MARVELOUS PERSONALITY CHANGES

The precious message of the Bible has assisted many Venezuelans to change their personalities for the better. A Portuguese immigrant relates:

“A few years ago I had friends who, just like me, robbed and took all kinds of drugs, including LSD. One night I was walking with the gang when, suddenly, someone shouted, ‘The four J’s!’ (The initial of each of our names was “J”; Joao, Jesús, Jorge and José.) Just a short time later Jorge and José died in a gun battle.

“When I found myself at the police station for the tenth time, guilty of robbery, within myself I prayed to God with all my heart. I promised him that I would never rob again. That morning I was freed.

“I tried to leave all this violent world behind and went to work with my brother Manuel in his bakery. An old man came there and left me a copy of Awake! I liked the magazine so much that I asked him for more literature. When he came to take me to a meeting in the Kingdom Hall, I had already read all the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life.

“As the book showed that one should get baptized, I wanted to be ready. I said to myself, ‘I’m too shy to speak to the Witnesses about baptism, but in case they mention it to me, why, I’ll have my swimming trunks on!’ So, the first time that I went to the Kingdom Hall I wore my swimming trunks under my trousers.

“My brother Manuel was very angry with me for associating with the Witnesses and called me names. But my conduct was very different now. I was no longer taking drugs, robbing, getting drunk and committing sexual immorality.

“My family observed the great change in me and, one by one, they started to study the Bible. My brother Alfonso said, ‘That religion may be very bad, but the people are good!’ Now Alfonso and his wife and my youngest brother Carlos are all baptized, and even Manuel is studying.

“My family friend José, my brother’s partner in the bakery, also appreciated my good conduct and made some changes of his own. As he was a wrestler, he had previously settled any difference of opinion with brute force. But now as a Witness he strives to be peaceable with everyone. José’s brother Ernesto was especially drawn by the Bible’s hope of a paradise here on earth. He married the mother of his four children whom he had previously abandoned, and now both are baptized Witnesses. Finally the brother of José and Ernesto, Fernando, married the mother of his children, and both of them are preparing themselves for baptism.

“I had a great desire to serve Jehovah as a pioneer, but a large debt did not permit me to do so. I prayed to Jehovah. The owner of the business offered me a raise in my daily wage. But I told him that he could give me the raise or one hour a day, and that I preferred getting off an hour earlier, leaving work at 5 p.m., instead of at 6 p.m., in order to spend two or three hours in God’s service each day as a ‘pioneer.’ At the same time I was speaking to Jehovah in prayer. The owner accepted my proposal, and immediately I took up the auxiliary pioneer work.

“I owe everything to the undeserved kindness of Jehovah, because I do not deserve it.”

FAITHFUL DESPITE OPPOSITION

At times acceptance of Bible truth is attended by bitter family opposition. This was the experience of a young Syrian woman. She knew nothing of Venezuela until a Syrian businessman, visiting from Venezuela in his home area, picked her out for his wife. She made a new life for herself, far from her family, and had four children. She was such a devout Roman Catholic that her husband, a materialist, objected to so much praying and going to church. When called on by a “pioneer” Witness, the Syrian woman could speak no Spanish but, by gestures, conveyed her love for her Arabic Bible.

Arrangements were made for her to study in Arabic with a Lebanese Witness, generally in someone else’s home, or over the telephone. The husband became furious that his wife had stopped being a Roman Catholic (which was better for his business) and was studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses. He forbade the Witnesses to come to the house. He forbade his wife to go to the Kingdom Hall. He dismissed the maid, who was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He removed the telephone. He brought over from Syria her mother and others of her family, for them to put pressure on her. He threatened her by shouting, gave her the silent treatment, feigned illness, and left home with a revolver. He even went to the extreme of taking her to a medical clinic under false pretenses and then had her drugged, hoping thus to wipe out the name of Jehovah from her mind. But all was useless. With spiritual help from several Witness women, she continued to make progress, arranging to go to meetings, sharing in proclaiming Bible truth to others, becoming fluent in Spanish and getting baptized.

Finally, while she was pregnant with their fifth child, the husband asked for a legal separation. Nevertheless, he provided well for her, and she was now able to serve Jehovah without violent opposition at home. A year later he realized that he had lost everything​—the companionship of his beautiful wife, the joy of watching his five children grow up, homecooked meals and laundry service. So, he returned home, and the family is now united.