187: Stephan left the Jehovah's Witnesses

What Was That Like - a storytelling podcast with amazing stories from real people

I don’t go to the local mall very often.

But when I need something that’s only sold at one of those stores there, I make a trip to the mall. And there’s something that happens almost every time.

Since the store I need to visit is usually at the other end, I have to walk down the main aisle. As I make my way through the mall, there are stores on my left and right of course. But there are also now the kiosks in the middle, from one end of the mall to the other. These set-ups are cheaper than having a full retail walk-in store.

And every time I’m walking, there’s a perfume dealer. And there will be one or two salespeople trying to flag people down and check out a free sample of some kind of perfume and get you to buy some. They’re usually going after the female shoppers and you can see that women try to walk by and not make eye contact. No one wants to be approached by a sales person.

Whenever I see someone like that, I always think, “Wow, that has to be the worst job in the world. Nothing but rejection for 40 hours a week.”

But there are people who do that same kind of thing – and they aren’t in the mall. In fact, they aren’t even getting paid. It’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I see them all the time, with their bookshelf and their literature, set up on street corners, in a public park, on the side of a bike or walking trail. Just standing there trying to get someone to stop and talk to them, so they can hopefully recruit them into joining. Some of them still go out knocking on doors even.

Stephan was one of those people. But today you’ll hear how he finally was able to get away from that group, and what he lost – and gained - as a result of that decision.

Also – Stephan is part of the team that creates a podcast that I subscribe to, and we’ll talk about that toward the end of our conversation.

If you’d like to contact Stephan, his email is: [e-mail]

Check out the Multispective podcast at Multispective.org.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/187

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

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