by Nosferatu 24 Replies latest jw friends
elders must have gotten an edict from higher up to put controls on this
That's how it was in my congregation, we would have picnics and pool parties than the next year nothing. The CO's visit seemed to always but a damper on any of those activities. I wonder why.....? Most have been a low field service report
I was'nt invited to them....I was told I would be if I got baptised ...........though they would very kindly inform me what was going to happen and where and with whom...then very lovingly let me know how much fun it was and that they wished that I could have been there too...........
Reboot, you just brought back some memories. I remember how the JW kids my age would be at the Kingdom hall, and would be talking about a get-together they had that I wasn't aware of. This really made me feel like an outcast. I'd tell my mother, and she'd get all pissed off, and get the parents of those kids on the phone and bitch them out. Never did any good. My mother told me to try initiating the get-together, and I tried that. Even though I was inviting them to my place for snacks, movies, and whatever, they still had their little get-togethers without me.
There is only one that I remember that I had fun. It was a square dance. I had my eye on the Haggard girls. Struck out though. Ended up with my "first X-wife".
The Weeze
This really brings back memories. I grew up on Long Island, NY, we use to have these great picnics with everyone. We all played ball and had lots of food. It was the only time we felt like everyone else. I even brought a couple of worldly friends once in awhile. My dad was the PO at the time. Then they changed to the elders. The new guy put a total cabash on picnics. (Is that how you spell cabash)? lol pc
I liked to go to them, and had wished there were more. I starved for any attention from peers since I could not hang out with the "worldlies". I always ended up feeling like an outcast though. I was either not "spiritual" enough or not skanky enough for the cool crowd. Eventually, the elders tried to put a stop to any get-together because I think people were having too much fun. Not sure if many go on that much anymore where my parents live...
Some of them were fun. I recall a couple of picnics & hayrides, with some pretty good food & some softball or football games afterwards.
The most interesting get-togethers were the impromptu ones, where I'd show up with a worldly friend or two. We'd get a football game going, and before long a few other kids from high school would be cruising by & they'd join in. Seems like I remember several occasions when my worldly friends would embarrass the hell out of the friends from the hh ... usually by cussing a blue streak whenever a play was not executed correctly.
After I left home at the tenderized age of 15, I didn't get asked to any get-togethers. Parents didn't want me around their kids because I was "rebellious", and I was considered too young to hang out with the adults. When I moved to Maine, this one sister, who frankly was one cool chick most of the time, used to take all the young people in the cong to this little amusement park we have. Everybody around my age got to go, but since I had a job and apartment (instead of high school) I wasn't counted among the other kids. It sucked big-time, because I didn't have a car and hadn't left my small town in ages. I sat at home feeling pretty lonely that day.
Sorry for the sob story. That was one instance that stands out in my memory, but I have good ones, too. This one sister used to go out of her way to include me in activities when I was a kid, took me to all sorts of parties and stuff. (Debbie from Bastrop, if you're reading this: THANK YOU!!!!) And playing Bible charades was actually pretty fun-one of my friends got silly and acted out being a Midianite harlot or something, and vamped it up so much that I almost couldn't breathe from laughing so hard. So, yeah, in all honesty, I had some fun times.
Oh yes those JW slide rule parties were a kick. We really loved doing differential equasions and factoring. One of the fondest memories I have was in the back seat of a 49 Hudson discussing Quantum Physics with sister Samantha Harding. We were really getting into the application of the Dopler Effect when an older brother jealous of me dropped by and swept her away with his Treatise on Parallel Universes. I hated him to the day I was DF'd.
carmel
well I can't find that photo of me at the picnic and my daringly wicked shorts.. you'll just have to imagine.. (they weren't really that bad)
this sister said it offended her to have her husband see so much of my legs....
so the elders came a calling....
I have a memory of a gathering that stands out:
The first one was in Keene, NH a few short months after we arrived in the Congregation. The Congregation was at the park picnicing and everyone decided to play softball. I was able to get past the fact that there were 20 people per side, which made the game endless, what I couldn't take was what happened next:
Exjdub (offering encouragement as opposing team scores run): "It's OK, just one run, we will get it back when we get up!"
Elder Dumbdub (approaches Exjdub from pitcher's mound...Elders always had to pitch...) : "uhhh...brother...we don't keep score."
Exjdub: "hahahahahahah. That's a good one Brother Dumbdub, you almost had me!"
Elder Dumbdub: "I'm serious, we don't keep score."
Exjdub: "What the????? How do you know who wins?? What is the point of the game if you don't keep score?"
Elder Dumbdub: "The society has been very clear about competition and the negative effects of competing...so we don't keep score."
Exjdub: "Elder Dumbdub, I believe what the Society was referring to was...
Elder Dumbdub: "Brother, we are not keeping score and that's all there is to it.
Exjdub (mutters to himself as he quietly exits the field. Heads home, gets his basketball, and proceeds to play ball at the local court with the non-mutant population of the earth ["worldly people"].)
