Remember when?

[Qapla]

I used to have all those Bibles ... For the longest time I used the "pocket edition" exclusively because I liked it being a bit smaller and lighter. However, once I got old enough for my eyesight to start, uh ... what's the word I am looking for ... changing failing - I had to go back to the larger print.

 

Do you remember that, when they released the pocket edition, one of the "features" was that the page numbers were exactly the same as the regular sized Bible ... the large print did not have this.

[dove]

59 minutes ago, tekmantwo said:

 

 

Anybody remember the little tiny maps taped to cardboard that would fit in your suit inner pocket? Or the little aluminum holders for your time slips?

 

1 hour ago, tekmantwo said:

Me and my first wife, Vacation Pioneered together for a few months just after we got married..

 

Anybody remember the little tiny maps taped to cardboard that would fit in your suit inner pocket? Or the little aluminum holders for your time slips?

Not the maps as probably the brothers used them more, but definitely the aluminum holders for house to house records, even later some plastic ones..

[Gary910]

On 7/14/2020 at 2:44 PM, Mephibosheth said:

Yup. I remember those days. We were going to a congregation in Huntington Beach California back then. I have 5 siblings and most of us were just old enough to run around in the parking lot to burn off some energy. I don't remember any smokers but I do remember a few brothers sitting in their cars for that 15 minute break..

This is funny to me. We were in the same congregation, I am younger than you, and I remember smokers. I don't remember who, but I remember smokers. Ha!

[Gary910]

20 hours ago, Mephibosheth said:

Not even on Gestures?

Everyone got a "W" on Gestures 😂

My brother got 4 W's in a row.

 

So when it came time for me, I was determined, I wasn't going to get a W... Ah, the sweet smell of beating your older brother.

[Miss Bea]

Looked at my comment 9 hours ago. It was not the question booklet I use today. It is a, “sermon outlines”, and it is made of the same paper as the Bible. 
Remember, “overcoming objections? Nightmare time. 
No one studied with me before I was baptized. My friend and I fell into the truth, and there we were. I was never taught to do return visits, and, and for the longest time, I was terrified of them. 
Demonstrating from the platform is way different then coming across them in the territory! 

[dove]

I remember those sermon outlines. I thought they were great. In the days when everyone was having their Bible combined with other booklets like the Make Sure book, I had the sermon outlines included..

 

[bagwell1987]

9 minutes ago, Miss Bea said:

I was never taught to do return visits, and, and for the longest time, I was terrified of them. 
Demonstrating from the platform is way different then coming across them in the territory! 

When my daughter was young and had an RV demo she'd panic. I just told her to think of something that really means something to her, something she knows back and forward. That way from the stage she would look like a natural and be less tense. 

A missionary taught me that in school they were instructed to not practice before you had a part, pretty sure I mentioned this somewhere before, they didn't even know who was assisting them. They had to be so sure of the scriptures they were introducing that they could just roll with it, both of them.

I'm still studying.......are my eyes red yet?😵

[jwhess]

1 hour ago, Miss Bea said:

Looked at my comment 9 hours ago. It was not the question booklet I use today. It is a, “sermon outlines”, and it is made of the same paper as the Bible. 
Remember, “overcoming objections? Nightmare time. 
No one studied with me before I was baptized. My friend and I fell into the truth, and there we were. I was never taught to do return visits, and, and for the longest time, I was terrified of them. 
Demonstrating from the platform is way different then coming across them in the territory! 

Here are copies.  They were 6" high and 3 3/4' wide.  In a later version they were renamed "Bible Topics"  And still later the Watchtower Society added the content to an appendix in the back of our Bibles  and continued to call them "Bible Topics".

 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by jwhess

[Gary910]

6 hours ago, Old said:

7 hours ago, Dove said:

we had a brother that actually did that all the time..it was at a time when we were encouraged not to let ourselves be brushed off too easily as it might be the last chance the HH got a witness and it meant their life, so he took this to heart and was very zealous..😊

But it was kind of difficult following him up on these same calls the next time around..

The foot in the door was a common practice stemming from the 1930s. The earliest admonition I recall was the congragation being told that we do not want to put our foot in the door any more, but some that started in the earliest days of door to door work found it a hard habit to break. Even as late as 1960 it was still a problem. Following behind some of the elderly publishers was very difficult. One dear sister would close her visit to a disinterested person by telling them she was stomping the dust off her feet and they were going to die at Armageddon. Very small town, Trinidad, California 1961.

I am very proud to be a 4th Generation Jehovah's Witness. My Great Grandfather was a professional boxer before he found the truth. So needless to say, he had that 'fighting spirit' within him and it certainly transferred to his zeal for the truth and the ministry. He stuck his foot in a few doors from what I understand. He also threatened a few to 'beat them up' if they did not accept the truth.

 

I love this zeal for the truth, even if it was a bit misguided. He was very zealous for the truth until his death. I can't wait to see him again in the resurrection and really get to know him.

 

If I have gone off topic, I apologize. I am just so proud of my spiritual heritage.

[Gary910]

4 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

My dad, til the day he died..

It was fun taking him in the Ministry, it was always 'back calls'

Dear Bro Larry!

 

He was always kind and funny to me.

[jwhess]

11 hours ago, Dove said:

Yes, I remember especially the one for Babylon Has Fallen..God's Kingdom is Near. I kept if for many years..😊

Here are some of the question booklets to go with Books that had no questions at the bottom of the pages.  I have about a dozen of these over the last 90 years.  I have included the Babylon the Great booklet...🙂

 

 

 

 

[Old]

1 minute ago, Gary910 said:

I am very proud to be a 4th Generation Jehovah's Witness. My Great Grandfather was a professional boxer before he found the truth. So needless to say, he had that 'fighting spirit' within him and it certainly transferred to his zeal for the truth and the ministry. He stuck his foot in a few doors from what I understand. He also threatened a few to 'beat them up' if they did not accept the truth.

 

I love this zeal for the truth, even if it was a bit misguided. He was very zealous for the truth until his death. I can't wait to see him again in the resurrection and really get to know him.

 

If I have gone off topic, I apologize. I am just so proud of my spiritual heritage.

No apology needed. It has been a privilege to have known some of the those that preceded us. My uncle was always ready to testify that he was sure Armagedon was tomorrow, if not at least next week, most vocally and every chance he got.. I am 3rd generation followed by two more hoping for at least one more to follow.

[bagwell1987]

34 minutes ago, Old said:

No apology needed. It has been a privilege to have known some of the those that preceded us. My uncle was always ready to testify that he was sure Armagedon was tomorrow, if not at least next week, most vocally and every chance he got.. I am 3rd generation followed by two more hoping for at least one more to follow.

Beautiful Jerry, beautiful. 

[daydream]

8 hours ago, Phyllis said:

 Days when Sat morning you went witnessing,

 

Our District Assemblies would be held in a nearby town and it was fun to go out door to door, inviting the town people to attend the function. We were provided with a plastic bag containing a few magazines. At that time and for a few decades more, we had to have literature in a few languages and had to do the presentations in 3 or more languages/dialects. Those were  challenging times and it was fun having to memorise a few lines in Cantonese or Hokkien. Nowadays we are supposed to do only in 1 language but it is very hard to find people speaking that language and often after 2 hours of going down multi storied low cost flats, we don't find a single person. I don't subsribe to this 1 language policy religiously like the rest. I would talk a little to all who really show interest. It's quite easy to just walk around without finding a single intereested person but I like to feel the adrenaline rush when people show a keen interest. I don't like to go through the motions of counting hours.

[bagwell1987]

4 minutes ago, Mclove said:

Our District Assemblies would be held in a nearby town and it was fun to go out door to door, inviting the town people to attend the function. We were provided with a plastic bag containing a few magazines. At that time and for a few decades more, we had to have literature in a few languages and had to do the presentations in 3 or more languages/dialects. Those were  challenging times and it was fun having to memorise a few lines in Cantonese or Hokkien. Nowadays we are supposed to do only in 1 language but it is very hard to find people speaking that language and often after 2 hours of going down multi storied low cost flats, we don't find a single person. I don't subsribe to this 1 language policy religiously like the rest. I would talk a little to all who really show interest. It's quite easy to just walk around without finding a single intereested person but I like to feel the adrenaline rush when people show a keen interest. I don't like to go through the motions of counting hours.

We have to be obedient to the direction of the brothers, they really do know best. 

Sometimes it alright to listen to the Spirit of Jehovah.  If you feel compelled to hear something else then listen to that. 

His HS directs our attention to ones who will listen. 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

 

 

 

 

 

Here are copies.  They were 6" high and 3 3/4' wide.  In a later version they were renamed...

 

I used to glue my 'Topics' in the back of my bible. Later, we used them for the TMS talks.

 

I love your library. So many memories.

 

While you are doing bible pictures... do you have pics of the Green, Red & Purple ones?

 

By-the-by...

 

I remember vacation pioneering. The 1st month was 75, but if you did the 2nd month you had to do 90.

 

Old (Downunder) Tone

 

 

 

 

 

[Eejay]

10 hours ago, jwhess said:

If you need a specific year (or country) just let me know

Would you know how many were baptised worldwide in 1950 and 1956?

[Foxes53]

My first volunteer assignment at a convention as a teenager was on a tray washing machine ! It cleaned the trays that had been used for meals. I remember my nice clothes getting wet. Plus the  brother in charge was named Brother Dry !

[jwhess]

3 hours ago, Eejay said:

Would you know how many were baptised worldwide in 1950 and 1956?

The yearbooks did not usually report number of baptisms.  They only reported on the number of publishers.

 

The 1957 Yearbook stated that the number baptized between 1949 to 1956  totaled 394,024 for all 7 years.

The 1958 Yearbook stated that the number baptized in the year 1957 alone totaled 50,828

 

So by average, the number baptized was around 50,000-55,000 per year.  It is the best I can do at present.

[Eejay]

42 minutes ago, jwhess said:

The 1957 Yearbook stated that the number baptized between 1949 to 1956  totaled 394,024 for all 7 years.

So that would mean the combined number baptized for 1950 and 1956 was actually 61,939 as all the other years baptism counts are given in the year books, totalling 332,085. The years 1950 and 1956 were uncharacteristically low in terms of numbers baptized so perhaps it was not felt to be an encouraging topic for Bro.Knorr's report at the time. It appears that the tone of the reports indicate a need for diligence in the field. There may also have been some logistical aspects also that we are not aware of.

 

In terms of the topic, I really enjoyed the old yearbooks, especially the lists of names of Gilead graduates and "ORDAINED MINISTERS APPOINTED TO SPECIAL SERVICE" that were given. It was always a thrill to find people I knew mentioned.

[Eejay]

15 hours ago, Old said:

One dear sister would close her visit to a disinterested person by telling them she was stomping the dust off her feet and they were going to die at Armageddon.

I remember this. One sister(anointed) I worked with used to shout that message through the letter box if people were not interested!

[Eejay]

How about the need to be alert to opportunities for "incidental witnessing" ?
 

[jwhess]

27 minutes ago, Eejay said:

So that would mean the combined number baptized for 1950 and 1956 was actually 61,939 as all the other years baptism counts are given in the year books, totalling 332,085. The years 1950 and 1956 were uncharacteristically low in terms of numbers baptized so perhaps it was not felt to be an encouraging topic for Bro.Knorr's report at the time. It appears that the tone of the reports indicate a need for diligence in the field. There may also have been some logistical aspects also that we are not aware of.

 

In terms of the topic, I really enjoyed the old yearbooks, especially the lists of names of Gilead graduates and "ORDAINED MINISTERS APPOINTED TO SPECIAL SERVICE" that were given. It was always a thrill to find people I knew mentioned.

I am not sure of your baptism count,  I spent some more time in re-reading the comments in the 1957 Yearbook (about the 1956 report).  they show less than 19,000 baptized in 1956. This may be the US total? It made this comment as shown:

Edited July 16, 2020 by jwhess

[Luisabola]

So many lovely memories, I was born 87 though so don’t know most of them. Some more recent ones I remember are...

 

The brown (?) meal tokens for lunch at the assemblies? I used to have some as a memento, but I think they’re up in the loft.

 

The bible story book on cassette, me and my sister used to listen to them, and the dramas, at night time before bed.

 

Someone actually playing the piano in the Kingdom Hall for the songs. 
 

Sitting on the steps at Norwich football ground before seats were put in for the convention. We brought lots of blankets!

 

I suppose this may not be for everyone but when I was 13ish we were part of the Italian congregation and because they wasn’t enough brothers, us sisters used to read the paragraphs for the book study and do the roving mics! 
 

I remember the written review very vaguely, but I definitely remember the oral review. I wonder when it changed?
 

The Awake magazine having wordsearches in it to fill up the pages!!

The songs where sometimes it had brackets and you didn’t technically have to sing that part but inevitably there’d be that one brother or sister who would belt it out. (Forward go.... YES GO! fearlessly go....FEARLESSLY GO!!)

 

Oh so many more, nice nostalgic memories.

[Miss Bea]

I’ll do a remember when, not so distant. 
On Wednesday’s, we met in a private home for service. And, we had the most wonderful buffet lunch, provided by loving hands. Lots of times, it was our best  meal of the week. It went on for years. 
My theocratic routine included, “what am I fixing for lunch today”. So many fond memories. I had to drop something by that home the other day, and those memories enveloped me.

Alas, with COVID, it was the first to go. 
The friends, regular service with all, visiting, good food. One day...