Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by Fred A. Anderson

I WAS born near the turn of the century on a farm in eastern Washington. My parents called me Fred A. Anderson. From my childhood I was deeply impressed by the incomparable beauty and tranquillity of the mountains and forests surrounding the old farm home.

Being the youngest of a family of eleven children, I was left much to my own thoughts and resources. To a great extent I spent my time in the woods and the mountains. These made a profound impression on me. I wanted to know who the Maker of these mighty works could be. When I asked my brothers, they would say: “Oh, you’re too young to know. It’s just nature.” Nature, yes! But who made nature? I would ask.

My parents were immigrants from Europe, a hard-working, honest and honorable people. But the hardships of frontier life left little time for them to devote in giving religious instruction to the children. Being liberal-minded, they did not force us to attend any particular “church.”

After the community began to grow, some of the neighbors organized a Sunday school. Even though I attended rather irregularly, it was there that I developed a great interest in the Bible. I came to know the Bible as a revelation of the great Creator.

At last I was satisfying my hunger for knowledge about the One who had made the marvelous things of nature. The very first verse in the Bible answered my question: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This knowledge did something to me. It marked a great change in my way of living. I began a reverential study of the Bible. Although I did not understand many things, I did come to know that Jehovah was a kind, just and loving God.

Both my parents died during my early childhood. I became a very serious-minded youth. During the last two of my high school years I began to attend studies and meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses with one of my aunts. She had already dedicated her life to the service of Jehovah. She helped me to understand the Bible and I was overjoyed with the truth.

With World War I came my first test. The United States was conscripting millions of young men. All my life I hated war. Now would I violate my conscience and go, or would I remain true to it and suffer the consequences? I was determined not to kill even though it meant going to prison.

What a relief when, six weeks before my name was to be called, the war ended. I was so grateful to Jehovah for sparing me the ordeal of going to war or prison that then and there I decided to dedicate my life to him and serve him wholeheartedly for the rest of my days. So I made wholehearted service to Jehovah my purpose in life. In the spring of 1918 I symbolized my dedication by water immersion. Immediately thereafter I plunged into the service, doing whatever was presented to me. This brought me great joy and many blessings. I was most grateful to Jehovah.

My very first service was distributing tracts from door to door. Then a call went out for volunteers to offer The Golden Age (now Awake!) by subscription. This too was a great joy to me. For the next eight years it was my privilege to participate in radio work. All over the land local congregations presented weekly programs of lectures, Bible dramas, music, etc. I had part in some of these. All this time I kept on studying the truth and also participating in congregational activities. When I made my dedication I realized that it meant exclusive devotion to Jehovah. So, pursuing my purpose in life, I watched for Jehovah’s direction and accepted every assignment that came my way.

In 1920 I married a lovely sister of the local congregation. Shortly thereafter I suffered from an accident and prolonged illness, but through special treatment and care I have recovered my health almost completely.

My wife and I decided to enter business, but the business world left us very unhappy. It was then that we agreed that our place was in the full-time service, serving Jehovah as pioneers. My wife became a pioneer in 1926, and two years later, after closing out all our business connections, I joined her in the pioneer ranks. What joy and happiness that brought us! We had at last found our place in life, hunting and feeding the Lord’s sheep full time. Now I enlarged my devotion to Jehovah by pursuing my purpose in life wholeheartedly as a pioneer.

Our first assignment together was in North Dakota. How spiritually hungry the people seemed to be! We placed literally hundreds of bound books and booklets and obtained many subscriptions. In the summer we pioneered in the North, but in the winter we worked three counties in eastern Texas. What a thrilling new experience it was for us, because neither of us had ever been in the South. We ordered twenty-seven boxes of books, booklets and Bibles to be sent to our southern assignment. We thought that to be a terribly lot of literature, but in two weeks our stock was exhausted. It seemed as though every home wanted Bible-study aids from us.

What a fascinating pursuit in life is the pioneer work! As we journeyed from North to South and, later, from South to North, we would meet persons who had taken literature from us on previous visits. Imagine our joy when these, through their own efforts, would come to an accurate knowledge of the truth! Soon they were preaching and congregations began to grow in territories where we had worked.

During years of the stock-market crash (1929-1930) pioneering was very difficult. Placements were hard to make and we were barely able to keep the old car repaired and going. But we stuck to pioneering, as rough as it was, and Jehovah saw us through. He moved the hearts of good-will persons to help us along materially. Little by little we weathered the storm, pursuing our purpose in life—the full-time service to Jehovah.

Down through the years one thing was sure, we never lacked for spiritual food. There was always The Watchtower and the Society’s other meaty publications. There were the conventions to look forward to and the never-ending stream of priceless experiences of pioneer life. There was never a dull moment, but always plenty to do helping others to find the way to everlasting life.

In 1939 another thrill came my way. The Society invited me to be a zone servant in California and Nevada. This was a brand-new experience for us; a rich, full life, filled with surprises and joys. I continued as a zone servant for two and a half years, until that branch of service was discontinued.

The early forties were years of opposition, mob violence and much excitement. We were made special pioneers and sent to Las Vegas, Nevada. That was really a “hot spot.” Other witnesses had been mobbed there, beaten up and chased out of town. We could not help but wonder what would happen to us. Would we become victims of ruffians and religious fanatics as the others that preceded us? This we would soon find out.

Entering Las Vegas, we cautiously spied out the territory. To avoid suspicion we parked our trailer in among other trailers in a trailer park. We decided to work the outskirts of the town first, then move in toward the center. We would work one day in one part of the town and the next day in another so as not to attract undue attention. For six weeks we preached this way without any particular design or pattern, during which time we placed some two hundred books.

Then one Sunday afternoon, while making a back-call, a mob gathered around our car. They threw out our Bible literature, together with our phonographs and recordings and set fire to them. The armed gangsters ordered us into the car to be taken to the city park to be tarred and feathered. However, on our way to the park we escaped by turning in an opposite direction at a crossroad. In the night we returned to our trailer and left for Arizona. There was nothing else that could be done, because the police, judges and others had sworn vengeance against Jehovah’s witnesses.

After this experience we were sent to California, where we had the joy of organizing a new congregation of witnesses. About a year later we received a letter from the Society. Its message moved us deeply. The Society wanted to know if we would like to enlarge our pursuit in life now to include the missionary work in a foreign field. Would we? Of course we would! This was an invitation to attend the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead! Imagine our going to school after being out for some twenty-five years!

By taking all of this as an indication from Jehovah, we gladly and prayerfully began to adjust our lives and train ourselves for the missionary field. Gilead training helped us immensely to do this. For five and a half months we worked and sweated and strained to cram as much as we possibly could into our craniums, but those months went by in a flash! And before we knew it, it was graduation day. We thought our joy was full at Gilead—that we could not possibly be happier or closer to God. But we had much to learn, and this we did in our foreign assignment.

My wife and I were assigned to work in a Spanish-speaking country. Yet with faith in Jehovah we went, trusting in him. Just think: that has been more than fourteen years ago and we are still going strong! What greater proof could we have that Jehovah does care for and look after his little ones?

Now we often reminisce about our first meeting here in this Spanish-speaking country. There was only one hall and all interested persons met there for the Watchtower study. Many of those who attended were very humble and barefooted. Some could not read or write. There were only 150 publishers then; now there are twenty-three units, with 1,500 active publishers. A number of those who once could not read or write are now excellent speakers, contributing to the success of various assemblies. Others are servants in the different congregations.

Since 1955 I have had the privilege of being circuit servant in the country’s principal city, serving one of its two circuits. It is a pleasure here to serve our brothers who are anxious to learn theocratic instructions and apply them. As a result of their good work, the truth is being made known throughout all this land.

How many of these humble people we have helped to come into Jehovah’s glorious light of truth we do not know. But we do know how great our joy has been in sharing Jehovah’s goodness. Looking back over the years, we have had a rich life with no regrets. And both of us have been extremely happy that we have made our purpose in life the full-time service, then enlarged it to include the missionary work and now to be still in it. Well, that is it—a happy life, a full one—and now looking to 1958, my sixtieth year of life, to seeing you in New York city at the international assembly, and then back to my foreign assignment again.