From Our Readers

Drug Abuse The front cover of the April 8, 2003, issue (“Drug Abuse in the Family​—What Can You Do?”) caught my eye. I’ve been studying the Bible with a woman named Linda. Two of her sons are hooked on drugs. The next morning I studied that issue with her​—paragraph by paragraph. It gave her much encouragement and strength. The material came at just the right time.

C. M., United States

I direct a consulting service that helps families deal with drug addiction and alcoholism. Although I am a Catholic, I am an avid reader of Awake! I want to send my thanks for the series on drug abuse in the family. I read it with great interest, as it will help me in my work with young ones.

H. C., Ecuador

Using Hands I read the article “Eating Without Cutlery” in the April 8, 2003, issue. I am ten years old, and I tried to eat hot beef hash with my hands. It was very difficult. But it was fun, and the hash tasted good! Thank you for this article. Lately I’ve been taking Awake! with me to school and reading it during recess.

M. T., Japan

Bible Quizzes I want to let you know that I love the crossword puzzles that you publish. I have been learning a lot from them.

R. N., United States

I have taught my children the Bible since they were very young. But now that they are older, it is harder to interest them in spiritual things. So I’ve been looking for ways to help them. When I received the April 8 issue and considered the feature “Do You Know?” I got an idea. Right away I adapted the questions for my children, making them multiple choice, and I posted the questions on the wall. At first, they were curt about it, but after a while they started answering the questions. Now we make the questions a topic of family conversation.

R. M., Japan

“Awake!” responds: The Bible quiz “Do You Know?” appears in certain language editions of “Awake!” that do not contain a crossword puzzle.

Coconuts I really enjoyed the article “One of the Most Useful Nuts on Earth,” in the March 22, 2003, issue. A friend and I make soap together as a hobby. We use coconut oil in our soap, as it is good for the skin and makes a lot of bubbly lather. After this article I appreciate the coconut even more.

C. B., Canada

Free Speech I just finished reading the series “U.S. Supreme Court and Free Speech.” (January 8, 2003) The series caused a veritable sea of emotions to well up in me​—astonishment that the debate on this topic is still going on in the United States, admiration at how our Christian brothers skillfully presented our point of view, and deep appreciation that just decisions can be rendered even in this unjust world. I experience much joy in carrying on the work of preaching the good news. Such articles expand our horizons.

O. S., Belarus

Privacy The series “Is Your Privacy in Danger?” (January 22, 2003) helped me to gain a better understanding of what it means to respect the rights of others. Tampering with the privacy of others is, in fact, a form of theft with unpleasant consequences. As Christians, we are naturally close to one another. But we can easily forget that there are boundaries we should not cross.

T. M., Czech Republic