• Guyana
    2005 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • Amerindians Respond to the Good News

      In the early 1970’s, while witnessing in the marketplace in Charity, Frederick McAlman placed the Watchtower and Awake! magazines with an Amerindian woman named Monica Fitzallen. (See box on page 176.) Monica, who lived on an Amerindian reservation, took the magazines back to her home. During a spell of illness, she read them and recognized the ring of truth. Before long, she became a publisher of the good news​—the only one on the reservation—​and was baptized in 1974.

      Monica reflects: “I vigorously engaged in house-to-house witnessing, happy to share my newfound knowledge with the people in my community. To get to their homes, however, I had to row along rivers and creeks. As the number of interested ones increased, I began to hold meetings with them, reading and discussing material from the Bible study aid The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life.”

      Did Monica’s hard work bear fruit? Yes, indeed, for she now enjoys the company of 13 other publishers, including her husband, her son and his wife, and her granddaughter. Until recently the little group had to travel 12 hours by canoe to Charity, the nearest congregation. Now, though, they have meetings in their own community, and attendances reach three times the number of publishers!

  • Guyana
    2005 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • [Box/Picture on page 176-177]

      I Studied God’s Word by Correspondence

      Monica Fitzallen

      Born: 1931

      Baptized: 1974

      Profile: Isolated, she studied God’s Word for two years by mail and witnessed extensively to fellow Amerindians. Now blind, she memorizes scriptures for the ministry.

      I live on an Amerindian reservation called Waramuri, which is on the Moruka River, in the northwestern district of Guyana. In the early 1970’s, when I came in contact with the truth, the nearest congregation was Charity, on the Pomeroon River. It was 12 hours away by dugout canoe.

      I met Jehovah’s Witnesses when I was shopping in Charity. Frederick McAlman offered me The Watchtower and Awake! I accepted them, took them home, and put them away in a chest, where they stayed for two years. Then I fell ill, was bedridden for some time, and became deeply depressed. That’s when I remembered the magazines. I read them and immediately recognized the ring of truth.

      Around that time, my husband, Eugene, began looking for work and decided to go downriver toward Charity. My health had begun to improve, so I went with him. My main reason for going, however, was that I wanted to find Jehovah’s Witnesses. I did not have to look far; a Witness lady came to the very home where we were staying. “Are you one of the Watchtower people?” I asked. When she answered yes, I inquired about the man whom I met in the market two years earlier. She promptly went looking for Frederick McAlman, who happened to be with a group of publishers working territory nearby.

      When the two returned, Brother McAlman demonstrated the Bible study arrangement using the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. I agreed to a study. Since Eugene and I had to return home, I had my lessons by mail. I studied two books that way​—the Truth book and “Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie.” While studying the Truth book, I officially resigned from the Anglican Church and became an unbaptized publisher. The priest wrote to me, saying: “Don’t listen to Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are shallow in their Bible understanding. I will come and discuss the matter with you.” But he never came.

      As the only publisher on the reservation, I shared my newfound knowledge with my neighbors. I also witnessed to my husband, who​—I am delighted to say—​was baptized a year after I was. Today, Eugene is one of our 14 local publishers.

      In recent years, glaucoma and cataracts have taken away my sight, so now I memorize scriptures for the ministry. Nevertheless, I thank Jehovah that I can still serve him.