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Post by Learning Patience on Aug 18, 2010 13:11:16 GMT -5
What were some of the ridiculous things that you felt you had to submit to while being a younger companion just starting out in the work? For me, it wasn't too bad. My companions were generally easy to get along with and weren't too controlling. But others that I know, didn't have it so easy.
For me, I irritated one of my companions by causing the turn signal to click when I changed lanes while driving. He suggested, on more then one occasion until I finally got the hang of it, that it was a "soft" turned signal that was designed to be able to signal a lane change without causing it to click. I finally got the hang of it. Another companion got irritated if I didn't top off the gas tank. You know, once the pump clicks off, then keep trying and put more gas in it. Once while I was doing that he got onto me for trying to top it off. When I reminded him that he was the one that had told me to be doing that- then he laughed and said, "You are right" and he had the grace to apologize for not being patient.
Like I said, my companions were great and weren't too controlling- but some of the workers are very controlling and very hard on their younger companions. This is what causes so many nerve problems in the work. Imagine being with an abusive spouse for days on end and being told that if you are unhappy it is because you aren't submitting enough. Nerve problems, indeed.
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Post by ts on Aug 18, 2010 16:34:39 GMT -5
I had a companion that wanted me to help our laundry when the friends offered to do it for us. I was ok with that but found it awkward at times as they didn't want me to and he did. Anyway, I did help and often ironed and hung up my companion's shirts. He one day told me that I was hanging his shirts the wrong direction. He wanted his buttons pointing to the right so that they would all be the same direction in his garment bag. So I would hang them up like he liked. A few weeks later he said, "Hey, you are being rebellious. I told you to hang my shirts with the buttons pointing LEFT." I thought that I had just gotten it confused, so I started hanging the shirts buttons LEFT. Then one day we had both been hanging shirts. I handed him one of his shirts that I had hung buttons LEFT and he got onto me again for being rebellious. I figured by then that he didn't know himself which way he wanted his buttons facing. I reached in the closet to retrieve two of the shirts that he had just hung and the buttons were facing opposite directions. He was speechless. I was pretty angry and told him so. He apologized but I told him, "that is fine that you apologize, but what about the future? Where is my recourse when you accuse me of being spiritually wrong and threaten to take me to the overseer(which he often did)? That was my first year in the work. That experience set the stage for my following years in the work.
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Post by Learning Patience on Aug 18, 2010 21:39:38 GMT -5
I had a companion that wanted me to help our laundry when the friends offered to do it for us. I was ok with that but found it awkward at times as they didn't want me to and he did. Anyway, I did help and often ironed and hung up my companion's shirts. He one day told me that I was hanging his shirts the wrong direction. He wanted his buttons pointing to the right so that they would all be the same direction in his garment bag. So I would hang them up like he liked. A few weeks later he said, "Hey, you are being rebellious. I told you to hang my shirts with the buttons pointing LEFT." I thought that I had just gotten it confused, so I started hanging the shirts buttons LEFT. Then one day we had both been hanging shirts. I handed him one of his shirts that I had hung buttons LEFT and he got onto me again for being rebellious. I figured by then that he didn't know himself which way he wanted his buttons facing. I reached in the closet to retrieve two of the shirts that he had just hung and the buttons were facing opposite directions. He was speechless. I was pretty angry and told him so. He apologized but I told him, "that is fine that you apologize, but what about the future? Where is my recourse when you accuse me of being spiritually wrong and threaten to take me to the overseer(which he often did)? That was my first year in the work. That experience set the stage for my following years in the work. Yikes!
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Post by Alan Vandermyden on Aug 19, 2010 1:50:04 GMT -5
Hey I like this thread!
My first companion let his likes and dislikes - particularly in regard to food - be well-known among the friends, and he informed younger companions of the "dos and don'ts" for them too.
He really got onto me for cracking my knuckles a few times, telling me, "You can't be doing that when we get to special meeting rounds and the sisters are around!"
One thing that always peeved me was that when someone would ask if I liked eggs soft or hard, he would always answer before I could, saying "He likes them any way they come out." Really, if a person asks, it indicates to me they can do them however one prefers, and it helps them to know what you like. Then, if they do come out harder or softer than preferred, no big deal - a person can graciously eat them anyway. It bothered me that he would make such a big deal about his food preferences, to the point of bringing a few items he really liked into the homes until people got the idea. And here I wasn't allowed to say whether I wanted hard or soft-boiled eggs . . .
Really, I did get along well with him, and with other companions too. One older companion had a problem with going on and on about his health, and would end up making absurd demands of his companion and other workers around him (like at preps). I basically "told him off" 3 times that year, and things got better each time, and I seemed to have gained his respect by the end of the year, as he highly complemented me in the worker meeting that year.
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Post by ts on Aug 21, 2010 20:38:32 GMT -5
I had a companion that was hugely overweight and diabetic. He became overseer. The man was a chronic liar. His favorite activities were sleeping(while holding his Bible) for 16 hours a day, inconveniencing the friends, making lists and not bathing. Yes, weeks would go by without him taking a bath such that the dirt would roll off him like a second layer of skin. The bead spreads he would sleep on, because he didn't pull them back when he slept all day, would stain with the grease on him. He would have the friends fix all sorts of special, diabetic things for him then eat all of the other stuff on the table AND go out and get candy bars and ice cream. He loved to get a lot of glory and would preach for an hour and a half at a time. Even on weeknights when the friends had to work the next day. One place we had meetings it was in the summer and there was no airconditioning. It was 100 degrees in the building and he had two massive fans blowing on him and not on anyone else. One lady passed out because he kept going on and on and on. As we were taking her out he waited and said, "It's ok. I saw her having trouble earlier." She was apologizing for the disruption and said she tried to hold on as long as she could. He arranged a baptism in the state during the year. It could have well waited for convention, but he had to do it. So people from all over the state get organized and come together. Before the baptism he downs a twinky and ends up slurring his words during the pre baptism sermon(which he had to cut much shorter than he intended) and then could not stand up in the water and ended up falling on top of a teenage girl he was baptizing. I don't know how legitimate any of those baptisms were. It was all just a farce. Then he had the nerve to say afterwords that he couldn't stand up in the water because his shoes were buoyant(he weighted 350 pounds). But he could speak really smoothly and manipulatively. The friends fell for it hook, line and sinker. He had all the right words and all the right meeting phrases. One of the things that was particularly annoying was the fact that he had been given an inheritance by one of the friends of 30,000 dollars. He had been given that in another state but it stayed with him. If there were something extra that he wanted to buy, like a newspaper or a tool, he would immediately justify his purchase by saying that he was taking the money out of the inheritance that he was given. I knew good and well that he was not deducting anything from that inheritance. If anything, he was adding to it. another thing, he did not know how to use even one tool. Yet, he had a supply of hand tools and power tools that would fill up a whole trunk of a car. Thousands of dollars worth of the best tools. He had a word processor with a pop up screen. He called it his computer. This was during the time when lap tops were just going around among the workers and many of the older ones were against them. This worker would brag to the friends that he worked on his computer but he didn't play games on it. Sounded really sacrificial of him but the fact is that the thing was not capable of playing games. During clean up after convention, he got all of the friends together who had stayed to help clean up and started talking to them about one of his trips to a foreign country. Now, this was after convention where they had already sat for four days of sermons. They had stayed to help clean up so we could get along to the next convention.
I wondered often how in the world this guy ever was promoted to overseer and how it was no one could see through his lies and why no one ever called him on it. People are more ready to believe a lie than the truth.
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dollface
Junior Member
Never dig a hole deeper than you can crawl out of
Posts: 141
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Post by dollface on Sept 5, 2010 15:05:52 GMT -5
People are more ready to believe a lie than the truth.
That seems to be the basis for this particular religion.
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Post by freespirit on Sept 6, 2010 12:56:01 GMT -5
Iron?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I think workers people worry about the stupidest stuff sometimes.
fs
ETA:
Then Jesus said to his disciples: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
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Post by freespirit on Sept 6, 2010 13:14:26 GMT -5
One time we went to help with a convention project. They put me in charge of ironing work shirts for the men. Not Sunday-go-to-church wear... but, you know...the shirts the men were wearing to sweat like animals in 100 degree heat while digging sewer ditches.
We didn't go back. I'm allergic to idiots.
But, dang, those men had nicely ironed shirts. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
fs
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Post by ronhall on Sept 6, 2010 16:15:24 GMT -5
I had a companion that was hugely overweight and diabetic. He became overseer. The man was a chronic liar. His favorite activities were sleeping(while holding his Bible) for 16 hours a day, inconveniencing the friends, making lists and not bathing. Yes, weeks would go by without him taking a bath such that the dirt would roll off him like a second layer of skin. The bead spreads he would sleep on, because he didn't pull them back when he slept all day, would stain with the grease on him. He would have the friends fix all sorts of special, diabetic things for him then eat all of the other stuff on the table AND go out and get candy bars and ice cream. He loved to get a lot of glory and would preach for an hour and a half at a time. Even on weeknights when the friends had to work the next day. One place we had meetings it was in the summer and there was no airconditioning. It was 100 degrees in the building and he had two massive fans blowing on him and not on anyone else. One lady passed out because he kept going on and on and on. As we were taking her out he waited and said, "It's ok. I saw her having trouble earlier." She was apologizing for the disruption and said she tried to hold on as long as she could. He arranged a baptism in the state during the year. It could have well waited for convention, but he had to do it. So people from all over the state get organized and come together. Before the baptism he downs a twinky and ends up slurring his words during the pre baptism sermon(which he had to cut much shorter than he intended) and then could not stand up in the water and ended up falling on top of a teenage girl he was baptizing. I don't know how legitimate any of those baptisms were. It was all just a farce. Then he had the nerve to say afterwords that he couldn't stand up in the water because his shoes were buoyant(he weighted 350 pounds). But he could speak really smoothly and manipulatively. The friends fell for it hook, line and sinker. He had all the right words and all the right meeting phrases. One of the things that was particularly annoying was the fact that he had been given an inheritance by one of the friends of 30,000 dollars. He had been given that in another state but it stayed with him. If there were something extra that he wanted to buy, like a newspaper or a tool, he would immediately justify his purchase by saying that he was taking the money out of the inheritance that he was given. I knew good and well that he was not deducting anything from that inheritance. If anything, he was adding to it. another thing, he did not know how to use even one tool. Yet, he had a supply of hand tools and power tools that would fill up a whole trunk of a car. Thousands of dollars worth of the best tools. He had a word processor with a pop up screen. He called it his computer. This was during the time when lap tops were just going around among the workers and many of the older ones were against them. This worker would brag to the friends that he worked on his computer but he didn't play games on it. Sounded really sacrificial of him but the fact is that the thing was not capable of playing games. During clean up after convention, he got all of the friends together who had stayed to help clean up and started talking to them about one of his trips to a foreign country. Now, this was after convention where they had already sat for four days of sermons. They had stayed to help clean up so we could get along to the next convention. I wondered often how in the world this guy ever was promoted to overseer and how it was no one could see through his lies and why no one ever called him on it. People are more ready to believe a lie than the truth. Guess you only need look in the mirror to answer that question.
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Post by quizzer on Sept 7, 2010 12:47:06 GMT -5
With workers and ex-workers on this thread, I just have to ask: What qualifies a worker as an overseer? Is there another thread I should read? Thank you, in advance, for your thoughts, quizzer
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Post by open mind on Sept 7, 2010 20:02:18 GMT -5
are you talking about F&W workers Nathan??
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Post by someguy on Sept 7, 2010 23:41:29 GMT -5
One thing that puzzles me, isn't the kingdom of God all about the older serving the younger, the greatest being the least. Why is it that the youngest is supposed to serve or submit to the elder worker? I know about respect, but it appears to be contrary to the teaching of Christ. Some of the greatest stories about older brothers and sister workers that I still remember are ones were they took a lesser place then their companion. The effects are always profound.
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Post by open mind on Sept 7, 2010 23:52:53 GMT -5
are you talking about F&W workers Nathan?? ~~ Yes, Iam.... Wasn't that the question to those in the 2x2 church? I have met and known quite a few of these overseers myself.... I have seen some good potential workers that can become overseers themselves. I heard a few overseers are not so good also.Fuuny Nathan that I dont see many of those qualities that you listed in our overseer...
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Post by ts on Sept 8, 2010 2:04:31 GMT -5
Fuuny Nathan that I dont see many of those qualities that you listed in our overseer... ~~ That is sad... but ALL things work for good to them that love God.... so you still can learn things NOT to do from him. God allowed him to be there to test your faith and others.If an bad overseer gives one the faith to leave the meetings and find God fearing people "outside", is that what that verse could mean, "all things work together for good?" Or are you saying that a bad overseer should increase one's faith to stay "inside"? If one loves God outside or inside, then the results are good. If one does not love God, even if he is overseer, the result is not good. How will you know that anyone loves God? Is it expressed in his staying in the work or in meetings? Is that what His commandments are? "If you love God you will keep His commandments." Is keeping His commandments staying in meeting or could it actually be speaking truth even though it might be contrary to what the workers are saying? Is it right to preach the truth and take persecution from the workers or must we only take persecution from "the world"? Nathan, your vague statements are loaded with cliche and presupposition. I want the best for the workers and friends. I was called into the work. Are we to go along with things that are not true just for the sake of "fitting in" or supporting the system?
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Post by Alan Vandermyden on Sept 8, 2010 2:46:01 GMT -5
With workers and ex-workers on this thread, I just have to ask: What qualifies a worker as an overseer? Is there another thread I should read? Thank you, in advance, for your thoughts, quizzer Lemme think on that a bit . . .
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Post by ts on Sept 8, 2010 19:47:31 GMT -5
Wait a minute here, Nathan. Was Jesus exhibiting the qualities of Love, forgiveness hatred self righteousness pride and so on when He overturned the money changers' tables in the temple? Did the pharisees and those looking on think that He had the right spirit? Don't load your questions. Look at the truth of the matter. Do not regard whether that truth is coming from the "inside" or the "outside". Leaving the work and the meetings was DOING something to help the matter. It was doing all that I could. Many others are doing the same. Sacrificing their reputations to bring attention to the wrong and emphasize that they can still find the right spirit "outside". These people are paving the way for more of the friends and workers to forsake their judgments of "outsiders" and accept others who are in the body of Christ who are not in the fellowship. Paving the way to LEARN from the "outsiders" who are their wise brothers and sisters. That takes a lot of courage because they are accused of having lost their salvation and being bitter etc. But, like that hymn, they have "no reputation" for the sake of truth. They have sacrificed all. Jesus was willing to sacrifice even His part with God for all eternity for our sakes. God did not leave Him there but raised Him from the dead.
So, Nathan, are you doing all that you can do? Is "Leaving it to God" sometimes an excuse for apathy and inaction? Are you giving your support to the workers who are maintaining the corruption of the system or are you giving your support to those workers who have left the system in order to preach truth to the workers and friends? If you were in Jesus' day, would you be on the side of the pharisees who were maintaining order or on the side of Jesus who was disrupting things?
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Post by ts on Sept 8, 2010 20:24:32 GMT -5
While I agree with your statement, I know that the friends and workers do not typically think of leaving the work and meetings in order to accomplish God's will. I know that my wife would not be saved right now if I had not answered that call. She was caught within a cult where a worker is currently involved as a supporting cast member. There was no hope for her. Because of the worker involved, there was no refuge for her in the meetings. Because her professing sister is involved with the worker, there was no refuge in her family. It is situation that does not fit into the meeting protocol, so, instead of helping, they ignore this aspect of the gospel and deliverance of a soul. The workers are blinded by the system and can only act within the limited scope of the system. When something falls outside of the system, they "leave it to God" rather than follow the leading of the Spirit. It is safe for their reputations. Not always helpful. They don't get their hands dirty, though.
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Post by ts on Sept 8, 2010 23:44:40 GMT -5
I agree. That is not happening in any of the countries I have been in or heard about.
However, there is clearly a push for truth and a preaching of the gospel among the friends and workers from "outsiders". The workers who have molested children are doing damage to the gospel. They got away with it for years. It is the "ex" friends who are upholding truth(which means that they are only "EX" because the system says they are). It is really the "system" minded people who are the exes and who are persecuting the real preachers of the gospel. Pretty much what happened when the pharisees condemned Jesus and others like the blind man he healed. The voices of the exes are labeled as "bitter" and "disgruntled" when they are, in fact, preaching truth.
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Shosho
Junior Member
NEVER JUDGE ANOTHER!!! Remember the prophet Hosea? (Hosea 1:2)
Posts: 180
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Post by Shosho on Jan 18, 2011 15:25:36 GMT -5
I had a companion that was hugely overweight and diabetic. He became overseer. The man was a chronic liar. His favorite activities were sleeping(while holding his Bible) for 16 hours a day, inconveniencing the friends, making lists and not bathing. Yes, weeks would go by without him taking a bath such that the dirt would roll off him like a second layer of skin. The bead spreads he would sleep on, because he didn't pull them back when he slept all day, would stain with the grease on him. He would have the friends fix all sorts of special, diabetic things for him then eat all of the other stuff on the table AND go out and get candy bars and ice cream. He loved to get a lot of glory and would preach for an hour and a half at a time. Even on weeknights when the friends had to work the next day. One place we had meetings it was in the summer and there was no airconditioning. It was 100 degrees in the building and he had two massive fans blowing on him and not on anyone else. One lady passed out because he kept going on and on and on. As we were taking her out he waited and said, "It's ok. I saw her having trouble earlier." She was apologizing for the disruption and said she tried to hold on as long as she could. He arranged a baptism in the state during the year. It could have well waited for convention, but he had to do it. So people from all over the state get organized and come together. Before the baptism he downs a twinky and ends up slurring his words during the pre baptism sermon(which he had to cut much shorter than he intended) and then could not stand up in the water and ended up falling on top of a teenage girl he was baptizing. I don't know how legitimate any of those baptisms were. It was all just a farce. Then he had the nerve to say afterwords that he couldn't stand up in the water because his shoes were buoyant(he weighted 350 pounds). But he could speak really smoothly and manipulatively. The friends fell for it hook, line and sinker. He had all the right words and all the right meeting phrases. One of the things that was particularly annoying was the fact that he had been given an inheritance by one of the friends of 30,000 dollars. He had been given that in another state but it stayed with him. If there were something extra that he wanted to buy, like a newspaper or a tool, he would immediately justify his purchase by saying that he was taking the money out of the inheritance that he was given. I knew good and well that he was not deducting anything from that inheritance. If anything, he was adding to it. another thing, he did not know how to use even one tool. Yet, he had a supply of hand tools and power tools that would fill up a whole trunk of a car. Thousands of dollars worth of the best tools. He had a word processor with a pop up screen. He called it his computer. This was during the time when lap tops were just going around among the workers and many of the older ones were against them. This worker would brag to the friends that he worked on his computer but he didn't play games on it. Sounded really sacrificial of him but the fact is that the thing was not capable of playing games. During clean up after convention, he got all of the friends together who had stayed to help clean up and started talking to them about one of his trips to a foreign country. Now, this was after convention where they had already sat for four days of sermons. They had stayed to help clean up so we could get along to the next convention. I wondered often how in the world this guy ever was promoted to overseer and how it was no one could see through his lies and why no one ever called him on it. People are more ready to believe a lie than the truth. WOW! So you had Frank Porter as a companion in the work, eh? I really don't think it is possible that there were 2 such men on earth at the same time, so you MUST be talking of him! He was in our home maybe 8 years ago or so to visit with my mother, for an overnight stay. He ate voraciously at lunch, all the desserts, both the "diabetic friendly" and the NOT, asked for a snack in the afternoon, and then... when I had the AUDACITY to serve a make-your-own sandwich/salad buffet before the evening Special Mtg. he actually COMPLAINED BITTERLY???!!! "THIS IS NOT A MEAL. THIS IS A SNACK, AND THE KIND OF THING I WANTED THIS AFTERNOON AFTER LUNCH. I HOPE YOU WILL BE SERVING A REAL MEAL AFTER MEETING". (I was NOT).
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Post by ronhall on Jan 18, 2011 15:39:27 GMT -5
Maybe the poor guy had a tape worm. :>)
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Post by debkingkent on Mar 6, 2011 11:59:47 GMT -5
Frank Porter, too funny and VERY true!!
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Post by ts on Mar 7, 2011 9:36:09 GMT -5
Yes, it was Frank Porter. I was only with him a few months but, oh, the stories I could tell. It is like they say: If Frank had the choice of standing on solid ground and telling the truth or climbing a greased pole to tell a lie, he would choose climbing a greased pole.
Frank's mental disorder was no different than an alcoholic. It is a wonder that there was no help for him in the meetings. Worse, the friends and workers enabled his disorder. How did he become overseer? The same way that Ira Hobbs became overseer. They both had "the right spirit". Again, the workers should be seriously set back and questioning their judgment and the decades of damage they have done to countless lives by promoting wickedness.
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