Jehovah Wen Help Us Fo “Grow Weaeva We Wuz Planted”

Da Kassholms wen go Gilead Skool in 1979 an ova da years dey wen get “planted” or wen get sent to Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar Tanzania, Uganda, an Zaire. Jack Redford wuz da Gilead instructor dat had give dem da funny kine advice dat wen help dem weaeva dey wen go. Let dem tell dea story.

Mats, try tell us how you guys wen firs find da trut.

Mats: World War II time, my faddah wen live in Poland an he wen see dat da Catholic Church wuz full of lies. But still yet, he would always say, “I kno da trut stay out dea!” I wen find out he wuz right! I wen buy plenny used books. One of dem wuz one blue book called The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. Da title had catch my eye. I had read da whole book in one night. By da morning time, I wen kno dat I had find da trut!

Starting from April 1972, I wen read plenny moa stuff from da Witnesses Fo Jehovah, an I had find ansas to da questions I wen have about da Bible. I wen feel like da trader guy dat Jesus had talk about who wen “find one pearl dat cost plenny money” an had sell eryting fo buy um. (Mat 13:45, 46) Jus like dat trader guy, I had give up goin skool fo come one docta so dat I could serve Jehovah. Den I wen get baptize on Decemba 10, 1972.

In one year, my parents an younga braddah started fo study da Bible an wen get baptize. In July 1973, I started fo pionea. Inside oua local hui, had one pretty sistah who wuz pioneering, Ann Catrin, an she wen love Jehovah plenny. We wen fall in love an get married in 1975. Da nex four years, we wuz in Strömsund, one beautiful place in Sweden wea plenny peopo wanted fo learn da trut.

Ann-Catrin: My faddah wen learn da trut in Stockholm wen he wuz almos pau college. He wen take me to da meetings an field service wen I wuz ony three monts ol. My maddah neva like dat an she wen try fo prove da Witnesses wrong. But she couldn’t, so afta a while she wen get baptize too. I wen get baptize at 13 an started pioneering at 16. I wuz pioneering in Umeå wea dey had need plenny help, an dass wea I wen come one spesho pionea.

Afta me an Mats wen get married, we had help some guys come into da trut. One of dem wuz Maivor, one teenage girl who wen give up her sports career fo serve Jehovah. She ended up bein my younga sistah’s pionea pahtnah. In 1984, da two of dem guys wen go Gilead an now dey stay missionaries in Ecuador.

Wat had help you fo “grow” in all da diffren places you wuz?

Mats: Plenny times we wen get asked fo move to one diffren place. But one ting dat wen help us adjus to da changes wuz fo try copy Jesus, speshly how he wuz humbo. (Col 2:6, 7) Like, we neva expeck da local braddahs fo change da way dey do tings, but we wen try fo undastan how dey tink an dea culture. Wen we had copy Jesus, wuz moa easy fo us “grow” an be happy weaeva we wuz.​—Songs 1:2, 3.

Ann-Catrin: Fo one tree grow afta you move um, need sunlight. Jehovah always wuz “da sun” fo us guys. (Songs 84:11) He wen give us wat we had need, da warm love an aloha of oua braddahs an sistahs. Wen we wuz in one small hui in Iran, da braddahs an sistahs dea wen take good kea of us. Dat wen remind us of how da peopo had take kea of each odda in da Bible. We neva like leave Iran. But in July 1980, Witnesses Fo Jehovah wen get banned, an we ony had 48 hours fo get out. We wen get assigned to Zaire in Africa (now dey call um Congo-Kinshasa).

I wen cry wen I had firs find out we wuz goin go Africa. I wuz sked fo go ova dea cuz of wat I wen hea about all da snakes an diseases. Two good frenz of ouas who wen serve in Africa longtime wen tell, “No be sked, you neva even go Africa befoa! No worry, you goin love um.” An dey wuz right! Da braddahs an sistahs had so much love ova dea. In fact, wen we had fo leave Zaire six years layta cuz of one ban, I wen laugh to myself cuz befoa I neva like come Africa, but now I wuz praying to Jehovah fo let us stay.

Wat kine blessings you guys wen get serving Jehovah?

Mats: One of da tings iz dat we wen come close wit missionaries from all kine places. An some of da places we had go we wen get 20 Bible studies each, an dat wen make us supa happy. An we no can foget da love an aloha da braddahs an sistahs from Africa had show us. Wen we had visit da huis in Tanzania, da braddahs ova dea wen let us park oua Volkswagen van in front dea house. An dass wea we had sleep. An dey wen give us eryting we had need, even tho dey neva have dat much. (2 Cor 8:3) Wat wuz real spesho to us wuz dat at da end of da day, we would talk story bout all da tings dat wen happen dat day an we would tank Jehovah fo taking kea us.

Ann-Catrin: Fo me, I wen love getting fo kno braddahs an sistahs from all ova da world. We had learn about plenny diffren cultures an wen learn new languages like Farsi, French, Luganda, an Swahili. We wen help guys new in da trut, wen come good frenz wit dem, an we had “work togedda” serving Jehovah.​—Zef 3:9.

We wen see plenny unreal beautiful stuff dat Jehovah had make. Erytime we wen go one new place, wuz like Jehovah wuz one guide taking us on one new adventure. If no wuz fo Him, all dis good stuff woulda neva happen.

Wat some problems you had, an wat wen help you fo deal wit um?

Mats: Ova da years we wen get diseases like malaria. An Ann-Catrin even wen get some surgeries we neva expeck. We wuz also worried about oua parents cuz dey wuz getting olda. An we so tankful fo oua family back home who wuz happy fo take kea dem. (1 Tim 5:4) But still yet, we wen feel bad cuz we wish we wuz dea fo help dem out.

Ann-Catrin: In 1983 wen we wuz in Zaire I wen get supa sick wit cholera. Da docta told Mats, “Get her out of hea today!” Da nex day we wuz headed fo Sweden. An da ony plane we could catch wuz one cargo plane.

Mats: We wen cry cuz we thought we wuz pau bein missionaries. Da docta thought dat Ann-Catrin wuzn’t goin get betta. But she did. An one year layta we wuz back in Zaire in one small local hui in Lubumbashi wea da braddahs speak Swahili.

Ann-Catrin: Wen we wuz in Lubumbashi, I wen come hapai. But da baby wen mahke befoa wuz born. Even if we neva plan fo have kids, I wuz supa sad wen oua baby wen mahke. During dat hahd time, Jehovah wen give us one gif dat we neva expeck. We wen start moa Bible studies den eva befoa. An in unda one year, da hui wen grow from 35 to 70 publishas, an from 40 guys coming to da meeting, wen go up to 220. We wen go all out fo preach an Jehovah had bless wat we wuz doin, an dat wen make me feel betta. We still yet tink an talk about oua baby. We no can wait fo see how Jehovah goin hemo da pain in oua heart fo good.

Mats: Layta on Ann-Catrin wen start fo come supah weak an tired. Same time I wen find out I had stage-four colon cancer an needed mayjah surgery. But now I doin good an Ann-Catrin doin all she can fo serve Jehovah.

We wen see we not da ony ones goin tru hahd times. Afta had da genocide in Rwanda in 1994, we wen go visit da braddahs an sistahs in da refugee camps. Seeing dea fait, how dey wen hang in dea, an how dey had take kea each odda, wen show us dat Jehovah can help his peopo get tru anyting.​—Songs 55:22.

Ann-Catrin: Anodda hahd ting wen happen afta we wen go to one spesho meeting at da branch in Uganda in 2007. Had 25 of us missionaries an Bethelites, all riding togedda fo go to Nairobi, Kenya, wen one truck wen cross da centa line an hit us head on. Da driva an five of oua frenz wen mahke right dea an one sistah wen mahke layta on at da hospital. We no can wait fo see dem again!​—Job 14:13-15.

Afta a while, my body wen heal. But me an Mats, an odda braddahs an sistahs who wuz in da accident wen suffa from PTSD. Night time I started fo get panic attacks, an da ting would wake me up an I had feel like I wuz having one heart attack. Dat wen freak me out. But praya to Jehovah an some of oua favorite scripchas wen help us fo feel calm. Anodda ting we wen do wuz go see doctas dat wen kno how fo treat anxiety. Now we able fo hando moa betta an we ask Jehovah fo help us be dea fo da guys goin tru da same kine stuff.

Wen you had talk about how you wuz able fo hando dese ruff times, wat you mean wen you sed dat Jehovah had carry you “like one raw egg”?

Mats: Dat come from one saying in Swahili, “Tumebebwa kama mayai mabichi.” Jus like how one guy real keaful wen he carry one raw egg so da ting no break, dass how Jehovah help us tru oua assignments. He wen always give us moa den wat we wen need. One way we wen feel like Jehovah wuz carrying us iz tru da love dat Jesus Luna Guys wen show us.

Ann-Catrin: I like tell you about one time how Jehovah wen carry us. One day I wen get one call dat my faddah back home in Sweden wuz supa sick inside da hospital. Mats wen jus get ova malaria an wuz still yet weak. We neva have enuff money fo buy tickets fo go home, so we had decide fo sell oua car. But den one coupo who wen hea bout wat wuz happening wen call us up an sed dey wanted fo pay fo one of da tickets. Den we had get one nodda call from one olda sistah who wen save some money inside one box. She wen write on top da box, “Fo someone dat need um.” Jehovah wen help us get da tickets in ony minutes!​—Heb 13:6.

Wat you wen learn in yoa 50 years of full time service?

Ann-Catrin: I wen come fo see dat we had stay strong cuz we neva panic an wen keep trusting in Jehovah. Weneva you trus in Jehovah, he goin fight fo you. (Isa 30:15; 2 Rec 20:15, 17) If we neva go all out in all dese assignments fo Jehovah, we neva woulda got all dese blessings.

Mats: Da main ting I wen learn iz fo trus in Jehovah in eryting an wait fo see wat he goin do. (Songs 37:5) He neva wen let us down an he still taking kea us in oua Bethel assignment in Myanmar.

We hope da younga guys who like do moa fo Jehovah feel da same love dat Jehovah wen show us. We kno dey goin feel dat love if dey let Jehovah help dem grow weaeva dey stay planted.