00:00 Millions of our brothers and sisters around the world
00:03 can recount the blessings they’ve gained
00:05 by remaining loyal to Jehovah and his organization.
00:09 And we’re privileged to have two such examples here with us today:
00:13 Brother and Sister William and Sandra Malenfant.
00:16 Brother Malenfant is a helper to the Teaching Committee,
00:19 and Sister Malenfant’s current assignment is in the Service Department.
00:23 And we’re looking forward to hearing about their rich spiritual history.
00:27 So, Bill and Sandra, we’re so happy
00:29 that we could have you here in the studio with us,
00:32 and we do look forward to learning more about you.
00:34 Maybe we would like to go back.
00:36 How did you get on the road that has led you
00:39 to so many years of faithful, loyal service to Jehovah?
00:43 It was back in 1954.
00:45 My mother had contact on and off with the Witnesses for years.
00:49 I was about 20 years old,
00:51 and she was invited to a public talk
00:54 at the Oakland Central Congregation in California.
00:56 She asked me, “Would you accompany me?”
00:58 And I said: “Yeah. Sure, I’ll be happy to go.”
01:01 Well, I recognized a young man I knew from high school at the meeting,
01:05 and he approached me after and told me I needed a Bible study.
01:09 I really didn’t want a Bible study, but he insisted,
01:12 and so I said, “Well, you can come by.”
01:14 Would you believe it?
01:16 I started a Bible study in the “Let God Be True” book.
01:20 Four months later, I was baptized.
01:22 It was exactly what I was looking for, but I didn’t realize it.
01:26 Excellent!
01:27 Now, I understand that you were also very involved with sports.
01:31 Yes, I was playing ball for a basketball team in Alameda,
01:36 and I enjoyed very much playing ball.
01:39 But then, a decision came up as to what I was going to do
01:42 because the evenings when the team played was the same time
01:46 that we had the Service Meeting and the Theocratic Ministry School.
01:49 So I had to make a decision.
01:51 And my decision was: Forget the sports,
01:53 and let’s go to the meetings and enjoy being built up spiritually.
01:57 Good choice. Thank you.
01:58 And, Sandra, your start on the road to a career serving Jehovah?
02:03 I suppose you could say that it actually started before I was born.
02:07 Before I was born, my parents started on this search for the truth.
02:11 It happened because they had lost a little girl in death,
02:15 and they went from church to church looking for some kind of comfort.
02:19 And, of course, the clergy had no comfort for them.
02:21 They just said, “Well, God wanted another angel in heaven.”
02:25 And that angered my father. He thought: ‘No.
02:28 ‘If God wants another angel, he can make one.
02:31 He wouldn’t take my little girl!’
02:33 So it just happened
02:35 that one evening they were listening to the radio
02:38 —long before TV, of course—
02:40 and they heard a Jehovah’s Witness give a talk.
02:44 And the title of that talk was “Where Are the Dead?”
02:47 Imagine!
02:48 He gave all the Scriptural proof about the condition of the dead
02:51 and the hope for the resurrection.
02:54 And my father immediately said, “This is the truth!”
02:57 So they wrote to the radio station;
03:01 got a copy of the booklet of the talk;
03:04 and then, also, they started receiving
03:07 the subscription to The Watchtower.
03:09 But it wasn’t until I was born and three years old
03:12 that the Witnesses finally made contact with us.
03:14 Interesting.
03:15 In fact, it was interesting.
03:17 It was a real cold winter day, and even though I was only three years old,
03:20 I remember this family coming in.
03:22 And they stayed hours.
03:25 I even hid in the closet and went to sleep.
03:27 But, you know, it was just—
03:30 It was that contact with the visible organization
03:32 that my family needed.
03:34 Because they knew much of the truth.
03:36 They’d been reading The Watchtower for a long time.
03:38 So my elder sisters, they got baptized right away and started pioneering.
03:43 For my brother and I —we were a lot smaller, of course—
03:47 we just went along with our parents and came right into the truth.
03:51 In fact, I remember, it was just a couple of years later
03:54 that we were all going to go to the big convention
03:58 in 1950 at Yankee Stadium.
04:02 But I knew there was going to be a big baptism there,
04:05 but I wanted to go as a baptized Jehovah’s Witness.
04:08 So my father— Everybody made arrangements,
04:11 and my father baptized me
04:13 in our pond on our farm
04:15 with another young sister.
04:16 Is that right?
04:17 So that was my beginning.
04:19 You know, Ron, there’s a point I’d like to recall also.
04:22 Sandra was at a special convention back in 1941.
04:27 That’s true, even before that.
04:30 That was probably my first, you know, big event theocratically.
04:34 Our family—my brother was four years older than I,
04:38 along with my parents— we went to the St. Louis convention
04:43 where Brother Rutherford gave his famous talk on children.
04:48 And they separated— The lower level
04:50 of this place that they rented, this stadium,
04:53 was dedicated to just the young children,
04:55 well, from 5 to 18 years of age.
04:58 And it was just fantastic, you know, with this man.
05:02 When you’re small, this man would look so big and huge,
05:05 and he had this great big voice.
05:07 And I’ll never forget when he looked out on the audience, and he said:
05:12 “Behold, more than
15,000 new witnesses to the Kingdom!”
05:17 So it was very emotional.
05:19 Oh, you still remember it like it happened yesterday.
05:20 Oh, yes!
05:21 Right, how exciting!
05:23 So, what motivated you to make a choice
05:25 to get into the full-time service and give your life to Jehovah?
05:29 Well, what motivated me
05:31 was when I attended a convention, also in ’56.
05:35 I got baptized in ’54.
05:37 But in ’56, I went to a district convention in Albany, California,
05:41 and there was a pioneer booth.
05:43 Because in those days they had a booth set up at the district conventions,
05:46 and various brothers and sisters would man the booth
05:48 and answer your questions about pioneer service.
05:51 So I approached the booth, and an older sister there looked at me
05:54 and said: “You’re young and strong.
05:56 Why aren’t you a pioneer?”
05:58 I felt, ‘Well, yes. Why not?’
06:00 So I started pioneering in 1956.
06:03 That’s what motivated me.
06:05 And I was— Really, I look back at that;
06:07 it was one of the best decisions I made in my life.
06:09 Excellent!
06:10 Yeah, so you have been making wise decisions from your youth up.
06:13 Sandra, how about you?
06:15 Motivated to get into full-time service.
06:17 Well, for pioneer service, you know, it was—it was like a given.
06:21 Young people were just encouraged to pioneer.
06:24 And you knew that when you graduated from high school,
06:27 you started out pioneering.
06:29 And most of the young people were doing that.
06:31 You know, after a year or two, maybe they would get married and start a family.
06:35 But those years in pioneering —starting out their life that way—
06:39 gave them a wonderful basis for loyal service the rest of their life.
06:44 And not only that, I remember that in those days
06:48 the traveling overseer would stay in the homes
06:51 of the brothers when he served the congregation.
06:53 And we always played host
06:55 to the circuit overseer and his wife when they came.
06:58 And for my brother and I, they were role models.
07:01 My sisters, as I told you, were out pioneering in another assignment.
07:05 But for us, these brothers were so full of zeal,
07:08 and they were like heroes to us.
07:11 In particular, I remember when I was, I think, about 12 years old.
07:15 This couple came around on the circuit, Percy and Ilma Iszlaub,
07:19 they were from Australia and, of course, we loved their accent too.
07:23 And they had just graduated from Gilead,
07:26 and they were assigned to Japan,
07:28 but they had to wait a number of months to get their visa.
07:31 They served in our congregation,
07:33 and it was really them that instilled in me
07:36 the desire to become a missionary.
07:38 Beautiful.
07:40 So you were pioneering.
07:42 How did your paths eventually meet?
07:44 It was at a circuit assembly
07:46 in Oakland, California, 1956.
07:50 Very interesting things took place.
07:53 I had the job of dismantling the stage.
07:56 I had not yet met Sandra.
07:58 She was out visiting her sister who lived in the same area where I was.
08:03 And I was carrying this large piece of plywood off the stage,
08:06 and I ran right into Sandra and knocked her flat!
08:09 Well, I took advantage of the opportunity.
08:11 I thought, ‘Well, that’s not the best way to introduce yourself.’
08:15 But I said, “By the way, would you like to accompany me
08:18 to a get-together some of the friends are having?”
08:20 And she accepted. And . . .
08:22 Very good, Bill.
08:23 Well, yes, and I followed through on it.
08:25 We had a lot of association,
08:27 and after a number of months, we got married.
08:30 And both of us were pioneering
08:32 —very happy in our ministry serving Jehovah.
08:34 You really swept her off her feet. Literally.
08:36 I fell for him.
08:38 Very good.
08:38 So, shortly after you were married,
08:41 I understand that you received some direction.
08:43 Yes, the circuit overseer visited our congregation.
08:46 We were only married about a month, I think, when he came through.
08:49 I think so.
08:50 And he told us that the organization was looking for pioneers
08:54 who’d be willing to serve as special pioneers and go wherever,
08:57 where the need was great in the United States particularly.
09:00 So we told him: “Sure. We’d be delighted to do it.”
09:04 And four months after our marriage,
09:07 we received an assignment as special pioneers to Decorah, Iowa.
09:11 Now, that was a very interesting place
09:13 because there were only eight publishers in the congregation.
09:16 But we arrived and started with the meetings
09:19 there at the Kingdom Hall.
09:21 And the Kingdom Hall was up above Hunt’s Variety Store
09:23 in downtown Decorah, and we lived in a room behind it.
09:27 Well, sometimes, especially during the wintertime
09:30 because it could be very cold, there’d be no one at the meeting.
09:33 After all, there were only eight publishers.
09:35 But I was insisting that:
09:37 “No, I’m going to give my public talk, whether anyone is here or not.”
09:41 So I’d tell Sandra, “You sit there, and I’ll give my public talk.”
09:44 A one hour talk, and then I’d conduct the Watchtower Study
09:48 and have her answer every question.
09:50 Well, you know, you’re on your own like that
09:52 —not a lot of brothers around—
09:54 so you look for encouragement and company.
09:56 And we would travel down to Strawberry Point, Iowa,
09:59 to where Charles and Shirley Sinutko lived
10:03 in a log cabin —one-room log cabin.
10:06 And we’d go visit with them in order to have some mutual encouragement.
10:09 Yeah, because they were special pioneering also.
10:12 OK. Well, you were both special.
10:14 It’s a nice picture of you in that log cabin too
10:16 as you were special pioneering.
10:18 So you’re busy in that work.
10:20 What special invitation did you receive?
10:22 Well, we received the invitation to attend Gilead
10:26 —the 34th class of Gilead School—
10:29 and that was a wonderful thing after two and half years of pioneering,
10:32 special pioneering in Iowa.
10:34 Our instructors were Albert Schroeder, Maxwell Friend,
10:38 Bob Porter, and Jack Redford.
10:41 And we had a delightful time at Gilead, as you can imagine.
10:46 And we were assigned to Lebanon,
10:48 but we were unable to enter Lebanon because we couldn’t get the visa.
10:53 So, then, the organization asked us,
10:55 “Well, will you take an assignment to Morocco?”
10:57 We were ready to go anywhere.
10:59 We were pioneering with the Canarsie Congregation
11:01 just waiting to go out into the field.
11:04 So that’s how we took a boat from New York City
11:06 —five days across the Atlantic— to Casablanca.
11:09 Very nice.
11:11 Well, what was it like to be in the missionary service in Morocco?
11:14 It was very interesting.
11:17 We really enjoyed it. But, you know, we only spoke English.
11:19 So in Morocco, we had to learn French.
11:22 And the first month of our missionary service in Morocco,
11:26 for 30 days we studied the language 11 hours a day.
11:30 Well, that could get pretty tiring for 11 hours a day,
11:33 so we’d go to the French movies and count that as language time.
11:36 And then, we were moved to Tangier.
11:39 And there was a Spanish congregation in Tangier,
11:41 so we had to learn the Spanish language too.
11:44 But that was really a rich blessing
11:47 for the two of us to be exposed to that culture
11:49 and to have that privilege of serving there.
11:52 But you know what I really enjoyed?
11:54 We had a variety of people we preached to.
11:57 We had a very large Jewish population,
12:00 and they were almost all Orthodox.
12:02 But, you know, they were very forthright,
12:05 and they were open and quite curious.
12:08 You know, like they’d come up to us sometimes and say:
12:11 “Well, you’re Christian, aren’t you?
12:13 Why do you accept Jesus as the Messiah?”
12:15 So we had to get familiar with a lot of scriptures, you know,
12:19 that dealt with the prophecies the Messiah would fulfill, in the Hebrew Scriptures.
12:23 And really, it was a delight.
12:25 Sandra, do you remember, there were a lot of French people in Morocco?
12:29 Because it used to be a colony under France,
12:32 so that’s why the French language was so important.
12:35 And then we had Spanish people and many other nationalities there.
12:39 So you had four years of serving in Morocco
12:42 —faithfully, loyally meeting all those of different languages
12:45 and learning the language yourself.
12:47 So after four years, I understand that you came back to visit your family.
12:52 What events were challenging thereafter?
12:55 I think Sandra can relate that.
12:57 Well, it was usually permitted
13:00 that after you were in your assignment four years,
13:02 then you were allowed to come home
13:04 and at least have a vacation and visit your family.
13:06 And so we made arrangements to come back.
13:09 We got some tickets on a Yugoslav freighter;
13:13 took us two weeks to get back to New York.
13:16 But we got back.
13:17 We visited our family, and while there,
13:21 I had a medical examination and found out that I had a serious health problem.
13:26 Of course, we didn’t have the funds to cover that.
13:28 So Bill wrote to the Society, and we made arrangements.
13:32 They said, “Well, just take care of your situation,
13:35 and let us know when you’re free.”
13:37 So he got a job to take care
13:39 of our medical needs as well as living conditions.
13:42 But you know, we just felt like we were failures.
13:46 I’d always wanted to be a missionary,
13:49 and there we were four years into our assignment,
13:51 and we come back and poof!
13:54 We’re just there.
13:55 But, you know, Jehovah knew we were discouraged.
13:58 He knew we felt distraught about this.
14:00 So he knew just what we needed, and he gave it to us.
14:04 As I got to feeling better and we got more free
14:08 in our use of time, we started pioneering.
14:11 And Jehovah blessed our ministry just incredibly.
14:15 There were times, in this supposedly “unproductive territory”
14:20 that we had up to 25 people attending the meetings.
14:23 Many of them got baptized, and they’re our fast friends to this day.
14:27 That’s incredible!
14:28 So Jehovah knows what you need, and he provides it.
14:30 That is beautiful!
14:33 What temptation did you have to resist
14:35 when you came back and were going through these difficulties?
14:38 Well, I think it’s a temptation that confronts
14:41 a lot of brothers and sisters who return because of health reasons,
14:45 and some just end up settling down because of their circumstances.
14:49 But the temptation there was: ‘Well, you’re home.
14:52 ‘You’ve already done your service in Morocco for a number of years.
14:56 ‘You’ve been in the full-time ministry.
14:57 Just settle down now. Buy a house.’
15:00 But really, that wasn’t our desire.
15:03 So as soon as Sandra got on her feet
15:05 and was feeling well enough, we got pioneering.
15:08 And then I wrote headquarters, and I said: ‘Here we are.
15:10 ‘We’re ready to take on whatever.
15:12 What would you like us to do?’
15:14 You know, I’d like to say here, Ron,
15:16 that I really appreciate Bill as my spiritual head
15:21 because even though these things presented themselves
15:24 in the course of our theocratic history,
15:27 he was always quick to accept the responsibility of what we felt
15:32 was our spiritual, familial, and moral responsibility
15:36 but as soon as these obligations were taken care of,
15:39 he was very quick to get us back on the road
15:41 to meet our spiritual goals that we had.
15:44 And I really do appreciate that.
15:46 Good example. Thank you.
15:47 So you made yourself available to the organization.
15:50 Where did they send you next?
15:52 A wonderful assignment.
15:54 We were sent as special pioneers to Washington D.C.,
15:58 to help start a Spanish congregation.
16:02 And that was indeed a very rich blessing.
16:05 We were there a year and a half
16:08 until that little congregation was solid and was formed.
16:12 And then we received another blessing.
16:14 We were appointed to the circuit work.
16:17 So I had the Spanish circuit in Florida
16:19 from Key West to Orlando —one circuit in the whole state.
16:24 Then we came to New York City —lived in the Bronx.
16:27 I had a circuit, and we did district work in the Spanish field.
16:31 Then, to Texas
16:33 —to what they call the Valley of Texas, the Rio Grande Valley—
16:35 for a couple of years in the circuit.
16:37 Then the district in Spanish
16:40 from Houston, Texas, to Yuba City, California.
16:43 And we loved every minute of it.
16:45 Well, that’s definitely the traveling work.
16:47 I know you were in that work for nearly ten years,
16:50 so I’m sure you really benefited
16:52 a lot of brothers and sisters along the way.
16:54 Then 1977 rolls around and you receive another invitation.
16:57 Yes, indeed!
16:58 We were doing preconvention work
17:01 in the L.A. area at the Leimert Assembly Hall,
17:04 and we received a letter inviting us to come to Bethel.
17:09 That was a very, very special privilege: to be invited to Bethel.
17:13 I went into the Service Department,
17:15 because at that time they invited a number of traveling overseers
17:18 to come in and work in the Service Department,
17:21 and Sandra went into housekeeping.
17:23 And we were both delighted to come to Bethel.
17:26 Well, sort of.
17:28 I really loved the ministry;
17:31 I loved, especially, the district work
17:34 —being with the circuit overseer and his wife
17:36 every week and out in service.
17:38 So I wasn’t too anxious for this Bethel thing.
17:42 But, you know. Jehovah, again, knows what you need.
17:46 We came here, and we started adjusting to Bethel life.
17:50 And it really proved out to be a real blessing
17:54 because we got the close association
17:57 with so many other loyal Witnesses of Jehovah.
18:00 Yes. And then for the rest of us
18:03 that have been able to work with you over the decades,
18:05 we appreciate your loyal example and working with you.
18:07 But, I understand that shortly after you arrived to Bethel,
18:10 you also received some challenging family difficulties
18:14 that you needed to deal with.
18:16 Yes, Sandra had an older sister who needed help.
18:19 Yeah. We were still adjusting, like I said.
18:22 And we heard that one of my older sisters,
18:26 who had spent most of her life in the pioneer service,
18:29 she had now entered the terminal stages in her long fight with cancer,
18:33 and she needed some homecare.
18:37 And the brothers in the organization were very kind to me,
18:42 and they allowed me some free time to go
18:44 and care for that responsibility.
18:46 Then, it was just a few years later
18:48 that my mother was facing a similar situation.
18:51 And this time, again, the brothers allowed
18:55 both Bill and me to be free to go back there.
18:58 My mother was now aged 89.
19:01 She had health situations and she lived alone, so she needed care.
19:05 And again they allowed us this time; we went back.
19:08 And just as in the case with my sister,
19:11 I was able to keep my mother home just until she died.
19:16 And, you know, we appreciate so much being granted that free time.
19:20 Even though when we left,
19:22 we didn’t know if it might mean the end of our Bethel career.
19:26 But again we felt the need to fulfill that responsibility.
19:30 And, you know, Ron, it was-it was a bittersweet experience.
19:34 This is Satan’s wicked world; death is our enemy.
19:38 And it hurts to see a loved one suffer.
19:41 But, you know, there’s the sweet side of it too,
19:45 because we had shared some wonderful moments
19:48 together with my family and experiences, shared experiences.
19:52 And we felt good that we had been able
19:55 to help these people that had been mentors for us.
19:59 Yes. So loyalty to your family and loyalty to Jehovah.
20:02 Exactly.
20:03 So you returned back to Bethel.
20:05 You were busy in your assignments.
20:07 And, as you mentioned, you worked with many loyal ones at Bethel.
20:10 Could you share one such experience of a loyal sister?
20:13 Oh yes.
20:14 I was assigned to the Alterations Department,
20:16 the Sewing Department.
20:18 And recently before that,
20:21 Sister Gertrude and her husband, Martin Poetzinger,
20:24 had been called into Bethel, and he was a member of the Governing Body.
20:27 And she had been trained under a tailor, so she was excellent in alterations.
20:32 But most valuable were our spiritual conversations.
20:36 I learned so much from that sister.
20:38 Once, we were talking —a group of us—
20:41 about what our relationship to Jehovah really means.
20:45 And Gertrude gave us her idea,
20:48 her understanding, of her relationship with Jehovah.
20:51 She said, “You know, sometimes in life a situation presents itself,
20:56 “and it’s so personal and so touching
21:00 that you don’t tell anybody about it —except Jehovah, of course.”
21:04 And she said: “So you pray to Jehovah, and you pray to Jehovah.
21:09 And then pass a little time, and you feel he’s answered your prayer.”
21:13 She said: “You know, that is like a little thread
21:15 “that unites you with Jehovah.
21:18 “Now, this is the only person in the universe
21:22 “that shares this experience with you.
21:24 “So it’s very personal.
21:26 “OK. Time goes by;
21:28 “another situation presents itself, and you pray again.
21:32 “Well, here is another thread.
21:34 “And over a period of time, you’ve got a bunch of threads
21:37 connecting you with Jehovah.”
21:40 And she said, “And those threads are all knitted together,
21:44 and they form a cord that unites you with Jehovah.”
21:48 And then she’d say, “And don’t you ever do anything
21:51 to endanger that relationship.”
21:54 But, to me, it just— It really hit my heart.
21:56 I thought, ‘This is so true.’
21:59 Our relationship with Jehovah and our loyalty to him
22:02 has to be the first important thing in our life.
22:05 Well, thank you for sharing that.
22:07 That has affected all of our hearts. Appreciate that.
22:10 So, Bill, you have received many privileges of service
22:13 before Bethel and your 40 years since you’ve been at Bethel.
22:17 One of the privileges that you have had is traveling to different branches
22:21 as a headquarters representative, or a zone overseer.
22:24 What are some memories you have of all those various visits?
22:28 It’s a very rich privilege to do it, Ron,
22:31 to serve at that time as a zone overseer.
22:34 The brothers receive you so well.
22:36 Basically, the zone overseer, or now the branch representative,
22:39 he goes to be of encouragement to brothers.
22:41 And he visits the branch; meets with all the Bethelites whenever possible;
22:45 tries to talk to all of them, giving encouragement;
22:48 meets with all of the missionaries in the country.
22:50 And you’re received so warmly.
22:53 I remember when Sandra and I visited Tahiti.
22:57 We flew into Tahiti —Papeete, Tahiti—
23:00 and it was three in the morning when we arrived.
23:04 The brothers were absolutely wonderful.
23:06 There were about 35 brothers waiting for us there,
23:09 piling flower leis upon us, giving us a kiss on each cheek.
23:13 But the warmth of the brothers and the joy of being
23:17 with the Bethel family was something.
23:19 Well, the one sister didn’t find any room
23:21 left on your cheeks, remember, she kissed you . . .
23:23 No. So I got a kiss on the top of the head.
23:25 But the joy of the brothers was just wonderful,
23:27 and we’ve had the great privilege of visiting a number of branches.
23:31 And I understand that you traveled to Bolivia,
23:33 and you had a nice experience in Bolivia.
23:36 I just loved this work because I got to play missionary when I was out there.
23:40 And, of course, my heart was always in the missionary field.
23:43 But I remember when we went to Bolivia; since it was a smaller branch,
23:47 I was allowed to go out and work in service with the missionaries.
23:51 And they came, and they picked me up at eight o’clock in the morning.
23:53 And they said, “We are going to take you out to a Mennonite colony.”
23:57 And so I left at eight, and I didn’t get back until eleven o’clock at night.
24:01 And I was a little bit disturbed about that hour.
24:04 That late for her getting back.
24:05 Well, you see, it’s a Mennonite community.
24:07 They don’t have electricity, and we didn’t have cell phones at that time,
24:11 so he had no idea what was happening to me.
24:14 But we studied all day with this family,
24:17 and eventually, by the way, they all came in to the truth.
24:21 And their experience came out in 2005,
24:25 September 1 issue of The Watchtower,
24:28 about this family of Mennonites that came into the truth.
24:31 And now the work is spreading like wildfire among the Mennonites.
24:35 But, anyway, toward the end of the day, it was getting near dusk
24:40 and the missionary (just to tease me) said to the family,
24:44 “Well, it’s time to milk the cows now.
24:47 So bring up the meanest one you’ve got, and ask Sandra to milk her.”
24:51 So, of course, he didn’t know I was raised on a farm.
24:54 Hmm. OK.
24:55 So it had rained all day, and it was muddy and nasty out there.
24:59 But I had my high heels on, silk blouse, earrings, but we went out to the barn.
25:05 And they gave me a bucket, and I was able to milk the cow.
25:09 What a nice experience.
25:09 And she wasn’t mean at all.
25:10 Well, I’m sure you have many more experiences
25:13 to let us know about, but we appreciate you sharing those.
25:16 The Governing Body has made significant adjustments
25:20 in the work that is taking place at Bethel and the field,
25:24 and it has affected many long-time faithful brothers
25:27 —loyal brothers in the traveling work,
25:30 overseers in the congregation, overseers at Bethel.
25:34 Bill, what do you think about some of these changes
25:38 that the Governing Body has made recently?
25:40 I think they’re very wise decisions.
25:42 They know what is needed;
25:44 they appreciate the older men who have served for years.
25:47 We know that the older brothers in circuit work, district work,
25:51 wherever, they’re “worthy of double honor” because of the way
25:54 they’ve given of themselves to the work.
25:57 But we have to recognize, too, there comes a time
26:00 when we want the younger men to come along,
26:03 to accept responsibility.
26:05 And, really, when we were young,
26:07 we received responsibilities with very little background and training.
26:12 Now we’ve got all these schools for Kingdom Evangelizers
26:15 and the Kingdom Ministry School.
26:18 So many opportunities for younger ones to be trained.
26:21 And so I think it’s a wonderful arrangement.
26:24 Many thousands of young men are doing so well,
26:27 ready to accept responsibility.
26:29 It’s a blessing for the entire organization.
26:32 Well, thank you for sharing that.
26:34 That’ll benefit many brothers.
26:36 So we look at this couple before us,
26:38 and we see some who have made wise choices along the way.
26:42 So we look back at over 60 years of faithful, loyal service.
26:45 As you look back at decisions
26:47 you made in life, any regrets?
26:51 Oh, absolutely none!
26:54 We consider that whatever
26:56 we have given up or done it’s been our gift to Jehovah.
27:01 You know, when I was a little girl, I remember I used to go out on our farm
27:05 and, especially when there was a full moon, I used to pray to Jehovah.
27:09 And I’d say, “Just let me use up my life in your service.”
27:13 You know, he’s answered that prayer because my life,
27:17 the majority of it, is used up and he’s let me do it in his service.
27:21 Sort of makes me think of one of my favorite scriptures,
27:24 Jeremiah 29:11.
27:26 It’s where Jehovah, referring to his faithful, loyal ones, says:
27:31 ‘I well know the thoughts I am thinking toward you,
27:35 not of calamity but of peace and a future and a hope.’
27:40 Now the calamities that we face in life,
27:44 that doesn’t come from Jehovah; that comes from Satan’s wicked old world.
27:48 But Jehovah promises us peace, a future, and a hope.
27:53 Now, how could you not be loyal to such a God?
27:57 Beautiful.
27:58 Bill, how do you view sacrifices that you have made along the way?
28:01 Well, as you know, a sacrifice
28:03 can be something you give up to serve God, perhaps.
28:07 Or a sacrifice can be what you give to Jehovah,
28:10 like David said in Psalm 54.
28:12 “I will sacrifice to you willingly.”
28:14 And that’s how I view sacrifice.
28:18 We’re happy to give of ourselves to Jehovah God—to serve him.
28:22 And I want to add, too, Sandra has been
28:24 a wonderful partner with me —willing to go anywhere,
28:28 put up with all kinds of circumstances and difficulties,
28:31 never complaining about the travel
28:33 or whatever circumstances we found ourselves in,
28:37 living very close to the earth for a number of years as special pioneers.
28:42 But Jehovah has been with us.
28:45 A scripture that I— There are a number
28:47 of good Scriptures, obviously, that we all love.
28:49 But one in particular that stays in my mind
28:52 is Romans 14:7,8:
28:55 ‘We live, we live to Jehovah.
28:58 ‘We die, we die to Jehovah.
29:02 So whether we live or we die, we belong to Jehovah.’
29:05 And we’ve made that decision, not just because he’s the Creator.
29:08 We’ve made the decision to give ourselves to Jehovah God.
29:12 So, absolutely, we’ve had the best life possible.
29:17 We have no regrets at all
29:20 about what we’ve done with our life, giving Jehovah the first place.
29:24 Bill and Sandra, it’s been a real privilege
29:27 to hear more about you, and I know there are more stories to tell.
29:30 How can you boil down 60-plus years of loyal service to Jehovah?
29:34 But you have given us great insights.
29:36 Thank you for sharing those gems with us.