Chapter 7
Monika Niezgoda Explorer, Traveler, Spiritual Artist
Monika was born in Poland and emigrated with her mother and brother to Canada through Germany in 1990, where she got involved in the cult of The Watchtower as a teenager. For almost three decades she was heavily involved in it, spending over fifteen years in full-time service in various aspects of the organization. Around 2016 she started to discover the true identity of the organization and not long after left. She never felt the need to announce her exit in any way. In 2017 Monika graduated with Honors from Humber College in Toronto, Canada and is now a professional language interpreter. She is planning to publish collection of her poetry and organize an art exhibition of her and her father’s paintings. Monika loves to make everyone around her laugh and feel happiness. She makes occasional funny videos on YouTube, you are welcome to find her there. She is dedicating this chapter and a future full length story of her life and adventures, to her loving parents and her brother Dominik.
The End of One Journey
by Monika Niezgoda
“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~André Gide
It was a Sunday afternoon in Toronto. A sunny, warm fall day when I stepped out and closed the door behind me. It was the door to a place I had thought of as the mecca of spiritual guidance, where I received life-saving instructions. Where my whole world resided: my network of friends. In fact, behind that door lay the only people I had ever known—or were allowed to know. Once I closed that door, I knew I would never open again.
My youth, my hopes, my life … I left it them behind that door. Would I regret it? How would I survive in ”Satan’s world” now? Would they come after me, interrogate me and try to make me come back? Those questions were storming in my mind while heart beat wildly; my hand on a doorknob was shaking. Will it better out there? Where am I going to go?
What made me take such a step? Before I answer, let me tell you how I became a Jehovah’s Witness in the first place.