One Swedish student in the class was a young girl when she set Gilead School as an objective. She was urged along in that direction by her cousin who became a missionary. in 1962 this young woman started preaching full time in Sweden. Six years later she was appointed as a special representative of the Watch Tower Society. Hence, even though foreign missionary work was her goal, she was proving to be a diligent worker in her home country. And she knew that this special activity would, as she said, “make it easier to adjust to the schedule of a foreign missionary.” Over fifteen years after setting missionary service as her goal, she was delighted to be assigned to Bolivia.

After nearly two years of married life and while serving together as special ministers nearly three thousand miles from their families, one Canadian couple applied for Gilead. By then they knew that they would not be overcome by “homesickness” if assigned to a distant place. Furthermore, they saw that their health was good, not being dependent on some specialized medical treatment. They felt certain they could meet the challenge of a new climate, different food and a foreign way of life. How they radiated happiness as they received their assignments to the Republic of Congo!

One of the graduating students from Germany had, some years before, analyzed his prospects for becoming a missionary. He seemed physically and emotionally prepared to make the large adjustments that would be necessary. He had been baptized for over three years, was a zealous full-time preacher and was willing and able to go to any country the Watch Tower Society would designate. But he realized that his knowledge of English was limited. To improve it he listened each day to an English-language news broadcast on the radio. Also, he began to study in English one of the Society’s large Bible-study aids. It was slow going, and he was constantly consulting a dictionary, but he progressed. Now he speaks English very well and had no difficulty in understanding all of the class discussions and homework. During the course he gained a basic knowledge of still another language, Spanish, and he was well pleased to be assigned to Honduras, to help in the preaching there.