20 years ago..a talk concerning field service..sisters crying..eyes opened

by confusedjw 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Chia

  I hated service. I lied about my hours constantly. I'm relieved that's over.
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  Sunnygal41

  Has anyone done a thread on witnessing on the holidays? I HATED THAT!!!!!

  Yes, but, don't ask me for a link, as I couldn't help you............maybe Blondie can.........
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  love2Bworldly

  I dreaded Field Service and felt like it was a waste of time. I was extremely introverted and shy, so giving talks and all the other 'requirements' really stressed me out. I started having panic attacks giving talks and out in field service where I would actually hyperventilate and my eyes blacked out for a minute and I would shake. That just contributed even more to my then low self-esteem.

  Do any of you, especially women, now think about how dangerous knocking on strangers' doors are these days? I wouldn't dream of doing it now for anything, or have my female daughters doing something like that.
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  LongHairGal

  On a more uplifting note: there was ONE good thing about field service (besides getting exercise), especially in the spring and summer months - you got the chance to appreciate everybody's flowers, lawns, landscaping, the smell of cut grass, etc.
  
  Because you were walking rather than whizzing by in your car you got the chance to really look at people's property. In some ways, we probably enjoyed the beauty more than the householders did.
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  whyamihere

  Never!

  I only cried once infront of them. However, as I cried I pretty much told them who was right and wrong. Put them in there place and made 2 of them tear up! I don't let anyone bring me down. If they do I will bring them down to a lower level!

  Brooke
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  Chia

  there was ONE good thing about field service (besides getting exercise), especially in the spring and summer months - you got the chance to appreciate everybody's flowers, lawns, landscaping, the smell of cut grass, etc.

  
  Good observation! I had never thought about it that way but you are right. I remember once we went out preaching in this gorgeous neighborhood. The householder's mom had been a Witness. He wasn't interested, but he did give us a grand tour of the house and yard. His yard was so huge, that he gave us a ride on his tractor thingy to show it all to us. His garden was the most beautiful I had ever seen. It blew me away.
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  potleg

  I never really had a problem talking to anyone or striking up a conversation...as long as it wasn't about religion! I never enjoyed field service although I was a pioneer. Toward the end of my JW life I remember being out in service with a brother who was trying to refute the reasoning of the housholder, it occured to me that I agreed with the man we had called on and the witness was just talking nonsense. I couldn't go out "on the work" after that.
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  Netty

  YES, I would have been in tears during this interview too. I absolutley hated field service and had to resort to lying on my field service report just to keep the elders off my case (which apparently isnt so rare). I can sure relate to those who cried. shish! Thank God those days are over.
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  Rod P

  Terry,

  That was a great point! Oh those poor householders. And their eternal salvation depends on the effectiveness of the JW at the door?

  I did field service long before I got baptized. The week after baptism, I went pioneering for a month, being on vacation from my Bank employment. Thoroughly enjoyed talking with all the Mormons and the Mennonites. Maybe I was lucky in that the territories I spent most of my time in were rural folks and farmers, and most of them loved to discuss things. I could usually hold my own with the best of them, but then there were those who really knew their Bibles, and they asked some real stumpers that got me questioning some of the JW teachings. I kind of left them simmering on the back burner of my mind for a period of time, until the day came where I really had to start questioning the whole JW system.

  When I first started having some serious doubts about JW teachings, then I began feeling nervous about going door-to-door. Here I was preaching to people I did not know about the "Truth" which I was less than sure was the "truth". Who am I to convert the world to something I could not totally believe in?

  One of the things that really affected me was the day we went out in field service in a farming community. We came to this one farm in our car pool, and it was my turn to knock on the door (with one companion by my side). This guy loathed JW's; I mean there was a kind of rage emanating from his eyes and disposition. Somewhere in the brief conversation he mentioned "Blood", and I tried to show him the "scriptural basis" for that teaching. He cut the conversation off, but it seemed more from anger than indifference. We walked back to the car, and got in, ready to drive away.

  Then we saw this same guy stomp out of his house, jump into his truck that was parked about 30 feet from where we were. He hastily put his truck in reverse and backed up, as if to turn his truck around to leave. He couldn't get out of there fast enough, or so it seemed. What he did not realize was that his little boy (about 3 or 4 years of age) was playing in the dirt right behind the back wheel of the truck. And, of course, he ran over his own son, as the little boy let out a scream. The farmer jumped out of his truck, picked up his son, jumped back into the truck, and tore off out of the farmyard, tires spinning. I would imagine he was at that point rushing to the nearest hospital.

  After that, I never felt the same about Field Service again. All I could think was that I was a kind of trigger or catalyst in that farmer's mind that put him into an angry state that caused him to furn over his little boy. It haunts me to this day!

  So on Terry's point, what would the great God Jehovah do with the eternal salvation of this man, who was not receptive to my JW message?

  Rod P.
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  Quentin

  Give me a phone or put me in a group of people and I have no problem....Put a peice of paper in front of me or typing on these posts and I go blank.

  Weird huh?.... Tweety

  Not weird at all, I'm the same way.

  Never bothered me much,,,more offten than not found it to be boring, since there was some silly rule about knocking doors by yourself, in order to make more calls in the time spent. Never knew if that was a local rule or came from on high.

  As for others...I've seen people faint from fear when giving a presentation at the MS, or be so overcome in FS they would throw up in a householders flower bed. Sad what some froced themselves to do, just to hawk a few measly mags and cheaply printed books. all in the name of God...what a joke.