Do Your Utmost
1 The marvelous prospect of eternal life under the righteous kingdom of God awaits the survivors of the end of this wicked system of things. All of us want to be among the survivors, so we need to continue to ‘do our utmost’ to please Jehovah now. This includes helping others of honest heart to learn of our loving Creator and his provisions for salvation.—2 Pet. 3:14.
2 The desire to ‘do our utmost’ to aid others should move us to be zealous in the field ministry during February, even though, in most parts of the country, the weather is cold and often disagreeable. We can dress warmly, ask householders if we can step in for a few minutes where advisable, work apartments if available and business territory. And, among other things, it is an excellent time to make return visits and start studies:
3 Well appreciating how the Watchtower and Awake! magazines have aided us and will help many more, at every opportunity let us offer a year’s subscription. Three booklets are to be given free with each new one-year subscription. Or, if your congregation has a stock of bound books copyrighted in 1961 or earlier, one book may be given free with each new one-year subscription. If the subscription offer is not accepted, endeavor to leave two magazines for 10 cents.
4 If you have older magazines that have accumulated, it would be well to leave a copy where you find no one at home. (See June 1969 Kingdom Ministry, “Question Box.”) That people are attracted to the truth of Jehovah’s Word by just one magazine, a publisher wrote: ‘No one was at home, so I left under the door a magazine. The young man who lived there read the magazine and discussed it the next day at work with a man who happened to be a Witness. A Bible study was started with the young man, all from a sample magazine being left under his door.’
5 Have you tried offering both subscriptions for $3.00? A special pioneer reports: ‘I finally convinced myself last month to offer both subscriptions from house to house and on return visits. In one month I obtained 21 subscriptions. Sixteen of the total were double subscriptions.’
6 In doing our utmost, let us also be diligent in making expired-subscription calls. During the four month Watchtower campaign, over 300,000 expired-subscription slips will be sent to congregations in the United States. These return visits are a fine avenue not only for obtaining subscriptions, but also for starting Bible studies. By sharing in this work, perhaps you will be privileged to enjoy an experience like this one: ‘I made a call on a former subscriber and offered her a free home Bible study. The study was started that very day, and within six months, though opposition came from her husband, she was attending almost all meetings. Now she is going out in the field ministry, has the joy of conducting two home Bible studies, and is looking forward to getting baptized at our next circuit assembly.’
7 Why not look in the various places where you may have put expired-subscription slips that you received sometime in the past, and follow through on them now. Also, have you considered making a list of persons on whom you have made return visits, and then encouraging them to become subscribers? A pioneer did, with these results: “One afternoon I got all my return visit records together, even some dated several years back. I made a list of the names and telephone numbers of all those I once studied with or obtained subscriptions from, and various ones I formerly called on. I started calling these on the telephone that same afternoon, and, to my surprise, I obtained 44 subscriptions from the ones I reached by telephone, by arranging to call on them later that afternoon and throughout the week.”
8 Gift subscriptions have been the means of helping numerous relatives and friends to accept the truth. Here is one experience: ‘I tried to witness to my mother for many years without too much result. About a year ago I sent her a gift subscription. Thereafter she would write and mention some of the articles that were of interest to her. When her subscription expired, she wrote and said she was not getting her magazines anymore and really missed them. I wrote you brothers, renewing her subscription and asking you please to send someone to talk to her. A few days ago I received a letter from my mother saying that someone called on her. A Bible study was started, and my mother is now attending meetings on Sunday.’
9 With so much to do, let us by prayerful and careful forethought make the month of February a warm and agreeable month of blessings for us and interested ones as we ‘do our utmost’ in approved service to Jehovah.—2 Tim. 2:15.
[Blurb on page 1]
Encouraging Others to a Successful Endurance.