by fulano 30 Replies latest jw experiences
Perhaps not a topic for everybody..
Mine.. in both sp service in a foreign field in Europe , the freedom and helping people to read and write in Spanish . Doing a lot of work in the congregations.
In missionary-service.. helping congregations in a third-world country and see good results in family relations. And the siestas from 13:00 to 15:00....
Who has good memories of bethel? ... I dont :):)
My memories of full-time service are horrible. Regular pioneered in the U.S. for a long time. It was sheer misery. The only good thing is the feeling that I had the truth and was doing "the most important work on earth" (and now that feeling is gone). I really cared; that's one reason it was so hard on me. I really believed that lives were at stake. I put my all into it.
Another reason it was so hard on me had to do with other JWs. My wife and I did most of the hard, dirty work. We did most of the driving and navigating. We had to tell everybody every step to take; nobody wanted to put forth effort. JWs who didn't have any time for the month would, on the last day of the month, go out in service and pile in our car and tag along just to get time. We hated the spring when it was auxiliary pioneer season because the aux pioneers would pile in our car (sometimes "cars" when we both drove) and talk and laugh and not pay attention while we did all the hard part.
I have awful memories.
My most enduring memory of five years of pioneering is of being constantly hungry. I was stupid enough to actually believe that if you put the kingdom first etc etc.
I grew up poor and naive. I left home at 18 and like the good jw my momma raised started pioneering.
I could only hack it for about 2 years. I had trouble making my hours (90) in those days, was always sick because of a gruelling work schedule.
I wasn’t a subsidized pioneer like the ones with wealthy parents. I had to pay my own rent and buy my own car. I got tired of being made fun of because of the neighbourhood I lived in and the shitty car I drove.
A pretty dismal experience
i had 2 goes at pioneering in my teens / early 20's. i had been guilt-trip'd into each time by attending assemblies and listening to the propaganda from the likes of Ron Drage ( DO in the UK ).
after i got married at the age of 20, my involvement with the cult slowly waned, untill i quit when i was 23.
No good memories.
I went out In service as a teen. The feeling of not being enough if I didn’t then the feeling of shame of having to face school mates after the weekend service, they either saw me around town or they saw me at their door. I felt so ashamed and then I felt guilty for it but I felt that I needed to go as my siblings were doing service EVERY weekend.
Was horrible. In those days we needed to ask for a donation for the watchtower and the awake publications. I felt so guilty asking for it.
Didn’t helped me to make friends in school as I was dubbed “she’s a Jehovah’s”.
I was a shy child and very naive.
I had only one friend in school at a time, either primary or high school, the other leftover (like me) that nobody wanted to be seen with. Nonetheless they were true and trustworthy friends.
ULTIMATE AXIOM:
Sorry you were hungry during those years you pioneered.
You can bet your bottom dollar that those who expected YOU to pursue poverty and pioneer have never missed a meal and probably eat quite well.
I never pioneered, I hated service even for the 2 or 4 hours I put in. I feel sorry for you guys who pursued poverty to pioneer.
I pioneered 7 years from late teens to twenties. I never liked preaching, just felt I HAD to do more. Service itself was miserable but I was out there with a bunch of young people my age and enjoyed their company. I hung around for my friends. Once everyone started getting married and moving away, it wasn’t fun at all anymore. Then I got burnt out trying to pioneer and work full-time. I got severely depressed. Took myself to therapy, came out of depression, and quit pioneering. I was so happy to be done!
My main memory was how broke and in debt I was. I recall the number of times my car was used out in field service, and no one helped towards the fule cost of the car. Where I was living at the time was a mostly rural area. I was still living at home with my parents, and how my mom forced me to go out in field service every single day, and how exhausted I was. It never failed on a Thursday I would always fall asleep in the car. Me being a regular pioneer was all my mother's idea, and at the time I just did not know how to tell people NO.
