I Wen Come One Missionary Even Tho I Wuz Supa Shy

I wuz born in 1951 in Vienna, Austria. My ohana wuz Catholic. I wuz shy, but I wen believe in God an would pray to him plenny. Wen I wuz nine years old, my faddah started fo study wit Witnesses Fo Jehovah. An layta on my maddah wen study too.

In Vienna we wuz paht of da Döbling local hui. Az one family we would read an study da Bible, go meetings, an work at da big kine meetings. From small kid time my faddah wen help me love Jehovah. My faddah wen pray dat me an my sistah would come pioneas, But back den I neva like do dat.

STARTING FULL TIME SERVICE

In 1965, I wen get baptize wen I wuz 14 years old. But I had hahd time preach to peopo I neva kno. I neva feel like I wuz good enuff an wanted odda young peopo fo like me. So litto while afta I wen get baptize, I wen start fo hang out wit guys who neva serve Jehovah. Even tho I wen like do stuff wit dem, I wen feel bad. But I wazn’t strong enuff fo stop hanging out wit dem. Wat wen help me?

Aroun dat time, one girl name Dorothée wen move into oua local hui. Wen blow me away cuz she wuz moa young den me, ony 16 years old, an she wen love fo preach. I wen tink to myself, “My family stay in da trut an she no moa family in da trut. She taking kea her sick maddah, but she always out in field service, not like me.” Her exampo wen make me like do moa fo Jehovah. Pretty soon me an Dorothée wen come pionea partners. Firs we wen auxiliary pionea an den layta on we wen come regula pioneas togedda. Cuz Dorothée wen love fo preach, I had start fo like um too. She even wen help me start my firs Bible study. Ova time, wen come moa easy fo preach to peopo.

Da firs year I wuz pioneering, one spesho pionea braddah name Heinz wen move into oua local hui. He had learn da trut from his Witness braddah in Canada. Right from da start I wuz checking him out. But da ony ting wuz dat he wanted fo be one missionary an I neva. So I neva tell him I wen like him. But layta on we started fo date, wen get married, an started pioneering togedda in Austria.

STARTING FO LIKE BE ONE MISSIONARY

Heinz wen talk plenny about how he wanted fo come one missionary. Even tho he neva presha me, he would ask me questions fo tink about um. Like, “Since we no moa kids, wat else we can do fo Jehovah?” Even tho I wuz pioneering, cuz I wuz shy, I wuz sked fo come one missionary. Even jus tinking about um wuz too much fo me. But Heinz wuz patient an he wen help me keep tinking about um. He wen help me fo no tink about bein sked but how I could help odda peopo. Wat he wen say wen help me.

Litto by litto, I wen like come one missionary. So we wen apply fo go Gilead. But da branch wen tell me dat would be good fo me learn English moa betta. Afta three years of trying fo get betta at English we wuz shock dat we wen get assign to one Serbo-Croatian hui in Austria. We wuz dea fo da nex seven years, an one of dose years wuz in da circuit work. Da language wuz hahd, but we wen have plenny Bible studies.

In 1979, da branch wen ask us fo go to Bulgaria fo litto while. Cuz da preaching work ova dea wuz kapu, dey wen ask us fo pretend like we wuz goin dea fo vacation. We no could preach but we wen sneak in some tiny publications to da five sistahs who wen live in Sofia, da capital of Bulgaria. Dis assignment wuz skery but same time exciting an Jehovah wen help me. Even tho da police could lock up dose sistahs at anytime, dey wen show courage an wuz happy. Dey wen help me fo show courage fo do wateva Jehovah’s hui ask me fo do.

Afta a while we wen apply fo Gilead again. An dis time we wen get in. We thought we wuz goin da English skool in da United States. But in Novemba 1981, da Gilead Extension Skool wen start, so we wen go Germany fo da skool. But cuz da class wuz in German, wuz moa easy fo me undastan. But wea dey would sen us afta dat?

PREACHING IN ONE COUNTRY WIT PLENNY WARS

Dey wen sen us to Kenya! But den da Kenya branch office wen ask us if we would go Uganda. Ten years earlia one military offissa named Idi Amin wen take ova da govament in Uganda. Wen he wuz ruling, he had tousands of peopo killed an millions had suffa. Den in 1979 da Uganda govament wen ovathrow him. You can see why I wuz sked fo go ova dea. But Gilead wen teach us fo trus in Jehovah. So we wen go.

Life in Uganda wuz nutz. Da govament couldn’t give erybody enuff watta, electricity, an odda stuff fo live. Phones neva work. Peopo would shoot each odda an steal each oddas stuff, speshly night time. So wen wuz night time, erybody would stay in da house an pray nobody would come steal dea stuff and kill dem. Even tho life wuz hahd an tings wuz nutz, da local braddahs wuz goin all out fo Jehovah!

In 1982, me an Heinz wen go Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Da firs five monts we wuz dea, we wen stay at Sam an Christina Waiswa’s house wit dea five kids an four oddas dey wuz taking kea of. Da Waiswa’s mos times would ony eat one meal a day. But even den, dey wuz willing fo share wateva dey had. From staying wit dem, we had learn plenny tings dat wen help us wit bein one missionary. Like we had learn fo use ony litto bit watta fo bocha an use da same watta fo flush da toilets. Den in 1983, me an Heinz wen move into oua own house in one safe place.

We wen love fo preach in Kampala. One mont we had place ova 4,000 magazines! But da bes paht wuz da peopo. Dey wen respeck God an wanted fo talk about da Bible. We usually had 10 to 15 Bible studies each an we wen learn plenny from dem. Like even tho dey had fo walk to da meeting ery week, dey wuz always happy an neva grumbo.

In 1985 an 1986, had two moa wars in Uganda. Plenny times we had see kids wit machine guns guarding da roads. Dat time we wen pray fo be smart, be calm, an stay away from danger wen we wuz preaching. An Jehovah wen ansa oua prayas cuz wen we had find peopo who wanted fo lissen to da trut, we had foget all da stuff we wuz sked about.

We wen also love preaching to peopo who wen move to Uganda. We wen study wit Murat an Dilbar Ibatullin, one coupo from Central Russia. Murat wuz one docta. Dey both wen get baptize an dey still serving Jehovah. Layta on, I wen meet Tatjana Vileyska, one lady from Ukraine who wanted fo kill herself. Afta Tatjana wen get baptize, she wen move back to Ukraine an layta on wen come one translata fo oua publications.a

ONE NEW ASSIGNMENT

In 1991 wen me an Heinz wuz in Austria, da Austria branch wen give us one new assignment in Bulgaria. Fo long time da braddahs no could preach in some countries in Europe. But dat wen change an Witnesses Fo Jehovah could preach in dose countries, an Bulgaria wuz one of um. Like I wen tell befoa, me an Heinz use to sneak publications into Bulgaria. Now we getting sent back dea fo go preach.

We no could go back to Uganda fo go pack up oua stuff an say bye to da braddahs an sistahs. Instead we wen go strait to Germany, pick up one car, an drive to Bulgaria. We wuz assign to one group of 20 publishas in Sofia.

Wuzn’t easy in Bulgaria. Firs we neva kno da language. Plus had ony two publications in Bulgarian, The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life an My Book of Bible Stories. An den wuz hahd fo start Bible studies. Even tho no wuz easy, oua small group wen give um. But da Bulgarian Orthodox Church neva like us preaching an dass wen da real problems wen start.

In 1994 da govament wen stop recognizing Witnesses Fo Jehovah az one religion. An da Bulgarians ova dea wen tink we wuz one dangerous religious group. Some braddahs wen get arrested. Da newspaypas, TV, an peopo wen tell all kine lies about us. Dey wen say Witnesses Fo Jehovah wanted fo kill dea kids cuz dey neva let um take blood transfusions. Me an Heinz had hahd time preach ova dea. Plenny times peopo wen yell at us, call da cops on us, an even throw stuff at us. Da police even wen break up one of oua big kine meetings. Me an Heinz wazn’t use to peopo hating us lidis. Wuz so diffren how da peopo wuz so nice in Uganda. Wat wen help us hando in dis new assignment?

Hanging wit da braddahs an sistahs wen make us real happy. Dey wen love da trut an wuz tankful we wuz dea wit dem. We wen stay close togedda an help each odda out. Tru all dis, we had learn we can be happy no matta wea we stay az long az we love peopo.

Ova time, wen come moa easy fo preach. In 1998 da govament wen recognize us az one legit religion again an we could get oua publications in Bulgarian. Den in 2004 dey wen get one new branch building ova dea. Today get 57 huis in Bulgaria an 2,953 publishas. Dis pas Meeting Fo Rememba had 6,475 guys dat wen come. Befoa ony had five sistahs in Sofia but now get nine local huis. We wen see “da mos litto bit peopo goin come tousan peopo.”​—Isa 60:22.

HANGING IN DEA TRU HAHD TIMES

Ova da years I had fo deal wit plenny healt problems, like tumors, even one in my head. I wen get radiation treatment an one 12 hour operation in India fo get mos of da tumor out. We wen stay at da India branch til I wen get betta an den we wen go back Bulgaria.

While dat wuz happening to me, Heinz wen get one disease dat hahdly anybody had, Huntington’s disease. He had hahd time walk, talk, an control his arms an legs. Az da disease wen get moa worse, he wen need moa an moa of my help. Sometimes I would get so tired, an I wen worry dat I no could take kea him anymoa. Wen I couldn’t help Heinz, one young braddah, Bobi, wuz always dea. He wen help Heinz fo go preach. He wuzn’t shame cuz Heinz couldn’t talk good or couldn’t control his arms an legs. Even tho me an Heinz wen choose not fo have kids fo do moa fo Jehovah, we wen feel Jehovah wen give us one boy, Bobi!​—Mar 10:29, 30.

Anodda ting Heinz wen struggle wit wuz cancer. An in 2015 he wen pas away. I miss him so much. He da one who wen help me fo no be sked. Iz hahd cuz he not hea wit me anymoa. I always tink about da nice tings he wen say to me an da good advice he wen give me. In my memory, he still alive! (Luk 20:38) An I so tankful fo all da years we wen spen togedda.

TANKFUL FO JEHOVAH’S HELP

Jehovah wen help me tru all kine hahd stuff. Even tho I shy, he wen help me fo come one missionary who love peopo. (2 Tim 1:7, NWT.) My faddah’s praya from long time ago wen get answered. My sistah an her husban stay in da Serbian circuit in Europe. Tanks to Jehovah, me an my younga sistah stay in full time service!

Wen I study da Bible, it give me peace. Wen I go tru hahd times, I wen learn fo pray moa hahd like Jesus. (Luk 22:44) An one of da ways Jehovah ansa my prayas iz tru da love dat da braddah an sistahs in my hui in Sofia show me. Plenny times dey tell me fo hang out wit dem an dey tell me how much dey love me. Dat make me feel real good.

Plenny times I tink about da Paradise. I see my whole family dea togedda. My parents young, how dey had look wen dey firs wen get married, my sistah making food, an Heinz standing by his horse. Wen I tink about all dat, I get so happy an I so tankful to Jehovah.

Tinking about wat Jehovah wen do fo me an wat he goin do layta on, I full on agree wit wat David wen tell at Songs Fo God 27:13, 14 “I know how good [Jehovah] stay . . . [He] goin take kea you! No lose fight, an no come sked notting! Wait fo [Jehovah] take kea you.”