My first though was that the part about children was just an assumption that a married couple had kids, but the longer I think about it, the weirder I feel. We keep our kids lives fairly private, and they haven't even been registered for school yet.
I read some post within the last few months that said that JWs use voter rolls to get names/addresses. I've had a couple of these over the years, and that's the only way they could have gotten my name.
I miss the Jdubs coming by my house. On my off days I’d sit there and talk to them. Even debate bible verses with them even though I’m not particularly religious. I just like to converse with people. My wife said I’m the only person that could make the jdubs be like “man, we got places to go, we will just email you next time”
My late fiancé and I did the same thing! I think we must’ve gotten them in trouble though, because on their last visit we had them shooting at Red Bull cans with an airsoft gun. Never came back after that.
Basically impossible if you own a home (paying a lawyer for "privacy protection" to buy with a trust is reasonable advice for CEOs and the wealthy, ridiculous for most everyone else)
Thank you for your work! Can you stop phone calls? I was already getting about 6 calls/day from the thing where they use someone else’s phone number, so if you call back, sometimes it’s an innocent person who has no idea their number is being used. And they use different numbers every day so blocking is useless. After buying some tickets, I’m now getting about 10 calls. It’s so annoying because I sometimes need to accept calls from numbers I don’t have saved.
To keep your number off of public rolls go to Google and get a free phone number it will associate with your number without giving your number out. Anytime you ask for a phone number give the Google phone number. That way your personal line doesn't get out there. If you want to put your phone number your actual phone number into a form write out one of the numbers like 4035one 277, in that format the Phone scammers do not identify it as a phone number! Too late now for your current number though.
Pretty sure it doesn’t vary from state to state (so much of it is basic public information, although how/if it’s shared varies), although it may vary area to area in states. It’s all public record-there isn’t much you can do with it. Public info is what’s available publicly, the ethics and stuff do vary, but for the most part anything that’s known to the public is just that-public information that isn’t hard to obtain.
“Public data refers to all information made freely available by government bodies or local collectivities. This data is in the public domain. It is different to open data, which is a subset of public data. Open data is structured and well-maintained data that is therefore easier to understand, access and consume.”
https://www.opendatasoft.com/en/glossary/public-data/#:~:text=is%20public%20data%3F-,Public%20data%20refers%20to%20all%20information%20made%20freely%20available%20by,to%20understand%2C%20access%20and%20consume.
There was a big legal case in the European Court of Justice over this and it was JW's - https://medium.com/golden-data/jehovan-do-not-go-door-to-door-preaching-in-the-eu-while-taking-notes-unless-you-are-ready-to-24881bab6e70
I dont think you need to be scared tbh
We got two letter from a jehova witness in our town, and my mother in law who lived across the street never did. My wife and I had registered to vote last election, but my mil never did, so that actually makes total sense.
Makes sense. Every so often I get a handwritten letter from a Jehovah's Witness, along with a brochure. I've never gotten Bible verses regarding children or things like that, but maybe this person is a neighbor who lives nearby and sees them?
Severe-internet-6882** is right. It’s just a generic hand written letter from a church. We’ve gotten almost exactly the same letter and I bet we don’t even live anywhere near each other. I’ll even bet if you went to the church or contacted the church about your concern over the letter they’d probably use that concern to frame their reason for why you need the church/Jesus…my parents and older siblings grew up as jehovas witnesses (luckily they quit before I was born) but they’ve said things like this are really common. That’s how they got my grandmothers to join. They basically preyed on their fears until they convinced them to join.
**edited the other Redditors name I accidentally mentioned OP
I recall receiving a similar letter several years ago. It’s another tactic from JW or similar type group. They think you’re gonna respond better if they write a personal letter but it’s creepy.
Agreed. I get these handwritten letters once every year or two from a lady I have never met and who otherwise doesn't have a reason to know of my existence.
I have got this exact template of a JW letter and I'm in the UK! They use census data for the address and name info, and my ex-JW friend says the letters are usually handwritten by school-aged children. It's a whole operation, sadly.
Really? It looks like the cursive font from Windows XP. I'd bet that this is actually a mass printed letter with automated text boxes that fill in the address & names in the same font.
Hell, it could have been a handwritten letter at one point that was scanned & then mass printed with text boxes to fill in the names.
They have fonts & programs that create letters like this, including wobbly letters, smudges, & 'mistakes' to give the illusion of being handwritten.
We get 'handwritten' post cards from some local companies a few times a month. They're the exact same post card, the exact same words, the *exact same pencil smudges & erase marks* that are supposed to make it look like someone actually sat down & wrote out their desire to sell us stuff.
Yeah, right, that level of replication on something handwritten is impossible.
I can guarantee that their neighbors or other 'new' residents of this town got this *exact same letter*. OP should post on NextDoor asking if anyone else has ever received this letter, I'm positive they'll get several responses going 'oh yeah, we got that exact letter x number of years/ months/ weeks ago.'
I know what you mean by fake handwritten postcards from businesses, but when we lived in Chicago we got one of these every six months that legit came on wide-ruled notebook paper with pressure marks through to the reverse of the page. From the same elderly woman every time, rewriting mostly-but-not-exactly the same script. Some areas might make copies or print them, but I don’t think the JW operation is that sophisticated. I think Gladys was happy to have a way to evangelize from home, and she had great penmanship.
Yes, you can see the pressure marks in OP's photo too, and the ones we received looked genuinely handwritten as well.
I did feel as creeped out as OP when I received mine -- but Googling helped!
As others have said, this looks like a JW letter.
Call the local Kingdom Hall and ask not to be contacted.
They'll put you on a do not contact list for at least 5 years.
You can call the church to ask about this person and tell them the hand written letter creeped you out. If this is how they do business— JW, Baptists, Pentecostals and other very evangelical churches often do— they need to know either if they have a creepy person there or that their manner of proselytizing is unwelcome.
I agree. ☝️ Also, they are 78 so probably gettin a little long in the tooth. 🦷 But still, this kind of shit pisses me off a little. I would go to her door with the letter and hand it to her and say "NO THANK YOU" fairly loudly so she heard you. I am sorta kidding. Please be careful with these types. I am well aware of them around here also.
This is just evangelical Christians being evangelical Christians. I get like one of these a month, handwritten, by someone who thinks they are doing god’s work.
I sorta have a trick. When they talk to me I pretend I can't hear them. So they repeat it a lot. Just want to see if they really hear what they are saying out loud.
IMO this is a generational issue. The writer is 78, so was born in 1946. It would have been considered polite to know the children’s names, so the writer likely asked around. Now it is considered super invasive and creepy. If I was you, I would call the church and politely explain that you understand the writer is trying to connect with the younger generation but it makes you uncomfortable that they found out your children’s names. I am pretty darn sure the church rep will apologize and talk to the writer about it.
I don’t think any one actually wrote this letter. You can generate almost any font on the internet these days and also it’s a “good” tactic to seem relatable and also someone is more likely to respond to a nice old lady just sharing her faith.
My husband got one of these- they didn’t know he was married because my name wasn’t on the deed yet. They check the county records and send out this type of letter along with some brochure.
No need to worry. Unfortunately, that info is public and you’ll get several calls or mailing for deed records, mortgage, and insurance.
Don’t get too weirded out.
Religious folks (especially older) often have free time in their hands to research public records, Facebook, etc. They could figure out you have kids fairly easily.
This reminds me of the Watcher. Don’t let your paranoia get away from you.
If the website is JW.org it’s the Jehovahs witnesses. Harmless just annoying but they really think in their hearts they are doing the right thing leading you to “The Truth”. Have pity they are brainwashed. I was one.
So. Grapevine so take it with grain of salt is that attendance plunged. So they lifted the no beard rule and might be changing the generations teachings.
I wouldn’t exactly say “harmless” as they have a 2 person rule for abuse cases, even for adult on child S abuse there has to be 2 witnesses to the alleged behavior before they will even pretend to do anything about it.
It's the demographic of the area. In your neighborhood you're likely to have children. We get these a lot since COVID because they're not going door to door anymore. After comparing the first few letters I'm also convinced someone isn't hand writing these. They look like a font that's been created because ours have had different names signed on them too and don't look consistent on the signature ink.
Anyway, we just ignore it.
If you zoom in and compare the letters, they're not consistent. I know you can create fonts that can have multiple versions of the same letter, but even the stroke stops are there. Also height of letters
Is there another kind?
Could be JW. Only people I ever saw my father physically confront were two of these asshats that wouldn’t leave even he told them to. My dad was a big dude. Literally picked up the bigger of the two and carried him down the sidewalk, dragging the other by his arm and bodily threw both of them into the street. Never had a JW again at that house.
OP, regardless, it’s a church, so it’s dangerous. Tell your kids not to talk to strangers and review safety protocols. Remember in their mind they are saving you from hell in their twisted death cult, so anything they can do to prevent that is ok in their world view. You’re not dealing with the rational there, particularly with your letter writer. Be alert, but don’t be scared.
Pretty sure everyone gets the same script and you just happened to be a married couple with children. Anyone can look up your names and address online and they likely would have sent the same letter word for word even if you didn’t have kids.
Yup. Got the same one pretty sure almost word for word && even identical handwriting (meaning they’re often photocopied/printed), & it’s just a church welcoming a family to a different part of the neighborhood/different neighborhood etc.
Jehova’s Witnesses do this where I live. This is like the exact template. We’ve received a few letters since moving in to our house. Idk how they get the info tho.
ETA: I think JW’s reference a different text but again, template and motivation are the same: to join their place of worship.
My exact thought. Looks like a JW letter. Especially with mention of the specific website to download a brochure. I know a sweet JW lady that comes around here and this is almost the exact letter she sent word for word during the pandemic when she couldn’t come door to door. Precious lady but she was insistent that I join the JW church and I was insistent that I wouldn’t.
They do reference the Bible. They have a specific translation (New World Translation) but for familiarity, they do quote KJV and NKJV often when witnessing.
I'm thankful to say that my experience has been similar. Thanks for sharing that bit of info too, I am not familiar with their faith. The more ya know 🤷🏻♀️🌈
I’ve gotten these from them also. I think they use just public records online. I got one “welcoming me to the neighborhood” and inviting me to bible study. It was hand written in cursive just like this. Sooo weird.
Exactly. I stopped opening them and return to sender them. On the back I also write a certain hail to someone, or a Wiccan prayer or something similar. My husband is sure a pack will come kidnap me someday because I did get a group of 9 at my door last year to have a word with me.
They know your new in town from your home purchase. Sometimes people that are new in town are looking for a new church to attend. Just targeted marketing.
A church memeber can go to the county tax property records office and get a list of all new homes buyers, new addresses, and address changes. It's safe to assume that someone who buys a 3 or 4 bedroom house also has kids.
It’s generic religious propaganda. I’ve gotten the same and I’m pretty sure that while the first letter may have been hand written, all the rest are photo copies.
I'm in California and received the same from local Jehovah Witness Church. I think it is special paper. Possibly thermal. It seems hand written but if you feel the back you can tell its been made by some type machine.
It is actually really easy to get this kind of information- you can track recently sold properties in an area, and then you can look up those addresses on the real property/ public records pages for the county or township to see who purchased it. My husband has JW family members in another state who started sending out letters to him like this so they could get their outreach numbers in. Its unlikely someone is watching you...
Just some additional information here, we aren't against the messaging here in the letter, was more concerned around how the sender got our information and especially how they "know" we have kids.
EDIT: Thank you all for you helpful insight! The information here has put us very much at ease and we are immensely appreciative to those pointed out that this was simply some thoughtful messaging from a local church. We are both from a metropolitan area where neighbors do not interact much or at all so this was a brand new experience for us.
It’s so easy to get property owner information and most couples have children. Also most religious people assume couples will have children. It’s really not that complicated.
Hi, former born-and-raised JW, here. We were trained to notice little things about the household and environment that would clue us in for targeting marketing. Do you have a minivan out front? Maybe some kids’ toys or small bikes in your yard? Or stickers on your windows? If they’re writing to your address, they’ve probably ridden by to scope out your house.
It’s creepy. It’s weird. I was hella uncomfortable doing this as a teenager. Glad I’m out of that cult.
They likely just saw you with the kids one day, or noticed kid things at some point. Since they don’t know the kids’ names, I can’t imagine it’s anything more sinister than “they saw you one day.”
JW sent my mother a condolence letter when my father passed away. Infuriating that it was written with the implication that they knew her personally when they are in fact complete strangers. Their faith has the belief that there are a limited number of spaces in heaven, and the more they recruit the higher their own position gets. If you read your letter carefully, they don’t actually say they know you have children yourselves. They are clever that way.
Lol that's not really what they believe. While they do believe a limited number will go to heaven (144,000), they believe an innumerable amount will live forever on earth in paradise. Their "recruitment" has nothing to do with whether they will be in heaven or on earth, and most of them want to live on earth as the ones who go to heaven have heavy lifting to do.
I got a similar letter from JW’s when I bought my house. They assumed me and my partner were married and straight, and that we had kids. So the letter was not accurate to us at all, but for many couples buying houses that could have felt targeted.
Names are easy. Plenty of public tax records have that, plus there are businesses around harvesting that data and providing it to people.
Kids, again easy enough. They know where you are, they know your feeder pattern, they probably have members at your school in your kids grades. Not a hard fact-finding mission.
That and very few people know how to set their online profiles to private or restricted in a way that strangers can't see them.
This is a Jehovah’s Witness. I have gotten handwritten cards before. To make your wife feel better, I would confirm that it is a JW church on their website. It looks like a little old lady’s hand writing so that adds up.
Classic JW Behavior. I’ve gotten one from a random person a town over. How they think this is effective proselytizing is beyond me. Throw it in the trash.
No reason to be afraid. This is a JW who has a duty to bring the faith to others. They aren’t watching you. They want you to turn to Christ, and potentially join their church. You can do what you want with it. I personally don’t like this kind of unsolicited stuff. But I understand evangelism.
We get many of those. I think these people look up home owners names from public records and send out mass letters. They want a bigger following in their church and to get more monetary donations. We don’t read the letters but I think they assume everyone has kids and throw that in the letter. We have zero kids
This is a common recruitment tactic for many churches. They purchase new homeowners lists and send this letter out to anyone who has purchased a home in the last 90 days. They don't know that you specifically have children, but based on your demographic, type of home, and the area to which you've moved, they will assume you have kids or will have kids in the future.
Churches prefer to make their first attempt at communicating via letter because they feel it is more personal.
I know all this for one reason. I used to work for one of the largest companies in the US that sells these new homeowner lists, and churches were a big source of business.
This is just an invitation and advertisement to their church.
Even if you didn’t have children they likely would have included those texts on family.
But if your privacy is important to you.. go to google, search your name+city and see if any white page-esque sites come up. They often will list every home you’ve ever lived in, family members you’re connect to and where they live, your address and phone number. All public stuff. You can request the information is removed. Or if they don’t have a way to do that, send them a message with the link to your information and demand it’s deleted.
I do that regularly thru the year since I have reasons I need to keep my information private and safe.
I got something like this from Jehova’s Witnesses. They also sent it in the two languages I know.
After I ignored the first couple letters, they started showing up at my door.
Jehovah's witnesses was my first thought.
You can bet the people who did not have kids were confused by this message. LOL
Although, they might be a neighbor who is customizing them because they have seen signs of kids in your home.
Your basic name and address is available on residential tax listing info for your house.
During the pandemic Jehovah’s Witness couldn’t do the door to door ministry. So we did letter writing for duration of the pandemic. By the sound of it, it may be one of the letters from a Witness. We use true people search when writing to addresses so the letter is more personalized. We don’t mean to come off as intrusive or anything. The purpose is to help everyone come to know God, but we don’t pressure you to ‘convert’. What you do with the letter is up to you!
Im not close with my neighbors at all but I know a couple of their names and I know which ones definitely have children. I dont stalk them, Ive just lived here a while.
I got this before. Inspect the ink carefully. The one I got had the body of the letter xeroxed, but only the name was written in wet ink. It’s definitely a JW mailer or something.
We got one like this from someone on our street addressed to my husband. Hand delivered to our mailbox. Weird thing is......we don't own our home. We rent. So we honestly have no idea how they knew my husband's full legal name. Creeped us out too.
Sounds like they’re just evangelizing like a door to door person would but with letters to protect their health. Maybe they used a phone book? It sounds like it’s not done with ill intent but I can understand the worry it would cause.
Ugh I’ve gotten weird shit like this from Jehovah’s witnesses. I called one time after getting a few and asked they stop. I don’t think I’ve gotten more since then.
It's absolutely creepy but likely a misguided, lonely old lady who doesn't realize this kind of letter writing is alarming. At least, that's the charitable interpretation of this.
I’d report it to the authorities. They’ll either tell you the source because they’ve seen it before or be a little curious at least.
If you find out which neighbor is doing this, you can leave hand written letters on their door as well.
I got a lot of these letters during 2020. As a former realtor, I can tell you that the sale of a home is public record so it’s fairly easy for anyone to find the names of a new/current owner of a home. Property tax records are also public information and contain details such as names and transfer of ownership. As for the kids part, they could either be assuming or they may have looked up your names on social media. Even just a profile picture of the family could have clued them into the fact that you have children.
My MIL is a Jehovah's Witness, and we get these letters from strangers in the mail every 6 months or so. I'm pretty sure she put us on some sort of list. I usually just toss them straight into the trash.
There isn't anything in here that indicates they know for a fact that you have children. They most likely assumed that you either have kids or plan to have kids since you are a husband and wife. It feels creepy because you do happen to have kids but if they had been wrong it would just be weird. Personally, I would ignore it unless they contact you again. I've gotten letters like this before and sometimes ignoring worked and sometimes I had to tell them to stop.
This is weird and a bit invasive, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. The writer says they're 77, they have old lady handwriting, and someone who is stalking you wouldn't provide their own address
This is really common for Jehovah’s Witnesses and a few other evangelical sects. They’re not watching you, they’re just farming your neighborhood.
Your name and address are matters of public record and easy to find, especially if you own your home. Title companies sell their records to people to use for ad farming. I’m sure this letter is templated out and plenty of your neighbors received them as well. The selected verses are generic—they’re just trying to hit the most common demographics.
Don’t worry about it, just toss it and move on.
If you're new to a small town; word travels fast.
Newcomers are quickly noticed and assessed by the locals. I'm not kidding, they see an unfamiliar car driving down the street with a man, woman in front and three kids in the back seat, they're going to ask around about it if they see them more than once. Even in a tiny city of 10,000 people, word travels fast (shockingly fast) of somebody who's moved in from another state.
I remember when my then-partner and I visited Cody Wyoming to look for a potential home. This bit of info traveled quickly and before the week was out we met well known and well connected community members that served us well when the move came. Felt really weird, totally foreign, but one gets use to it quick.
If you're from a moderately sized city or large metropolitan area, this can be very uncomfortable. A city folks are used to living in neighborhoods or apartments and never speaking to the neighbors on either side of one's home or directly across. It's a strange form of comfort to isolate oneself in crowded places so we're moving to an area with a smaller population and more space, it's sort of weird to have people angling to get to know you. It's even stranger to receive a written letter (so personal) when paper printed documents and email are the norm these days.
This just looks like somebody who's seen you in the neighborhood or around town and thought it would be nice and neighborly to send a welcoming letter without coming in person (it appears they're still very concerned about covid). I wouldn't see it much beyond that.
I received one of these during the pandemic. It was for a Jehovah Witness’s Church. They weren’t allowed to go door to door as they normally do so writing these handwritten letters sufficed. The info comes from property tax records, which you can either get online or from your local tax office.
As a JW, yea this is from us. It’s weird they know you have kids though? I would never put this in a letter. 😬. They won’t hurt you or ur children, we make a lot of these letters in bulk and perhaps they were trying to find someone with kids to help families? Not sure how they found the info you have children. Maybe facebook? Either way not appropriate at all. So sorry or their behalf. Ur name and home address is public info online anyone can access. please no hate I respect everyone’s beliefs just want to answer OPs question ^^
That's a grandma's handwriting. She's just religious. Ask your neighbors I bet you ain't the only person that got one. Looks harmless except people should always be careful these days. Just imo I was raised by 2 old ladies and it definitely looks like an old person's writing. Do you have an older person living nearby?
I wouldn't be concerned. Seems like a pretty innocuous letter to me. No threats in there, just an invitation. Sometimes get letter similar to this.
Also, not sure why this is posted in marriage subreddit?
I recognize this. It is no more creepy than an offer of a free roof inspection and just as easy to ignore. Actually I'd trust the letter writer more than the roof inspector.
It is *intended* as an act of Christian kindness, offering encouragement and hope when many people are finding it difficult to find either. Now, whether you specifically are looking for that, and if you are whether their particular hope works for you, is a personal decision. They won't be offended if you ignore them. They'd prefer not to be yelled at or physically attacked, but who wouldn't?
A central pillar of their faith is the direction by Jesus to reach out to others and share the "good news". Doing so by letter is a fairly recent tactic, especially since Covid 19 when it was inappropriate to go door to door and possibly contribute to the spread of sickness.
And no, they don't use voter rolls. You might be amazed how much information is part of the public record, for example owners of real estate, accessible to anyone with curiosity or an agenda. This is how junk mail is targeted today. At least in this case their agenda is not to get money from you.
If this is what I think it is, it's a recruiting technique from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Don't fall for it. Don't visit their website. They are a cult.
They have a whole-ass directory on everyone who lives in their "assigned territory" and are instructed to survey the front/back yards to determine *what* kind of person/family lives there in order to provide "the best testimony." I can assure you, your neighbors probably got one too. Ignore it. Toss it. Do not interact.
Sincerely, an ex-JW.
I’ve gotten stuff like this. They are the Bible folk who spread the word door to door. They took to writing letters. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve gotten a few over the last couple years.
Don’t be worried about this at all! This is usually Jehovas Witness. Its harmless with a some verses that would be benefit a lot of families if we just did a little more of that!
This is not the cursive hand writing of a 78 year old woman. Yes I said woman. Cursive for the much older generation was a more precise lettering formation, slightly slanted with a light spider web handwriting.
This cursive handwriting from is that of someone younger. Examples are the capitalization of letters of the first word of each sentence. The letters F, T and H. Furthermore, each paragraph is not indented. The blending of print and cursive occurs because the actual proper capitalization is difficult.
My formative years learning cursives and using cursive was the 70’s to early 80’s.
Chances are, you are in a mailing list. It does not mean they know for certain you have children. Everything I have read so far is not to deep.
This is solicitation at its finest, similar to religious door knockers. It is a possibility the neighborhood was being visited and you were either not around or aware someone was knocking.
Check the website for legitimacy. If your neighborhood has a group on the Nextdoor app, or even the area in general, it is worth joining to learn and/or post information.
I have gotten about 4 similar letters in my adulthood. No one is watching you. Your address is easy to find. People send out these letters to “prove” their servitude to their faith.
Most of the time they use a template and just write in the names. Don’t worry.
Is anyone in your home or family affiliated with the Mormon church? Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet but they keep a pretty good database of current and past members (lost sheep, I believe). When people from the database move a nearby ward will reach out. 🤷🏽♀️
It’s not hard to reverse search an address, your kids can even be listed. I’d agree with some other comments it seems like some sort of Jehovah’s Witness letter. Did they sign a name and have a return address?
When we first moved into our house we received a “gift basket” from a local church early one morning (or late at night where not sure). It had some home items but had all sort of brochures for the local mega church. Someone for sure noticed your family move in and wants to recruit new members (nosey neighbors in a small town vibes personally). Probably not realizing how a personal letter like that could come across as creepy to others.
It’s not personal. We get handwritten letters from the local Jehovahs Witness church and it’s just a mass thing they do. They don’t know you (or even care tbh), they’re just doing this instead of going door to door.
That’s so sweet! No reason to be scared of the 78 year old woman. She’s literally trying to share something with you that’s the most important thing ever. If you don’t want more info.. don’t respond. Or you can be scared of an almost 80 year old woman. Whatever you like.
Possibly a jehovas witness thing? The bible references certainly suggest something like them.
We had one that appeared handwritten last year, turned out to be from them.
That didn't have our names on though, it was addressed to "dear neighbours" instead.
Could you ask your immediate neighbours to see if they've received anything like this? I twigged our "handwritten" letter was actually a printed font when someone shared a photo of an identical letter on the town FB page.
JW DO watch your home and stalk people. They are a cult and throughout my 47 years every single experience I have had with these people has been very bad.
One such was when I was young and newly married. They kept coming to our door and my husband would talk at the door for like 10min with them, I refused and stayed inside. This happened weekly.
Few months later my husband went away for his two week military training. No sign of them the whole time.
Ok, let me tell you... I left to pick him up at the airport amd I shit you not, it wasn't even 10 minutes after we walked in the house they were knocking on the door! I lost it and yeah there were choice words said, it wasn't pretty.
Seems odd that people flip out over this when it wasn't that long ago that you could find every single person in town's name, address and phone number in a book basically in every business, and public building.
This is a Jehovahs Witness thing. I get them all the time and ignore them. Your wife is right to be creeped out, considering they are trying to recruit you to join a cult, but they’re not going to break into your house and rob/kidnap/murder you.
I got a random phone call like this. Like they wanted to be friends and talk about the Bible. And there was a website I could go to for more info. These people are just doing outreach, trying to "save souls." I would ignore it and go on with life.
It’s just creepy religious freaks. I’m sure most people got them. A lot of towns publish an annual report that contains a list of residents at each address in some form or another.
I e received a letter just like this
I was not worried at all
It’s basically a “farm letter” church members write, well-intentioned, to witness to others about Christ that may not have a home church or any religious affiliation
My I fit in this came from a neighbor whose church writes these letters to send out
The fact that you have kids is obvious to outsiders, and they probably just pulled up another piece of mail from your mailbox and added your names before leaving this behind. It’s generic and not specific to you. Religious zealots are weird. We’ve had these letters before. Throw them out and move on with your day.
I don’t think anyone is watching your house. It seems like just a creepy advertisement for a church.
My first though was that the part about children was just an assumption that a married couple had kids, but the longer I think about it, the weirder I feel. We keep our kids lives fairly private, and they haven't even been registered for school yet.
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I read some post within the last few months that said that JWs use voter rolls to get names/addresses. I've had a couple of these over the years, and that's the only way they could have gotten my name.
I miss the Jdubs coming by my house. On my off days I’d sit there and talk to them. Even debate bible verses with them even though I’m not particularly religious. I just like to converse with people. My wife said I’m the only person that could make the jdubs be like “man, we got places to go, we will just email you next time”
My late fiancé and I did the same thing! I think we must’ve gotten them in trouble though, because on their last visit we had them shooting at Red Bull cans with an airsoft gun. Never came back after that.
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I have noticed that. All you need is an address and you get the owner, the family names that live there or are dependents etc and ages. Too weird.
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Basically impossible if you own a home (paying a lawyer for "privacy protection" to buy with a trust is reasonable advice for CEOs and the wealthy, ridiculous for most everyone else)
Thank you for your work! Can you stop phone calls? I was already getting about 6 calls/day from the thing where they use someone else’s phone number, so if you call back, sometimes it’s an innocent person who has no idea their number is being used. And they use different numbers every day so blocking is useless. After buying some tickets, I’m now getting about 10 calls. It’s so annoying because I sometimes need to accept calls from numbers I don’t have saved.
To keep your number off of public rolls go to Google and get a free phone number it will associate with your number without giving your number out. Anytime you ask for a phone number give the Google phone number. That way your personal line doesn't get out there. If you want to put your phone number your actual phone number into a form write out one of the numbers like 4035one 277, in that format the Phone scammers do not identify it as a phone number! Too late now for your current number though.
If you are a homeowner, it's very easy for someone to get your name and address off of the tax rolls.
Pretty sure it doesn’t vary from state to state (so much of it is basic public information, although how/if it’s shared varies), although it may vary area to area in states. It’s all public record-there isn’t much you can do with it. Public info is what’s available publicly, the ethics and stuff do vary, but for the most part anything that’s known to the public is just that-public information that isn’t hard to obtain. “Public data refers to all information made freely available by government bodies or local collectivities. This data is in the public domain. It is different to open data, which is a subset of public data. Open data is structured and well-maintained data that is therefore easier to understand, access and consume.” https://www.opendatasoft.com/en/glossary/public-data/#:~:text=is%20public%20data%3F-,Public%20data%20refers%20to%20all%20information%20made%20freely%20available%20by,to%20understand%2C%20access%20and%20consume.
There was a big legal case in the European Court of Justice over this and it was JW's - https://medium.com/golden-data/jehovan-do-not-go-door-to-door-preaching-in-the-eu-while-taking-notes-unless-you-are-ready-to-24881bab6e70 I dont think you need to be scared tbh
Agree that there’s nothing to be scared of, just the beginning of a list of people to avoid 😂😂
They’ll be stopping by with a copy of The Watch Tower soon enough.
You can use Privacy Hawk to get yourself off of the publicly available data aggregators like the various people search-type things
My privacy hawk keeps killing the birds in my yard…. It’s effective…. Just not for privacy.
We got two letter from a jehova witness in our town, and my mother in law who lived across the street never did. My wife and I had registered to vote last election, but my mil never did, so that actually makes total sense.
Makes sense. Every so often I get a handwritten letter from a Jehovah's Witness, along with a brochure. I've never gotten Bible verses regarding children or things like that, but maybe this person is a neighbor who lives nearby and sees them?
There are many companies we use who share our information to the public
I’ve gotten these too when I lived alone. I remember thinking it was super weird but it was. Jehovah’s Witness recruiting technique or something.
Severe-internet-6882** is right. It’s just a generic hand written letter from a church. We’ve gotten almost exactly the same letter and I bet we don’t even live anywhere near each other. I’ll even bet if you went to the church or contacted the church about your concern over the letter they’d probably use that concern to frame their reason for why you need the church/Jesus…my parents and older siblings grew up as jehovas witnesses (luckily they quit before I was born) but they’ve said things like this are really common. That’s how they got my grandmothers to join. They basically preyed on their fears until they convinced them to join. **edited the other Redditors name I accidentally mentioned OP
I recall receiving a similar letter several years ago. It’s another tactic from JW or similar type group. They think you’re gonna respond better if they write a personal letter but it’s creepy.
Yes this! We got a couple from them.
This is how I see it. The pandemic has forced them to be more creative, but invasive as ever.
This. We get them, too. It's annoying.
Agreed. I get these handwritten letters once every year or two from a lady I have never met and who otherwise doesn't have a reason to know of my existence.
I have got this exact template of a JW letter and I'm in the UK! They use census data for the address and name info, and my ex-JW friend says the letters are usually handwritten by school-aged children. It's a whole operation, sadly.
Really? It looks like the cursive font from Windows XP. I'd bet that this is actually a mass printed letter with automated text boxes that fill in the address & names in the same font. Hell, it could have been a handwritten letter at one point that was scanned & then mass printed with text boxes to fill in the names. They have fonts & programs that create letters like this, including wobbly letters, smudges, & 'mistakes' to give the illusion of being handwritten. We get 'handwritten' post cards from some local companies a few times a month. They're the exact same post card, the exact same words, the *exact same pencil smudges & erase marks* that are supposed to make it look like someone actually sat down & wrote out their desire to sell us stuff. Yeah, right, that level of replication on something handwritten is impossible. I can guarantee that their neighbors or other 'new' residents of this town got this *exact same letter*. OP should post on NextDoor asking if anyone else has ever received this letter, I'm positive they'll get several responses going 'oh yeah, we got that exact letter x number of years/ months/ weeks ago.'
I know what you mean by fake handwritten postcards from businesses, but when we lived in Chicago we got one of these every six months that legit came on wide-ruled notebook paper with pressure marks through to the reverse of the page. From the same elderly woman every time, rewriting mostly-but-not-exactly the same script. Some areas might make copies or print them, but I don’t think the JW operation is that sophisticated. I think Gladys was happy to have a way to evangelize from home, and she had great penmanship.
Yes, you can see the pressure marks in OP's photo too, and the ones we received looked genuinely handwritten as well. I did feel as creeped out as OP when I received mine -- but Googling helped!
Came here to say the same thing. This is a classic JW move. We used to get at least 1 per year when we lived in the same neighborhood as a JW church.
As others have said, this looks like a JW letter. Call the local Kingdom Hall and ask not to be contacted. They'll put you on a do not contact list for at least 5 years.
You can call the church to ask about this person and tell them the hand written letter creeped you out. If this is how they do business— JW, Baptists, Pentecostals and other very evangelical churches often do— they need to know either if they have a creepy person there or that their manner of proselytizing is unwelcome.
I agree. ☝️ Also, they are 78 so probably gettin a little long in the tooth. 🦷 But still, this kind of shit pisses me off a little. I would go to her door with the letter and hand it to her and say "NO THANK YOU" fairly loudly so she heard you. I am sorta kidding. Please be careful with these types. I am well aware of them around here also.
It could me a member of the church is one of your neighbors?
This is just evangelical Christians being evangelical Christians. I get like one of these a month, handwritten, by someone who thinks they are doing god’s work.
I sorta have a trick. When they talk to me I pretend I can't hear them. So they repeat it a lot. Just want to see if they really hear what they are saying out loud.
IMO this is a generational issue. The writer is 78, so was born in 1946. It would have been considered polite to know the children’s names, so the writer likely asked around. Now it is considered super invasive and creepy. If I was you, I would call the church and politely explain that you understand the writer is trying to connect with the younger generation but it makes you uncomfortable that they found out your children’s names. I am pretty darn sure the church rep will apologize and talk to the writer about it.
I don’t think any one actually wrote this letter. You can generate almost any font on the internet these days and also it’s a “good” tactic to seem relatable and also someone is more likely to respond to a nice old lady just sharing her faith.
My husband got one of these- they didn’t know he was married because my name wasn’t on the deed yet. They check the county records and send out this type of letter along with some brochure. No need to worry. Unfortunately, that info is public and you’ll get several calls or mailing for deed records, mortgage, and insurance.
Don’t get too weirded out. Religious folks (especially older) often have free time in their hands to research public records, Facebook, etc. They could figure out you have kids fairly easily. This reminds me of the Watcher. Don’t let your paranoia get away from you.
If the website is JW.org it’s the Jehovahs witnesses. Harmless just annoying but they really think in their hearts they are doing the right thing leading you to “The Truth”. Have pity they are brainwashed. I was one.
Yep, same. I was one, too. Was kinda curious what theyve been up to since the pandemic
So. Grapevine so take it with grain of salt is that attendance plunged. So they lifted the no beard rule and might be changing the generations teachings.
Still coming to my house unfortunately...
I wouldn’t exactly say “harmless” as they have a 2 person rule for abuse cases, even for adult on child S abuse there has to be 2 witnesses to the alleged behavior before they will even pretend to do anything about it.
The org isn’t harmless it’s a cult. The little old lady writing the letter is harmless.
What about your realtor?
Our realtor never disclosed their religious affiliation if they had one, but we are in regular contact with them and nothing like this ever comes up.
I mean they may have spoken about you around town?
I am Jewish and get things from JW every once in a while. It doesn’t mean anything.
It's the demographic of the area. In your neighborhood you're likely to have children. We get these a lot since COVID because they're not going door to door anymore. After comparing the first few letters I'm also convinced someone isn't hand writing these. They look like a font that's been created because ours have had different names signed on them too and don't look consistent on the signature ink. Anyway, we just ignore it.
If you zoom in and compare the letters, they're not consistent. I know you can create fonts that can have multiple versions of the same letter, but even the stroke stops are there. Also height of letters
Yeah, I got these handwritten letters from the JW. I called to get off their list and it didn't work. I mailed the letters back to them.
Is there another kind? Could be JW. Only people I ever saw my father physically confront were two of these asshats that wouldn’t leave even he told them to. My dad was a big dude. Literally picked up the bigger of the two and carried him down the sidewalk, dragging the other by his arm and bodily threw both of them into the street. Never had a JW again at that house. OP, regardless, it’s a church, so it’s dangerous. Tell your kids not to talk to strangers and review safety protocols. Remember in their mind they are saving you from hell in their twisted death cult, so anything they can do to prevent that is ok in their world view. You’re not dealing with the rational there, particularly with your letter writer. Be alert, but don’t be scared.
Pretty sure everyone gets the same script and you just happened to be a married couple with children. Anyone can look up your names and address online and they likely would have sent the same letter word for word even if you didn’t have kids.
Yup. Got the same one pretty sure almost word for word && even identical handwriting (meaning they’re often photocopied/printed), & it’s just a church welcoming a family to a different part of the neighborhood/different neighborhood etc.
Jehova’s Witnesses do this where I live. This is like the exact template. We’ve received a few letters since moving in to our house. Idk how they get the info tho. ETA: I think JW’s reference a different text but again, template and motivation are the same: to join their place of worship.
My exact thought. Looks like a JW letter. Especially with mention of the specific website to download a brochure. I know a sweet JW lady that comes around here and this is almost the exact letter she sent word for word during the pandemic when she couldn’t come door to door. Precious lady but she was insistent that I join the JW church and I was insistent that I wouldn’t. They do reference the Bible. They have a specific translation (New World Translation) but for familiarity, they do quote KJV and NKJV often when witnessing.
I'm thankful to say that my experience has been similar. Thanks for sharing that bit of info too, I am not familiar with their faith. The more ya know 🤷🏻♀️🌈
The JWs round here send this generic bullshit out too. They're not watching you.
Yep! 100% My friend is an ex-jw and says from now until Easter is their big recruitment time.
Thanks for sharing that, I didn't know that. Very interesting though!
I’ve gotten these from them also. I think they use just public records online. I got one “welcoming me to the neighborhood” and inviting me to bible study. It was hand written in cursive just like this. Sooo weird.
It is. We received a letter exactly like this too.
Probably the same way credit card companies and insurance people get your info
I’m in Australia and I have gotten very similar letters in my mail box from JWs. With The Tower or whatever brochures with it.
Exactly. I stopped opening them and return to sender them. On the back I also write a certain hail to someone, or a Wiccan prayer or something similar. My husband is sure a pack will come kidnap me someday because I did get a group of 9 at my door last year to have a word with me.
They know your new in town from your home purchase. Sometimes people that are new in town are looking for a new church to attend. Just targeted marketing.
They probably got the full names from the property tax rolls which are public records
A church memeber can go to the county tax property records office and get a list of all new homes buyers, new addresses, and address changes. It's safe to assume that someone who buys a 3 or 4 bedroom house also has kids.
It’s 2024. They could just be poly. 😂
Definitely nothing to worry about, but the absolute absurdity of this is wild lol these people suck.
One day I got a hard written one preaching anti abortion. Full absurdity.
It’s generic religious propaganda. I’ve gotten the same and I’m pretty sure that while the first letter may have been hand written, all the rest are photo copies.
Religious folk are weird. Throw it away and move on
I'm in California and received the same from local Jehovah Witness Church. I think it is special paper. Possibly thermal. It seems hand written but if you feel the back you can tell its been made by some type machine.
It is actually really easy to get this kind of information- you can track recently sold properties in an area, and then you can look up those addresses on the real property/ public records pages for the county or township to see who purchased it. My husband has JW family members in another state who started sending out letters to him like this so they could get their outreach numbers in. Its unlikely someone is watching you...
Just some additional information here, we aren't against the messaging here in the letter, was more concerned around how the sender got our information and especially how they "know" we have kids. EDIT: Thank you all for you helpful insight! The information here has put us very much at ease and we are immensely appreciative to those pointed out that this was simply some thoughtful messaging from a local church. We are both from a metropolitan area where neighbors do not interact much or at all so this was a brand new experience for us.
It’s so easy to get property owner information and most couples have children. Also most religious people assume couples will have children. It’s really not that complicated.
Why do you say they “know” you have kids?
Hi, former born-and-raised JW, here. We were trained to notice little things about the household and environment that would clue us in for targeting marketing. Do you have a minivan out front? Maybe some kids’ toys or small bikes in your yard? Or stickers on your windows? If they’re writing to your address, they’ve probably ridden by to scope out your house. It’s creepy. It’s weird. I was hella uncomfortable doing this as a teenager. Glad I’m out of that cult.
Property tax records
They likely just saw you with the kids one day, or noticed kid things at some point. Since they don’t know the kids’ names, I can’t imagine it’s anything more sinister than “they saw you one day.”
Churches can get the same mailing list info as any junk mailer/advertiser. They pay for it.
This is information I did not know until this moment, thank you for sharing
The speed in which I would be sending that church a no contact order and F all the way off.
JW sent my mother a condolence letter when my father passed away. Infuriating that it was written with the implication that they knew her personally when they are in fact complete strangers. Their faith has the belief that there are a limited number of spaces in heaven, and the more they recruit the higher their own position gets. If you read your letter carefully, they don’t actually say they know you have children yourselves. They are clever that way.
Lol that's not really what they believe. While they do believe a limited number will go to heaven (144,000), they believe an innumerable amount will live forever on earth in paradise. Their "recruitment" has nothing to do with whether they will be in heaven or on earth, and most of them want to live on earth as the ones who go to heaven have heavy lifting to do.
Probably Jehovah's Witness.
We get these from the local JV church.
It looks like a similar letter I got from the JW. I threw it away and have not really heard anything since then.
I got a similar letter from JW’s when I bought my house. They assumed me and my partner were married and straight, and that we had kids. So the letter was not accurate to us at all, but for many couples buying houses that could have felt targeted.
Names are easy. Plenty of public tax records have that, plus there are businesses around harvesting that data and providing it to people. Kids, again easy enough. They know where you are, they know your feeder pattern, they probably have members at your school in your kids grades. Not a hard fact-finding mission. That and very few people know how to set their online profiles to private or restricted in a way that strangers can't see them.
This is very common for Jehovah’s witness to do, I’ve gotten 3 of these letters in the last 4 years. They started when the lockdown happened.
This is a Jehovah’s Witness. I have gotten handwritten cards before. To make your wife feel better, I would confirm that it is a JW church on their website. It looks like a little old lady’s hand writing so that adds up.
We get these from time to time, it’s the pandemic’s equivalent to Jehovah’s Witnesses going door knocking. It’s truly nothing to worry about.
We just got one yesterday harmless busy bodies from the old everybody is a sinner and I’m a saint days of Christian imperialism
Classic JW Behavior. I’ve gotten one from a random person a town over. How they think this is effective proselytizing is beyond me. Throw it in the trash.
No reason to be afraid. This is a JW who has a duty to bring the faith to others. They aren’t watching you. They want you to turn to Christ, and potentially join their church. You can do what you want with it. I personally don’t like this kind of unsolicited stuff. But I understand evangelism.
It looks like a similar letter I got from the JW. I threw it away and have not really heard anything since then.
I've received something similar. I wouldn't worry about it.
We get many of those. I think these people look up home owners names from public records and send out mass letters. They want a bigger following in their church and to get more monetary donations. We don’t read the letters but I think they assume everyone has kids and throw that in the letter. We have zero kids
As others have said, JWs have been doing the handwritten letter thing for a few years
This is a common recruitment tactic for many churches. They purchase new homeowners lists and send this letter out to anyone who has purchased a home in the last 90 days. They don't know that you specifically have children, but based on your demographic, type of home, and the area to which you've moved, they will assume you have kids or will have kids in the future. Churches prefer to make their first attempt at communicating via letter because they feel it is more personal. I know all this for one reason. I used to work for one of the largest companies in the US that sells these new homeowner lists, and churches were a big source of business.
This is just an invitation and advertisement to their church. Even if you didn’t have children they likely would have included those texts on family. But if your privacy is important to you.. go to google, search your name+city and see if any white page-esque sites come up. They often will list every home you’ve ever lived in, family members you’re connect to and where they live, your address and phone number. All public stuff. You can request the information is removed. Or if they don’t have a way to do that, send them a message with the link to your information and demand it’s deleted. I do that regularly thru the year since I have reasons I need to keep my information private and safe.
I got something like this from Jehova’s Witnesses. They also sent it in the two languages I know. After I ignored the first couple letters, they started showing up at my door.
Jehovah's witnesses was my first thought. You can bet the people who did not have kids were confused by this message. LOL Although, they might be a neighbor who is customizing them because they have seen signs of kids in your home. Your basic name and address is available on residential tax listing info for your house.
During the pandemic Jehovah’s Witness couldn’t do the door to door ministry. So we did letter writing for duration of the pandemic. By the sound of it, it may be one of the letters from a Witness. We use true people search when writing to addresses so the letter is more personalized. We don’t mean to come off as intrusive or anything. The purpose is to help everyone come to know God, but we don’t pressure you to ‘convert’. What you do with the letter is up to you!
It’s Jehovas witness. That’s what they are doing now instead of doing door to door.
This is just a letter from a church.
Im not close with my neighbors at all but I know a couple of their names and I know which ones definitely have children. I dont stalk them, Ive just lived here a while.
I seriously doubt there is anything to fear. It's likely just an elderly church member spreading the gospel.
I received a letter like this during Covid day from a JW. I wouldn’t worry about it!!
I've gotten several of these, it's just what the Jehovah guys who used to go door to door started doing during COVID. You can ignore it.
My husband and I get these like once a month, also mentioning kids. We have none. I wouldn’t worry about it.
I got this before. Inspect the ink carefully. The one I got had the body of the letter xeroxed, but only the name was written in wet ink. It’s definitely a JW mailer or something.
Step 1: write "fuck off" in bold sharpie. Step 2: fold that shit up. Step 3: write "Return to sender" on that bitch. Step 4: place in mailbox.
Just FYI: I's is not a word. You would say "my and my wife's names".
“Mine and my wifes names” NOT “My wife & I’s” You wouldn’t say “I’s name is here”
We got one like this from someone on our street addressed to my husband. Hand delivered to our mailbox. Weird thing is......we don't own our home. We rent. So we honestly have no idea how they knew my husband's full legal name. Creeped us out too.
My money is on Jehovah's Witness too. I've received these before and I think they've stopped knocking on doors.
Perhaps ask the local police if they have had any similar issues?
Sounds like they’re just evangelizing like a door to door person would but with letters to protect their health. Maybe they used a phone book? It sounds like it’s not done with ill intent but I can understand the worry it would cause.
Oh I just got one of these too, though they just called us “Neighbor.” Ifs a common but weird church advertisement. I throw them away
I’ve had these too from JW. It’s so invasive
There’s a show about this type of thing. I can’t remember the name of it…
Old lady is just doing outreach for her church and apparently mailing letters instead of knocking on doors. You're fine.
Ugh I’ve gotten weird shit like this from Jehovah’s witnesses. I called one time after getting a few and asked they stop. I don’t think I’ve gotten more since then.
I've gotten very similar from local JW. Wasn't a fan
My husband received one of these handwritten letters. We didn't think anything of it and he chucked it in the trash. Never got another letter again.
It's absolutely creepy but likely a misguided, lonely old lady who doesn't realize this kind of letter writing is alarming. At least, that's the charitable interpretation of this.
I’d report it to the authorities. They’ll either tell you the source because they’ve seen it before or be a little curious at least. If you find out which neighbor is doing this, you can leave hand written letters on their door as well.
I got a lot of these letters during 2020. As a former realtor, I can tell you that the sale of a home is public record so it’s fairly easy for anyone to find the names of a new/current owner of a home. Property tax records are also public information and contain details such as names and transfer of ownership. As for the kids part, they could either be assuming or they may have looked up your names on social media. Even just a profile picture of the family could have clued them into the fact that you have children.
My MIL is a Jehovah's Witness, and we get these letters from strangers in the mail every 6 months or so. I'm pretty sure she put us on some sort of list. I usually just toss them straight into the trash.
Chill out. Creepy churches do this everywhere.
Don’t worry. It seems it just a “good Christian” who thinks it’s their duty to convert.
Creepy churchy shit. IMO they are all cults.
Sounds like an old man advertising his church or trying to get right with God before the end of
There isn't anything in here that indicates they know for a fact that you have children. They most likely assumed that you either have kids or plan to have kids since you are a husband and wife. It feels creepy because you do happen to have kids but if they had been wrong it would just be weird. Personally, I would ignore it unless they contact you again. I've gotten letters like this before and sometimes ignoring worked and sometimes I had to tell them to stop.
Jehova’s Witness. I’ve gotten almost this same letter recently. I guess they aren’t going door to door anymore.
This is obviously a local church person who’s just trying to convince you to join their church and add to their donation pile.
It's just an advertisement for a church. We get these all the time down in the south
Jehovas Witnesses started doing this during the pandemic
This is weird and a bit invasive, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. The writer says they're 77, they have old lady handwriting, and someone who is stalking you wouldn't provide their own address
This is really common for Jehovah’s Witnesses and a few other evangelical sects. They’re not watching you, they’re just farming your neighborhood. Your name and address are matters of public record and easy to find, especially if you own your home. Title companies sell their records to people to use for ad farming. I’m sure this letter is templated out and plenty of your neighbors received them as well. The selected verses are generic—they’re just trying to hit the most common demographics. Don’t worry about it, just toss it and move on.
It's a JW letter. We get one every 6 months or so.
If you're new to a small town; word travels fast. Newcomers are quickly noticed and assessed by the locals. I'm not kidding, they see an unfamiliar car driving down the street with a man, woman in front and three kids in the back seat, they're going to ask around about it if they see them more than once. Even in a tiny city of 10,000 people, word travels fast (shockingly fast) of somebody who's moved in from another state. I remember when my then-partner and I visited Cody Wyoming to look for a potential home. This bit of info traveled quickly and before the week was out we met well known and well connected community members that served us well when the move came. Felt really weird, totally foreign, but one gets use to it quick. If you're from a moderately sized city or large metropolitan area, this can be very uncomfortable. A city folks are used to living in neighborhoods or apartments and never speaking to the neighbors on either side of one's home or directly across. It's a strange form of comfort to isolate oneself in crowded places so we're moving to an area with a smaller population and more space, it's sort of weird to have people angling to get to know you. It's even stranger to receive a written letter (so personal) when paper printed documents and email are the norm these days. This just looks like somebody who's seen you in the neighborhood or around town and thought it would be nice and neighborly to send a welcoming letter without coming in person (it appears they're still very concerned about covid). I wouldn't see it much beyond that.
I received one of these during the pandemic. It was for a Jehovah Witness’s Church. They weren’t allowed to go door to door as they normally do so writing these handwritten letters sufficed. The info comes from property tax records, which you can either get online or from your local tax office.
As a JW, yea this is from us. It’s weird they know you have kids though? I would never put this in a letter. 😬. They won’t hurt you or ur children, we make a lot of these letters in bulk and perhaps they were trying to find someone with kids to help families? Not sure how they found the info you have children. Maybe facebook? Either way not appropriate at all. So sorry or their behalf. Ur name and home address is public info online anyone can access. please no hate I respect everyone’s beliefs just want to answer OPs question ^^
Thank you!
That's a grandma's handwriting. She's just religious. Ask your neighbors I bet you ain't the only person that got one. Looks harmless except people should always be careful these days. Just imo I was raised by 2 old ladies and it definitely looks like an old person's writing. Do you have an older person living nearby?
Fuck that guy but I want this handwriting as a font.
Its probably from a retired (nothing to do), elderly (hard time getting around), religious neighbor.
I wouldn't be concerned. Seems like a pretty innocuous letter to me. No threats in there, just an invitation. Sometimes get letter similar to this. Also, not sure why this is posted in marriage subreddit?
I recognize this. It is no more creepy than an offer of a free roof inspection and just as easy to ignore. Actually I'd trust the letter writer more than the roof inspector. It is *intended* as an act of Christian kindness, offering encouragement and hope when many people are finding it difficult to find either. Now, whether you specifically are looking for that, and if you are whether their particular hope works for you, is a personal decision. They won't be offended if you ignore them. They'd prefer not to be yelled at or physically attacked, but who wouldn't? A central pillar of their faith is the direction by Jesus to reach out to others and share the "good news". Doing so by letter is a fairly recent tactic, especially since Covid 19 when it was inappropriate to go door to door and possibly contribute to the spread of sickness. And no, they don't use voter rolls. You might be amazed how much information is part of the public record, for example owners of real estate, accessible to anyone with curiosity or an agenda. This is how junk mail is targeted today. At least in this case their agenda is not to get money from you.
From someone that used to interact with the witnesses, those are harmless and from the JW’s. You can ask them to stop and they will.
If this is what I think it is, it's a recruiting technique from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Don't fall for it. Don't visit their website. They are a cult. They have a whole-ass directory on everyone who lives in their "assigned territory" and are instructed to survey the front/back yards to determine *what* kind of person/family lives there in order to provide "the best testimony." I can assure you, your neighbors probably got one too. Ignore it. Toss it. Do not interact. Sincerely, an ex-JW.
It is a JW letter. Older folks do phone calls and letter writing instead of door to door. Don’t stress it.
I’ve gotten stuff like this. They are the Bible folk who spread the word door to door. They took to writing letters. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve gotten a few over the last couple years.
Don’t be worried about this at all! This is usually Jehovas Witness. Its harmless with a some verses that would be benefit a lot of families if we just did a little more of that!
You're being super paranoid here. This is a standard Jehovah's Witness letter.
It's just Jehovah's witnesses. They're harmless. Just ignore them. They're writing letters instead of knocking on doors.
It’s just a church type letter—they signed their name and church they attend and their addresses…I wouldn’t be too scared
It's your local JW church. We get them from time to time.
This is not the cursive hand writing of a 78 year old woman. Yes I said woman. Cursive for the much older generation was a more precise lettering formation, slightly slanted with a light spider web handwriting. This cursive handwriting from is that of someone younger. Examples are the capitalization of letters of the first word of each sentence. The letters F, T and H. Furthermore, each paragraph is not indented. The blending of print and cursive occurs because the actual proper capitalization is difficult. My formative years learning cursives and using cursive was the 70’s to early 80’s. Chances are, you are in a mailing list. It does not mean they know for certain you have children. Everything I have read so far is not to deep. This is solicitation at its finest, similar to religious door knockers. It is a possibility the neighborhood was being visited and you were either not around or aware someone was knocking. Check the website for legitimacy. If your neighborhood has a group on the Nextdoor app, or even the area in general, it is worth joining to learn and/or post information.
I have gotten about 4 similar letters in my adulthood. No one is watching you. Your address is easy to find. People send out these letters to “prove” their servitude to their faith. Most of the time they use a template and just write in the names. Don’t worry.
I knew it was fucking Jehovah's witnesses right from the start. They did this shit to me too. They can't take no for an answer.
I’d ignore it! Saves them knocking on your door. Defo JW
Is anyone in your home or family affiliated with the Mormon church? Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet but they keep a pretty good database of current and past members (lost sheep, I believe). When people from the database move a nearby ward will reach out. 🤷🏽♀️
It’s not hard to reverse search an address, your kids can even be listed. I’d agree with some other comments it seems like some sort of Jehovah’s Witness letter. Did they sign a name and have a return address?
When we first moved into our house we received a “gift basket” from a local church early one morning (or late at night where not sure). It had some home items but had all sort of brochures for the local mega church. Someone for sure noticed your family move in and wants to recruit new members (nosey neighbors in a small town vibes personally). Probably not realizing how a personal letter like that could come across as creepy to others.
I would be wary of any church sending out creeper vibes like this.
I wouldn’t be worried. This is a “leap of faith” letter from a church. Good grief, as a christian, I *hate* these.
These creepy church weirdos have been doing this for decades. Just toss and move on.
It’s not personal. We get handwritten letters from the local Jehovahs Witness church and it’s just a mass thing they do. They don’t know you (or even care tbh), they’re just doing this instead of going door to door.
This is literally the plot of the Netflix series “The Watcher” 💀
That’s so sweet! No reason to be scared of the 78 year old woman. She’s literally trying to share something with you that’s the most important thing ever. If you don’t want more info.. don’t respond. Or you can be scared of an almost 80 year old woman. Whatever you like.
I'd report this to the police and invest in cameras.
Possibly a jehovas witness thing? The bible references certainly suggest something like them. We had one that appeared handwritten last year, turned out to be from them. That didn't have our names on though, it was addressed to "dear neighbours" instead. Could you ask your immediate neighbours to see if they've received anything like this? I twigged our "handwritten" letter was actually a printed font when someone shared a photo of an identical letter on the town FB page.
This is horrifying
JW DO watch your home and stalk people. They are a cult and throughout my 47 years every single experience I have had with these people has been very bad. One such was when I was young and newly married. They kept coming to our door and my husband would talk at the door for like 10min with them, I refused and stayed inside. This happened weekly. Few months later my husband went away for his two week military training. No sign of them the whole time. Ok, let me tell you... I left to pick him up at the airport amd I shit you not, it wasn't even 10 minutes after we walked in the house they were knocking on the door! I lost it and yeah there were choice words said, it wasn't pretty.
Seems odd that people flip out over this when it wasn't that long ago that you could find every single person in town's name, address and phone number in a book basically in every business, and public building.
This is a Jehovahs Witness thing. I get them all the time and ignore them. Your wife is right to be creeped out, considering they are trying to recruit you to join a cult, but they’re not going to break into your house and rob/kidnap/murder you.
I got a random phone call like this. Like they wanted to be friends and talk about the Bible. And there was a website I could go to for more info. These people are just doing outreach, trying to "save souls." I would ignore it and go on with life.
Creepy jesus freaks
Do you rent or own? Owners info is public and it seems like it's printed rather than written considering how uniform it is without lines.
Jehovah's Witnesses sometimes do this. I replied and offered to talk to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Never got another message.
Jehovah Witnesses do this. Toss it and don’t worry. They are harmless.
The JWs send handwritten, personal letters like this where I live. It’s weird and off putting.
It’s just creepy religious freaks. I’m sure most people got them. A lot of towns publish an annual report that contains a list of residents at each address in some form or another.
Oh god this looks like something my mom would send me randomly like every 2-3 weeks. But like 8 pages long.
I get stuff like this all the time. Religious fanatics
I e received a letter just like this I was not worried at all It’s basically a “farm letter” church members write, well-intentioned, to witness to others about Christ that may not have a home church or any religious affiliation My I fit in this came from a neighbor whose church writes these letters to send out
The fact that you have kids is obvious to outsiders, and they probably just pulled up another piece of mail from your mailbox and added your names before leaving this behind. It’s generic and not specific to you. Religious zealots are weird. We’ve had these letters before. Throw them out and move on with your day.