My Treasure of Service

AS TOLD BY MABEL HASLETT

“PRECIOUS in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his loyal ones.” These beautiful words of the psalmist (Ps 116:15) brought great comfort to me at the death of my lifelong companion. They were quoted in the lovely talk given at my husband’s funeral by the overseer of the Japan branch of the Watch Tower Society. I also received many loving letters of sympathy from my spiritual brothers in many places. So I can rejoice for him, and as I look back over the many years that Don and I were privileged to serve God together, I thank our Creator, the Giver of every good gift.

Maybe you would like to take a mental journey with me into our past. I have in front of me our old photograph album, and, as I look through it, it brings back many happy memories. Let us thumb through its pages together, all right?

BIBLE TRUTHS ENTER OUR LIVES

One picture in the photograph album dates back fifty years ago this summer! The picture is of a young couple, Don and me, just turned twenty and engaged to be married. What was our religious background? I had attended an Episcopalian Church school. This picture shows the class at graduation, where the black-robed “sister” told us that the best way to serve God was to marry a rich man who could endow the school. Don had joined the Baptist Church in order to play on their football team.

Then, in August of 1916, we first heard the beautiful words of the truths found in the Bible. They touched a responsive chord in our hearts and we moved quickly to line up our lives with it. We associated with a small Bible study class in Mount Vernon, New York, and then attended our first public lecture on October 1, 1916, at “The Temple.” This was the Bible Students’ centrally located meeting place in Manhattan at West 63d Street near Broadway, used frequently for the showing of the movie and slide feature, the “Photo-Drama of Creation.” Who was the speaker that day? It was Charles T. Russell, the Watch Tower Society’s president. I can still remember his piercing eyes and the kindly smile as he shook our hands after the talk.

The next few weeks brought the privilege of seeing the wonderful Photo-Drama of Creation, which gave an overall view of the great Creator’s purpose. This, along with constant study and sharing in the preaching work of that time (which consisted of distributing the Bible Students’ Monthly in the New York city apartments and subways) deepened the conviction that this is what we wanted to do with our lives, that is, serve our loving heavenly Father. Although Don and I were engaged, we thought we could serve God better as single persons.

Opportunity for baptism was afforded on the first Sunday of each month in a pool in the basement of “The Temple.” But on October 31 the saddening news came of the death of Brother Russell. His funeral services were conducted on Sunday, November 12. So the first Sunday in December, 1916, saw Don and me being immersed in that pool in symbol of our dedication to do the will of God. From then on, until Don’s death on February 20, 1966, we have tried to the best of our very imperfect abilities to do that will.

DIFFICULT TIMES

The year 1917 brought increased privileges of service for both of us. Don spent his summer vacation working at the Bethel headquarters of the Watch Tower Society in Brooklyn, New York. I was busy in the preaching work, loaning out the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. Then on July 17, the seventh volume, entitled “The Finished Mystery,” was released. From then on, tension increased both inside and outside the organization. War hysteria and clergy opposition mounted against the little band of Kingdom publishers. But we did not take it lying down. In fact, on Sunday, December 30, 1917, we got up before dawn to take part in a mass distribution of a special issue of the Bible Students’ Monthly. It contained a devastating message—“The Fall of Babylon.”

You are probably familiar with the turbulent history of the years 1918, 1919, with the arrest and imprisonment of the Watch Tower Society’s officials, including its president, J. F. Rutherford, and also the persecution of the Bible Students, as Jehovah’s witnesses were called at that time. It was a very stormy time for young, new ones in Jehovah’s organization. Don was accused of supplying me with seditious literature for distribution, but the Chief of Police in my town, who interviewed me, pulled a copy of The Finished Mystery out of his desk drawer and said: “I respect Mabel more than I do those who accused her.”

We did what we could in those difficult months, and used the time well for study. Then with the end of the war our hopes rose for the release of our brothers who had been jailed. We took part in a nationwide petition to that end. Now came the joyful word of their release! On the evening of March 26, 1919, those of us who got the news prepared a happy homecoming feast. I remember making a hundred doughnuts, which the brothers seemed to enjoy after nine months of prison fare. I can still see Brother Rutherford reaching out for them. It was an unforgettable occasion as he and the others related their experiences. I also remember short-statured Brother DeCecca standing on a chair so that all could see and hear him.

INCREASING OUR SERVICE TOGETHER

The work of Kingdom preaching revived and rapidly increased. We were overjoyed to be among the 6,000 who attended that first wonderful postwar assembly at Cedar Point, Ohio. At that soul-thrilling convention, without telling me, Don signed up for Bethel service, and I, without telling him, registered for the full-time preaching work. So on the way home from the convention we told each other good-bye forever. But this proved to be forever in the true sense of the Hebrew word oláhm, that is, not “forever,” but just “to time indefinite.”

Here are some more pictures in our photo album. This one was taken on the Bethel roof. It is a group of members of the Bethel family. There is Brother Riemer with a crown of pinkish-red hair, Ed Betler, Ed Hazlett and a young Fred Franz. Also, a dearly loved Evander Joel Coward.

It was Brother Coward who gave Don and me some fatherly advice. It was in connection with First Corinthians 7:20. He explained that an engagement is a contract and that it should be fulfilled. I have to admit we were easily convinced, and, on December 31, 1920, we were married. Here in our photo album is a picture of our little house where we were privileged to have the local Bible class meetings and to entertain traveling representatives of the Watch Tower Society.

September, 1922, came and with it the second Cedar Point convention. I can still hear the ringing words: “Back to the field, O you sons of the Most High. Advertise, advertise, advertise the King and his kingdom!” Now then, right here in our picture album you can see the result of that assembly for Don and me: a Model-T Ford, loaded with our worldly goods—our little home sold! And the next picture is that of a small wooden structure on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, our headquarters as we worked full time in the ministry in nearby Peekskill.

In this next picture, joining us for three days’ service were three people that I think many of you know—Bill, George and Mary Hannan. All of them are still serving faithfully at Brooklyn Bethel, forty-three years since this picture was taken. Incidentally, it was their mother who first turned our minds to the truths found in God’s Word, the Bible.

BETHEL SERVICE

This happy full-time service, called “colporteuring” in those days, lasted over a year. Then in the spring of 1924 Don applied for service at Brooklyn Bethel. The application was accepted for both of us to come to the headquarters of the Watch Tower Society. There, for over eight years we enjoyed that privilege, Don working in the service department and my assignment being in the circulation department. I remember when the Watchtower subscription list reached 50,000. We celebrated with a tea party!

Don later served as the secretary of Brother Rutherford. This entailed some traveling for Don. Here is a picture of them standing before a very frail-looking airplane somewhere in Europe. And this picture shows Don with Brother R. J. Martin in the garden of the Magdeburg Bethel in Germany. What a history that place had! It was occupied by the Nazis, and now is occupied by the East German Communists.

Oh, here is an interesting snapshot taken at the Columbus, Ohio, convention in 1931. That is when the new name “Jehovah’s witnesses” was received. There with me stand Sisters Van Amburg, Thorn, Mari Russell and Brother Van Sipma. And what do you think we are doing? We are taking care of other people’s children, 123 of them! This was so because up until that time we followed the custom of putting the children in a playroom so that the parents could hear the talks undisturbed. Of course, children now sit with their parents. What a wonderfully more Scriptural way it is today!

SENT TO HAWAII

Let us turn some more pages of our picture album. Here are some pictures showing palm trees and bananas! Yes, it is Hawaii, where we were sent in the spring of 1934 to work with the handful of brothers there. Here is a picture of a car equipped with loudspeaker horns. Don would ship it to the other islands, and, camping out on the beaches, broadcast the lectures in the sugar and pineapple plantations. The work in Hawaii thus progressed, and, by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, there was a solid nucleus of fine brothers of all the island nationalities.

A few days after December 7, there was a knock on the door. Four men armed with pistols took Don to military headquarters for questioning. Martial law was in force. As one after another of the officers shot questions at him, Don would answer from the Scriptures. One said angrily, “Leave the Bible out of this!” But Don replied, “I can’t—it’s my defense.” Finally, the one in charge stood up, apparently satisfied, and well after “blackout” time they brought Don home.

After that, although we were occasionally harassed, the work progressed. Don’s permit to enter the dock area was revoked, but a friend suggested that he get a fishing license. So all through the war he was able to get the shipments of Bible literature uninterrupted.

Gradually attendance at the Kingdom Hall increased, so that a larger place was needed. But the military government said “No.” No building materials were available. When I came home one day, Don was sitting, serious, a letter in his hand. It was an authorization from Brother Knorr, the Society’s new president, to build a new Kingdom Hall on the property back of the branch. Don said: “Caesar says we can’t build. Jehovah’s organization says, ‘Build.’ Of course, we build.”

It was wonderful how the obstacles were cleared out of the way. The brothers worked day and night, bringing sand from the beaches, rock from the mountains and discarded steel rails purchased cheaply from the plantations. And the result? Look at these pictures—a beautiful, substantial meeting place for Jehovah’s people, to his praise. As you can see, the inside wall is open to a vista of orchids and island foliage. How we rejoiced!

VOLUNTEERING FOR SERVICE IN JAPAN

After fourteen years, in 1948, our Hawaiian episode comes to an end. There was another letter from Brother Knorr: “Who of the Hawaiian brothers would be willing to go to Japan?” Seven of us volunteered; and until this year, 1966, all seven of us have continued serving here, happy in our loved assignment. In fact, we became nine. The two little girls in this picture, who accompanied their parents to Gilead, have now grown up and are serving as missionaries, one as a circuit servant’s wife.

But before going to Japan we were privileged to attend the Watch Tower Society’s Missionary School of Gilead, a most blessed interlude in our lives. Don and I were fifty-three then, a bit old to be going to school, but we were highly pleased. Graduation was followed by a visit to Brooklyn Bethel, and this picture taken in front of Bethel shows a red jeep, loaded with our possessions, about to start the trek to Japan. We had a memorable trip across country, and loaded the jeep on a ship in San Francisco. There was a one-day stopover in Hawaii. But now a heartbreak for me! The Japanese government would permit only one of us to enter the country! So that night Don mounted the gangplank and sailed away into the dark unknown alone.

He arrived in Japan just before January 1, 1949, with many problems to face. American money could not be used, and Japanese yen were hard to acquire. There were no living accommodations for foreigners except with the military. So Don lived for a difficult month in Tokyo’s Dai Ichi Hotel, which had been taken over by the American Occupation forces. Daily he searched all over the city for a suitable place for a branch home. He was told it would be practically impossible to find a place after all the war destruction. High-ranking army men told him they had been trying for over a year to get permission for their wives to enter the country. Don told me afterward that he prayed to Jehovah God more at that time than in all his life before.

Jehovah seems to have answered those prayers, for a place was found and quickly purchased in the name of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. At the time there was a large Japanese-style house on the property, and this was to serve adequately as branch headquarters for fourteen years. Soon after the purchase Don moved in and camped there all through the cold month of February. There was strict food rationing then, so that he would stand in line with the neighborhood people and get his allotment of perhaps one long carrot or a few leaves of cabbage, together with some rice. He said that one time the vegetable man took pity on his big frame and brought a whole cabbage to the back door at night, accepting no money for it. The next day Don feasted!

I waited in Hawaii and engaged in the full-time ministry. Then there came that happy day—a letter with my permit to join Don! I was sent off by plane by a crowd of loving Hawaiian brothers, the trip taking twenty-four hours in those days. As you can imagine, we had a happy reunion.

Then in rapid succession the other dear missionaries joined us, and as you leaf through the album you see the quickly expanding scene. Here is a fine, large missionary home purchased in Tarumi, Kobe, and these later homes at Nagoya, Osaka, Sendai, Yokohama, Kyoto and Sapporo. Here are assembly pictures, first of small groups of new brothers, then of larger and larger groups. There were baptisms in rivers in summer and in Japanese bathhouses in winter.

Today our old branch home has been torn down, and here is a picture of our beautiful new branch building, which stands six stories high. Don rejoiced to have a big share in its construction, supervising much of the work. Now it serves more than 4,000 Kingdom publishers in Japan, and the shipments of magazines alone have doubled in the two-and-a-half years since the building was completed. It is a real hive of activity.

So, thanks to Jehovah’s preserving power, it has been a happy, full life. Of course, there have been the difficult times—puzzling, heartbreaking experiences, these permitted and necessary to test the quality of faith of imperfect creatures. These have been valuable in giving opportunity to prove that, if we stick through thick and thin, nothing can separate us from God’s love. So we can forget the trials and thank our loving heavenly Father for the peaceable fruit.

Well, thank you for coming along with me on this mental journey into the past. Now, at the end of the story and of the picture album, gratitude wells up in my heart. As one of God’s “loyal ones,” Don has finished his earthly course. For me, my prayer is that ‘the God of all undeserved kindness will finish my training and make me firm and strong.’ (1 Pet. 5:10) I am happy to keep on here in my assigned place.

Relatives have written: “Of course, now that you are alone, you will come back to your own country.” But I am not alone. As Brother Knorr said in a kindly letter, “When these more severe trials hit us it brings us very close to our God and we can appreciate his loving-kindness.” Also, here in Japan I am surrounded by a host of loving friends whom I love, and by dear, faithful fellow missionaries. By constantly turning to Jehovah God the void is filled with the glorious treasure of service, that of finding and feeding sheeplike persons. There is no more rewarding work on earth today.

My help is from Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth.—Ps. 121:2.