Skip to content

Skip to table of contents

PREACHING AND TEACHING EARTH WIDE

The Americas

The Americas
  • LANDS 57

  • POPULATION 980,780,095

  • PUBLISHERS 4,034,693

  • BIBLE STUDIES 4,339,285

Orphans Attend Meetings

Angela, who lives in Suriname, visited an orphanage near her home. The head of the orphanage was an inactive sister, so she readily gave Angela permission to preach to the children. Angela talked with 85 children and showed them videos from jw.org. Subsequently, she began to study with many of them. Two pioneers joined in, each one having his own group. The inactive sister said that she had taught the children songs from one of our songbooks and would read Bible stories to them at night. She expressed a desire to attend meetings, but she could not leave the 85 children alone at the orphanage. Consequently, arrangements were made for all of them to come to the Kingdom Hall. Since the orphanage was within walking distance, brothers helped escort them to the Kingdom Hall. Now the sister and all 85 of the children regularly attend meetings.

Gabriel Helped His Grandfather

Paraguay: Gabriel talking with his grandfather

On the way home from a convention in Paraguay, six-year-old Gabriel pondered how important it is to preach the Kingdom message. He then realized that there was someone special whom he wanted to be with in Paradise—his grandfather. But his grandfather had never shown interest in the truth and had opposed his wife and children, who were Witnesses.

The same day, Gabriel asked his parents to place a video call to his grandparents who live in Argentina. Gabriel explained to his grandfather why it is so important to study the Bible and directly asked him, “Grandpa, do you want to study with me?” His grandfather agreed. Gabriel suggested that they study the brochure Listen to God and Live Forever. For the next few months, they studied the brochure together. Since they both had a hard time reading fluently, they practiced beforehand. For every study session, Gabriel would prepare his lesson and dress up in a shirt and a tie.

Later the grandparents decided to visit Gabriel’s family for a few weeks. During their visit, his grandfather attended congregation meetings with the family. When Gabriel’s grandfather returned to Argentina, he continued his Bible study with a local brother and has progressed to the point of becoming an unbaptized publisher. Now Gabriel’s grandparents pray together every day. As for little Gabriel, he has progressed as well. He too is now an unbaptized publisher. The grandfather has expressed his desire to symbolize his dedication to Jehovah by water baptism.

“Your Visit Was No Coincidence”

In Brazil, while distributing the tract Can the Dead Really Live Again? Jennifer knocked at the door of a woman who was rushing to attend the funeral service of a dear friend. Jennifer told her that, coincidentally, she wanted to give her a tract that discussed the hope of seeing our dead loved ones live again. The woman was momentarily taken aback by the title, but she accepted the tract. When asked if she would like to take some extra tracts along with her to give to the grieving family, the woman thought that it was a good idea and asked for nine more tracts.

Jennifer later made a return visit on the woman, who said to her: “On that day when we first met, I later realized that your visit was no coincidence. God had sent you with a comforting message that I needed so badly.” She had distributed all the tracts. A family member, who delivered the funeral sermon, read the entire tract out loud. Everyone appreciated it and thanked her for the comforting message. The woman accepted a Bible study.

Tap-Tap Witnessing

Three Bethelites in Haiti were traveling by public transportation in colorful taxis called tap-taps. During their two-and-a-half-hour journey, they shared the Kingdom hope with other passengers, placing a total of 50 magazines and 30 tracts. One of the Bethelites, Gurvitch, read an excerpt from an Awake! magazine to a passenger. A young man named Pépé listened in and quickly shared in the discussion. He asked for a Bible study, and as it turned out, he lived in the territory of the congregation where Gurvitch served. Since January 2014 when he was first contacted, Pépé has attended virtually all the meetings and assemblies. He speaks to others about his newfound faith and hopes to become an unbaptized publisher soon.