Have love for the whole association of brothers.
These words were written down nearly 2,000 years ago.
But we need them now more than ever.
How can we love something as vast as a global brotherhood?
And in this loveless world, how can we make sure that our love never fades?
When we were baptized, we formally became part of this brotherhood.
Our hearts were full of joy.
But as the years pass, it is only too easy to lose sight of why we love this brotherhood.
Let's remind ourselves.
Consider three things that our brotherhood is doing.
It is busy in the preaching work.
It comes to the aid of those in need.
It gathers together to worship Jehovah God.
First, you can find our brotherhood preaching the good news of God's kingdom wherever you
go in the world.
Jesse is preparing to go out in the field ministry.
You got everything?
I think so.
I'm all packed up and ready to go.
There's your coffee.
Oh, thank you.
But why all the luggage?
He lives in Alaska, a vast region more than twice the size of France.
Many people there live in areas so remote that there is only one way to reach them,
by airplane.
There are no roads on 50% of that territory.
It is desolation.
There's not even a trail, but there's about 200 villages with Eskimo, Indian, Athabaskan,
Shimshan, Tlingit tribes, probably 70-some thousand people scattered in those areas.
Let me show you here.
The brothers carefully select the villages to be visited.
They prepare the airplane and recruit a crew of pilots and publishers for a two, three,
or four day trip.
I'm a professional pilot.
That's what I do for a living.
So there's a certain thrill with flying, but yet at the same time, that part is just a
job.
I think what I really enjoy is the ministry, being able to reach people out in these remote
areas and bring the truth to them.
You're going over empty spaces where you don't see a living soul, and you wonder, what is
this village going to be like?
So it's a spirit of anticipation.
What is it going to be like when you land?
The local people are often suspicious of men in formal or business attire, so the brothers
make an exception to our usual standard and dress informally for these visits.
First they have to get to know you.
They want to know, why are you there?
Once they understand that you're there bringing them a message from the Bible, then they kind
of open up.
And we try to show them basic truths in the Bible, like Psalms 83, 18 or John 17, 3.
We'll leave our address and phone number that way.
We encourage them to try to call us or try to write us so that we can study with them.
Of course, this type of witnessing has its challenges as well.
Unsanitary conditions, swarms of mosquitoes, or even worse.
Almost every householder told us, watch out for the bears, because the bears were there
that morning.
And this is really something you have to be careful of.
Such challenges only draw the brothers closer together.
Literally, mosquitoes have found us.
Get a common bond between the brothers, and it's a very up-building experience.
Little by little, we've been getting through it so we can say now we've covered all the
territory with the good news at least one time.
In several places, two times.
And in some places, our third visit has taken place.
This witnessing that we do up here helps me appreciate that we are fulfilling that Bible
prophecy in Matthew 24, 14 about preaching the good news to all the inhabited earth.
Because that's what we're doing up here.
These are remote areas, and the society is making sure that they're getting done.
Our brotherhood has found that in this sophisticated European city, as in so many others, most
people are somewhat apathetic about the Bible's message.
The members of one congregation, however, are assigned to preach exclusively in a very
different kind of territory.
The vast harbor of Antwerp.
The brothers arrive at the docks before the ships are open for boarding.
They use this time to witness to the truck drivers who come from many lands to service
the harbor.
Then it's on to the ships.
Well, I was very excited.
I remember that.
But I was also scared because I didn't know what was going to happen.
I didn't know how it worked, preaching on the ship.
The witnesses expect to meet people of all races and speaking almost any language.
Sometimes there are 10 nationalities on board.
Can you imagine 10 nationalities?
Sailors from far away or little known countries are often amazed to see literature in their
own language.
On the ships, the witnesses find a very receptive audience.
They understand that only God could protect them against the powers of nature and the
sea.
I never met a seaman who was an atheist.
The Watchtower Society's videos make an effective tool for witnessing in this territory.
In this way, we've even had up to 15 people at once watch three videos of their choice.
And afterward, they had many, many questions.
In this ever-changing territory, how can the brothers make return visits on interested
people?
The local newspaper tells which ships will be in port each week.
So when the brothers meet an interested sailor, they carefully record which ship he works
on so that they can find him again.
Before long, they bring their students to congregation meetings.
In just the first three years since the congregation was formed, over 1,400 sailors from 41 lands
visited the meetings.
On average, five new Bible studies are started each month.
One man was really eager to become a witness.
He just read one magazine.
He said, ah, this is the truth.
He started talking to the other ones.
We came on the ship, and this man was preaching.
He said, I need books.
I need books.
So one day, I went to the ship.
And in the country, the witnesses were banned.
And we visited the ship three evenings.
In the last evening, we stayed till 1.30 in the night, preaching the good news.
When we left the ship, the whole crew came on deck.
And they were all shouting, bye, Jehovah's Witness, till we see you in the paradise.
From the first ship we ever did, we really fell in love with these people.
It was a worship, you see, so Jesus Christ.
It is the mightiest river in the world.
But the Amazon River is also a thoroughfare, a liquid highway stretching nearly 4,000 miles
from the highlands of Peru across Brazil to the Atlantic.
In the dense jungles of Peru, the Amazon enables our brotherhood to reach people with the good
news.
Special pioneers have moved to this region, one of the remotest and most rugged in the
world, in order to preach to the people.
The river brings them right into some villages.
Sometimes they are able to witness without even leaving their boat.
Other villages, though, can only be reached on foot.
They are quite hospitable.
They ask you to come in.
You can gather the whole family and all of them sit down to listen.
Sometimes the villagers simply gather up their children and ask the pioneers to hold a Bible
class.
At this village, the chief is a return visit.
The brothers preach to him in Spanish, and he translates the message for the benefit
of his people.
The brothers also find a receptive audience at a local leper colony.
Here in the Amazon, sometimes you meet natives who have not heard about God.
To reach them with the truth is a beautiful experience.
The pioneers readily admit that this territory has its hardships.
When we go preaching into the forest, maybe the snakes.
The heat.
Heat that sometimes lasts into the night.
No electric light, no water.
Well, it would be loneliness to fight against the loneliness, since I am far from my family.
But where others might see only problems, these pioneers see solutions.
Conduct Bible studies with the people.
I try to make them my family and see them as my future brothers.
I always stay very close to them so that the loneliness that I feel is not so bad.
The ladies become my friends.
They can tell me their problems, and I try to help them.
When you see the people coming to the Kingdom Hall, you forget the heat and the difficulties.
Obviously, Jehovah blesses the work that we are doing.
Thanks to Jehovah, at least for now I am conducting 20 Bible studies, and I would say that 50%
come to the Kingdom Hall.
There are only three of Jehovah's Witnesses in the region and us, the two special pioneers.
But 89 people attended the memorial.
It really is a great privilege for me to be working for the Kingdom here in this part
of Peru.
To know that many more brothers are also doing it in different parts of the earth, that really
encourages us.
We are not alone.
They are far from alone.
All over the world, the Brotherhood is busy in this same work.
Witnesses who live in the cities and larger villages of Mozambique regularly travel to
remote rural areas.
They carefully plan their visits according to the seasons.
This enables them to reach hardworking farmers and their families.
Worldwide our Brotherhood is working shoulder to shoulder.
Listening to people wherever they may be found.
Are you taking part in the preaching work where you live?
You may feel that what you do is rather ordinary.
But when you preach, however and wherever you do it, you are taking part in the same
wonderful work.
You're doing a work that draws you closer to your brothers and sisters.
A work that reaches people and saves lives.
A work that pleases Jehovah God.
Passers-by barely notice this spot.
Just an empty lot in a bustling Japanese city.
To one of our brothers though, this place is full of meaning.
I lived here for 27 years.
My wife and two daughters and I had a happy life here.
On January 17, 1995, Takao Jinguji, like so many others in Kobe, Japan, saw his whole
world turned upside down.
On the earthquake hit, there was a tremor, a big tremor, but I had no idea what was happening.
In the next moment, I turned over and reached for my wife's hand, and she reached for mine,
and we touched.
But then, after the next quake, our hands were separated.
Of the 5,500 killed in the quake, 13 were Jehovah's Witnesses, and two were unbaptized
associates.
The quake left over 300,000 homeless.
350 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses were destroyed or severely damaged.
Kotoyo, the oldest of three children, waited in mounting fear as the rubble of her home
was cleared away.
Her parents were missing.
Then we saw a man's hand, and the two of them were under there.
Kunio Tsunasawa, an elder, was at the children's side when the parents were found.
The doctor tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to get them breathing, but he couldn't.
Both the mother and father had died.
Takao Jinguji crawled from this rubble, battered and bruised, desperate to find his wife and
daughter.
The place where my wife and daughter were trapped just became a sea of fire.
They tried putting out the fire, but there was no water, not even a fire extinguisher.
There was nothing we could do but stand and watch.
Honestly speaking, knowing that they did die instantly helps me to cope.
I was able to remain very calm.
At that time, I really felt Jehovah's help.
Even in the worst of moments, the brothers and sisters were there to support one another.
From the time they dug my father and mother out, brother and sister Tsunasawa were right
there by my side.
The two of them stayed with us and went to the morgue with us.
She held my hand.
She didn't say a word, but her feelings got through to me.
In the face of all this devastation, the Brotherhood launched the relief work immediately.
The circus giving aid selected a few kingdom halls and gave instructions to gather relief
supplies, water and basic foodstuffs to these locations immediately.
Takao Jinguji had just lost his wife and daughter.
Still, he joined the relief work.
I was able to take part fully in that activity and I surely felt Jehovah's strength.
Within days, brothers from the branch near Tokyo were at the disaster site.
Quake victims were deeply moved.
The relief work soon progressed from providing food and water to protecting damaged homes
from the elements.
The neighbors watched all the brothers working and said things like, where did they come
from?
Is it your religion?
Spiritual needs were among the first addressed.
Shepherding calls, Christian meetings and the preaching were continued uninterrupted.
Because we know there is a resurrection, declaring that hope to others can heal the hearts of
those who lost loved ones.
In one relief program, quake victims were taken by bus to an assembly hall facility
where they were given a clean room to spend the night, a hot bath and all the supplies
they needed.
They also attended a meeting and went in field service in an undamaged territory.
Then they would take us back home right to our house.
I thought it was a very kind arrangement.
The Nagais, a disabled pioneer couple in Kobe, opened their tiny apartment for use as a kingdom
hall.
They had a peak of 72 people at the meeting here.
The brothers who used the place this way were really thankful because they didn't have
anywhere to meet.
The brothers endeavored to help all whom they could, including non-witnesses.
We went to the largest hospital in Kobe and we shared with them our futons, blankets,
rice and many things.
The earthquake continued to take its toll for years afterward.
It's been three years since it happened, but not a day goes by that I don't think
about the earthquake.
However, quake survivors have drawn great comfort from staying close to Jehovah and
the worldwide brotherhood.
Of course, there were times when I myself got weak because of the pain and loneliness.
But at those times, I got a lot of comfort from attending the meetings or doing personal
Bible reading or reading the magazines.
Those who were concerned about us sent letters and small memos.
These really encouraged us.
The brothers and sisters left their work and they used that time to help us, even risking
their secular work.
So I felt their love.
Kotoyo had lost her parents, but she was soon part of a new family.
Some months after the earthquake, brother and sister Tsunasawa invited her and her siblings
to come live with them.
They gave us the strength to go on.
The congregation members and brothers and sisters from other congregations were a great
comfort to me.
They said, just seeing your face at the meetings encourages us.
It really comforted me.
The earthquake had devastated a city, but the brotherhood emerged stronger than ever.
I strongly feel that the brothers and sisters have been doing just as Jesus said.
They love the brothers and sisters in the same way he does.
I'm just so glad to be part of this organization.
The decade of the 1990s saw many disasters.
In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew caused tremendous damage.
Our brotherhood was praised for its relief efforts.
A local newspaper commented, no one is slamming doors on the Jehovah's Witnesses this week,
even if they have doors to slam.
About 3,000 Witness volunteers from across the country have converged on the disaster
area.
First to help their own, then to help others.
The paper added, any military organization might envy the Witnesses' precision, discipline
and efficiency.
The worst disasters of the 1990s were manmade.
In 1994, ethnic hatred and civil war ripped apart the countries of Rwanda and Burundi.
Hundreds of thousands were killed.
Refugees numbered well over a million.
Similar troubles have plagued Liberia, Sierra Leone and Congo.
Among Jehovah's Witnesses, such disasters have meant death for hundreds, poverty, disease,
homelessness and hunger for thousands more.
The Brotherhood works hard to come to their aid.
During one relief effort in July 1994, Witnesses in France, Switzerland and Belgium contributed
over $1,600,000 to a fund for their brothers in Rwanda and Burundi.
Notified of the need on a Friday, the brothers in Europe shipped 35 tons of relief provisions
by the following Wednesday.
More recently, Witnesses in Europe gathered more than 400 tons of relief supplies to ship
to their brothers in Kinshasa, Congo.
This kind of help keeps people alive.
But it does more.
It reminds all concerned that our Brotherhood is not merely a thing of words.
It is real.
Now you may never have had the opportunity to take part in relief efforts for such extreme
cases of distress.
Does that mean that you are no part of this work?
Not at all.
In this troubled world, distress takes many forms.
When you visit the sick, when you help out the elderly and infirm, when you take time
to comfort a depressed soul, when you take an interest in your brothers and sisters in
the faith, you add your own part to the great identifying mark of this Brotherhood, Love.
Nothing is more important to our Brotherhood than worshipping Jehovah God.
Our places of worship are modest.
Still they are important.
As the Brotherhood continues to expand, more and more Kingdom Halls are needed.
Recently that was a problem in Machachi, a city nestled in the mountains of Ecuador.
Three or four brothers with construction experience guide the brothers doing the work.
With the help of the brothers, we can work in less time and all the labor is free of
charge.
When all the preparations are complete, a period of intense activity begins.
Many brothers who worked secularly made arrangements beforehand to take days off so that they could
come and support the work.
This is a joyful experience for brothers to come from afar to help build Jehovah's House
of Worship.
One another and to Jehovah.
On these projects, there is plenty of work for all the volunteers.
We have seen a beautiful joyful attitude.
Everyone collaborates, all are willing, from the youngest to the oldest.
Everyone involved wants the new Kingdom Hall to serve as a good witness to the community.
During the construction, we have heard positive comments from people.
Many are amazed at the unity among Jehovah's Witnesses.
For example, people see that we are industrious, that we are like ants.
They would like to see other people in the community working together like this to get
things done.
At last the job is complete and the time has come to dedicate the new Kingdom Hall.
We have longed for this, to have a new Kingdom Hall where we can welcome more people.
It is a joy.
As I've told you, we have not had a proper place to meet.
I'm giving way to tears because of my joy.
Gathering together for worship, just how important is it to our brotherhood?
Some governments have found out by outlawing such meetings.
Estonia in Eastern Europe offers its citizens religious freedom.
Our brothers and sisters are now free to meet together for worship.
But decades ago, throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, things were far different.
These men from the secret police, the KGB said, where is Jehovah?
We are going to make sure that the name Jehovah will never even be remembered in Estonia.
You are going to a camp, others to Siberia.
Where is your Jehovah?
I was deported to Siberia.
I was eight years old at the time, and that was in 1951.
We were there seven years.
But later I was imprisoned from 63 to 66.
In 1951, over 300 were deported, my father and mother included, so that Jehovah's name
would no longer be remembered in Estonia.
Period.
And so we began a new life.
We were out in the vast Russian steppes, and we just preached.
Did this severe persecution put a stop to Christian meetings?
There were meetings, but they were not these large ones.
It was in small groups that we got together and discussed things.
Also, the place and time of the next meeting were decided.
And you couldn't even say it out loud.
We traveled several hours to get there.
Before seven in the morning, we took the children.
They were young.
Sometimes to take them, we even put them in a shopping bag.
They traveled by bus, then walked for miles.
Every week it took us about 12 hours to attend the Watchtower study by the time we got back.
What did the brothers do about literature to study at their meetings?
In the beginning, we could not reproduce the Watchtower, except by either using a typewriter
or copying by hand.
But a typewriter was a dangerous thing to own in those days.
It couldn't be hidden just anywhere.
It would be found with a metal detector.
In a wooden house or under the ground, it would easily be found.
But my home has a metal roof.
Near the chimney, under the metal roof, I had a hiding place.
The brothers reproduced literature using their own stencils and hid it all very carefully.
And that was how we survived spiritually all those years, despite the hardships and persecution.
Change swept across Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In Estonia, the work was legalized in 1991.
Especially for those who for decades were here under those closed conditions as Jehovah's
Witnesses, for them to experience this freedom was of course a very, very moving, moving
experience.
Free to preach openly at last, the Brotherhood in Estonia and across Eastern Europe and Russia
makes every effort to invite the public to attend the Christian meetings.
This is especially true at the time of the memorial, the most important meeting of the
year.
One brother recalls the last time the memorial was held under the ban.
It was in his own small home.
There were exactly 60 people here.
Can you imagine?
60 people sat here in these rooms.
And for us, that was a lot.
But now, well, now there are several congregations and in each one several hundred are present.
The meetings started full speed and the joy of the brothers was so great.
Just what kept ringing in my ears were the words, the name Jehovah will never even be
remembered in Estonia.
Lundazi in Zambia is an unusual village.
Most of the time it stands empty.
But for a few weeks each year, the place comes alive.
Hundreds of our brothers and sisters travel there for their conventions.
Many have walked for three days.
We do not stop along the way except to eat.
And when it is dark, we stop.
We sleep only for a few hours.
And while it is still dark, we wake up and start traveling again until morning.
We feel very tired because of the heavy luggage that we carry.
But when we arrive here and see all these brothers, we rejoice very much.
Many arrive early to restore and repair the village.
Others gather wood for the countless cook fires that will be needed.
Before long, the village is humming with life.
The most important work though is preparing for the convention itself.
And last, the program begins.
After the convention comes the long journey home.
But these brothers and sisters are accustomed to long walks.
It is not strange for us to walk because we were born in Africa, a country where many
are poor.
It is our way of life.
We should press forward and not shrink back.
Mountains do not matter.
Walking day and night does not matter.
But what we want is the life we are looking forward to attaining in the future.
For another group of witnesses, walking to their district convention is not an option.
They live on an island in Lake Chilwa, Malawi.
We were underbanned for about 27 years, holding our meetings only at night.
But for some reason, things have changed and we are now able to worship and preach publicly.
On Lake Chilwa, as in most of rural Africa, the business of surviving day to day consumes
a great deal of time and energy.
Our daily lives are somewhat difficult.
The fields are barren, insufficient.
The money to buy fishing equipment is very hard to find.
In spite of difficulties, these brothers find great encouragement in their meetings.
Getting to the district convention requires an expedition of sorts.
There are some difficulties because it is a great distance from here to the convention
site.
The major problem is that we have to cross the lake.
When we reach the other side, some use a car, some use bicycles, others bought buses.
Then we have others who go on foot because they are disadvantaged.
For some, this convention will be a personal landmark.
This small congregation of 62 publishers has seven candidates for baptism from one side
of the island and three from the other side.
Even some of those who have qualified for baptism still ask, are we truly going to be
baptized this very week?
They are very excited.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
At last, they are at the convention.
Their intense desire to be fed spiritually has brought them all this way.
What makes me feel very happy at the meetings is, one, seeing the faces of the brothers,
two, hearing the expressions that the brothers make, and three, singing songs of praise.
I see that associating with the brothers is one of the most important things in my life.
All are delighted as the baptismal candidates stand and voice their resolve to serve Jehovah.
These disciples are about to take the most important step of their lives.
This day, they publicly embrace Jehovah as their rightful sovereign.
They also become part of our brotherhood.
After their baptism, our ten new brothers and sisters are ready for their journey home.
But their journey as Christians is just beginning.
When you journey to your own Christian meetings, you may not meet the same challenges, but
you have your own challenges to face.
We all do.
Despite all obstacles, we are there at our meetings, week after week.
Why?
The reason is simple.
For the same reason, our brothers and sisters are deeply touched when they get to attend
meetings again after years under band.
Personally, for me, each meeting and each convention was such a big emotional experience.
I can only say, Jehovah, Jehovah, a prayer of thanks as the tears fall.
For the same reason, we are moved to help our brothers and sisters in need.
I would like to take this opportunity to tell the brothers and sisters around the world
how thankful I am for all the help you gave us.
That one thought says it all.
Of course, I am very thankful to Jehovah, the one who led me to this organization.
For the same reason, we preach faithfully whenever and however we can.
When you have the opportunity to give these people a message that some of them have never
had before, even though they've had a Bible, that is the peak of privilege and a wonderful
honor.
For the same reason, we dedicated our lives to Jehovah.
It may be years since we became part of this brotherhood, but our reason for doing so has
only grown stronger.
It is the simplest thing.
We love Jehovah, so we love to learn about Him and to teach others about Him.
And we love the people Jehovah loves.
When we help them out in times of need, we do not expect God to thank us.
We thank God.
This brotherhood He has given us is a gift that touches our hearts.
Every passing day gives us more reasons to have love for our whole association of brothers.