we have been discussing the special meeting being held in various locations on october 7th.
note, this is the day after the annual meeting, not part of the annual meeting itself.
reports have come in that certain individual congregations have been invited to attend.
Hi Sam! I was going to say that I agree with you...I too thought that the questions were a bit too specific for my liking...oh, wait? Did you hear something?
No, must have just been the wind blowing.
I figure that if you don't feed the trolls, they'll eventually go away :) Don't let the you know whats get ya down.
*hugs*
essie
we have been discussing the special meeting being held in various locations on october 7th.
note, this is the day after the annual meeting, not part of the annual meeting itself.
reports have come in that certain individual congregations have been invited to attend.
Hey outnfree, I know the new color of the tickets. I think the choice is highly ironic.
They're the color of money.
Don't know what shade though!
essie
we have been discussing the special meeting being held in various locations on october 7th.
note, this is the day after the annual meeting, not part of the annual meeting itself.
reports have come in that certain individual congregations have been invited to attend.
To answer Wasasister:
I have two relatives going, one of whom I can probably count on getting a good report from: the other, no way. She'll skew it however she wants to.
I have been told though that a member of the GB is supposed to be in each location. Being that the annual meeting is the day before and the GB dudes are so old, that should be interesting to pull off...
Anyway, I don't know which congregations in my area are invited, except the one that my relatives attend, and I can't post that here due to identification factors.
I too am wondering if this is going to be just another pep rally type of thing or if it's going to be big. Maximus said that it's going to be big, and I have yet to see his predictions be wrong.
Wait and see...and getting out my popcorn. That is what I'm planning.
Hey, anyone who is going...any chance someone could smuggle a micro recorder in their purse/suit pocket? That way someone could put a transcript of the meeting up on the net after its over and then we won't have to over-interpret it...we can just read it?
Just a thought. I'd go and do it myself if I could get in!
Essie
hey all,.
i've been out all day, so i apologize in advance if anyone already posted this info.. one of my jw relatives (whom i happened to see while visiting my dad this afternoon) told my mother that she'd have to "turn in her ticket to the elders to get a replacement.
" from what she said, they've changed the color of the ticket.
Hey all,
I've been out all day, so I apologize in advance if anyone already posted this info.
One of my JW relatives (Whom I happened to see while visiting my Dad this afternoon) told my mother that she'd have to "turn in her ticket to the elders to get a replacement." From what she said, they've changed the color of the ticket. She said "someone got a hold of them...and they had to change them." I translate that as, someone was making counterfeit ones and they found out. *lol*
Like the same person who fabricated the first one couldn't get a hold of the second one, take it to Kinko's Copies or scan it and have more reproductions in five minutes *lol* They are kidding themselves!
I'd like to see how they plan on keeping people who really want to get in out, ticket or no. Most attendants I've seen at assemblies didn't look like they could successfully swat a mosquito let alone stop someone who really wanted to get in.
Just the latest I've heard.
The relative also added "This meeting is different...they definitely want to control who gets in."
Good luck! *lol* Face it, Good ol' Bethel boys, the internet is spreading all your secrets. Better than standing on the rooftop and shouting, that's for sure!
Essie
(who is starting to feel a little like a spy *lol*)
so, how is everyone this fine day!
=;o) i thought i'd stop lurking for ahwile and pop in and say hey!
it's good to see all the different fews and i fondly reconize many names!
Welcome, Nat! Always happy to see a lurker decide to post! :)
Keep talking...just by writing what you have you've already helped many others still lurking, I'm sure of it :)
*hugs*
essie
thank you all for the warm welcome!
it has been so hard living, believeing that i am an anomaly.
i realize that there are others out there who have lived and expierenced what i have.
Hi Cassiline,
Welcome and I totally understand your difficulty in reading COC. Do you know that I was on the internet 4 years...and disfellowshipped 18 months before I finally had the courage to type "Jehovah's Witnesses" into a search engine? I found Freeminds, then H2O, and the rest, as they say, is history for me.
I still had some feeling that the organization was the 'true' religion when I left it, even though I knew it wasn't right for me. After reading COC and all of the info on blood online..etc etc...well I was angry. Very. And I still get that way when I see my ex husband trying to indoctrinate my child. But I try not to let the anger rule my life, because to me that would mean letting them win.
But of course, I am much farther down the road in this journey than you, my dear. There are no 'rules' for recovery. Your emotions will run the gamut, and that is perfectly normal. Just keep talking, keep feeling them, and if (as many do) you ever get scared that you should go back...just keep going forward. That's when you'll see the clouds start to clear.
Sending you all good thoughts. This isn't an easy road, for any of us. But it's so worth taking it.
*hugs*
essie
p.s. *waving* Hi Thirdson, Individual's wife and Individual! Outandfree and Free2bme too :)
please post your experiences here for any lurkers to read.
when i was a teenager, there was a young lady early 20's who had moved into our cong.
she had a newborn son and had just married her worldly boyfriend, the father of the baby.
This is from another thread, "So Sad..." and is re-posted here, in case any lurkers are reading.
Once when I was about four, we were sitting at the bookstudy. It was about to end, the conductor asked if anyone else had any comments to make before the meeting was dismissed with prayer.
I raised my little dimpled hand, innocently thinking that he was asking for comments on anything. He actually called on me, and I said (something to the effect of)
"I just want to say that parents should never hit and spank their children, 'cause it really hurts them."
From the way my mother tells this story (yes, she actually laughs about it!) the flustered conductor simply said "Thank you, that is something important for parents to keep in mind."
My comment was never mentioned at home. My mother never hit me at meetings, I think she was afraid of appearances. At home it was the big plastic Avon hairbrushes, and woooden cooking spoons. My dad just used his hand upside my head.
It's insane, how they rationalize it. My mother says that some parents who twisted hair and ears of their kids at the meetings went too far. But she had no problem, just last week, with lecturing me because I refuse to use physical punishment of any kind on my child. We've done just fine with time outs and other restrictions. I could never inflict physical pain on my own child. And everyone in my family, and my ex's family knows that if anyone ever did 'spank' her, they'd be facing rapid charges of child battery.
And I was one of the lucky ones, I know. I got off easy.
I just cannot, for the life of me, imagine all the adults that heard my remark at the meeting and never asked me, or my parents about it. No one seemed to notice. Or care. If I heard a four year old say something like that, you can bet I wouldn't let it go in one ear and out the other.
Too many bad memories. Takes a lot to get me crying these days. This thread did it.
How can people who treat children so cruelly believe they have the blessing of any higher power?
essie
p.s. more of my experiences are up on the web: http://www.wtsurvivors.homestead.com
imagine this.. a little child,about 3 or 4, sitting there, looking around.... he leans over and sees his shoe is untied, he looks up at his parent who doesn't seem to care much, almost falling asleep, so he leans over and ties it all by himself for the first time!
he smiles proudly and looks up at his parent and tuggs on their shirt.
the parent looks down with anger and pinches the little boy on the arm real hard.
Once when I was about four, we were sitting at the bookstudy. It was about to end, the conductor asked if anyone else had any comments to make before the meeting was dismissed with prayer.
I raised my little dimpled hand, innocently thinking that he was asking for comments on anything. He actually called on me, and I said (something to the effect of)
"I just want to say that parents should never hit and spank their children, 'cause it really hurts them."
From the way my mother tells this story (yes, she actually laughs about it!) the flustered conductor simply said "Thank you, that is something important for parents to keep in mind."
It was never mentioned at home. But see, my mother never hit me at meetings. At home it was the big plastic Avon hairbrushes, and woooden cooking spoons. My dad just used his hand upside my head.
It's insane, how they rationalize it. My mother says that some parents who twisted hair and ears of their kids at the meetings went too far. But she had no problem, just last week, with lecturing me because I refuse to use physical punishment of any kind on my child. We've done just fine with time outs and other restrictions. I could never inflict physical pain on my own child. And everyone in my family, and my ex's family knows that if anyone ever did 'spank' her, they'd be facing rapid charges of child battery.
And I was one of the lucky ones, I know. I got off easy.
I just cannot, for the life of me, imagine all the adults that heard my remark at the meeting and never asked me, or my parents about it. No one seemed to notice. Or care. If I heard a four year old say something like that, you can bet I wouldn't let it go in one ear and out the other.
Too many bad memories. Takes a lot to get me crying these days. This thread did it.
essie
maximus has requested that i post the following, for jayhawk especially, and for others who are the living victims of the tragic act of suicide.. .
while all suicides are devastating tragedies, jw suicides are especially hard to bear, depending on the viewpoint of the survivor.
one person may be shattered, while another merely accepts the possibility of a resurrection of a loved one.
Eusebius,
Thank you for posting this. I would very much like to put it up on the web, with Maximus' permission. I have a couple of essays on JW suicides up on my website already and want to create a sub-section, and this would be perfect to add to it. With appropriate credit, and without editing, of course.
I would e mail this to you personally, but your e mail is locked. Please, when you speak to Maximus, tell him that Esmeralda is worried about him and is available through e mail to offer him support if he needs it. I am imaginging that he is overwhelmed right now. Happens to everyone and he needs to get his strength back to continue the vital work that he has been doing. He is a treasure, to so many of us.
I know how burnout feels. I am sending him all good wishes and lots of love. I hope he finds peace within himself amid all the turmoil around him. Please pass that message on to him?
I appreciate you bringing his post to the forum, and Max, if you're reading this, know that you are loved, and respected.
Esmeralda
dear all,.
it is with much regret that i have decided to leave jw.com.
it is not a decision i have made lightly, in fact i had been thinking about it for many weeks now.. i am leaving because i cannot be a part of a forum that condones abuse and deliberate offensiveness towards other posters.
Dedalus wrote:
[dedalus rolls up his shirt sleeves and glares around menacingly ...] Anyone who bothers you has to answer to me!
Whoa, slow down there Junior! *lol* Nobody lately, little bro, you can put those sleeves back down now :) Just referring to my past experiences on the boards. I laughed when I read your post though, always nice to have someone willing to defend your honor! :) You're a sweetheart. I can't wait for baby pictures. You can bet that little Dedalina's Auntie Essie and Uncle Jack will be sending her some pretty clothes :)
Give my hugs to Foxy and tell baby D that her Auntie loves her already. Love her parents, too :)
Hey, we should talk voice sometime you know? Maybe around the holidays. Would be a great present *hint hint* *lol*
Prisca, if you're still lurking about, I think Dedalus' advice is good. Take a break, get your wind back in your sails, then come back if you like. We'll be around.
*hugs*
essie
