An Uplifting Experience

Yesterday was my 2 day Jehovah's Witness Circuit Assembly and during the closing talk the District Overseer told the most uplifting experience. I don't want to forget it so I have to write it down somewhere - here.

Bob and Lorraine, a couple from a Great Lakes state, I believe it was Minnesota and the town I believe to be Elkton, wanted to help the brothers in Malawi. Apparently they had the means and the knowledge to go, acquire materials and tools and teach the local brothers to build their own Kingdom Halls. The plan was to go and build as many as they could for as long as they could, until the funds, etc ran out. So they contacted the Malawi Branch office. The branch, of course, was thrilled that someone would volunteer to do this but the timing was not the best - the new Branch office was being dedicated just as they were scheduled to arrive. So the branch mailed to them... 2 tickets to the dedication! Any of you involved in any building and dedication knows that these tickets aren't easy to come by, they're for only specific persons. So Bob and Lorraine were thrilled to be invited.

Bob asked if there was anything that the brothers needed that he could bring with them. He was told that if he could spare 2 of his 4 allowed suitcases for supplies he could bring one suitcase full of neckties and the other filled with pens and tablets. He was happy to comply.

There are only about 3000 JW's in Malawi. As it turns out a large part of the group invited to the dedication were all the brothers in the country. But there were problems with the local brothers being able to attend - they're all dirt poor. So the Society paid for their transportation, their plane, train, bus, whatever tickets they needed to get there! They were all put up dormitory style, men in one and women in another, with some staying in private homes. At the dedication they were all provided with 3 box meals.

Bob and Lorraine were happy to distribute their ties, paper and pens, and the brothers were thrilled to receive them. During the lunch break they were trying to visit with some of the brothers and the local brothers kept breaking out in song, in their beautiful 3 part harmony that they're so known for. The singing began, they'd stop eating and visiting to listen. The song would end, they'd start to eat again and the singing would break out in another area, all done without accompaniment or songbooks.

During the dedication they brought out the horrible atrocities that took place back in the late 60's and early 70's when the brothers were being tortured and killed for not buying political cards. Then the speaker asked for all the Malawi brothers who lived through that time to stand and nearly all 3000 stood up. After the session Bob wanted to get someone's story. He managed to get one to tell it and it went something like this:

The authorities had been rounding up and killing all the witnesses that wouldn't buy the political cards (which only cost about .25). They finally came to this brothers' village and rounded them all up. They lined them up by a bridge that was high above a river. One by one they asked the brothers if they would buy a political card. Each time they said could not, they had already pledged their allegiance to God's Kingdom and therefore could not buy a political card. They were put into a burlap bag, it was wired shut and they were pushed off the bridge. They either drowned or were killed by crocodiles. This brother was the last one in line. When it came time to put him in the bag the person doing it was a man the brother knew. The brother warned the man that t man knew what kind of person the brother was and that killing him would be on his shoulders, God knew what was going on. The man "accidentally" dropped his pocketknife into the bag. It was then wired shut and pushed off the bridge the same as all the ones before. The brother managed to find the knife and cut himself out of the bag. Then he found the bag that went into the river just before him, the brother in it was still alive. He managed to cut his bag open but the rest of the brothers had already died. So these 2 brothers swam to shore while hiding under the bridge and managed to escape into the bush.

I hope I got it right. Anyway, I feel better now that I got it down in writing.