PREACHING IN FRANCE

Later on, while still seeking to get out of the army, I was sent to France. I accepted the turn of events as Jehovah’s will, and determined to serve Him whatever happened. Thus, marvelous opportunities of Kingdom service were opened to me in France. The 1980 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses briefly tells something about this under the heading “A U.S. Soldier Makes Disciples.”

Arriving in France around the first of October 1944, I sent my pay to the Watchtower Society in New York and asked for some French literature. For months it never arrived.

Having studied at the University of Grenoble in the summer of 1933, I knew some French. So I was able to preach to the local people wherever we were​—in Nancy, Dijon, Le Mans and Vittel. Often it would be midnight by the time I returned to our quarters after spending five to ten hours calling at their homes with the Kingdom message.

When in Paris I met Henri Geiger, who was then taking oversight of the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France. Through him I obtained some French literature. But since it was in such short supply I would lend a booklet to a householder for three or four days, and then I would return and pick it up so that I could lend it to someone else. My preaching, as well as my refusal to bear arms or salute officers, attracted much attention. But still I had no discharge!

EVIDENCE OF JEHOVAH’S DIRECTION

With the need still great for fighting men, a young soldier was transferred from Vittel and I was sent to replace him. So now I was no longer under arrest. And instead of living in a pup tent, I now had a room with a real bed in Vittel’s luxury Hôtel des Grandes Sources!

The first day after arriving, I received a big box with about 60 books​—the literature I had ordered from the Watchtower Society nearly five months earlier. It had been following me around, but just had not gotten to me. I hid it under my bed. It was the first place I had been where I could safely keep Bible literature. Surely, this must have been by Jehovah’s direction. But besides French books, the Society also sent books in Italian, Russian and German. “Why?” I asked myself. “Don’t they know I’m in France?”

Well, the next morning I went downstairs to the dining room, and what did I see? I tingled all over! There were about 50 Italian soldiers! By now, in February 1945, they had joined the Allies in the fight against the Nazis. But that is not all. There were also about 50 Russian soldiers staying in the hotel. While eating with them in the mess hall during the next several days, I managed to communicate with them in languages we spoke in common, placing all the Italian and Russian books.

But what about the German books? Later, while in Nancy, I met 60 German prisoners. Since I spoke German I was able to witness to them. How they appreciated something to read! And how clear it became to me that Jehovah is directing the Kingdom preaching! All of this, I am convinced, could never have happened by chance.

During the weeks I was in Vittel, I visited every home in town with the Kingdom message. One call I will never forget. It was on André and Suzanne Perrin. We gathered around the table along with their children, studying until midnight. The following morning Suzanne called out to me as I passed by: “Monsieur Richard, do you know what I did after you left last night? I burned all my crosses, my images, virgins, rosaries​—all in the fire!”

Recently Suzanne wrote to tell me that they have about 50 persons associated with the congregation in Vittel. Although her husband has died, she, her son, and other relatives are active Witnesses. I count it a great privilege to have been able to sow seeds of Kingdom truth in France and to have seen some of them bear fruitage, while still awaiting my discharge from the army.