“An Interchange of Encouragement”
THE following letter was received recently at the central office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York:
“I am writing from the top town of Western Australia, Wyndham, located in the rugged Kimberley Mountains. May this letter find all of you brothers well and busy in the fine work you are doing. We all benefit greatly because you continue to work diligently when preparing the articles for The Watchtower and Awake!, and for this reason I have decided to write to express sincere thanks.
“As our nearest congregation neighbor is 400 miles [640 kilometers] away we are isolated most of the year, and with only ten members in our congregation you can just imagine the tremendous encouragement and spiritual refreshment that the magazines have to offer. The many faith-strengthening experiences have been very helpful to us and certainly, although we have never met these brothers, we can thank them for their faithful stand on God’s side. Truly, we can thank God for such timely spiritual food. I never really appreciated the importance of regular study until moving here to continue ‘pioneering,’ and now Jehovah has opened my eyes to appreciate fully Jesus’ words at Matthew 5:3 and Matthew 4:4.
“Well, brothers, perhaps I could tell you a little about the witness work in this part of the world so that you may be encouraged too.—Rom. 1:12.
“Our congregation serves an area of about 120,000 square miles [310,000 square kilometers]. There is a large aboriginal population and at the present time we are conducting a few successful studies, which includes one with a prisoner. It is a real challenge trying to communicate successfully with these people, and we are glad for angelic direction; otherwise it would be a most difficult task to discern where genuine interest is.
“An important aspect of our work is to reach the numerous stations (ranches) and this involves great distances to travel in rough and dusty conditions. At one station we left about a hundred books with the natives and we hope that true interest will be found when a return visit is made. To reach one aboriginal reserve, five of us traveled in a small boat for thirty-odd miles [50 kilometers]. On the way back we spotted a few crocodiles and were only too pleased to stand once again on Wyndham soil.
“In Wyndham itself we have recently established a Kingdom Hall on the main street. The Memorial was held in it and we had an attendance of sixteen. Jehovah’s hand certainly has not been short and, as an example, the building was originally advertised for $13,000 (Australian). As we are only a small group an offer of $1,000 was made and accepted!
“So, brothers, although the experiences are not spectacular by any means, I hope you will be encouraged to know that we are happy to serve with you in doing the work of our ‘happy God.’”