Kingdom Proclaimers Report

Happy Family Life Draws Others to God

JEHOVAH blessed Joseph with great wisdom and discernment. (Acts 7:10) As a result, Joseph’s insight “proved to be good in the eyes of Pharaoh and of all his servants.”​—Genesis 41:37.

Similarly today, Jehovah gives his people insight and discernment through their study of the Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) This wisdom and discernment produce good fruitage as Bible-based counsel is applied. Their good conduct has often ‘proved to be good in the eyes of those who observe it,’ as the following experiences from Zimbabwe illustrate.

• A woman had neighbors who were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although she did not like the Witnesses, she admired their conduct, especially their homelife. She observed that the husband and wife had a very good relationship and that their children were obedient. She particularly noted that the husband dearly loved his wife.

A common belief in some African cultures is that if a husband loves his wife, the wife must have used magic to “tame” him. So the woman approached the Witness wife and asked her: “Would you please give me the magic you gave to your husband so that my husband would love me as much as yours loves you?” The Witness answered: “Oh, yes, I will bring it to you tomorrow afternoon.”

The next day, the sister visited her neighbor with her “magic.” What was it? It was the Bible, along with the publication Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life. After considering information from the Knowledge book on the subject “Building a Family That Honors God,” she said to the woman: “This is the ‘magic’ that my husband and I use to ‘tame’ each other, and that is why we love each other very much.” A Bible study was started, and the woman quickly progressed to the point of symbolizing her dedication to Jehovah by water immersion.

• Two special pioneers assigned to a small congregation near the northeastern border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique did not go out in the door-to-door ministry for two weeks. Why? Because people were coming to them to listen to what they had to say. One of the pioneers relates how this came about: “We were traveling nine miles [15 km] to conduct a weekly home Bible study with an interested person. It was not easy for us to reach this area. We had to walk through mud, and we had to cross flooding rivers that came up to our necks. This involved balancing our clothes and shoes on our heads, navigating the river, and then getting dressed again on the other side.

“The interested person’s neighbors were very impressed with our zeal. Among those who took notice was the leader of a local religious organization. He said to his followers: ‘Don’t you want to be zealous like those two young men who are Jehovah’s Witnesses?’ The next day, many of his followers came to our home to find out why we were so persistent. Additionally, over the next two weeks, we had so many visitors that we did not even have time to prepare food for ourselves!”

One of the individuals who visited the pioneers’ home during this two-week period was the religious leader. Imagine the pioneers’ joy when he accepted a home Bible study!