Treating the pioneers "Just So."

by LDH 95 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LDH

  I was reading JJrizo's thread about Elders who take advantage of the KH, and I had a memory I'd like to share.

  All my life growing up I had heard about how "jehovah takes care of those who put Kingdom interests first." And all of those experiences on the platform about getting an envelope "with the exact rent amount due the day before we were to be evicted" and so on.

  I'm sure you remember them.

  When I was regular pioneering (for almost four years) I thought for sure the congregation would be generous with me. I didn't necessarily *need* anything, but surely Jehovah would let me see how much the congregation "appreciated my efforts."

  These are the two items I received for four years of free labor:

  1. A pair of pantyhose

  2. A five-dollar bill

  Both items came from an elderly white sister,(husband not a JW), who I used to visit frequently. It was her "widow's mite."

  I NEVER recieved anything else.

  Therefore, after my first year of regular pioneering, I stopped putting money in the contribution box.

  Lisa
• 

  zev

  thanks lisa for sharing this with us.

  yes, i do remember the "experiences" related to us just like you said.

  i was never a "regular" pioneer, much less regular in anything else! but years ago, shortly after the "donation" arraingement, i quit contributing towards anything at all. thereafter when my former wife would "contribute" i used to resent the fact that my hard earned money was being dropped into the kh box without my consent or appoval.

  i guess i have allot of resentment about "them" deep down inside.
• 

  SYN

  Ah, all that money that my family put in "The Box" when they could have used it to, for instance, buy clothes and food! We were pretty hard up!
• 

  Mister Biggs

  Another thought, Lisa...

  Why was (is) it that, when one WASN'T (isn't) a pioneer, and they bought a new house or a new car, they were being "materialistic"?

  Ah...but when a pioneer buys those same things, they are being blessed by Jehovah???
• 

  LB

  The one thing a pioneer should never expect is help. Not gonna happen very often. I've heard witnesses say that a couple of our pioneers need to get jobs instead of leaching free meals all the time.

  I also recall the CO visiting and telling the congregation that he doesn't need any more ties or shirts that he had plenty. If anyone wanted to give something to give money. That made me feel very warm and fuzzy. He didn't accept visa though.
• 

  Billygoat

  When I was a child, my parents owned their own advertising business. The business "owned" two Honda Civics, which we drove as a family. We also had built a nice HUD home - 3 bedroom, one bath, two car garage - in a decent part of town. Dad worked about 75+ hours a week (he was NEVER home) and Mom worked 30+ hours a week AND regular pioneered AND took care of three children, two of them under 5.

  Because we had a nice home that wasn't in the ghetto and because we drove two new "company" cars, we were considered materialistic. Little did the brothers and sisters know that our parents were feeding us off WIC and some company money. With JWs it's never about reality - it's always about how things look.
• 

  Incense_and_Peppermints

  you couldn't pay me to pioneer. those pantyhose would be the final insult.

  seriously, though, that sucks. i always thought females, no matter what they did, were looked upon with disdain, simply because they were female. but in the kh i went to, the pioneering sisters were looked up to moreso than "regular" sisters. everyone just assumed they were "spiritually stronger" than your "average" sister. but i never envied them. i hated going door-to-door anyway. one time i was with this really huge kid who stuttered. anyway, it was my first time going out, so he said let me do the talking. we walked up to this house and the window was open, and we could hear some little mmm's coming from inside. he rang the doorbell and no one answered. then he started to knock on the door. i said maybe we should go and he said no and kept knocking and this man comes to the door with his shirt open and lipstick all over his face and the kid started stammering and the guy just slammed the door in his face. after that i dreaded it. they told us how awful these people were, then we had to go ring their doorbells, yikes. anyway, my sister told me she went to south dakota for a year and hated it. but in the same breath she said she was 'happy to be serving jehovah that way". riiiight.

  i didn't pioneer, but i knew a girl who did. her whole family was really admired and looked up to. they all fell away, and i was shocked to learn recently that they had all become apostates (except the mom). you'd think they'd start examining what's wrong with themselves when people like that fall away...

  anyway it's funny what comes to mind when i read these posts. i remember a lot of stuff, little things that happened at the kh, or the ways kids would get around the "no petting" rules at parties. once i was at a party at a guy's house and the played "pass the orange", and you would line up boy/girl/boy/girl and pass the orange between partners using your chin. my sister was a real shrew and watched me like a hawk and went to every single (rare) party with me, so i never even got to do that.
• 

  IslandWoman

  Lisa,

  I didn't necessarily *need* anything, but surely Jehovah would let me see how much the congregation "appreciated my efforts."

  If you didn't need anything why did you hope the congregation would offer you financial help?

  IW
• 

  Southland

  Wow ...

  two Honda Civics ... because we drove two new "company" cars we were considered materialistic

  Honda Civics don't strike me as materialistic at all ... Lexus, Cadillac, Mercedes, sure, but not Honda Civics. Gee, they're not even Honda Accords which also would not be considered materialistic by me.
• 

  Billygoat

  Southland,

  I agree. Hondas = materialism? It's funny now that I think about it. But in the congregation we lived in, the majority of the bros. and sis. lived in ramshackle homes or trailers. Cars consisted of souped up old pieces of crap. JUST the fact that our cars (albeit it modest) were NEW was enough to get the gossipmongers fueled. Very sad.

  Andi