Mrs. OTWO and I visited her family recently. Mrs. OTWO's sister is DF'ed for over 13 years now.
During the entire time, Mrs. OTWO has honored the WTS's rule to shun her sister, but has only
talked to her to arrange for her child to visit us. To be fair, I have not gone out of my way to talk
to her sister during that time, but I was less insistant on avoiding her at all times.
Anyway, we were visiting Mrs. OTWO's family. Her sister was out of town with her aunt and
cousins. The aunt is JW. They were all visiting the aunt's daughter (my wife's first cousin) who
had just had a baby. The one who just had a baby was DF'ed awhile back.
So I say to Mrs. OTWO- "Your entire family except you does not shun your sister, correct?"
Mrs. OTWO: "Well, my family are not baptized Witnesses.."
OTWO: "Your aunt is a JW."
Mrs. OTWO: "Yes, she watches my sister's child regularly."
OTWO: "She is traveling with your sister right now. So she isn't shunning her. Your aunt is
also not shunning her own DF'ed daughter."
Mrs. OTWO: "She is visiting to see the new baby."
OTWO: "You can try to make all the excuses you want, but your entire family is not shunning
your sister or your cousin. They are being normal humans showing kindness to them."
Anyway, this all sank in to Mrs. OTWO's mind. Her aunt and her sister got back into town while
we were still visiting. I immediately showed some boldness and spoke to Mrs. OTWO's sister as if
she was a normal accepted part of the family. Mrs. OTWO followed suit and did the same. She
spoke to her sister. It gets even better. Mrs. OTWO's sister was served food and Mrs. OTWO sat
next to her. I was totally surprised. She's been shunning her sister for 13 years, and is now sitting
down at a table next to her.
I asked Mrs. OTWO if she wanted a plate of food. She made some excuse about waiting until later.
I could tell that it was an excuse to avoid actually eating "with" her sister. I understood, but this was
still a remarkable day to me.
Mrs. OTWO's sister seemed at first to try to honor the JW shunning and didn't try to have conversation
with me or her sister. But after a bit of time, it was obvious that she enjoyed talking with her sister.
I don't expect her to start regular correspondence. She will probably feel bad about it, but I think
Mrs. OTWO will talk to her sister again. She got her cell phone number- to arrange for visiting with
the child, but maybe for more.
Anyway, this was great news to me, I thought I would share it.