Nevertheless, a multiethnic group of 30 people was meeting together in Saliu’s home. “In those years,” remembers Saliu, “meetings were held in Serbian, and we received our literature from Belgrade. One day the police unexpectedly came to my house. At the time the brothers from Belgrade had just delivered the literature, and we were all associating together. When I told the police that they were my brothers, they could not comprehend how Serbs and Albanians could be brothers.”

MOLDED BY JEHOVAH’S THINKING

“Hatred between Serbs and Albanians was intense,” said one sister. “It was something we learned from childhood. Even after learning the truth, those feelings are not easily erased. Many of us had to make big changes to adopt Jehovah’s thinking. Because of this hatred, even while learning that Jehovah is love, I tended to avoid a sister in the congregation just because she was a Serb. As I continued to study, however, I came to appreciate that while the teachings of other religions divide, the truth from Jehovah’s Word unites.” Has the transforming power of God’s Word helped this sister to put on the new Christian personality? “Today,” she reported, “I am happy to serve in the same congregation with my Serb brothers and sisters.”​—Col. 3:7-11; Heb. 4:12.

True Christian unity stands out in this religiously divided world. While nationalism was making people burn houses and throw hand grenades, our brothers were traveling to Belgrade, in Serbia, for a convention held in July 1998. Peacefully riding on the bus together were Albanians, Croatians, Macedonians, and Roma. Dashurie Gashi, who was on her way to that convention to be baptized, relates: “When the soldiers stopped the bus, we could see the look of shock on their faces. In the midst of all the ethnic tensions in these countries, here we were united as one people​—Jehovah’s people.”