Are there any former missionaries here?

by Newborn 24 Replies latest jw friends

  • Newborn
    Newborn

    Not sure I've ever read any experiences from former missionaries here (but I'm sure there has been)

    But it would be very interesting to know how you feel about it today. Everything you sacrificed. Moving far away. Learn a new language and different culture. Life in the missionary homes etc etc.

    What was it that made you leave?

    I used to have a close friend who is a missionary in Tanzania with her husband. She always told me that she wanted to come home and that she longed for children. She was over 40 then...I felt so sorry for her coz her husband decided that they should stay in Africa Horrible I think! I often think abt her and hope she's happy...

    Hope you write! Thanks
    Newborn

  • leavingwt
  • james_woods
    james_woods

    I knew a couple who went into missionary work back in the early 1970s. They were sent to a city in South America which was at a very high altitude. They hated the missionary work after they got there, and decided to have a baby to exit the service.

    The baby was tragically born with nerve system defects that prevented it from being able to walk or talk up until it was about 2 or 3 years old.

    I do not know if they stayed with the witnesses or if the baby ever recovered.

    I got the impression that third-world missionary work is a pretty hard trail to ride if you are not being fast-tracked into a brand or zone overseer.

  • not sure yet
    not sure yet

    I was a missionary, I wrote a small part of my story...but I can't find it back here on the site. Who are those missionary friends in Tanzania maybe I know them too...

  • palmtree67
    palmtree67

    I think Belbab was a missionary in Pakistan.

    He's a fascinating fellow.

  • Heartofaboy
    Heartofaboy

    Ex missionaries.......... It would be fascinating to hear of your reasons for leaving the control of the borg

    or some of your experiences of Gilead school & in your assignment country.

  • jam
    jam

    I wasn,t assign as A missionary buy the borg. but serve In Belize

    for over A year. We believe it was A good opportunity for our

    two Kids to have the experience of living in A foreign country.

    We knew all the missionaries. Of all the missionaries that was

    assign there, only one have remain. A nice couple , they are

    in their 50,s now.What will happen if he decide to return to

    the states, he have been in the work since he was in his 20,s,

    no retirement. We were there around 1974.

  • not sure yet
    not sure yet

    Missionaries on this site are very few so that makes it tricky for us to tell our story without giving away our identity. maybe someone can help us out and think of a safe way to share.

  • dgp
    dgp

    Sorry for my ignorance on this matter, but, is someone who moves to a different country always a missionary?

  • belbab
    belbab

    As Palmtree mentioned above, I was sent to Pakistan as a missionary in 1960. A missionary in the WT is someone who has gone through Gilead School. Nathan Homer Knorr told our Gilead class, "Go to your assignments and die there if necessary." I have written this on this board several years ago.

    I got sick in Pakistan, the first week I was there I got a fever of 104 fahrenheit. I was sick all that summer. High summer temperatures, very poor living conditions. When the zone servant (Jones ?) came after about four months he didn't believe I was sick, and gave a bad report back to Brooklyn. I was given a notice to leave the missionary home immediately, and removed of all my servants position and speaking privileges. I stayed on in Pakistan for about a year after that, on the shit list. I finally borrowed some money from members of my old congregation in Quebec City, Canada and came back.

    I learnt later that when they send missionaries to a foreign country, the Society has to give the goverments a guarantee that they will pay expenses for the person to leave, if they get into difficulty such as sickness etc. Fat chance.

    My experiences in Pakistan were so bad, I do not want to talk about it even to this day.

    belbab

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit