Kingdom Proclaimers Report

‘Harvesting’ in Venezuela

On one occasion Jesus likened the preaching work to the annual harvest. (Matthew 9:36-38) The Master of the harvest is Jehovah God, and the harvest is truly great all around the globe. This includes seldom worked territory in Venezuela.

The Venezuela branch office of the Watch Tower Society reports what happened when a group of Witnesses worked the territory of Sabana Grande, Guárico State. The Witnesses relate: “The house we were to stay in was a good place to have meetings, so right away we started to invite people to meetings there. The people did not know of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although there were four evangelical groups in town, people were eager to learn from the Bible.

“We worked for three hours in the morning and for three hours in the afternoon, calling from house to house and inviting people to a meeting the following night. We did not have chairs, so we invited them to bring their own chairs. When the time approached for the meeting to begin, people started coming, each one carrying a chair. When the meeting was over, we told them that we would like to write down the names of those who desired to have a free home Bible study. All 29 in attendance wanted their names on the list.

“As we were closing the door behind the last visitor, we noticed three men standing by the corner of the house. At about nine o’clock, we were ready to sit down to eat when they knocked on the door. They asked questions such as: ‘What is this preaching you are doing in this town? For what reason did you have a meeting here tonight?’

“We asked if we had violated any law. They answered no and said that they were the pastors of three of the town’s evangelical churches. They were upset because their churches were empty that evening. We invited them in and explained our work. We also placed some literature with them and asked them to return the following Thursday.

“The next Thursday the pastors came back and with them 22 other individuals who wanted to hear what we had to say. The pastors thought that, being women, we would not measure up to them in a discussion. Nevertheless, the meeting was successful from our point of view. At the end we explained that we were making a list of those who wanted to learn more from the Bible. A number of the pastors’ companions wanted their names added to the list, and some even said they wanted to go out with us in the preaching work!

“We explained that they would need more Bible knowledge and training before they could join us in the preaching work. Every day people were coming to the house, asking us to explain the Bible to them. Sometimes, when we had talked until late at night, we had to ask them to go home. When we finally had to leave the territory, they were very sad and told us that when we returned, they would go with us in the preaching work. They promised that by then they would have made the required progress.”

When the Witnesses left that territory, there were 40 persons who wanted to study the Bible. The names of these interested people were turned over to the nearest congregation, which is about 30 miles [50 km] away. Subsequently, some Witnesses from another city have moved into this town, and a group of zealous preachers of the good news has been formed.