We used to go downtown and stand on the street corners at 7AM for 2 hours, then go for coffee and then D2D to another 2 hours - effectively counting 5 hours in FS. That's how I got my time in....no one really talked to us standing there on the corner holding up the magazines. Often we would get the smiles and eye rolling while the crazy evangelist preacher on the opposite corner was yelling "Let me tell you about what Jeeesuus did"!
Witnessing Just After Sunrise
by Iamallcool 11 Replies latest jw friends
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Moster
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freddo
In my pre-cart "lead from the front" elder days a group of us would do "street work" on a Saturday morning once a month. This gave us five hours on our reports (although that was never mentioned) and this what we would do.
Meet at 7 am about two miles from the town/city centre and walk down a bus route through shops to said centre of town. On the way into town you might find one or two stood at a bus stop and you might hand them a "panda" tract (remember them?). A baker or a newsagent would be open and so you'd leave a tract and maybe buy some confectionery or a doughnut.
You might encounter delivery drivers and one or two folk walking along and so (of course) you hand them a tract.
By about 8 o'clock you go into a local cafe for a coffee for about half an hour or more and then walk back up through the route you came down engaging with (different) people on the bus stops etc. You'd get to your car by about 9.15 and drive to either the KH or a group for "field service" at about 9.45 and leave there about half an hour later to go to the "territory" at about 10.30 am. Then you would "work" on first call until about 11 am or 11.15 and go for "coffee" at a local sister's house and then do a RV and leave "the territory" about 12.15.
So from 7.00 to 12.15 less fifteen minutes for the "official group" (can't count that!) is five hours "ministry".
Reality is that you spent half to three-quarters of an hour in the coffee shop in the town centre. Similar at the "group", three quarters of an hour at the "coffee stop". Probably half an hour walking through town speaking to no-one. Half an hour driving. (Telling yourself "Jehovah isn't up there with a stopwatch."
So out of 5 hours reported we spent about 2 hours actually available to talk to someone other than our ministry partners.
A complete and utter farce only matched by standing next to a trolley being even less productive! But it got our monthly "hours" into the double figures (safe) zone for when the C.O. came a-calling.