Our Fine Conduct Gives a Witness (1 Pet. 2:12)
1 One example was Even Gundersrud, who was baptized in 1917 and associated with the Skien Congregation. At first, his wife tried to prevent him from attending meetings by hiding his shoes. But that did not stop him—he simply went to the meeting barefoot! On one occasion when she locked Even in the bedroom, he got out of the house by jumping out the window. Nothing Even’s wife did prevented him from attending the meetings. At the same time, he continued being kind to her. She began feeling embarrassed about her husband going into the city barefoot. Wanting to find out why the meetings meant so much to Even, she started to accompany him. Eventually, she too became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
2 Why did so many from this place become zealous Witnesses? Although most in the small community were not churchgoers, they believed in God and the Bible. Moreover, many of the Witnesses were known in the community as good family heads who had the support of their loyal wives. One of these family heads was Arnulf Jensen, Dag’s nephew, who was baptized in 1947. On weekdays, he earned a living as a fisherman, going out to sea in his fishing boat for several days at a time. But every Friday evening, he came home, even if the fishing was good and other fishermen stayed out to make more money. Arnulf made sure that he was at home on the weekends to attend the meetings and take part in the preaching work with his wife and their eight children—all of whom took a firm stand for the truth. On Saturdays and Sundays, the brothers carried out their commission to be “fishers of men,” often using Arnulf’s boat to do a spiritual fishing work in remote communities.—Mark 1:16-18.
3 Kingdom Hall construction has provided practical and attractive places of worship, and it has given a good witness to local communities. For example, three brothers met with city officials in Fredrikstad to arrange the construction of a Kingdom Hall in 1987. The officials laughed when the brothers said that they would complete the hall in three days. But even on the first day, Friday, it became apparent to the officials that the Witnesses would complete the hall as planned. On Saturday one of the officials brought his brass band to the construction site and had them play music for the volunteer workers—his way of apologizing for his earlier skepticism. “It is incredible that you Witnesses can build so quickly,” said one woman who watched the Arendal Kingdom Hall being built in 1990, “but it is even more amazing to see all these smiling and cheerful people.”
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Even Gundersrud
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Arnulf’s boat was often used for the ministry