Alert to Help Others

WHILE working at the Dade County Criminal Traffic Courthouse, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Miami, Florida, has had opportunity to provide spiritual assistance to fellow workers. “One day,” Rafael wrote, “a lady who regularly received copies of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines from me said that a salesman had offered her a Bible encyclopedia for her eight-year-old son for $500 but that she could not afford it. I immediately offered to bring her the one-volume publication My Book of Bible Stories. The next day I brought it, and she loved the illustrations and praised the book.

“She laid the book on her desk and continued working. Not more than 15 minutes later, another employee came to my desk with My Book of Bible Stories in her hands; she wanted to know where I got it. I explained that the Watch Tower Society publishes it. She wanted three copies for her children. She teaches Sunday school and felt that this book would be a boost to her class. She said she would let me know later how many more copies she would be needing.

“Half an hour later, yet another coworker came to me with the book in her hands, wanting to know if she could have three of them. Soon others were asking for books, and before I knew it, I had orders for 12 copies of My Book of Bible Stories. The ladies were even provoked at me for not telling them about the book before! The next workday, I brought the books to the office and delivered them to those who had requested them.

“The following week the Sunday-school teacher said she would be needing 15 books for her students. She had been waiting for the approval of the priest and also of the school superintendent. The priest, she said, loved the book and praised its many illustrations. He gave the approval to obtain the books.

“The Sunday-school teacher wanted to give the books to the children as a Christmas present. She said that she knew that I did not celebrate Christmas, but this book would make a fine Christmas present. She told me how easy it was to get the children to listen when she read to them from the book.

“One coworker told me that she reads the book to her children every night and that even she is learning things. For example, she didn’t know that there actually were giants that lived on earth in Noah’s time. Another coworker said that it must have been a genius who did the illustrations in the book. They seem so real. ‘The book is a gem,’ she said.

“Altogether, in just a matter of a few days, I placed 32 copies of My Book of Bible Stories at work, and the number continues to grow. Every time I show the book to someone, the question is asked, ‘Where did you get it?’”

Are you alert to satisfy the spiritual needs of others? Rafael, now a Christian elder in a Miami congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, concludes: “This experience has taught me a lesson about informal witnessing and willingness to help others.”