Tom Howell: From Missionary Zeal to Disfellowshipped

I was born in 1940, placed my first book in the door-to-door work in 1946, (I was working alone. Dad was working the other side of the street.) and I was baptized at 15 years of age. I knew exactly what I was doing and have done all I could to live up to it ever since, with never a regret nor a doubt.

My wonderful wife and I have been married for 65 years now and had six kids, the last 4 of which I delivered myself, at my wife's request. Twice we moved to serve “where the need is great” (an unpaid form of missionary service), and in the second instance we were asked to go to the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Bethel, Alaska, which is about 400 miles due west as the crow flies from Anchorage. We stayed there for 3 ½ years, and the experiences were intense. Then we moved to Palmer, Alaska where we stayed for another 7 ½ years, and finally moved back to the Lower 48 (Oregon).

In the late 1980's, I was disfelowshipped for, believe it or not, being too enthusiastic. All they wanted was a warm body to count, without having to put forth any effort themselves. The trouble was that I knew too much, so any time they came down on me, they paid a price, a big one usually involving public humiliation.