I started to study in 1975, in Idaho. My wife actually started to study first and I just kind of came along later. We moved back to California a few weeks after we started studying. We started to attend meetings there and did for about 3 months. I approached one of the elders and asked him if he wanted to study with my wife and I. He seemed shocked and said that he knew that we were attending meetings for so long, he assumed that we already were studying. Just goes to show you should never take anything for granted.

We studied for 5 years, (as I was a little hard headed), before we got baptized in March 1980. About 5 months before, Margaret, my wife and I were talking one night after we had one of our studies and realized that we had to either take it seriously or stop studying all together, as we were getting close to the "point of no return". We discussed it and admitted that if we knew there was a point of no return, that we had already crossed that line. We took the study seriously from that time on and were baptized 5 months later.

I know that I must have concerned some of the friends when I first attended a meeting as I walked into the Kingdom Hall, sat down in the front row, center seat and stared up at the brother that was the chairman that day. Understand that I had long hair, a full beard and weighed about 300 pounds. The brother told me later that he thought that he had been invaded by the "Hells Angels". Guess that I did look a little like that.

Margaret has been pioneering for almost 17 years, since about 9 months after we were baptized. My youngest daughter April has pioneered since she got out of high school, 6 years ago. My oldest daughter Jaime, auxilliary pioneers when she can, is married, has two beautiful children, Chelsea, almost 5, and Michael, 2 1/2. I may be a little biased, but I think they are pretty great. Fridays are my day with them, as we go to the park, and for a picnic each Friday, together.

I served as a Ministerial Servant for 6 years and was an elder for several years, until 1993, when I resigned. I worked as a Financial and Estate Planner for over 20 years and got involved with a foreign bank that the federal government wanted to shut down. I found out the hard way that what we have been telling each other, and all that we meet in the field ministry, that we live in a corrupt world. This was my first encounter with the court system, and I found out what injustice is all about.

At times we all think that we will be persecuted and maybe even end up in prison, but do we really think that it can happen to us? I found out that we will not all wind up in prison for preaching. Satan works in a lot of ways, and in some that we are not aware of. He will use whatever he can to get to us. It is easy to say, but not so easy to live personally. I was sent to prison for 5 years and 8 months, and served 3 years. I was just released in November of 1996. I was able to conduct many studies while there, and some even went on to baptism. I will add some of the experiences later that I had. For any that may be concerned, please be assured that I was, and still am, in good standings in the congregation. What may happen to us judicially has little to do with our standing before Jehovah.

The one thing that I learned while incarcerated is what RELIANCE is all about. You can lose all that you have, in a material sense, but as long as you have Jehovah, you have all that you need. I also had the friends that stood by me and my loving family. Ultimately that is all that we need.

Hopefully this tells you more than you probably wanted to know about me. I will try to add more experiences as I have time. Please visit my web page and please sign in as we all love to hear from our world wide brothers and sisters.

Mike Goodman
Merced West Congregation
Merced, California
mgoodman@cyberlynk.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8750/index.html