“I AM GLAD THAT I DID NOT SHRINK BACK”

Jānis Folkmanis was a USSR weight-lifting champion, and in his final competitions in March 1993, he became champion of Latvia. Jānis relates: “In 1992, a workmate, Jānis Cielavs, invited me to sit in on his Bible study. That experience changed my life. Three months after I became weight-lifting champion of Latvia, I became a Kingdom publisher. In August 1993, I was baptized. When I witnessed at the gym, my trainer expressed his displeasure. But I am glad that I did not shrink back. My friends Eduards Eihenbaums and Edgars Brancis will explain why.”

Eduards: “Jānis Folkmanis offered me a free Bible study. ‘If it really is free, we can start right now,’ I said. And we did! What I learned made sense, especially the teaching of the resurrection, which made more sense than the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. My wife too began to study, and we were baptized in 1995.”

Edgars: “Jānis witnessed zealously at the gym. Four times he offered to study the Bible with me, and each time I declined. But I did accept the Watchtower and Awake! magazines and the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. Meanwhile, I kept asking myself, ‘Why would such a famous sportsman be interested in the Bible?’ My curiosity eventually won out, and I began to study. The result? I was baptized in 1995 and now serve as a special pioneer.”

[Pictures on page 207]

Three months after Jānis Folkmanis became the weight-lifting champion of Latvia, he became a Kingdom publisher