Minimus makes a good point! I have noticed that in certain Watchtower and Awake articles, that illnesses, accidents, bad backs, bad sore necks, pains, arthritis, bad knees, unable to carry objects even 5 pounds,---makes (no) excuse for (not) attending meetings or going out in service.
Being (hookedup) to a telephone, when (they) judge that you (could really) be at the meetings is being frowned upon. Here is just one of the articles I found. No doubt, this sister should have been (hooked-up) to a telephone while healing from her conditions! But instead?
Watchtower/2002/Feb/15th/page-21/
15 A longtime servant of Jehovah in New Mexico, U.S.A., was in two automobile accidents. Her neck and shoulders were injured, aggravating an arthritic condition with which she had been coping for over 25 years. She relates: "I had great difficulty holding my head up and carrying anything weighing over five pounds [2 kg]. But fervent prayer to Jehovah has sustained me greatly. So have the articles in The Watchtower that we have studied. One commented on Micah 6:8, noting that being modest in walking with God means knowing one?s limitations. This helped me to appreciate that in spite of my condition, I should not get discouraged, even though the time I spent in the ministry was less than I wished. Serving him with pure motives is primarily what counts."
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She also reports: "The elders always commended me for my efforts to attend the meetings and to go out in the field ministry. Young ones would greet me with a hug. The pioneer ministers were so patient with me and often rearranged their plans on my bad days. When the weather was difficult, they would kindly take me on return visits or invite me to sit in on their Bible studies. And since I could not carry a book bag, other publishers put my literature in their bag when I went out in the preaching work."