• Heeding the Warnings Made a Difference
    Awake!—2006 | June

    • Tracking Down Witnesses in the Astrodome

      Some 16,000 refugees, mainly from Louisiana, were receiving food, water, and shelter in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The Witness relief committee in Houston learned that some Witnesses were part of that huge crowd. But how would they locate them?

      Early Friday morning, September 2, a group of Witness elders arrived at the Astrodome to search out their displaced brothers. They were astonished by the sight of the thousands of men, women, teenagers, children, and infants, scattered throughout the vast stadium. The football field was covered with thousands of cots, as well as refugees patiently waiting for solutions to their problems. There were long lines for medical attention, and medical personnel were running to take patients to ambulances.

      “I felt as if I were in the midst of a refugee camp,” exclaimed Samuel, one of the elders looking for fellow Witnesses. How were they going to find a few Witnesses in this vast crowd? The elders started out by walking up and down the aisles with large poster boards inviting Witnesses to identify themselves. After searching without success for three hours, they realized that they needed a more practical system. They asked the Red Cross to make an announcement over the public address system: “All who are baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses, please go to the east ramp on the ground floor level.”

      Finally, Witnesses began to trickle in with big smiles on their faces. Samuel explains: “They were tearful and filled with joy. They hugged us tightly and held our hands. They were afraid to let go for fear of being lost in the crowd.” On Friday and Saturday, 24 Witnesses were found and were taken to the Witness relief center.

      Most of them had almost no material possessions except for the soiled clothes on their backs. One Witness was carrying a small box, the size of a shoe box. It contained some valuable papers​—all that she had been able to save from the destructive storm.

      At the Astrodome, many people recognized the visiting elders as ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses and approached them, asking for Bibles and Bible literature. Over 220 Bibles were requested. The Witnesses also offered the public the July 22, 2005, issue of Awake! featuring the very opportune cover series “Natural Disasters​—Are They Getting Worse?”