Posts by crazycate

14

Did you ever do "rooming" work before a convention?

by crazycate in

jw
friends

truthseeker's topic on the recommended lodging list, and some of the experiences people have had, made me remember the rooming work we did before a convention that was held in our city many years ago.

we actually went door to door asking people if they had rooms they would be willing to let visiting witnesses stay in.

i don't remember anyone telling me, "yes," but i know there were people who signed up rooms.

crazycate

Truthseeker's topic on the recommended lodging list, and some of the experiences people have had, made me remember the rooming work we did before a convention that was held in our city many years ago. We actually went door to door asking people if they had rooms they would be willing to let visiting witnesses stay in. I don't remember anyone telling me, "Yes," but I know there were people who signed up rooms. We were supposed to make sure the lodging would be suitable, but considering who some of the witnesses were who were looking at these homes, I would be very nervous about signing up for that pig in a poke.

Cate

34

Did you SAVE money by using a hotel on the recommended lodging list?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

i haven't seen this question posted here before, but did any of you who stayed at one of the hotels on the society's recommended lodging list save money than if you attended a hotel not on the list?.

having seen a few of these lists, it seems the rates given are expensive..

crazycate

With all the deals available these days, I've wondered for years why the society continues to insist on everyone staying at hotels on the recommended lodging list. But no way are we ever going to be told the real reason (i.e., bookstudy is being combined with another meeting due to high gas prices).

Cate

43

Mrs.Chickennest has cancer

by Thechickennest in

jw
friends

my wife and i learned this week that she is suffering from a large malignant tumor in her sinuses.

the cancer has spread to her lymth nodes and the pet scan indicates a mass on her left lung as well.

the sinus cancer is called sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma.

crazycate

I am so sorry. I hope everything turns out well. You will be in my thoughts.

Best wishes, Cate

36

The burdensome load of a Jehovah's Witness - did you feel this way?

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

for me, my life as a jehovah's witness was tiring, depressing & miserable.

surrounded by negativity i felt utterly supressed & unhappy.

to carry out my 'responsibilties' became very difficult.

crazycate

Oh my, yes. When you work full-time, there is not a single morning to sleep in. And after field service on Saturday, I was too exhausted to do anything but come home and sleep all afternoon. So there went the rest of the day. The yoke didn't feel kindly or the load light to me at all. And really, no matter what people SAY about how refreshing and upbuilding it all is and how they feel so much better when they come to meetings even though they are exhausted, you see the truth of their feelings when a meeting is canceled. The joy of it! A night or day off without guilt! Of course, that is the real reason they feel better for going regardless, they don't feel guilty.

I remember one CO who said that those who work full time should go out in service Saturday and Sunday. He implied that if we were going to spend the week in materialistic activity, instead of pioneering as he does, we should use our time off for spiritual things. Of course, we never had an actual "day off" with one day being for field service and the other the public talk and WT study. I was feeling guilty about this, until I found out that he took every Monday off to play golf with friends. No field service on Mondays, it was the day between congregations. Sunday he finished with one congregation, Tuesday he met with the next congregation, and Monday was his day off! Typical! Meanwhile, we were supposed to feel guilty for wanting a break.

Cate

19

Going out is service on Thanksgiving

by I quit! in

jw
friends

i only remember doing it once.

i remember going to pick another witness up and his kids were watching an old alice in wonderland movie.

i wished i could stay and watch it rather than go out bothering people.

crazycate

I quit going out on holidays years ago, no matter how much we were "encouraged" that it was a great time to go. I knew no one wanted us at their door, especially on those days, and I felt terrible for bothering them.

Cate

27

Fall 2008 One Day Assembly....what is the theme?

by insearchoftruth in

my wife is attending the assembly this upcoming weekend, is there a posted agenda and can any of you provide a summary of what is discussed so i know what she will be hyped up about when she gets back?.

crazycate

Once upon a time, I did enjoy the ministry...at least sometimes, if I could find someone home and have a pleasant discussion. Then came 1995 and the generation change. I tried to ignore it for a time, but I felt like such a fool out there. I had been telling people for 20 years or so that we could absolutely prove that "this generation" who would not pass away were the people born in 1914. Now we could absolutely prove something else. I didn't feel credible anymore.

Cate

63

SICK JWS

by minimus in

jw
friends

were the majority of witnesses in your hall somehow sick?

either physically, emotionally or mentally?.

most jws i knew had some unexplainable ailment or 2. and a number suffered from depression!!

crazycate

I eventually began to wonder, if the Lord's "yoke is kindly and his load light," why the whole thing was so exhausting--never getting to sleep in, and always feeling that, no matter how much you did, it was never enough.

I think some people develop maladies, real or imagined, to explain, either to others or themselves, why they aren't doing more. It eases the guilt.

Cate

9

Just remembered: Oct. 26, 1963, I was baptized. I was 11!!

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

wow.

it was 45 years ago yesterday that i was baptized a jw.

back when you weren't baptized to an organization.. i was 11. went to a circuit assembly in massachusetts with another jw family (circuit ma #3 at the time), and honest to god, we stayed at the pioneer motel!.

crazycate

Yes. I was baptized in 1970. Very different questions then.

And I totally get the difficulty as we attempt to move on. A whole lot of history there.

Cate

20

Did you ever feel as if you were socially handicapped as a Witness?

by Hiddenwindow in

jw
friends

some of my friends claim that growing up as witnesses was a normal experience, in the sense that they did not miss celebrating hollidays or associating with wordly people.

these friends are witnesses in good standing, therefore, i doubt their sincerity and feel that they just do not want to go agaist the party line.

in my case, since i always had the desire to participate in extracurricular activities in school (and did when i could), always felt actracted to politics and art, it was very hard.

crazycate

Oh my goodness yes! I was shy to begin with. Then I had the misfortune of being the strange girl who didn't celebrate anything and wouldn't associate with anyone in a grade school and middle school with several bullies. And I was the perfect target. All I wanted out of life was to be invisible. I spent my school years sitting in the back corner, whenever possible, and never participating unless absolutely necessary, in the hope that no one would notice me. That leaves a mark.

Cate

23

Why Do JWs Believe They Have The "Truth" When Their View Keeps Changing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i don't get it.. can anyone explain it to me?.

crazycate

We were taught that to lack trust in or question the GB was the same as lacking trust in or questioning God. And if we did that, we would lose out on everlasting life. So any doubts were pushed down deep and we attempted to ignore them. I've seen a bit of panic in the eyes of one person I've tried to talk to. I think it's because, deep down, she has doubts too. Why feel panic if you are fully convinced of something?

Cate