First contact with JW's at age 9. My dad's boss was a JW. He and his wife had a Bible study with us. After my dad got a new job (when I was about 12-13), he discontinued the studies. When I was 15, my dad had some kind of (probably drug-induced)hallucination that he had participated in the heavenly judgment of his friend who died in a coal mine cave-in. Did I mention that my family was crazy? As a result, he felt like we should attend the Baptist Church near our house. The church brought in an evangelist, Jack Van Impe, to conduct a revival. Mr. Van Impe preached against JW's, which made me (did I mention I was stupid?) think the JW's must be "right" because they seemed a threat to this obviously wealthy and influential evangelist. Being a JW actually made my life better initially. My parents were physically and psychologically abusive, addicted, and crazy. Whenever I was at the meetings and in field service, I was away from them experiencing love bombing. Eventually, I was baptized, the love bombing stopped, I married and elder and had an insider's view of the borg. It was not pretty. I had to get out. I did.