• French Guiana
    2001 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • Help came also from an unexpected source. In Dunkerque, France, a family had been studying the Bible. Only the 16-year-old son, Christian Bonecaze, continued to show interest. When the family moved to Cayenne, Christian spoke to his schoolmates about the things he had learned from the Bible. One showed interest, and so did his three sisters. Christian wrote to the Society for help.

      About that time, Xavier and Sara Noll had returned to Martinique after graduating from Gilead School in 1958. The Society asked Brother Noll to go to French Guiana to help the small group there. It was a ten-day trip by small boat, during which Xavier had to sleep on the deck.

      On arriving in Cayenne, Brother Noll was received hospitably by the interested ones. They invited him to have his meals with them during his stay, and they arranged for him to have a pleasant room in a hotel that was run by a former convict. Every day Brother Noll had Bible studies and spiritual discussions with Christian and the family that was so hospitable. Their knowledge of Bible truth became deeper. Within a few weeks, Christian expressed a desire to get baptized; so did his friend and two of his sisters. Though a downpour made it impossible for Brother Noll to give the baptism talk on the beach as planned, he gave it for the group right in their small automobile. Then they proceeded with the immersion, the first one conducted by Jehovah’s Witnesses in French Guiana.

      During his stay in the country, Brother Noll used his time well in the field ministry. In a week he had placed nearly all his literature. He kept just one magazine to show people as a basis for obtaining subscriptions. Within three weeks he obtained 70 subscriptions, including about a dozen in Chinese. How did he explain matters in Chinese? He showed his class picture from Gilead School, pointed to the Chinese students in the class, and used lots of gestures. “It worked very well,” he says. Among others to whom he witnessed was Michel Valard, whose brother was a priest but who himself had been searching for gold in the interior of the country. After Brother Noll left, Christian Bonecaze took the lead in the activity of the small group there in Cayenne.