Refine Search

Do You ‘Send Out Your Bread Upon the Waters’?

LIKE many a typical family, a Witness couple in southern Brazil was busy just making a living. Besides looking after their three children, all under six, they also ran a family grocery store. Being dedicated Christians, however, they were concerned about the spiritual welfare of their children and two teenagers whom they hired as live-in help. This was back in 1946, and it was a real challenge. There were none of the fine, youth-oriented publications now available, and there were just eight Witnesses in the whole state of Santa Catarina, and only three in the city where they lived. What could they do?

In line with wise King Solomon’s counsel to “send out your bread upon the surface of the waters” (Ecclesiastes 11:1), they decided to be generous in dispensing spiritual bread by making good use of the daily Bible text provided by The Watchtower. (This was before the Yearbook was published in their language.) The whole family, including the hired help, would come together for the noon meal, and this would be the occasion to consider the Bible text for the day. One of the family was assigned to locate the magazine with the comments on the text, and this was read aloud and each was free to comment. At first the young helpers found the custom strange, but soon they got used to it and began to share in the daily discussions.

Encouraging Results

The couple’s faithful efforts over the years were greatly rewarded. Their eldest child, along with her husband, served as a special pioneer (full-time preacher) until the arrival of a baby, who is now 20 and has also taken up the full-time ministry. The second child, a son, has been serving Jehovah full time for almost 20 years. Now he and his wife are serving in the Watch Tower Society’s Brazilian branch office. The youngest son is a congregation elder and is now training his own son in the way of righteousness.

But what about the hired helpers? Over the years, a dozen young boys and girls worked with the family. Among the girls, Ester soon accepted the truth and, along with her husband and children, continues faithful in the preaching of the good news. Her eldest daughter has served for more than ten years as a special pioneer. Vitalina was a staunch Catholic when she began to work for the family. Later she admitted: “I was a ‘hard nut to crack,’ but now I am very happy serving Jehovah. I have been a special pioneer for more than ten years.” Marta served for a time in the Watch Tower Society’s branch home in Rio de Janeiro. Now she and her husband are busy training their own children to serve Jehovah. Two other girls, Nelci and Sueli, also accepted the truth and continued serving Jehovah faithfully.

And the boys? Rudibert and Pedro are both serving as elders in their respective congregations today. Abrilino and his family are also faithful servants of Jehovah.

Today, if all the family members were to be gathered together, there would be a group of 40 happy praisers of Jehovah, many in the full-time ministry. What a fine record of Christian faith and steadfastness! And all the result of a warm, happy family relationship and of faithfully putting to good use the fine provision of the daily text and comments. This family has indeed experienced that spiritual bread generously sent out upon the surface of the waters has been found again “in the course of many days.”