Preston

upside/down

When I was New, I was told that 10% of all Dubs in the USA lived between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border in Cali.

That's about 100K Dubs!

That's a lot (more than most countries). How stereo typical to bunch that many people into one type setting.

I think it's all just a mind ploy to make the average Dub feel good about themselves, " At least I'm not as BAD as those Californians!"

California Rocks! (or at least it used to when I was growing up there in 70's and 80's) And the average Dub wished they could be there.

u/d

upside/down

My wife is a hairstylist and VERY FASHIONABLE. She picks most of my wardrobe (thank god). I'm definitely a straight guy without the queer eye.

I had a new spring outfit, very stylish actually: bright solid yellow pants (pleated, it was the 80's)) with a white shirt with a bitchin knit tie and a navy blazer- it was "tits", very Californian- a bit too "californian" for the local elder and his wife. I was told to get my next SUIT at the local thrift store, so as not to make any of the local bro's feel "inadequate" (code for they didn't have real jobs and real $$ to afford real clothes). Sport coats and slacks were not "becoming" a sevant of J. (but cheap moth eaten clothes were?). They also claimed that my dress was immodest, as the elders wife said she could see my underwear lines (bikini briefs) through my pants- that fat b*tch was checking out my ass!

Needless to say as a good little MS, I complied.

Never Again,

u/d

FairMind

Our CO who had served in California asked if we knew what a California Bible was. He then told us it was one that had never been opened. He semi-serious.

FM

upside/down

Unfortunately some of those Cali-bro's have bank ($$$$). I think they keep the WTS afloat financially. I've seen 100K !!!!! contributions. No F'n joke. Mind boggling- and yet we had single moms who's car didn't run and could barely make the rent... go figure! We went to remodel our hall and several 30K contributions were made with personal checks (not loans).

Our congo was labeled Laodicea (East)!

u/d

Are/Were California witnesses REALLY different?

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