ENCORE???...... YES!
Here goes......
There's one thing I've never understood: How do missionaries go door to door in foreign countries?
The first three months in my assignment are spent with mornings in the ministry and then 4 hours of Language class in the afternoon , usually taught by an older missionary. Our little class had me, another MTS grad and two couples from Gilead. After those three months I was conversational enough, though it took me two years to get fairly fluent.
Tell us more about your time at Bethel! I know you can't get too specific, but I would love to know what your thoughts about Bethel were at the time and what they are now. Also comparing US Bethel to the Central American Bethel.
In poor countries, is the standard of living at Bethel higher than on the outside? In other words is it more advantageous from a purely economical perspective to go to Bethel than to not?
I stayed only occasionally at the local Branch since I lived mostly in a missionary home. In comparing the Central American Bethel to the local loving standard, it was WAY higher. Eating meat every day, nice rooms with a television. There was no air conditioning but it was cool in there. Some of the local Bethelites were so poor they lived in houses with dirt floors. So when they came to Bethel they used to spit on the floors in their rooms. Hey had to be taught not to do that. They also got a monthly stipend. They didn't get rich but it was a nicer life.
There are a few very rich families in Central America that live in mansions and have maids and cooks and chauffeurs. A few of them are actually Witnesses. They would NEVER apply to Bethel. Too much work and no servants.
What it's like to be a Circuit Overseer - Part 1
I was in the circuit work from 1993 to 2000. Many things were different then, plus I served in a foreign country and I lived mostly in a missionary home. My comments are mine of course and other CO's may have completely different feelings about the circuit work. I did however interact with a lot of other CO's and DO's and hear their personal thoughts, which were often strikingly similar. There was always another CO or DO living in the missionary home where I lived, some were locals and some were missionaries as well. We would talk and compare notes every week. Also, while I vacationed here in the States, I would visit other CO's to get advice, we would talk for a long time. I enjoyed the camaraderie even though they were usually way older than me. We felt the same about a lot of things. I guess what I am trying to say is that a lot of CO's feel the same as I did, they just won't tell you, just as I wouldn't have told you back then.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here is my take:
Tuesday afternoon.
Time to find the Kingdom Hall for that week and go over the records. It was always hot and sometimes I had a hard time finding the Hall. I would sit with the Secretary and go over the numbers. I would pull the last Circuit Overseers report and see what he wrote they needed to work on and I would ask the Secretary what they had done to apply the last CO's recommendations. I would see the percentage of meeting attendance versus publisher count. Usually it was over 100% on Sundays, a lot of non-publisher children were counted, and way less attendance during the week. I looked at the number of new publishers, newly baptized, how many were disfellowshipped and for what, who was deleted as elder or servant and why, who became inactive, what major problems were going on, etc. Mostly it was crunching numbers, though.
I would also see who they wanted to recommend for elder and servant. And I would try and get the secretary to talk to me about congregation problems and matters while I did the numbers, so I wouldn't have to stay too long. There was always at least one disfellowshipping and a reproof or two and they would always tell me why. Fornication or adultery usually. I also looked at the pioneers publishers cards, at those who had become inactive and I would ask why that happened. I wouldn't go over every name, only those that stood out somehow. For example, I would see a publisher card of a brother age 21 who was putting in 30 hours a month and have a lot of placements and a Bible study. I would ask about him. Why wasn't he being recommended as a servant? Sometimes he was recently reproved or he had problems with his attitude or perhaps pornography or drinking or a worldly girlfriend or he misses a ton of meetings or he was in college. Yep, college was a valid reason not to recommend.
Or another card would show someone whose hours had gone way down. Why? They were sick or had been offended or they were reproved or they seemed to be hiding something, they had suddenly started missing meetings. I would try to find out and schedule a visit with them. I would try to get a sense of the personality of the congregation and I learned early on to try to solve the problems early in the week. I tried to limit that initial Tuesday meeting to one hour.
Did you feel you could really "know" individuals, say ones who were recommended, just by their hours or what other elders thought of them. Did you ever question the reasons given?
I always looked for what I considered "humble" brothers. Those who followed "theocratic direction." In hindsight they were the ones who would not rock the boat and would be somewhat scared to "sin" so as not to lose their privileges. But at the time it seemed like the "humble"' ones who were "reaching out" would be the most likely to be recommended. Yes, they recommended brothers for crazy reasons. They had this thing that engaged brothers couldn't be Ministerial Servants because they would probably sin with their fiancée. Which was true that usually happened. I tried to point out that being engaged didn't disqualify them from appointment but the elders knew from experience that appointing engaged brothers was not usually a good idea.
So, no, I never really knew the brothers I recommended even though I tried to work with them in service and the like.
If an ex Bethelite had been inactive for about 10 years, what's the likelihood this comes up to the C.O.? Not DFd. No discipline. Just straight up faded.
It depends on the following:
Does this ex-Bethelite have regular contact with member of the congregation somehow, such as through his work?
Does this ex-Bethelite live in the territory and is known by the friends when they preach in that area?
Does this ex-Bethelite make comments or posts or do something that could get him noticed by the CO?
Does this ex-Bethelite have family members in that congregation that could talk to the CO so he could "help" him?
When I was a new CO, I really went all out to find inactive ones. After a couple of years, I noticed that I hardly ever reactivated anyone. Seems they had their reasons to be inactive. Usually it seemed they were offended by something or someone and none of my scriptures about returning to Jehovah worked. So I didn't really try that hard after that to track them down. I might ask about someone if he was known and then became inactive but if he didn't have a lot of association with the friends and didn't identify himself as a Witness then I didn't bother. Now if he was openly living in sin in the territory and everyone knew about it then I would ask the elders if this person was "known" as a witness. If he was, then I would encourage them to form a judicial committee even if the guy wouldn't attend it. I wanted to "keep the organization clean" of those thought to be Witnesses in the community who were living in sin.
Skipping ahead to that last Tuesday, approximately, what did you notice that tipped you off as this organization being rotten?
Also, did you have any dealings with the HLC, or any anti-transfusion seminars, big wigs, etc?
What really bothered me was the idea that "Holy Spirit" was appointing men. At first when I started in the circuit work I believed it. But so many elders and ministerial servants would be appointed and then deleted within a year or two. It always seemed like every adult male in the congregation had been appointed and deleted and appointed again, at least in the country I served in. We averaged two elders and three servants in each congregation and the number would always fluctuate. That bothered me. Plus it seemed that some of the good guys never got appointed unless they sucked up to the elders. That bothered me as well but didn't make me leave until I as an elder I was on the hot seat years later for bogus reasons. Sadly, for years before that I played the game thinking that even though we were "imperfect", God was using us.
Yes I dealt with the HLC occasionally. They were appointed directly by the Branch in the country I served and were usually rich and influential. The Branch wanted brothers who could make an impression on doctors and so local elders who owned business and were prominent were usually chosen. They sometimes appeared on local television acting knowledgeable about blood. I went to those anti-transfusion seminars once or twice I didn't understand all the lingo. I accepted the idea that transfusions were dangerous and I ignored the hard questions.
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