so i missed this letter below being read out last week - i got a look at it from the notice board this week.. from what i heard, this announcement was not received entirely positively as such, but there were apparently one or two for who this is a bit annoying.. staying at hotels for the district convention is nothing new here - many are used to staying at the same hotel/b&b/campsite every year, and get quite friendly with the owners.
but this year, it looks like not only do we have a new location for our district assembly (glasgow - the s.e.c.c.?
) but we are being told what hotel to stay at, supposedly to make things cheaper.. what i can't understand is, if this is really for the benefit of people, why didn't they do this years ago?
They've been doing this in the States for years.
Way back in the '70s you'd submit a rooming request slip, tell how many people were in your party, and the Society sent you the motel name that was selected for you. You didn't even get to choose from a list. You were assigned. Period.
hubby and i (faders) were in the supermarket today.
we had just avoided and completely ignored an elder and his wife when we saw a newly married couple who were both recently disfellowshipped, of course being the rebels we are we made a bee line for them.
the df man was until recently a workmate of my hubby so they quickly got into an animated discussion and i met the new wife who seemed nice but let me know they were getting reinstated asap.
The whole shunning thing is ridiculous. After I DA'd I got a new job in a different town and found to my horror that 3 JWs worked in the same office. Of course, they had to talk to me at work, but one evening I was walking home and passed one of my coworkers on the street. He stiffened up and just walked past me without saying a word.
http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/e1/ws_e_20130315.pdf.
check out the first study article in the march 15th study edition.
it seems they are now stating that if you allow health problems to cause you to miss meetings or become inactive then you are wicked because you refuse to "get up" from being stumbled.
About a year before I DA'd myself I started calling the meetings the "beatings." This is a perfect example.
Remember that recurring example, usually in the Kingdom Ministry, about the sister with an unbelieving husband, 6 children under the age of 10, a full-time job, and a wooden leg who still managed to auxiliary pioneer every month? Guilt and shame. Perfect motivators.
so obviously as a recently parting jw, i've never had the hastle, the annoyance or the joy of experiencing christmas.
this year in our office was the first time that we did a secret santa, so i would joke with a few of the people looking for advice because i had never really celebrated christmas.
it was kind of a fun running joke for the past month or two, as they laughed and pitied over my past with me, which they pried about and i explained.
That is the best story! Thank you so much for sharing it. I remember what a shock it was for me to find that "worldly" people were actually kinder and more loving than most JWs.
or maybe that should be "nightmare" - not dream.. it happens less and less, but still does now and again after 10 years.
it's always associated with a great feeling of dread and going from door to door knowing you do not believe what you are saying (i should point out that, while i was in it, i pretty much did believe it).. i guess it shows how big a part of our lives it once was - a bit like you often dream of being in school or of long-departed relatives..
All the time, and I've been out for 8 years. I have meeting and assembly dreams too. I'm always unhappy in these dreams and want to get out.
i happened to come across this case today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wooley_v._maynard.
"george maynard and his wife, followers of the jehovah's witnesses faith, viewed the motto as repugnant to their moral, religious, and political beliefs, and for this reason they covered up the motto [live free or die] on the license plates of their jointly owned family automobiles.".
it appears this guy kept getting fined by the local cops for covering up the license plate motto!
I was a JW living in Maine at the time. It was on the TV news. The guy was a whack-a-doodle.
My father had a vanity license plate with "YHWH" on it. I thought that was pretty whack-a-doodle too, but we were new then.
i know this might sound silly but field service did provide a strange type of good feelings after i was done.
i called this the "halo-effect" because i felt so "righteous, obedient and good" for taking the weirdos or "the friends" in my station wagon.
vans and station wagon owners in the congregations often get used hard, pile up seven whacks and your off!
When I wasn't pioneering I'd always feel a huge sense of relief when we finished up.
When I was pioneering I spent my days driving around a car full of elderly people who sniped at each other, complained about their aches and pains, told the same stories over and over, and generally drove me nuts. I'd go home and cry.
greetings to you all from scotland!
it's nice to finally be able to say hello to you all, having been a long time reader of the forum.. i put off signing up as i didn't feel i had much to contribute, but if i'm honest, seeing atlantis' post about confidential information pushed me into it.. i hope i can get round to writing my story - i always enjoy reading others and it never ceases to amaze me how many have had similar experiences.. so there goes my first post!.
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Welcome 88JM! Reporting in from Charlotte, North Carolina. Looking forward to reading your story!
notwithstanding the presence of sincere, honest, trusting, hardworking individuals, the overall effect of the org has cast a pall over many lifes.
which one of the above will cause the more damage and damage to them and inflicted by whom?.
If the R&F found out about the pedophilia issue and how much of their hard-earned donations are flying out the window to cover the Society's a$$, I think they'd lose quite a few publishers.
good morning all,.
i have had the opportunity over the last couple of years to speak with a couple of jw's who had either attended the same congregation i did or were married to someone who to the same one.
for the record, i disassociated myself in 1992 due to being followed around by an elder or two who had heard that i had ray franz's "crisis of conscience" in my possession.
That I had left to follow a pop star whose music I liked. 
Really, you'd think they could have come up with something better than that.
