Can You Serve Where the Need for Kingdom Publishers Is Greater?

“We led a comfortable life in the United States but were concerned that the materialistic environment there could eventually have a negative influence on us and our two sons. My wife and I had formerly served as missionaries, and we wanted to enjoy that simple but happy kind of life again.”

SPURRED by that desire, in 1991, Ralph and Pam decided to write to several branch offices to express their desire to serve where the need for Kingdom publishers is greater. The branch office in Mexico responded that there was an urgent need for Kingdom publishers who could preach to the English-speaking population in that country. In fact, that field, noted the branch, was “white for harvesting.” (John 4:35) Before long, Ralph and Pam, with their sons, then aged 8 and 12, accepted the invitation and began to make preparations to move abroad.

A Vast Territory

Ralph recounts: “Before we left the United States, some well-meaning brothers and sisters told us: ‘Moving abroad is too dangerous!’ ‘What if you get sick?’ ‘Why move to preach in an English-language territory? English-speaking people there will not be interested in the truth!’ However, our minds were made up. After all, our decision to move was not an impulsive act. We had been planning it for years. We had avoided long-term debts, saved money, and had many family discussions about the difficulties we might encounter.”

First, Ralph and his family visited the Mexico branch. There, the brothers showed them a map of the entire country and told the new arrivals, “This is your territory!” The family settled in San Miguel de Allende, a town with a considerable foreign population, located some 150 miles [240 km] northwest of Mexico City. Three years after their arrival, an English-speaking congregation of 19 publishers was formed in that town. That was the first English-speaking congregation in Mexico​—but more work was waiting.

There are an estimated one million citizens of the United States living in Mexico. Additionally, there are many Mexican professionals and students who speak English as a second language. Ralph explains: “We prayed for more workers. We always kept an extra bedroom in our home available for brothers and sisters who came to our area to ‘spy out the land,’ so to speak.”​—Num. 13:2.

Some Mexican brothers and sisters also began to help with the preaching work in the English language. For example, when Rubén and his family heard that the first English-language congregation had been formed in San Miguel de Allende and that all of Mexico was that congregation’s territory, they immediately decided to assist. This meant learning English, getting accustomed to a different culture, and traveling long distances​—500 miles [800 km] each week—​to attend the meetings. Rubén relates: “We had the joy of witnessing to foreigners who have lived for years in Mexico but who heard the message of the good news in their own language for the first time. Some of them expressed their appreciation to us with tears in their eyes.” After helping the congregation in San Miguel de Allende, Rubén and his family served as pioneers in the town of Guanajuato, in central Mexico, where they helped to form an English-language congregation of more than 30 publishers. Today, they are serving in an English-speaking group in Irapuato, a town near Guanajuato.