My story (very long) (page 3)

reneeisorym

I have heard that song, "Who am I?" It makes me cry just about every time. I also like history by Matthew West.

Thanks for all of your compliments. I am having a hard time right now and that was very healing for me. I found a camera in a box I was cleaning out and I got it developed and they were pictures of my family and us acting goofy and my dad making funny faces in the camera and taking a picture of himself... gave me tears.

Then.. I think about how limited I felt while inside. I enjoy freedom so much that just that alone is worth being out. I'm not thinking of going back -- you just sometimes get caught up in memories and wonder just for a moment if you did the right thing. (Of course, my conclusion is always that it was worth it) I wouldn't be human if I didn't miss my parents.

Let me explain about the Katrina thing. They probably worked out the loopholes.

I was living freely in my grandma's house. They came around (the society) and were going to help do some work for the brothers and sisters. A requirement was that you own the ho use. They "wouldnt do work on the brother's rental property". They almost didn't fix mine because of me "renting" the house. I agrued until I was blue in the face that it wasn't fair that they didn't fix mine. After all, my grandmother was doing a sister a favor by letting her live there for free and to top the cake, THERE WAS NO INSURANCE ON THE HOUSE. Other brothers and sisters who had insurance could get work done on theirs. Well ... they finally did it.. The elders told me that I should donate for the labor. The $ that they gave me on a piece of paper I signed was for the materials. I bet the paper's purpose was to show that they were only asking for money to reimburse them for the materials. The society made a killing off of the Katrina disaster. The spoken word was that you should give what you would normally give any repairmen to them so that way the society could benefit instead of other construction workers. The labor of course was free to them and they had volunteers. But they took the whole money from what it would have cost anyone.

Abandoned

Renee,

I don't have any family in "the truth" so I can't sympathise with you on that, but I do know what it's like to second-guess yourself. Keep going, though, and eventually you'll the disconnect. It takes awhile to get all of the brainwashing and indoctrination out of your system. It takes a while to get their demand for respect out of your thoughts.

I know you can do it though.

fullofdoubtnow

Hi Renee,

I enjoyed your story, thanks for sharing it. I wouldn't have paid the $12000 though, I think it was very cheeky of them to ask.

love

Linda

drew sagan

What a story!

I am in total shock about the money, that is crazy. You have got to be the scum of the earth to demand money and then punish a person like that. No compassion at all.

I'm so glad you have been able to move beyond it and grown in your faith. As time passes more will happen, you just never know what fully awaits you.

Thanks for sharing.

reneeisorym

I wonder if I can claim the money as a tax deduction this year? I should scan the copy of the receipt they giave me. It says contribution to the world wide work at the top and then in the bottom it says "Home Repairs (Roof)" I was under the impression that I couldn't file it as a gift because it wasn't a gift--it was payment for services offered. But either I'm claiming it for a gift to charity or the society is going to pay taxes on it one!! Renee

uninformed

It was a donation.

What would be good to do would be to contact the IRS about the entire matter and then go to all of the people that you know that signed over their insurance checks to the WT for the free labor that they got.

I'll just betcha' that there is some serious fraud going on here!

I know we have some smart folks on the DB. Can we have some help here?

Brant

Renee, if no one responds to this, would you be ok if I started a new thread with your last post as the topic?

Brant

BabaYaga

The plot thickens.

I like the way this is headed. That whole demanding you write a check bit was WRONG on all levels. Not only was it petty, I completely believe it was illegal. Let's keep this going.

Baba.

VanillaMocha73

It would be a donation. I found out what they were doing with Katrina and that was just plain WRONG!

Anybody see the Awake article that was soundly condemning some Christian church for selling loaves of bread that were donated? Well, I don't see the difference here. We all donated our money and time and vacation to help and the Society took all the insurance monies on top of all the donations. They truly did make a Killing - in more ways than one.

Congrats on finding Christ. Isn't it wonderful?

AK - Jeff

Thanx renee for sharing that.

I agree with the other posters - I think the State Attorney General would be very interested in the strong-armed method used to extort 1200 dollars from you. Short of that - perhaps the local papers would want to know about this personal interest item?

You are doing well - and it is good to see your life story here - it may help others, especially 'lurkers'.

Jeff

Junction-Guy

I used to live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I went back for a brief visit (about 5 hours) I drove down Hwy 90. I couldnt believe the amount of devastation there still. I drove from Biloxi to the Bay St.Louis bridge and turned around (road closed), there was only 2 restaurants on the 26 mile strip. That hurricane decimated the coast. It really is a shame, what a rotten greedy organization the WT Society is.

Contact your local newspapers and tip them off on this scandal. Call your Senators and Congressman, Call the IRS. Dont let them get by with this.

Dave

My story (very long)

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