About twelve years ago I was visited by two elders who were concerned about my not turning in field service time. I explained I was spending countless hours helping my father take care of my mother besides working full time. Their reply, "Well that's all well and good, but we have to go out to look for people who have no hope." To this day I regret not saying, "My mother (and my father) keep HOPING that somebody will come by to visit them." The witnesses would go down my parents' street, but skip their house because they couldn't count their time.
Another time my father was at a book study, and the conductor was making field service arrangements. My father commented that if he count his time taking care of my mother he could be a special pioneer. I asked my father if anybody offered to come stay with my mother so he could go out in service, and he said "no." That's when I realized what the WT was all about--just numbers.