I brought my cousin to a meeting yesterday

[Ostria]

For future reference im going to use this for anything that involves this cousin.

 

i brought my cousin (16) to his first meeting yesterday after asking him a few times to come. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people introducing themselves. He, like me, is not good with remembering names so he's worried about forgetting them. I told him to not worry, that there are people there thats been there foe years and still havent memorized all the names. He was interested in going saturday but my husband will be working (No one to watch the tot), so i told him we can go to the kingdom hall by me, its a different one. At first he was worried about having to remember twice as many names. I'm slowly reassuring him that it'll be okay. If he seems a bit more interested i may start a Bible study with him. Sad thing is, hes going to be going back to another county when school starts so if he wants to go to a kh i'll have to get him.

 

I'll keep yall updated. Im really hoping this gets to him, he would need to make a lot of life changes that im not sure he's ready to give up yet.

Edited July 18 by Friends just call me Ross
Put an r in bought

[Ostria]

Thanks for the spell check Ross. Oh i realize i have to change it in the main post too

 

Edit: oh no i cant!

Edited July 18 by Ostria

[Friends just call me Ross]

1 hour ago, Ostria said:

Thanks for the spell check Ross. Oh i realize i have to change it in the main post too

 

Edit: oh no i cant!

Done....and, you are most welcome 👍

[Ishaya]

10 hours ago, Ostria said:

 

he would need to make a lot of life changes that im not sure he's ready to give up yet.

 

 

Can you remember how long it took the apostle Paul to change from a radical opposer of Christians to a devoted follower of Jesus?

 

Lemme save you the stress of thinking much  🤔

 

It was instantaneous and total,

Can you imagine that,in less than a day,such a tremendous change took place and Paul started preaching in Damascus where he was going to arrest Christians.

 

Sometimes it can be easy to disbelieve how quickly people can change, especially in the case of some people whom we may think are too far off the track.

 

Edited July 18 by Ishaya

[Dages]

10 hours ago, Ostria said:

Sad thing is, hes going to be going back to another county when school starts so if he wants to go to a kh i'll have to get him.

Angels don't care about country borders... the experience your cousin is getting now is extremely important. Please continue.

[Roberto Flores]

11 hours ago, Ostria said:

For future reference im going to use this for anything that involves this cousin.

 

i brought my cousin (16) to his first meeting yesterday after asking him a few times to come. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people introducing themselves. He, like me, is not good with remembering names so he's worried about forgetting them. I told him to not worry, that there are people there thats been there foe years and still havent memorized all the names. He was interested in going saturday but my husband will be working (No one to watch the tot), so i told him we can go to the kingdom hall by me, its a different one. At first he was worried about having to remember twice as many names. I'm slowly reassuring him that it'll be okay. If he seems a bit more interested i may start a Bible study with him. Sad thing is, hes going to be going back to another county when school starts so if he wants to go to a kh i'll have to get him.

 

I'll keep yall updated. Im really hoping this gets to him, he would need to make a lot of life changes that im not sure he's ready to give up yet.

 

11 hours ago, Ostria said:

For future reference im going to use this for anything that involves this cousin.

 

i brought my cousin (16) to his first meeting yesterday after asking him a few times to come. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people introducing themselves. He, like me, is not good with remembering names so he's worried about forgetting them. I told him to not worry, that there are people there thats been there foe years and still havent memorized all the names. He was interested in going saturday but my husband will be working (No one to watch the tot), so i told him we can go to the kingdom hall by me, its a different one. At first he was worried about having to remember twice as many names. I'm slowly reassuring him that it'll be okay. If he seems a bit more interested i may start a Bible study with him. Sad thing is, hes going to be going back to another county when school starts so if he wants to go to a kh i'll have to get him.

 

I'll keep yall updated. Im really hoping this gets to him, he would need to make a lot of life changes that im not sure he's ready to give up yet.

 

[Roberto Flores]

11 hours ago, Ostria said:

You can show him to keep going to the meeting by zoom he is possibly shy and if he agrees give him classes by zooM

[LeolaRootStew]

The elders in my KH say to not give students Zoom info because they need to be encouraged to go in-person unless there is a medical reason they can't.

 

I kind of wish we wore name tags- it would help me, at least.

[Ostria]

27 minutes ago, LeolaRootStew said:

The elders in my KH say to not give students Zoom info because they need to be encouraged to go in-person unless there is a medical reason they can't.

 

I kind of wish we wore name tags- it would help me, at least.

Yeah i can understand not being so free with giving out the zoom link. If you let the wrong person in, they will spread it and then you'll have to change the link. I would probably ask to give him the link when i see some improvements of his life. Other than that, despite gas prices i'll be happy to travel if it meant him having an improved life.

 

7 hours ago, Dages said:

Angels don't care about country borders... the experience your cousin is getting now is extremely important. Please continue.

Ah, no counties, not countries. I see you're from France (stalked your profile) so I'll explain them to you (yes, i have that 'everyone is from the usa until told otherwise' mentality 🤣)

 

So in each state, there are zones called "counties" which may have their own rules due to each county having its own government. Strap in, i'll give you kinda a real life example.

 

- You have the united states. alcohol sales are legal 24/7 at the federal level you cant go to federal prison for doing this

 

- then you have South Carolina. Alcohol sales are legal 24/7 at the state level

 

- Greenville County, i dont know if this changed (side note i actually found a map yay) it is illegal to sell alcohol in the county, meaning there is no store in any town town in that county that can sell alcohol. This map is from 2016 i think its now legal to sell alcohol state wide 24/7

 

Edit: i do see where there are some cities that are allowed the sales on sunday on this map in Greenville. But you get the point 

Edited July 18 by Ostria
Noted

[Ostria]

Another update/the rantings and concern of an older cousin

 

I took my cousin to the Sunday meeting, originally he wanted to go to the saturday one but when i went to talk to him, he said he had to work friday and was planning on going out that night. I got no communication from him until Saturday. He still wanted to go so i picked him up. He was fully dressed but the saturday meeting was already over so we went to todays. 

 

He seemed to enjoy it, however i'm not sure if its something he actually wants, i feel he's just searching for what is right for /him/. His father was raised Pentecostal but eventually became baptist like most others in the family, however he eventually became Muslim about 10 years ago, family flipped out and gave him an intervention, which they quickly regretted when he poked holes in their beliefs. Not gonna lie, im glad he converted because he pretty much made it easier for others to convert without pushback from the family (they are scared to get schooled again lol) Anyways, hes no longer Muslim and instead is now ⭐spirtual⭐ (sorry when i think of spirtual people i think of those weird chicks that are like "This blue rock will help you sleep at night")

 

Anyways that last paragraph may seem random, but i feel with his dad switching religions twice, that he feels he needs to go on his own journey. I hope he chooses to go with Jehovah, i'm REALLY concerned about him, he's only 16 and finds my house boring because of the lack of weed/edibles and alcohol. I took him to Walmart yesterday and told him to get a drink and was upset that i wouldnt get him an alcoholic beverage, saying im the only one who makes a big deal about it. I asked him if he thinks his life style is healthy and he told me it was, right after confessing to me that he spent saturday early morning with a bottle drinking while drunk down town. Ive expressed to him that im concerned and im worried about him, even mentioning how indont want him to go down the path his older siblings took.

 

I did tell him if he wants to go to another meeting to let me know and i'll take him. We did talk a bit about the Bible and stuff like that, learned that he's convinced that Satan is Zeus (yes.... The greek god), i mean its a false god so i cant really argue with that 😂. Anything that turns you away from the True God might as well as be Satan. I mentioned how its nice to not reallt have to worry about politics with the election coming up and then he was like "Yeah i guess you dont have to worry about taxes too huh" i told him that we had to pay taxes which was mentioned in the Bible. He said that he cant believe that God would tell us to pay taxes. I mentioned the whole obeying the law of the land unless it is against Jehovah, then he brought up the whole "But tax money doesnt even go to anything good, it mostly go to wars and weapons." (which i wont lie is my go to argument on why we shouldnt have to pay 😂). Sadly i had to use the whole "Well we have to do what we have to legally, if they use it poorly its on them. Its like if a person on the street asked you for money for food and they used it for crack instead. Yoh did your part to help, they chose to use it unwisely." He said that was two different things, then he mentioned he'll probably just stay with the Moors because they dont have to pay taxes. I told him if thats really why he wants to be in a religion then thats his choice. Told him it seems like a small benefit for a short time vs a small hassle for eternal life.

 

Anyways.... If he decides to go to another meeting i'll let yall know. I wont ask him i'll wait for him to ask me.

[hatcheckgirl]

Erin, you are doing exactly what we are continually being trained to do. Our latest brochure Love People Make Disciples (and I think this coming week's WT is based on the AM talk where it was first introduced), gives us a better way to reach people’s heart that “preaching” by just sharing scriptural truth. It helps us reach their hearts, and if Jehovah is drawing them, they will respond.

 

You are doing that, and by your example you set, he will see it, eventually. He's still formulating in his mind. I remember at 16 I hated the witnesses. But here I am nonetheless. I had to go through a few rough years, but was baptised at 20. Life is so much harder for the young nowadays. You just keep your heart open to him (of course without condoning but no need to condemn either). Kindness and love from you will always stay with him.  Looking forward to hearing about how it goes 💞.

[I have believed]

Just keep being there for him, showing him love and patience. Sometimes, it takes a while for people to realize what truly matters, but your consistent support can make a huge difference. Warm regards

Sent from my Mi A3 using Tapatalk

[Ostria]

So, I called his bluff. Let me rewind back to last Sunday and monday through a series of conversations where he semi in my opinion mocked believeing in Jesus. After he talked about how he's fine with how he's living and doesnt want to change, i mentioned imma just watch him on the side lines where he replied with "Slinging HOPE in the name of JESUS" in a mocking way.

 

So i figured hes not interested. Last night I got a phone call asking about Kingdom Hall this weekend. I was kinda happy, thinking he had a change of heart, found it weird he didnt ask about weekday meeting. But i told him yeah i can take him Sunday. Now its important for the next part that you understand, he lives in Cat town* and I live in Fox town, they are fifty minutes apart from each other, the kingdom hall i would go to on Sunday is 15 minutes away from my house, and service starts at 10.  So i pick him up from his house, get him to spend the night at my place, go to service, then drop him off back home.

 

So during the phone call he asked if JW's can drink coffee. I mentioned that we can. He then asked if he's allowed to sell coffee if he became a Witness, so during that moment im more caught up in him saying "Becoming a witness" that my brain wasnt braining. I then mention that Witnesses can have nearly any job as long as its not political or anything that would go against Jesus's teachings. He then started telling me hoe he's selling coffee for charity and its going to a good cause. I tell him "Cool sounds great, i'll pick you up tomorrow (saturday)"

 

After I get off the call with him the wheels start turning and im realizing he's probably wanting to go JUST to try to sell the coffee, and knowing where he works at chances are the charity is something involving the Palestine/ Israeli war. So i dont eant to waste time and gas to pick him up just so he can try to pawn off coffee to people. So i gave him a little test. I told him that my husband has to work Sunday as well as Saturday (he's legitly working today), and I wont be able to go to Kingdom Hall, however, i found that there is a kingdom hall a mile from where he lives. He walks the same distance to work, this should not be that big of a deal if he really wanted to go because he wanted to go. He responded with "Never mind".  Even if he said "Can you pick me up and drop me off?" Because i would have had to be down there anyway. Even if i cannot go in because of my tot, i can still drop him off,  i would have seen that he was genuinely interested

 

Am i stepping too far with this? I guess some could say "Still take him so he can hear the message" i mean he still can he has options, i wanr him to prove to me that he is genuinely interested. "But Ostria thats not your place to decide" you may say and I... Dont have a comeback for that. You know what  i’m gonna ask him if he ewnts to do a one on one with tomorrows watch tower together instead. I will either edit this or make another comment with his answer, because if hes interested that should interest him right?!

 

 

Edit: He said yes. Well that escalated quickly 

 

Edit edit: Maybe i'll tske this time with him and see how he feels about the whole thing. I'll admit what i did was wrong and i feel like a huge canoe, cant say the whole phrase but iykyk

Edited July 27 by Ostria

[Ostria]

Oh you cant edit more than twice.

 

Edit edit edit: I'll let yall know if we even have the zoom call...

[hatcheckgirl]

Well, it’s interesting being in the truth and helping others, hey? It’s good to hear your update.

 

A principle regarding our preaching work that came to my mind is John 6:44 “No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him”. We want all people, especially our loved ones, to learn the truth and grow in their relationship with Jehovah. We try our best to help them, as you are doing, especially with the extra distance and effort you are doing.

 

And yet, we can’t see people's heart and judge their true interest. Jehovah draws people in through love, the love we display and the kindness we show. If they are really looking, they are drawn to the congregation of people who are really displaying love (John 13:35).

 

And for a 16 year old, still working their way through their teenage years, it will take even more love and patience. 
 

6 hours ago, Ostria said:

After I get off the call with him the wheels start turning and im realizing he's probably wanting to go JUST to try to sell the coffee, and knowing where he works at chances are the charity is something involving the Palestine/ Israeli war.

 

Maybe keep this in the back of your mind for now. You may be right, and his intentions will become clearer. You can just tactfully say we don’t conduct business at the hall, just as Jesus showed (John 2:15). But, it’s good to know he has his heart in the right place - wanting to help the Palestinian victims of war shows he is “sighing and groaning over all the detestable things” (Eze 9:4). That’s a positive you can use to pivot to a lasting solution. Jehovah and Jesus had compassion for the oppressed. 
 

Again, thanks for updating us Erin. You can only drop the seeds, water them, but Jehovah makes it grow 🌺