In War and in Peace, Jehovah Strengthened Us

Paul: We were so excited! It was November 1985, and we were on our way to our first missionary assignment​—Liberia, West Africa. Our flight stopped in Senegal. “In just over an hour,” Anne said, “we will be in Liberia!” Then came an announcement: “Passengers for Liberia must get off the plane. A coup d’état prevents our landing there.” For the next ten days, we stayed with missionaries in Senegal, listening to news from Liberia about truckloads of dead bodies and curfews that were strictly enforced​—violators were shot.

Anne: We are not the kind who seek adventure. In fact, since infancy I have been known as Anxious Annie. I’m even nervous about crossing a road! But we were determined to get to our assignment.

Paul: Anne and I were born just eight kilometers (5 mi) apart in the west of England. We both started pioneering right after high school, greatly encouraged by my parents and Anne’s mother. They fully supported our desire to make a career of the full-time service. At the age of 19, I had the privilege of going to Bethel, and Anne joined me after our marriage in 1982.

Anne: We loved Bethel, but we had always wanted to serve where the need was greater. Working alongside former missionaries at Bethel strengthened that desire. We prayed specifically about this every night for three years, so we were thrilled when in 1985 we received an invitation to attend the 79th class of Gilead! We were assigned to Liberia, West Africa.

STRENGTHENED BY THE LOVE OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS

Paul: We boarded the first flight allowed back into Liberia. The atmosphere was tense and curfews remained in place. A car that backfired was enough to cause mass panic in the marketplaces. To calm our nerves, we read portions of the Psalms together every night. But we truly loved our assignment. Anne was a missionary in the field, and I was in Bethel, working alongside John Charuk.a His experience as well as his understanding of the circumstances of our brothers and sisters helped to train me.

Anne: Why did we come to love Liberia so quickly? Because of our brothers and sisters. They were warm, outgoing, and faithful. We felt a bond with them; they became our new family. Their words of advice strengthened us spiritually. The ministry was a dream. Householders would be annoyed if you left them too soon! People discussed Scriptural questions on street corners. You could just walk up and join the conversation. We had so many Bible students that it was a challenge to study with them all. It was a wonderful problem!

STRENGTHENED DESPITE OUR FEARS

Paul: In 1989 after four years of relative peace, there came a shocking change​—outright civil war. Rebel troops captured the area around Bethel on July 2, 1990. For three months we lost all contact with the outside world, including our families and world headquarters. There was anarchy, food shortage, and rape. The troubles continued for 14 years and affected the entire country.

Anne: Members of some tribes were fighting and killing those in other tribes. Heavily armed fighters in bizarre clothing roamed the streets, looting every building. Some viewed killing humans, in their words, as “slaughtering chickens.” Bodies piled up at checkpoints, some near the branch. Faithful Witnesses were killed, including two of our dear missionaries.

Risking their lives, Witnesses hid others who belonged to the tribes that were being hunted and killed. Missionaries and Bethelites did likewise. At Bethel, some displaced Witnesses slept downstairs and others lived with us in our rooms upstairs. We shared our room with a family of seven.

Paul: Each day, the fighters tried to get in to see whether we were hiding people. We had a four-person security system: two watched from a window while two went to the outer gate. If the two out by the gate kept their hands in front of them, all was well. But if they put their hands behind their back, it meant that the fighters were aggressive, so those watching from the window would quickly hide our friends.

Anne: After many weeks, one angry group of fighters forced their way in. I locked myself and a sister in a bathroom where we had a tiny hiding place inside a cupboard with a false bottom. The sister squeezed in there. The fighters had followed me upstairs, armed with their machine guns. They angrily banged on our door. Paul pleaded, “My wife is using the bathroom.” Replacing the false bottom was noisy and rearranging the shelf contents caused a suspicious delay, so I began to shake visibly from head to foot. How could I open that door? I said a silent prayer, begging Jehovah for help. I then unlocked the door and somehow calmly greeted them. Pushing past me, one of them went straight for the cabinet, opened it, and rummaged the shelves. He could not believe that he found nothing. He and his group then searched other rooms and the attic. But once again, they found nothing.

THE TRUTH KEPT SHINING

Paul: For months we were desperately short of food. But spiritual food was our lifeline. Bethel morning worship was our only “breakfast,” and we all appreciated the inner strength it gave us.

If literal food and water had run out, forcing us and others to leave the branch, those hiding would likely have been executed. Sometimes the manner and timing of Jehovah’s provisions seemed miraculous. Jehovah cared for our needs and helped us to control our fears.

The darker the world became, the brighter the truth shone. Repeatedly, our brothers and sisters fled for their lives, but their faith and dignity stayed intact. Some said that their dealing with the war was “practice for the great tribulation.” Courageous elders and young brothers stepped up and took the lead. When displaced, the brothers and sisters stuck together, opening up new preaching territories and holding meetings in makeshift Kingdom Halls set up in the bush. Meetings were havens of encouragement in a sea of despair, and preaching helped the Witnesses to cope. When distributing relief aid, we were touched to receive requests for preaching bags rather than clothing. Sad and traumatized people listened to the good news. They were amazed at how happy and positive the Witnesses were; they shone like a light in all that darkness. (Matt. 5:14-16) The zeal within the brotherhood even led to some of the vicious fighters becoming our brothers.

STRENGTHENED FOR HEARTBREAK

Paul: Sometimes we had to leave the country, three times briefly and twice for a whole year. One missionary sister summed up our feelings so well: “In Gilead, they taught us to put our heart into our assignment, and we did. So leaving our brothers in circumstances like these was like having our heart torn out!” Thankfully, we could assist the Liberia field from nearby countries.

Anne: In May 1996, four of us set off in the branch vehicle that was packed with important branch records. We wanted to drive 16 kilometers (10 mi) to a safer place across town. Right then our area was attacked. Angry fighters fired into the air, stopped us, pulled three of us out, and drove off in the vehicle with Paul still inside. We stood there dazed. Suddenly, Paul came walking through the crowd with blood dripping from his forehead. In the confusion, we thought he had been shot, but then we realized that if so, he would not be walking! One fighter had hit him when pushing him out of the vehicle. Thankfully, it was just a minor wound.

A military transport vehicle nearby was packed with frightened people. We clung to the outside of the vehicle with our fingertips. The driver set off at top speed, and we almost fell off. We begged him to stop, but he was too scared to listen. Somehow, we held on but arrived with nerves shaken and muscles trembling from the strain.

Paul: With nothing but the dirty, torn clothes on our back, we looked at each other and wondered how we were alive. We slept in an open field next to a rickety bullet-ridden helicopter, which took us to Sierra Leone the next day. We were grateful to be alive but deeply worried about our Christian brothers.

STRENGTH FOR A NEW, UNEXPECTED CHALLENGE

Anne: On arrival at Bethel in Freetown, Sierra Leone, we were safe and well cared for. But I started having flashbacks. During the day, I was on high alert and afraid and my surroundings seemed blurry and unreal. At night, I would wake up in a cold sweat, trembling and feeling a sense of doom. It was difficult to breathe. Paul held me and prayed with me. We sang Kingdom songs until the shaking stopped. I felt that I was going crazy and could no longer serve as a missionary.

I will never forget what happened next. That very week we received two magazines. One was the Awake! of June 8, 1996. It contained the article “Coping With Panic Attacks.” Now I understood what was happening to me. The second was The Watchtower of May 15, 1996, which featured the article “Where Do They Get Their Strength?” The Watchtower had a picture of an injured butterfly. The article explained that just as a butterfly can continue feeding and flying despite having badly damaged wings, with Jehovah’s spirit we can continue to help others even if we have been emotionally hurt. This was strengthening food from Jehovah at precisely the right time. (Matt. 24:45) Researching the subject and making a folder of articles that discuss this matter helped me. Over time, my symptoms of post-traumatic stress faded.

STRENGTHENED TO ADAPT

Paul: Whenever we would return home to Liberia, we were so happy. By late 2004, we had been in our assignment for almost 20 years. The war had ended. There were plans for construction at the branch. But suddenly we were asked to accept a new assignment.

This was a huge test. We were so close to our spiritual family​—how would we cope? Having left our own dear families to go to Gilead, we had seen how putting ourselves in Jehovah’s hands would lead to blessings, so we accepted. Our assignment would take us to nearby Ghana.

Anne: We shed many tears as we left Liberia. We were surprised when Frank, a wise and elderly brother, told us: “You must forget about us!” Then he explained: “We know you will never forget us, but you must put your whole heart into your new assignment. It is from Jehovah, so focus on the brothers and sisters there.” This strengthened us for the challenge of starting again where few knew us and where we did not have history.

Paul: However, it did not take long to come to love our new spiritual family in Ghana. There were so many Witnesses there! We learned a lot from the stability and spiritual strength of our new friends. Then after serving in Ghana for 13 years, we received another surprise. We were asked to serve at the East Africa branch in Kenya. Although we deeply missed the friends in our previous assignments, we immediately felt a bond with faithful ones in Kenya. And we are still serving in a vast territory where the need is very great.

LOOKING BACK

Anne: Over the years, I experienced a lot of trembling and shaking. Dangerous or stressful situations can have both a physical and an emotional effect on us. We are not miraculously protected from this. If I hear the sounds of gunshots and artillery fire, I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and my hands go numb. But I have learned to depend on all the help that Jehovah supplies to strengthen us, including the support of our brothers and sisters. And I have seen that by keeping to a steady spiritual routine, Jehovah can help us to stay in our assignment.

Paul: Some may ask, “Do you love your assignment?” Countries can be beautiful, but they can also become unstable and dangerous. So, what is it that we love more than the country? The precious brothers and sisters, our family. Despite differences in background, we truly have the same mind. We thought we were sent to encourage them, but the reality is that they have strengthened us.

Each time we move, we see a modern-day miracle: our brotherhood. As long as we are part of a congregation, we have a family and a home. We are certain that if we continue to rely on Jehovah, he will strengthen us according to our need.​—Phil. 4:13.