After prayerfully considering your circumstances, you may find that, with some adjustments, you could enroll as a regular or, at least, a temporary pioneer. Should that be the case, set a date for yourself as to when you might start, and work toward that goal, looking to Jehovah to bless your efforts.

A brother in Hawaii who was encouraged to do this by a traveling overseer writes: “My question was, When should I start pioneering and resign from my civil service job? One thing I knew​—the longer I stayed with my secular job, the harder it would be for me to quit due to increased benefits and pay. I set a goal in my mind to resign from my job and enter the pioneer work on October 1, 1966. How quickly that date rolled around and before I knew it I was in the pioneer work.” Today this brother is serving as a special pioneer.

One of the reasons for the large number of pioneers in Japan​—one out of every four publishers—​is the outstanding example set by elders, many of whom are pioneers. A number of these elders, being in position to do so, have relinquished good jobs to pioneer. One gave up a high position at the Hitachi Electrical Works in order to make time to pioneer. The supervisor of a section of a car manufacturing plant gave up his remunerative job in order to serve as a pioneer. An elder in the Kyoto Ukyo Congregation had been trained in the United States for a high position in the architectural department of his firm. But he gave up this opportunity in order to serve as a pioneer with part-time secular work.

An elder who entered the regular pioneer work in Hawaii relates the following:

“Being a presiding overseer and trying to help others to become pioneers, I often thought about the importance of taking the lead myself in the pioneer work. Careful planning of my finances indicated that it was possible. My decision was further prompted by a desire to help more to pioneer and aid the people in the community to learn the truth. Having four children who were growing up, I was deeply concerned with their future. I had a good paying job as a crane operator. In June of 1967 I made the decision to give up this job and join my wife in the pioneer work.”

Has Jehovah blessed this father and his family since his entering the pioneer work? The results speak for themselves. In the congregation where they are serving, about one out of every seven associated is a regular or a special pioneer. Meeting attendance stands at about 150 percent of the number of publishers.

Regarding his own family blessings, this brother remarks: “My youngest child will be a senior in September and will become a regular pioneer when school begins. This will make six pioneers in our family, including our oldest daughter, who pioneers with her husband in another congregation. With the whole family putting Kingdom interests first in our lives, it serves as a protection and brings great joy to us.”