Jehovah Opens Hearts

AT TIMES the circumstances that bring people in touch with the Bible’s message are very unusual and illustrate that Jehovah God is indeed opening hearts to pay attention to the truth.​—Acts 16:14.

One of Jehovah’s witnesses, a special pioneer minister serving in Australia, reports:

“When first arriving in Coonamble, we heard of a young man interested in God’s Word. His name was Tony and he lived in a lean-to tent in Lightning Ridge, 120 miles away. We thought we would have no trouble at all finding him, until we saw Lightning Ridge! There is a lean-to tent under almost every tree. We drove around for a while and at last settled our eyes on one tent. As we approached, a young man came out. We told him we were looking for a young man who was interested in studying the Bible with us. He got very excited and said that he was the one.

“This young man, while walking through an old dry creek bed at Annarke looking for sapphires, found a little book, the cover of which was so swollen up that when he picked up the book, the cover fell off. He read the book twice, translated it into Slovenian and sent its translation to his parents in Europe. It was the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life.

“For two months we called on Tony every Monday night and in candlelight studied the Truth book. Then he decided to give up opal mining and came to Coonamble and lived with us at the Kingdom Hall. Apart from personal study, he worked on the hall, cleaning and fixing it up. And, being an electrician by trade, he installed all the lights in the Kingdom Hall.

“Eventually he got baptized in the creek behind our hall, after having to dig a hole big and deep enough to take him, as the river was almost dry.”