Posts by SnakesInTheTower

77

If You Still "Had" To Go To Meetings What "Disrespectful" Things Might You Do?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i know some who go to meetings because they feel they have to because of family or other considerations.. imagine going to a meeting and having your iphone with you!.

how would it look if you had a watchtower in your hands along with a tv guide?.

think about going to a meeting with strong booze breath.. any other suggestions?

SnakesInTheTower

I used to drink coffee from my travel mug during the meeting for field service at the KH......

.....while I was the elder conducting.

Snakes (Rich )

260

Who Are Your Past Circuit Overseers? It's a small world..

by mentallyfree31 in

who were your past circuit overseers?

i'm sure a lot of us actually know mutual people, as the co's relocate all over the country.. here's a few from the southeast us: (let me know if you recognize any names and post yours too please...).

ellwood johnson (new york/philadelphia area for several years also).

SnakesInTheTower

Andy Cole was full of himself. He got DF reportedly for going after a bible study...LOL. I heard he is now reinstated but, obviously, no longer a PO. I think he attended MTS in St. Louis (not in my class, prior class).

Illingsworth... he was one of my MTS instructors (somewhere I have a pic of him with his feet up on his desk reading SportsIllustrated. (Manera was the other instructor... he wore old out dated suits but had the gall on the last day of class to counsel me on the threadbare nature of mine...hell, I was wearing the same 3 suits 6 days a week for 8 weeks..what did he expect)> Illingsworth was good to me.

Hardesty.... responsible for pressuring the local BOE in Alton, IL to remove me as a MS and Regular Pioneer. He later apologized when he was wrong about me...but refused to get the decision reversed.

Mel Branam... was one of 2 CO's in the country that had a coach bus as their mobile home.... was one of the two instructors in my pioneer school in Springfield, IL back around 1987. I talked to him and his wife at a DC in Kansas a few years ago...he retired (went off the road) as a CO....reports of the stoke were mistaken... stress was causing his troubles...which disappeared when he quit CO. One of the few CO's that I loved as a human being.

Michael Emilio....single Italian CO...was in the first class of MTS (he is in a pic in the Proclaimers book). I got along with him fine and he was likely responsible for breaking the log jam on my MTS application. (local secretary was blocking it with a bad grade on the ap). He served the English circuit in IL 6 before moving on to Italian circuits up the east coast.

Les Bailey...we got along great...but he did not do anything about the problems in the congos...talked a good game.....he went out to Colorado...then got sick or had a heart attack.... heard he was in CA now... not sure if still in circuit work.

Dan Walke....ditto

Bob Hartman.....single CO in Alaska... DO in the states quite a few years later (around 84...I remember because he gave me a HS graduation card).... he used to come to our house on his Mondays off and hang out.

Harley Breneman.... didnt know him well...but a pioneer sister in our congo was sweet on him.

who was the CO that was selling phone service (ACN) that got booted? (I am too lazy to look up my prior posts...good sign that I am forgetting these names)

I will think of more I am sure...

Snakes (Rich )

edited to add...I forgot about Goff...he encouraged me to go to MTS...and Koinjevich (sp?) got tired of seeing me as the only on showing up at the MTS meeting at CAs....

84

Why should I have to sign a letter saying I want to disassociate ?

by troubled mind in

i don't understand why the elders want this letter so badly ....for one i don't remember signing a contract to become a jehovah's witness ,why do i need to resign ?.

also i was baptised in 1978 before the baptism questions changed , i dedicated myself to god not an organization .

my vow was to follow the direction by holy spirit as revealed to me through the bible, not the watchtower ...... if i belonged to the luthern church and quit going after three yrs they drop your name off the member list ........but if i chose to come to easter or christmas service everyonre would still talk to me i just wouldn't be a member any more .. .

SnakesInTheTower

TM...

very sad that those bozos are still bothering you. I wish I were a little closer I would love to talk with you and your hubby. The closest I will be is Bloomington (if all goes as planned) this Sunday. You mentioned "D. Smith" in your post of the letter.... I know I met some of the Geneseo elders at quick builds over the years.

Do you have *58 for your phone? It is "Call Trace". Here is the description from my AT&T services book....

This feature traces an annoying call immediately after it comes in.

1. Hang up after receiving a bothersome call.

2. Wait ten seconds.

3. Pick up the phone and listen for a dial tone.

4. Press *57 and you'll hear a) instructions and a number to call if you want to take legal action. b) If the number can't be traced, you'll hear an error message.

Also get Privacy Manager. Also use Call Screening (*60). With CS you dont even need to know who is calling.. my plan allows up to 10 numbers to be blocked....B L O C K E D ... block the blockheads.

Technology is beautiful (also frustrating for those of us in the collections business....LOL)

Snakes (Rich )

22

As a JW, Did You Skip Houses You Knew Were Not Interested?

by mentallyfree31 in

i have to confess: in my last 3 - 5 years in field circus, i basically only went to neighborhoods that were extrememly poor and thus i knew they would be favorable to the message.

i always had my own territory checked out, and even if an elder suggested i join another group in working another territory, i always had plenty of reasons why i needed to work mine.

(bible study or rv that i had to make at 11 am, etc...blah blah blah..lol).

SnakesInTheTower

i was thorough for years, esp as territory servant ....

.... then I got jaded....and pulled many of the same stunts...also the fake/light knock...fake doorbell ring....hit and run...... making sure that I had an odd number group..me and 4 sisters...then did the "brotherly" thing and "offered" to work alone so the 4 sisters could pair up...then did the curly shuffle...dilly dally, look at the flowers, pet the dogs and cats, talk to people about their gardens and generally let the sisters do the majority of the work...

.... often I would work a few doors...then if it was cold/hot/rainy/snowy/windy/humid/bad dog/bad people/gang violence {j/k}...I would "offer" to get the car so they wouldnt have to walk so far/be exposed to the elements/warm up/cool down/avoid bad dogs/people/gangs.... often keeping the car running so the heat/air conditioning would be on....

I was popular in many circles because I did not push the sisters... I was soooo thoughtful of their needs...lol...if they only knew I was looking out for me and they happened to benefit. though I did really care about the elderly and sickly esp... and really was trying to make the field circus easier...

so stupid in retrospect of course...so pointless.... can you imagine (presuming he existed) Jesus worrying about keeping track of time/return visits/bible studies/magazine/literature placements?

I hated field service...and admitted it from the platform during public talks..... much to the amazement of the audience and shock of elders in congregations I visited...lol...guess that is why I was perceived, correctly, as not conforming very well. I did not play well with others in the sandbox.

Snakes (Rich )

20

What Did You Do With Your WWW Money When You Left?

by mentallyfree31 in

question: when you awakened and discovered the truth about "da troof", what did you do with the www money in your service bag?.

i must confess: i took my apostate brother out to lunch and paid for it with my www stash.

i hadn't deposited my money in a long time, so there was about $30 in there.. .

SnakesInTheTower

it is why the society is selling off properties... their scam of the dubs paying for their literature at the counter on a "voluntary basis" and then offering it to the public the same way and donating that money to the WWW (world wide work) didnt work out so well for them... the society is lucky if the dubs cover the cost of printing, let alone shipping or associated costs of running the "Worldwide" but shrinking organization.

goodie...

Snakes (Rich )

ps... I quit donating for lit as I was awakening and figured they should pay me to take that crap let alone read it... and I never made the donation spiel at the door...the presentations were awkward enough without that pause met by silence when offering the "opportunity" to donate to the worldwide bible education work of jehoovers witlesses. gag...

74

GB closing down and selling Central American Branches to be serviced out of Mexican Branch

by cattails in

the gb is closing down and selling all central american branches.

the congregations are to be serviced out of the mexican branch.. they end the letter by saying that aren't the congregations in the.

central american territory to be expecting great rejoicing since they'll.

SnakesInTheTower

excellent.

dgp:

Not to be mean to anyone, but I don't think the Catholic Church would ever buy a Kingdom Hall. Those are too simple buildings.

no...Catholics wouldn't...but KHs make excellent child care facilities... take out the chairs, wide open space for the kiddies to run... our old KH was converted to a day care and I know of several others too... appropriate since KHs are built to keep adults in a child like mental state...why not just house kids? lol

sacalton...I had forgotten about Anthony's blog about that news....wow was that a year ago? I need to PM him.... how ya doin' Anthony...PM me.

Snakes (Rich )

24

How did you dispose of all those excess magazines?

by chicken little in

we were always told not to throw away literature, so just what did we do with it all?

i know that i would sneak it into the bin for recycling quite regularly.

my parents kept all the magazines for over 20 years in ritz boxes in a cupboard, they all went yellow and smelt wierd.

SnakesInTheTower

I remember one very elderly couple that studied with an older elder in the KH. I always thought it was a mere social call. These people were pack rats. I hesitate to go as far as hoarders. I did not think they were reading the magazines, even though they had subscriptions to both The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. But, how do you prove it without coming right out and asking? Since they were paying for the magazines, no real thought was ever given.

One day I was with the elder on the "study" and the elder asked the couple if they remember a certain article in the WT. Their memories were undoubtedly fuzzy, so the old husband says, "I have that magazine over here in the drawer, let me get it." The man hobbles over to a cabinet, opens a drawer, and inside were literally hundreds of magazines -- with their subscription mailer covers still on them. On the front of each one was neatly printed in shaky handwriting the exact date they receieved said magazine in the mail. It went from the mailbox to the drawer with only a brief stop for notation. Not once in many years had the magazines ever been opened let alone read.

I wonder what the old couple's kids thought when they cleaned out their parents house when they died? Trash bin I presume. This was before recycling was commonplace around here.

Oh yeah... the old couple never became witnesses, the elder stopped the study not long after that and the subscription was never renewed.

Weird where that memory came from.

Snakes (Rich )

54

Has Anyone Gone Back to College Post 40?

by daringhart13 in

jw
friends

i'm admitting to be very pissed off.....and bitter.

i'm sick of having no job security (i know its relative), but mostly because i did not go to college....... has anyone gone back to school post 40?

how was the experience?

SnakesInTheTower

I went back in 2004 at age 37... one of my first classes, and I was an elder when I started college, was a philosophy class in ethics....yeah....that opened my mind wide about the cult I was part of.... opened my mind really really wide....

In the end I earned 2 associates degrees (one in applied science [aka career degree] and one associate in science [transfer degree in business]) and graduated officially last week with honors (a 3.61 GPA) with 130 credit hours. (I should have had a Masters by now....eye roll).

Those degrees and $3 gets me a cup of coffee at Starbucks...but only if I get a regular venti....LOL

Good for you for going back.... my fiancee is going to finish the degree she started...then maybe I can go on to a BS (insert joke here) degree.

Snakes (Rich )

10

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 05-23-10 WT Study (RIGHTEOUS ONES)

by blondie in

jw
friends

comments you will not hear at the 05-23-10 wt study (march 15, 2010, pages 19-23)(righteous ones).

review comments will be in red or headed by comments.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

SnakesInTheTower

blondie...

I am so glad you continue to post these. I am certain that it is helping a lot of current JWs lurking to see the ridiculousness of the teachings.

However, I can only stand to skim things now. I read your commentary and am amazed at your recall... but I find myself caring less and less about all things WT. I stay around the board for (and to provide) support.

Thanks for your hard work. It was a lot of your commentaries in my early days on the board that kept me thinking long enough to get the hell out.

(((blondie)))

Snakes (Rich )

14

Aug 15 2010 WT - 3rd Study Article - Are they Serious!

by Simon Morley in

paragraph 17 states: "how should we respond when rumors about fellow believers are circulated by gods enemies?".

what about: "how we should respond when rumours about fellow believers are circulated by fellow believers?

my family was continually a victim of sewer level slander (not even gossip that resulted in murder - not physical but a character assassination.

SnakesInTheTower

I was the subject of vicious gossip. There was a single pioneer sister who I was good friends with. We never dated, though the subject came up in private conversations and we knew we would never be compatible. I have written about this experience elsewhere on this board, but dont have time to find it. Gossipers ruined our friendship.

That was in 1991. I felt bad for the sister, and there she is years later...and nearly 20 years later....she is probably 50 now....still pioneering, still single....I dont know how she can still be happy. She left the congo in 1991...moved out east (NJ) believe... then back to the midwest to the other side of her old circuit (IL6) and pioneers..... rarely visits her old KH....or her family in their hall nearby... .wonder why....as$wipes.

I wish she would have found her way out.... she had talent that went to waste for the Borg.

turning the other cheek only applies to YOU... never to the gossipers.

Snakes (Rich )