by lola28 25 Replies latest jw friends
Be honest, Dont lie, Just BE HONEST. If you dont belive then LEAVE. You are putting more pressure and anxiety on yourself then you should. JUST BE HONEST.
If you dont like something then walk away. If you are doing it for your parents your not living your own life.
Its your life you pay the consequenses of your choices.
LIVE
hi lola,
i feel for you. when i was an active witness...i always said "yes" before i thought about what i was being asked to do.
one thing i would never do...and everyone knew this is take the first door. i just couldn't, i had to get it together and could do the next one. some days, if i wasn't really into service...i would ask the sister if she would mind taking the next door as well. if i was lucky she wouldn't mind and we'd get lots of not-at-homes or i'd have her take most of the doors.
street witnessing isn't so bad. if you really don't want to get out of it then see how much you can get away with. don't talk to anyone if you can help it. if you do talk to someone just ask them how they're doing...comment on the weather or the landscaping, something very neutral and then wish them a great day. leave as many magazines in one place as you can. 10 on this washer, 10 on that dryer. you'll be out of literature in no time! then complain that you're real hungry and need to take a coffee break or really have to use the ladies room. sprinkle the morning with comments on how bad your menstrual cramps are today and how heavy your "flow" is. that will give you an excuse to go home early.
or...if all else fails...call up another sister in the hall that you think may be easily persuaded and tell her that you agreed to go in service with this sister but something came up. ask this sister you call if she could please, please take your place. if she says yes, call the first sister and tell her you just can't make it...but, another sister can.
if you want to fade right just start complaining to everyone that you don't feel well. you're tired and just don't have any energry. everyone will be happy to offer you advice or tell you how bad they feel. they won't question you missing so many meetings if they make up their mind you have something wrong with you.
i dunno, just my 2 cents.
Ms. Whip....great advice. Sounds like you've been there done that. WELCOME.
Best Wishes Lola....I'm sure you'll come up with a suitable solution.
They don't do street work in my area at all. We don't have a lot of foot traffic. Everyone drives themselves back & forth to work and the 9-to-5 is spread out across a large region.
The only preachers on the street are downtown (mid-sized city) at lunch time on weekdays, and they are of the rabid, psychotic, born again, you're-gonna-die-if-you-don't-accept-jesus-as-your-savior-this-very-minute-because-my-giant-sign-says-so variety.
Doing street work at five and six in the morning is not uncommon in my area I always thought that most congregations had people going out at those times. Is this abnormal in other parts of the country?
Lola, I grew up in Hawaii, where there was tons of foot traffic down in the Waikiki area. Starting street work at 5 or 6 am was the norm for us there. (Most tourist mainlanders were two hours ahead of Hawaii on their biological clock, so many tourists were awake and about at 5 or 6 am - taking walks on the beach, going to the market, etc.) But then again, Hawaii has always been the JW state to kinda do whatever they want. I remember weekly parties at the parks, playing volleyball, basketball, eating, etc and the elders endorsed it. We never had the "local needs" talks about gatherings like other congregations do. I moved from there to Kansas and immediately noticed a difference. If someone had more than 5 people at their house for dinner or *gasp* drinks, then there was a local needs talk. Stupid control freak elders.
Honestly, I think if we hadn't moved from Hawaii, I'd still be a JW. Life as a JW there was great!
Hi Lola,
The watchtower teaches that some people do not deserve the truth. I guess they would know.
Whatever you do, don't buy a cooked chicken from your local supermarket and come down with food poisoning with vomiting and explosive diarrhea - that would be awful, even though it usually does not reuire a trip to the emergency room or doctor's office, (where it would be documented) it is widely known to be temporarily incapacitating.
If that did happen, I'm sure the sister would understand.
