My father was born to JW parents, and moved with them, at age 10, to work where the need was great, in Alaska. My grandfather was an elder, and pioneering at the time. Thus starts my rich JW heritage. My grandmother got baptized while she was pregnant with my Mom. My parents met and got married and were both pioneering. Eventually they moved to Oregon

Dad became and elder at age 30, and both sides of the family were active in various aspects of service. Over the years, Dad received more privileges (as we referred to them at the time). Eventually he was PO, City Overseer, Assembly Overseer, Program Overseer for the Conventions, and served as chairman of the Hospital Liason committee, until it was disbanded. He also served for 12 years on the Regional Building Committee! My mother pioneered 20 plus years, and all of her 4 sisters are regular pioneers. One of them is on her 35th year. My sister pioneered for 8 years until she got pregnant, and I was on my 4th year. We were very active, and very duped to say the least.

As you can imagine, my Dad saw things that 99% of the JW's don't, and over the years these things really bothered him. We kept telling him that he needed to wait on Jehovah (yes I actually said that), and he would make it work out. I said so many times, that it doesn't matter what happens to us, how or why, as long as we remain faithful. That's what matters to Jehovah! I sure found that to be true, I'm glad I had a strong faith in Jah, and not just the WTS. Dad had actually quit reading the magazines a few years back, but didn't tell us. He knew there were things that were wrong, but still felt it was God's organization. I know he spent many sleepless nights while dealing with people and their problems. He was involved in so many committee meetings that we didn't really get to see him much, unless we were on vacation.

I think what really started him thinking was some of the problems he encountered on the RBS (building committee)! He realized that it always boiled down to money. And what really bothered him was that the WTS didn't care what the brothers went through, as long as it saved them a penny. Dad was fed up with it, and all the meetings, and with all that he was involved with, so he resigned from the RBS last January 2000.

Then at the big Convention pre-meetings there was a brother who made an announcement and said, �Don�t let the brothers and sisters call the Tacoma Dome to ask about the price for parking, because according to our contract we�re not supposed to be charging for parking at all. This caused some problems last year when some called the Dome�. Dad was floored. If we�re not supposed to charge, then lets not charge! This really hit him hard!

Then he decided to do more personal Bible reading. So he started in Matthew 24. He read it over and over, and in several translations and realized "OH MY WORD! The Faithful and Discreet Slave is just an illustration. That's all it is!� So he showed Mom, and she saw it. They showed me and I saw it too, like a bolt of lightening. I don't know how many times I'd read it and studied it before, and then that time it just clicked. The blinders had been lifted. So mom started doing research on 607 B.C.E., and you know where that led. Then Dad ordered Crisis of Conscience, and that pretty much did it.

We were pretty freaked out! We hadn't checked anything on the internet and were actually wondering, "Has anyone else seen this?" We didn't know any others that had left the organization.

One of my best friends was a girl Mom had studied with, and none of her family were JW's. She was very open-minded and fascinated by chronology, and had decided to leave the organization, the previous September but I, of course, helped her through that. I could shoot myself now. So we thought she would be the best one to tell some things, and test the water, so to speak. I was planning on moving in with her, so I felt she needed to know. So we told her, and she agreed 100% and said she could see through it all and was going to fade with me and get me a job at her work and all. We told her this while we were all on vacation together. That weekend we went to the Assembly and I went to her house for a party afterward (oooppss 'get together') and had no clue anything was wrong.

Then we got a phone call, Monday morning that made my heart stop. The last time I had felt like that was when I was 7 years old and Grandma called to say Grandpa had died in a car accident. It was the CO, and my friend had told him everything. He was calling to confirm it! We knew we were toast! So we invited my sister and her husband and my niece who was 1 �, over to tell them where we stood. They were there for about 3 hours, and then at the end they stood up and said they had heard enough. They had heard it all the day before, from my friend, and they had just come over to confirm it, and be witnesses. My heart literally broke as I looked at my little niece, because I was afraid it would be the last time I'd ever see her! I was wrong, it was the second to the last time, I saw her the next week, and that was that! My sister has never replied to a phone call, email, or letter since that time, and we were very close, and even had a business together that died! I loved that little baby. She was my life, and now I can still picture her in the front yard waving goodbye and not knowing why her Mommy, Grandma, and Auntie were all crying, and not knowing that it would be the last time we would see her! It breaks my heart that she has no clue what happened and I just hope and pray that she will always know how much we love her!

I tried to get in touch with my �friend� to see what had happened, but she wouldn�t answer me either. I told a few friends, and they were just floored and sick, because they didn�t know what to do or say! The next day we had the elders at our door and Dad said he didn�t feel like he should talk to him because he wanted to keep them out of it and deal with the CO since he was the one who had initiated it.

We then were harassed by the elders, with phone calls and registered mail. They staked out our house, and even knew where we had gone to eat. It was hideously bizarre, because the week before, they had been some of our closest friends, and now we were the enemy! I was so upset! I had some really good friends that I knew I was going to lose. I told a friend about it all, and he took it so hard. He didn�t know what to do. He continued to talk to me for a while, but I quit calling because it was too hard on both of us.

This all started in May, and on June 6th it was announced, at our Hall, that Dad was df�d. No one had a clue that anything was going on. One day he�s PO and the next day he is df�d. We found this out when I talked to someone two days later. Dad was not told about it, and had no idea it was going to happen. He had even talked to the brother who was the chairman of the committee the night before it was announced, and he was told nothing. I guess my brother-in-law and friend acted as witnesses. (Just think if he�d been a pedophile, he could be a CO by now!)

We thought once they got Dad, they would leave us alone. We hadn�t been to a meeting since April, or in service, or anything, so thought they would just leave us alone. But no, we too received the certified mail. Mom and I were each given a letter to appear before a judicial committee on alleged charges of apostasy! I was floored! We were given an ultimatum and they said they had sufficient witnesses to disfellowship us without our actually being there.

Well, by this time it was July, and we had learned so much about the WTS by then, about all the false dates, doctrines, the works. I decided I wanted to stand up for what I believed and if they wanted to DF me, then they had to sit and listen to what I had to say, and I would make them do it, and live with the consequences. They set the time for Mom�s meeting Monday at 7:00 pm and mine at 7:15 pm. Apparently they were giving Mom 15 minutes, to save her soul. Nice, after all the hours Dad had spent trying to help them with their kids, even keeping one of them out of jail!!!!! 15 minutes, after everything Mom had done. I was so mad!

We asked to reschedule so we could get everything together, and they apparently didn�t think we�d show, because they scheduled us to meet together, which I was very glad for! We had several ex-JW�s send us information and help us prepare. And prepared we were. We brought in volumes of info from the WTS! They had set aside about a half hour for the meeting, and we kept them there for 5 � hours. The witnesses were, of course, my brother in law and my friend, but we were allowed to cross-examine them, and they were actually pretty easy on us. The elders had never heard any of the stuff we presented them with. I just hope and pray that someday it will click for them.

At the end of the meeting, July 31, they told us they were sorry but they had to disfellowship us (I was still a pioneer at the time). They were crying, but the CO was involved, and they really had no choice. We then appealed it and went through a 2 � hour appeal meeting, with 7 elders. Fortunately Mom and I were together again too. I�m so glad I�d watched as much Law and Order as I had - hahahahhah!!!! We truly shredded them, and they knew it, and had nothing to say, that we hadn�t said over and over again, as pioneers (which none of them were)!!! It was a very interesting experience that I would never give up! I truly felt Jehovah�s spirit with me as I spoke up and said what I believed. When we left the hall, I had just been told I was going to be disfellowshipped, but I was exhilarated. I felt sooooo free. I even jumped and clicked my heels in the parking lot, I wonder what they would have thought, if they seen it? And I wanted to sing �Highway to HELL� - hahahahahahh! I�m so bad