Dominican Republic​—Still Open to Discovery

AS A mere youth, Christopher Columbus embarked on a life at sea that eventually led him to the discovery of the islands known today as the West Indies. In December 1492, his principal vessel, Santa María, struck ground off the north coast of the island of Española, known today as the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and Dominican Republic. There Columbus established the first European settlement, a hastily built fort, and named it La Navidad. This island became the center of his further explorations.

Columbus discovered that the island was occupied by a notably handsome, trusting, and hospitable people, the Taino Indians. There were an estimated 100,000 of them at the time. However, under the harsh treatment of the invaders, whose primary interest was finding gold, the native population dwindled rapidly. By 1570 there reportedly were only about 500 Taino Indians left.

Today, Dominican Republic is populated by people of many races and colors, whose ancestors immigrated here. Even so, they seem to have many of the fine traits of the Taino, being basically a friendly and easygoing people. This, coupled with a sincere belief in God and respect for the Bible, has made the preaching and teaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses remarkably successful in this land.

Discovery of Another Kind

The first Watch Tower missionaries, Lennart and Virginia Johnson, arrived in Dominican Republic during the era of the dictator Trujillo. They discovered, to their delight, that many responded quickly and positively to their Bible message. This, however, was not to the liking of the authorities and their religious advisers. A wave of persecution soon broke out, and the faith of those early Dominican Witnesses was put to severe tests. To this day, their loyalty and faith​—even to the death—​are still much talked about.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, now numbering about 16,000 in the land, are well-known. A while ago, five television stations nationwide broadcast the video Jehovah’s Witnesses​—The Organization Behind the Name.a

This gave much publicity to the work of the Witnesses not only in larger cities but also in smaller towns and some rural areas. As a follow-up, they mounted a special campaign to reach out and take the Kingdom good news to these outlying areas.

Blessings for Reaching Out

Many young, energetic, and zealous Witnesses volunteered to spend periods of two months preaching in these faraway territories. Their efforts were well rewarded. In one area two Witnesses discovered exceptional interest. As it was the time to hold the annual Memorial of Jesus’ death, they made the arrangements and invited the people to come. The hall filled up, and they conducted the meeting. When it was over, they found, to their great surprise, that there was another large group of people outside the hall waiting to get in. So they invited them in and repeated the program. There is now a congregation in that area.

The generous and outgoing nature of the people often moves them to share the Bible truth they are learning with members of their family and others. One Bible student was bubbling over with joy when he finally qualified to participate in the house-to-house ministry. He was already conducting five Bible studies in his neighborhood, but he was happy to have a greater share in the ministry.

With much territory not regularly visited by Kingdom publishers, effort is made to preach to people on buses and those who come to the cities to do business or to shop. This has led to happifying results, as illustrated by an experience in connection with a letter received by the branch office. It was from two men in a rural area, who requested a Bible study. When a Witness called on them, the “men” turned out to be 10 and 11 years of age. But how did they learn about the Bible study arrangement? Well, a man from that village came into the capital for some business. He met a Witness on the street, who gave him a tract and offered him a free home Bible study. Returning to his village, the man gave the tract to a 12-year-old neighborhood girl and told her about the Bible study arrangement. In turn, the girl passed the information on to the two boys, who promptly wrote the letter. A Bible study was started with the boys, the girl, the man, and his two children.

Fine Response by the Young

Indeed, young people, both those brought up in the truth and others, seem to take their worship of God seriously. For example, Tamar and her sister Keila were both baptized at the age of 10 and entered the full-time pioneer ministry by 11. Wendy Carolina was 12 when she symbolized her dedication by water baptism, and two years later, in 1985, she started regular pioneering. Today she is an effective teacher, still enjoying the full-time ministry. Young Jovanny, baptized at 10 and a regular pioneer at 11, is conducting four home Bible studies. When ten-year-old Rey discovered that a secondhand-book vendor had a booklet published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rey begged his mother to buy it for him. He read it from cover to cover. His search for more Bible literature eventually led him to the branch office. Today he is enjoying the full-time service, and his mother is also serving God.

What has helped these and other young ones to appreciate the value of spiritual things? In many cases proper parental guidance played an important role. This was so with Josué, whose Christian parents are schoolteachers. When a traveling overseer suggested that the parents try to help at least one of their children to take up the full-time ministry, they gave attention to Josué. Being an outstanding student, Josué was granted a government scholarship to study engineering. After a year and a half at the university, he accepted an invitation to join the construction project at the headquarters complex for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Dominican Republic. His parents expressed deep satisfaction in having given their son to Jehovah’s service.

“Explorers” From Other Lands

Jesus’ words that “the harvest is great, but the workers are few” can truly be applied to the field here. (Matthew 9:37) The great need and the fine response have prompted Witnesses from other lands to come to share in exploring the territory for the real modern-day treasures​—sincere truth seekers.

From the neighboring island of Puerto Rico have come Witness families who found true satisfaction serving in different areas of Dominican Republic. Said one family head: “Being able to express your faith and hope to hearing ears really makes the truth live!” Learning of the need here, Cecilia from Sweden and Nia from the United States joined forces with several other young full-time ministers. They are serving in the interior where they find a higher altitude and a milder climate. Similarly, high up in the cool pine-covered mountains, two Canadian families joined a Dominican family who had returned from the United States. They are part of a small congregation and are able to reach out to people who have not been visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses for up to ten years.

Alfredo and Lourdes and their five children returned from New York City and are associated with a small congregation in one of the beautiful tourist beach towns. They rejoice in being able to share in finding honesthearted ones and helping the congregation grow. Roland, a computer operator from Austria, and his wife, Yuta, have settled in the warm, dry, southern part of the country. They have had the joy of seeing a new congregation formed since their arrival. In a neighboring town, a group of three pioneer sisters and a couple from California reported that they had so many requests for Bible studies that they could not conduct them all. So they encouraged the interested ones to attend the meetings at the local Kingdom Hall and get on a waiting list for Bible studies. Yuta’s brother Stefan is faithfully serving with a small congregation in the lovely town of Samaná, to the northeast. In just two years, the number of Kingdom publishers there has doubled.

The love and zeal demonstrated by these and others who have come to help are truly commendable. They have accepted the challenge not only of relocating to a new land with different culture and customs but also, in most cases, of learning a new language in order to care for the spiritual needs of sheeplike people. Their efforts have resulted in a positive response from the local people.

Some Dominican families have left the comforts of the large cities and have reached out to the rurals. All are being richly rewarded by the joy of discovering the real treasures of sincere seekers of truth.

The 15th-century treasure seekers brought, not blessings, but bondage and untold suffering to the native Taino people. Even Columbus himself did not benefit from the treasures of the New World. He was eventually arrested and removed from the island he discovered and returned to Spain in chains.

Today a different kind of exploration is under way, and a more valuable treasure is being found. Jehovah’s people are busy searching for the honesthearted people who respond to the Kingdom good news. The result is that an ever-increasing crowd is enjoying the freedom that only God’s Word can bring. (John 8:32) They look forward to the time when this land of mountains, lovely waterfalls, beautiful beaches, and enchanting caves will become, not just an island paradise, but part of a new world that encompasses the whole earth.​—2 Peter 3:13.

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Dominican Republic

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Young ones discover the value of spiritual things by pursuing full-time service