i am wondering how much the bethel "allowance" is now?
it used to be $14!
is it true they really sign a vow of proverty now?
Greetings, Esse quam videri:
What great posts! Many thanks!
When I was a kid, in the '50s, we went to the five and dime and bought a ton of stuff with the four bits (fifty cents) Gramps gave us. And a dollar?
Would need a grocery cart.
I visit the Dollar Tree, which has lots of food for . . . you guessed it! One dollar an item. I bought meat for a week for $6.00!
CC
i am wondering how much the bethel "allowance" is now?
it used to be $14!
is it true they really sign a vow of proverty now?
GrreatTeacher:
Yes, that was the belief that sustained me since early childhood. I am now attempting to distinguish between what is reality, what is natural, and what is fantasy, supernatural. I doubt I'll ever succeed totally.
What matters, I guess, is that somehow or other we get by, but then there's the question of those true believers who do not get by, whose prayers are not answered.
I have no clue at this point in my life what's truly going on or what really happened.
THANKS!
CC
i am wondering how much the bethel "allowance" is now?
it used to be $14!
is it true they really sign a vow of proverty now?
Hi, James Mixon:
Thanks for your question.
My family was poor but scraped cash together to fly me from Brooklyn to San Francisco every summer. My better off non-JW g'parents helped. Otherwise, I don't know, other than my well-worn mantra, "Jehovah will provide."
I do recall, as mentioned on this forum once before, that I was asked to show a French brother around the city in my spare time (?!?!?!?!?) and used precious cash doing so. I wondered to myself, just before he left, "Where am I going to get $4 to get through the month?"
Well, as we bade each other a fond farewell on the platform, "Pierre" opened his wallet and remarked in French, "I won't be needing this anymore." He handed me four one-dollar bills.
Sounds corny now, but that was how I got by, over and over again!
Best.
CC
i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.
i posted my sad status on facebook.
guess who saw it?
Thanks, Terry, for your reply regarding the old way of doing things.
I was waxing nostalgic for the era that you and I had, at one time, both inhabited. Rarely do I put pen to paper anymore. I inherited a fine hand from Dad, but -- mais alors! -- it has become dextrally painful if pursued at length.
Pecking away at my hand-me-down Dell and Apple laptops suits me fine. I'm happy you have speedy, up-to-the-minute technology now. As a result, you shall become all the more fecund in your output. Not to intimate, however, that you have been a slacker when it comes to flooding the stacks with your MSS.
I had forgotten about animadversions; thanks for the reminder that a two-bit word, however deprecated, is always de rigueur . . .
CoCo
i am wondering how much the bethel "allowance" is now?
it used to be $14!
is it true they really sign a vow of proverty now?
In the early '70s my confreres and I received $14 a month, in addition to $6 travel allowance.
The majority of that cash went to buy subway tokens for all the meetings we attended, as well as Saturday and Sunday in service. It seems that we were out every night of the week, too. Meetings, service, shepherding, etc.
CC
i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.
i posted my sad status on facebook.
guess who saw it?
Wonderful, Terry, but what about your drawing deeply from the writer's inkwell, as pen goes to parchment?
CC
this is a legitimate question.
did any of us ever find real joy in being at the meetings?
did any of us ever finish a meeting and think "i feel so enriched"?
I have been a note taker since childhood and found that note taking during meetings was especially helpful during my last days in the KH. Kept me busy and non-thinking, for the most part. I liked to write down the speaker's unusual and/or incorrect word choices and phrasing, just because I'm wired to note oddities. I was never rude and laughed (out loud).
Originally, however, I did like meetings. I felt my comments -- hand always up -- would help to strengthen my brothers and sisters for the tough times ahead. When I was deemed an apostate, the WT conductor refused to call on me, even if my hand was the only one up. Later, when I had a beard and long hair, a new WT conductor asked me before meeting to raise my hand high so he could see it and call on me.
Go figure . . .
CoCo
i have been reading john bechtel's blog.
someone provided a link recently and it is brilliant.
anyone that enjoys personal experiences including bethel tales will love this.
John, Dom and I were together in the French congregation, but earlier than referred to here. I had already left. We were on the ground floor of the "French Work." It was a joy working with the loving and lovable Haitians.
Our weekends (once off work at noon on Saturday) were spent in the field and doing meetings. Our school and service meeting were Saturday night (we shared the Manhattan upstairs room with 3 other congregations), we returned home around midnight, got up early Sunday morning to spend the day in field service, took luncheon with the dear and generous Haitian friends (who stuffed us), then went to Sunday meeting at 4:00 p.m. and tried to stay awake.
After we cleaned up our rented meeting room, we took the subway home and arrived back to Bethel around 7:30 p.m. It was like this every weekend. It was fun but this nonstop routine eventually exhausted even the strongest of us.
I wouldn't have traded the above for anything. It made the NY experience bearable. Sadly, the physical and mental strain of meeting prep (We delivered all parts in French, of course.), travel, and helping the friends with their personal problems took its toll.
God, it was a blast!
CoCo
thanks to the searcher and diogenesister i've come up with this topic.
far from the madding crowd.
my situation since i've become inactive.
thanks to the searcher and diogenesister i've come up with this topic.
far from the madding crowd.
my situation since i've become inactive.
Brooklyn Has Fallen
(after Olympus Has Fallen)
