Geoffrey Jackson, who then served at the Samoa branch office, tried unsuccessfully to contact the New Zealand commissioner for Tokelauan affairs to discuss the problems faced by Jehovah’s Witnesses on the atolls. “But I was granted permission to visit Tokelau in my capacity as a linguist,” writes Geoff, “and during the voyage, the ship’s captain invited me to join him and another man in the officer’s lounge for refreshments. That man was the very commissioner for Tokelauan affairs that we had been trying to contact! We talked for over an hour. At the end of our discussion, he thanked me and promised to do what he could to relieve the pressures on our brothers in Tokelau.”

TRANSLATION EFFORTS INTENSIFY

As the number of publishers grew, the need for literature in Samoan also increased. To meet this need, Geoffrey Jackson and his wife, Jenny, were transferred from their missionary assignment in Tuvalu to the Samoa branch office in 1985. Geoff was assigned to oversee the two-person Samoan translation team. “At first,” he relates, “the translators worked at tables located in the Bethel dining room. Each morning they cleared the breakfast tables before they could start translation work. Then, just before noon, they put their translation materials away to set the tables for lunch. Afterward, they cleared the tables again to get back to translation work.”

The constant disruption hindered productivity. The translation process too was labor-intensive and time-consuming. “Much of the work was written out by hand and then typed up,” recalls Geoff. “Each manuscript was retyped several times for proofreading and revision before it was ready for printing.”

“The release of Awake!” recalls Geoff, “was heralded, not only by newspaper and radio but also on the national television news.”