• Preaching and Teaching Earth Wide
    2012 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • A PUZZLING BAPTISM REQUEST. At the beginning of the 2010 district convention in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, a young man named Edvard said that he wanted to be baptized. When asked which congregation he came from, he replied: “Mossaka.” Since there were no Witnesses in that distant village, the brothers wondered how he had come to the point of wanting to be baptized.

      Edvard explained to the elders that in 2007 his grandfather had studied the Require brochure as well as 14 chapters of the Bible Teach book with him in Brazzaville. Then Edvard moved to Mossaka to live with his parents. Since there were no active Witnesses there, Edvard asked his father to help him study the rest of the Bible Teach book. His father would ask the questions, and Edvard would answer. In this way Edvard finished the book. He then felt the need to teach others what he knew about the truth. Thus, in October 2009, he began preaching alone in the Mossaka area using the Require brochure. He recorded the time he spent in the ministry and regularly sent his reports to his grandfather in Brazzaville. However, the grandfather never gave them to the congregation.

      Later, without knowing about Edvard, the branch sent temporary special pioneers to Mossaka for three months. Just two days before they were to leave there, Daniel, one of the temporary special pioneers, saw Edvard conducting a Bible study with the brochure What Does God Require of Us? So Daniel approached Edvard and spoke with him. Edvard said to him: “I am preaching. I am a publisher. You can check with my father.” Daniel met with Edvard’s father, who confirmed what Edvard had said. The temporary special pioneers took what little time they had remaining to train Edvard in the ministry. After they left, Edvard continued to preach with renewed zeal, conducting more than ten Bible studies. He also dedicated his life to Jehovah.

      Having this background information, on the Friday of the convention mentioned earlier, two elders met with Edvard and reviewed the questions for those desiring to become unbaptized publishers. His excellent answers astounded them. The elders learned from the special pioneers that Edvard’s conduct was exemplary and that he had already been unofficially preaching for nine months. Consequently, he was approved as an unbaptized publisher. Because there was a Lingala-language district convention scheduled for the following weekend, the elders arranged for Edvard to go through the baptism questions during the intervening week. He demonstrated a good understanding of the truth and was baptized at the Lingala convention in July 2010. Then, exactly one week after he had been approved as an unbaptized publisher, the elders made the announcement that Edvard was a baptized brother.

      After his baptism, he served as an auxiliary pioneer for two months in Brazzaville. The elders made arrangements for him to study the book “Keep Yourselves in God’s Love,” and then he returned to Mossaka. A special pioneer was recently appointed to serve in that territory. In April, Edvard​—who was then an auxiliary pioneer—​together with the special pioneer, welcomed 182 interested ones to the Memorial. Edvard has 16 studies, 7 of whom attend the meetings, which are conducted by the two brothers. In 2011, Edvard was 15 years old.