To assist them with expenses of travel, food, clothing, and shelter, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society provided the early colporteurs with Bible literature for distribution, stated the modest contribution that could be asked for the literature, and invited the colporteurs to keep a portion of the funds thus received.

Caring for Material Needs

How did they care for their material needs? Anna Petersen (later Rømer), a full-time evangelizer in Denmark, recalled: “We got help from literature placements for the daily expenses, and our needs were not great. If there were bigger expenses, these were always met in one way or another. Sisters used to give us some clothes, dresses or coats, and we could put these right on and wear them, so we were well dressed. And some winters I took some office work for a couple of months. . . . By buying when there were sales on, I could buy what clothing I needed for a whole year. Things went fine. We were never in need.” Material things were not their principal concern. Their love for Jehovah and his ways was like a fire burning within them, and they simply had to express it.

For lodging they might rent a modest room while they called on people in the area. Some of them used a trailer—nothing elaborate, just a place to sleep and eat. Others slept in tents as they moved from place to place. In some places brothers arranged for “pioneer camps.” Witnesses in the area might furnish a home, and one person would be assigned to supervise it. Pioneers serving in that area could use the accommodations, and they would share the expenses involved.

These full-time workers did not allow lack of money to prevent sheeplike people from obtaining Bible literature. Pioneers often traded for produce such as potatoes, butter, eggs, fresh and canned fruit, chickens, soap, and almost anything else. They were not getting rich; rather, this was a means of helping sincere people to have the Kingdom message, while at the same time obtaining physical necessities of life so the pioneers could continue their ministry. They had confidence in Jesus’ promise that if they would “keep on . . . seeking first the kingdom and [God’s] righteousness,” then necessary food and covering would be provided.—Matt. 6:33.