I need help..... Rather, my grandmother needs help....
Okay... Back story first....
I was (past tense emphasized) in the truth from the age of 4 until about 12 or so, when my parents divorced and my mother moved us halfway across country, and we eventually just stopped going to the meeting and practicing.... I'm not even going to get into how going from being a congregational poster boy (giving talks at since the age of 8, and all ways being the one out in service, having all the other parents say, "look at little brother 'Sexington,' why cant you be more like him?) Would screw a kid up..... I'm almost 22 and haven't had a birthday party, and I'm still nervous about blood transfusions, and don't get me started about Christmas.......
I'm Babbling on..... Long short, most of my dad's side of the family is still the truth (except for him, which is kind of funny now that I think about it, seeing as he was the most gung ho one of us, being the ministerial servant, jockeying for elder status, forcing yours truly to make and deliver talks, and to kill every Saturday and National Holiday of my youth out in field service.)
Jeez venting is nice..... but I'm going to try to stay on subject from here on out.... So, I'm in the midwest, and my dad's family is on the west coast, and about a month ago i get a call from my grandmother. Apparently, my aunt found out that she still smokes. Now I thought everyone knew that she still smoked, because her house all ways smelled lilke air freshened smoke..... Well it turns out that it was one of those things, that the family decided to ignore if there was no actual "evidence" of it.... So my aunt actually caught her smoking, and She turned her in to the elders. I mean, I could see if it were someone else from the congregation found out and said something and told, but her own daughter!! Never that, right?
So my grandmother is just about crying on the phone telling me this, because she's afraid that she's going to be disfellowshipped for this. I was thinking that maybe they'd just repremand her for it or something, considering that she's been faithful to the "truth" for longer that I've been alive, I mean, she's got health problems and such, so she can't go to the hall as much as she'd like, but she attended all the meetings by telephone, and was religous (no pun intended) about it. I also figured, if she did get df'ed for it, at least she'd still have family to talk to, or at least that was my "Former Unbaptized Publiser" way of seeing how things worked..... I was wrong....
She calls me back a few weeks later or so and says that the elders decided to boot her. I told her that everything was going to be okay, and asked her if she was going to try and get back in (not bothering to mention the ridiculousness of a religion kicking you out for something like smoking.) She said that she'd try. I told her that she'd have to stop smoking, and that if that was the only reason she was gonna stop, she probably shouldn't. Don't get me wrong here, I'm the most anti-smoking person I know., but, as I told her, she needed to do it for herself, and her health, not anyone else. She said she'd think about it.
She also told me that, my aunt, the snitch wouldn't even talk to her anymore, neither would any of the witness members of her family, which was everyone except one of my cousins, who was in the truth, but just got out ot prison. He echoed my sentiments when he told her, "No matter what, you're still my grandma, you've all ways been here for me, and not governing body is going to tell me that I can't talk to my grandma." (Word!)
So this is where the problem comes in. She's got one local grandson to talk to, and one 1500 miles away (that would be me) and, because of the wonderful, "BAD ASSOCIATIONS SPOIL USEFUL HABITS" She's got noone else to talk to. Because of this, she's become depressed, there have talks about uprooting and moving somewhere else, (not a good idea with the health issues) and worse yet, thoughts of suicide....... So, what do I do...... no "religion" is worth this....
-Tad