“I Do What I Can”

Irma, who lives in Germany, is almost 90 years old. After two severe accidents and several operations, she can no longer preach from house to house as she once did. Irma now talks to others about her faith by writing letters to relatives and acquaintances. Irma’s letters of encouragement and condolence are so well received that people often call her to ask when the next letter will arrive. She also receives many thank-you letters, asking her to write again. Irma says, “All of this makes me happy and keeps me spiritually active.”

Irma also sends letters to residents in nursing homes. She relates: “An elderly lady phoned and said that my letter had given her much comfort after her husband died. She keeps the letter in her Bible and often reads it in the evening. Another woman, whose husband recently died, said that my letter had helped her more than the priest’s sermon. She had a lot of questions to be answered and asked if she could visit me.”

A non-Witness acquaintance of Irma who moved a distance away asked Irma to write to her. “The woman kept all my letters,” says Irma. “After she died, her daughter phoned. She told me that she had read all the letters that I had written to her mother and asked me if I would be so kind as to write Biblical letters to her too.”

Irma thoroughly enjoys her ministry. “I beg Jehovah to continue to give me the strength to serve him,” she says. “Although I cannot go from house to house anymore, I do what I can.”