Reaching Out to Help in Central America

● After her great earthquake, new construction and high coffee prices resulted in an improved economy for Guatemala City, Guatemala, but very little has filtered down to the poorer sections of the country. Full-time workers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, called special pioneers, continue carrying their free Bible study work to many such people.

One couple serving in a very isolated section drew on their small personal expense account to purchase a gasoline lamp for use at their meetings, since there was no electricity. Their heartfelt desire to help these economically disadvantaged people is also reflected in another request for a withdrawal from their account:

“To reach our distant territory we have to walk, carrying our own bedding so as to be able to spend the night in villages where there are no hotels or other lodging. We request a withdrawal of sixty dollars in order to purchase a burro. These ‘burritos’ are very gentle and easy to maintain and, if our request is granted, it will lighten our burden.”

● Similarly, from up in a mountainous area of El Salvador, an interested person invited a circuit representative of Jehovah‘s Witnesses to come and give a public talk. The speaker and his wife traveled by bus to the last stop, and then they walked the rest of the way, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) on foot. Their efforts were rewarded when 30 persons showed up to hear the talk.

The man who had invited the speaker so appreciated the self-sacrificing devotion of this couple that he got up and spoke to the audience, saying: “Remember when we invited the Evangelist minister, he would come only on the condition that we pay him 30 colones ($12.00) and provide him with a horse for the trip. But since we did not have the means to pay him, he did not come. This time we invited Jehovah’s Witnesses and they didn’t ask for money or horses, but came walking; therefore, they must be the true religion.”