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In this update,
we’re going to talk about how we can make
good use of our time
during the pandemic.
But first, we’d like to share a few updates.
We’re sad to report that, as of December 10,
we have lost 25,658
brothers and sisters to COVID-19.
Our prayers are certainly with all
who have lost loved ones.
Recently, the new Omicron variant
has received a lot of news coverage.
At this point, there are still many unknowns.
Brothers and sisters, we don’t need to panic.
Keep following the same basic precautions
that have worked well:
wearing masks,
physical distancing,
frequently washing our hands,
and getting vaccinated, if possible.
In the 2021 Governing Body Update #7,
Brother Lösch mentioned that over 80 percent
of the worldwide Bethel family
was vaccinated.
We are glad to inform you
that now over 99 percent
of our worldwide Bethel family is vaccinated,
and so are over 95 percent of our
special full-time servants in the field.
Many of our brothers and sisters have had
good results from being vaccinated.
For example,
in some parts of Bulgaria,
the local clergy say that vaccines
are “poison from the Devil.”
So there is much pressure in the community
not to get vaccinated.
Despite this, one sister and her husband
watched the Governing Body updates
and made their personal decision
to get vaccinated.
Later, the sister’s employer called her
and said that in order
to comply with government regulations,
she couldn’t return to work
if she had not been vaccinated.
How surprised the manager was to learn
that the sister was already vaccinated!
In fact,
she was the only employee who was vaccinated.
Everyone else had to be laid off.
The manager asked our sister
if she had any vaccinated friends
who could replace
the employees who had been fired.
The manager then called other Witnesses
that she knew to see if they had any
vaccinated friends who needed employment.
That evening,
nearly all the positions were filled.
The head of staff asked our sisters,
“How do you know so many vaccinated women?”
A fine witness was given.
In the end, 14 sisters
and 1 Bible student were employed
because they followed
the good guidance and Bible principles
that have been shared
in our various Governing Body updates.
Now, let’s get back to our topic
of putting our time to good use
during the pandemic.
It’s been exciting to hear how many of you
have reached out to pioneer,
started new study projects,
and refined your telephone
and letter-writing skills.
That is time well spent.
In this month’s update,
we will discuss two additional ways
we can use our time wisely:
helping inactive ones
and improving our reading and writing skills.
It has been wonderful to see so many
of our brothers and sisters
who were inactive begin associating
with us again during the pandemic.
If that describes you,
please know
that the Governing Body
warmly welcomes you back!
Imagine the joy that Jehovah, Jesus,
and all the angels
in heaven have experienced
at seeing you return.
But what about those
who have not yet returned?
They might feel like the psalmist,
as recorded
at Psalm 119:176.
There we read:
“I have strayed like a lost sheep.
“Search for your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commandments.”
Right now, some inactive ones
may be praying to Jehovah,
saying: ‘Search for me.
I need help to come back.’
They haven’t forgotten Jehovah,
but for various reasons,
they haven’t been able
to come back on their own.
How does Jehovah feel about such ones?
Ezekiel 34:15, 16 says:
“I myself will feed my sheep . . .
“The lost one I will search for,
“the stray I will bring back,
“the injured I will bandage,
and the weak I will strengthen.”
Can Jehovah use you to find his lost sheep?
Absolutely!
Many of you have
reached out to inactive ones.
In the following video,
notice how publishers took the initiative
to help others return to Jehovah.
I didn’t know what my brother was ever
going to do about the truth.
As a teenager, he was a publisher
in the congregation.
By the time he was 16,
sadly, he decided to leave home,
and then he no longer served Jehovah.
But then, when we came back
to Seattle and settled down,
then we had more contact with him.
My wife and I
had been providing meals for him
because his wife had a brain tumor.
But the beautiful thing
is that our congregation
started taking him meals.
When my brother’s wife was hospitalized,
they even assisted at the hospital
to visit him and give him encouragement.
That had a big impact upon him.
He could see the closeness
of the congregation,
and I think that built a desire
that he would really like to do more.
When my brother went to the Kingdom Hall,
he was only able to do that
for two weeks
and then COVID-19 struck.
But an elder talked to him the first time
he went to the Kingdom Hall,
and they exchanged phone numbers.
And so they were able to communicate.
And that elder helped set him up on Zoom,
and he was able to attend the meetings then.
And he went to all the meetings.
Then I encouraged him
to have a personal study,
and he said, “Well I’m doing my study.”
Of all things, it was a terminology issue.
He didn’t know about having
a personal Bible study with someone.
He had some more encouragement
from a family friend
that found out
that he was coming to meetings,
and then he started to have
his own Bible study.
And that’s when he really started
to make progress.
It took 59 years!
I had the privilege of actually performing
the baptism for my own brother.
At the beginning of the pandemic,
we knew that our ministry
was going to change.
And so we thought about what to do,
and we came up with this little project,
making a list of all the inactive people
that we could think of that we’d been
with in other congregations
—lots of young people and others.
And when we did that list,
there were about 40 people on that list.
So we’ve emailed, we’ve called,
we’ve texted,
and we’ve written lots of letters.
Some of them, we haven’t heard anything from,
but nobody has rejected our efforts.
I contacted one man
whom I had met almost 40 years ago
when I was 19 years old.
We reestablished contact.
He began to attend all the meetings on Zoom,
and now we’re studying the Bible
in the Enjoy Life Forever! book.
We contacted one brother
who’d been inactive for many years.
Now he attends all the meetings on Zoom.
He has been reactivated,
and all of this despite
some very serious health problems.
Patience and persistence are required
when reaching out to these dear ones.
We love them, and so we contact
some on that list every week.
We’re so happy.
Three of the persons that we’ve contacted
are now regularly attending the meetings.
Two of them are studying the Bible.
It’s really been encouraging
for us to see these ones
that we love so much return to Jehovah.
And really, if Jehovah is drawing them,
they’re going to respond.
I’m sure you agree
that Jehovah blessed these efforts
to reach out to his lost sheep.
What a wonderful way to use our time
during the pandemic!
One circuit overseer in the United States
recently reported that 76 individuals
in his circuit have been reactivated.
That’s the equivalent
of an entire congregation!
We encourage you
to prayerfully think of inactive ones
that you might know.
It could be a family member or friend.
Can you give them a call
or send them a letter or a text message?
And if they respond and attend a meeting,
make them feel welcome.
We hope that many more lost sheep
will return to Jehovah before the end.
Another good use of our time
is improving our reading and writing skills.
Reading and writing
has always been important
for Jehovah’s people.
Remember, the kings of Israel were told
to “write [out] . . . a copy of [the] Law”
and “read from it
all the days of [their] life.”
Jesus was raised by a poor family,
yet he was able to read.
We remember the time when he went
into the synagogue in Nazareth.
He was able to open the Isaiah scroll
—which had no chapters and verses—
and locate and read the correct scripture.
And let’s not forget what Paul told Timothy.
Timothy was already an elder.
Yet, Paul said to him:
“Continue applying yourself
to public reading.”
So in view
of the Bible’s emphasis on reading,
it is not surprising that God’s organization
has a wonderful history of helping people
all over the world to learn to read.
Over the past 70 years,
Jehovah’s Witnesses have taught
thousands of people worldwide
to read and write.
For example, in Mexico,
we have helped more than 156,000 people
to learn to read and write.
We’ve received awards
in several countries for our efforts.
What about today?
It’s true that now in many languages
we have technology that enables us
to listen to our publications.
But we don’t want to be content to rely
on audio publications alone.
We want to be able to read
and to study the Bible for ourselves
and to dig into the wonderful information
provided by “the faithful
and discreet slave.”
What are some other benefits that come
from learning to read well?
A new article was recently published
on jw.org entitled
“Why Reading Is Important for Children.”
This was prepared
with you dear parents in mind.
But, really, reading is something
that all of us should view as important.
Why?
The article explained that reading
stirs the imagination.
It builds character
and helps us to reason on our problems.
It helps us develop qualities
such as patience,
self-control, and empathy.
And reading promotes deep thinking.
During the pandemic,
some of our brothers have been making
good use of their time
by learning to read and write.
Let’s hear how they have benefited.
When the coronavirus broke out
throughout the country, schools were shut down
and many parents either couldn’t go to work
or they had to work from home.
One circuit overseer set a goal
to encourage the parents in his circuit
to take advantage of the opportunity
to carry on teaching
their children to read and write
with the objective of assisting them
to become publishers.
Many parents responded
to the encouragement, and this resulted
in 37 young ones becoming proficient
in reading and writing.
A sister named Sara
had been trying for some time to learn
to read and write.
At home, her husband tried to help her,
but they just couldn’t find enough time
because of their day-to-day activities
and many responsibilities.
Now, when the pandemic
limited their activities,
her husband, who is an elder,
took advantage of the extra time.
He began to help her
several times a week to learn to read.
Now she has the joy
of reading the Bible
and other publications on her own.
She also loves to sing the Kingdom songs
using her own songbook.
One Bible student named Comfort
earnestly longed
to be able to read the Bible.
She became downhearted
when the pandemic began
and wondered who was going
to help her read now
that she couldn’t physically attend
a literacy class.
A local congregation elder gave her
some excellent practical suggestions,
and he encouraged her
to continue practicing on her own.
With determination and persistence,
Comfort applied the suggestions.
She made steady progress,
and she now reads well.
She conducts five Bible studies.
She is also assisting
her own 14-year-old daughter
to learn how to read and write.
Comfort was baptized
at the 2020 “Always Rejoice”!
Regional Convention.
Maria is our 69-year-old sister in Nicaragua,
and she’s been a regular pioneer
for over six years.
She never had formal schooling,
and so she learned to read
as she studied the Bible with our sisters,
but she didn’t learn to write.
When the pandemic started,
Maria was very discouraged
because she didn’t know
how to use her cell phone to preach,
and she didn’t know how to write letters.
But some of her fellow pioneers
offered to help.
So Maria would dictate her words
to her field service partner
who would then write the letter.
Her field service partners
would send Maria photographs
of the letters they wrote in her behalf.
And using the photographs,
Maria would then copy them
so as to write her own letters.
This helped Maria
to start developing writing skills.
She now writes her own letters.
If you could see the letters that she writes,
what neat handwriting she’s learned
to have, and how well she expresses herself!
Obviously, she has Jehovah’s blessing,
but it’s certainly an encouragement
to all of us to try to continue to improve.
What a beautiful way to use
our time during the pandemic!
But let’s not
—even for a minute—
think that literacy is an issue
in only a few parts of the world.
Really, literacy
is an issue everywhere!
And, if we’re being honest with ourselves,
probably most of us would say
that we could improve
in our reading and writing.
So why not make the effort to do so?
Note what the Governing Body said
in a recent letter to all Branch Committees:
“We want our brothers and sisters
to progress spiritually
“and grow to maturity.
“In large measure, this requires
that they be able to read
“and study God’s Word
along with our publications.
“Many of the ways in which we serve God
“involve the ability to read.
“For example,
“all Christians have
the weighty responsibility
“of teaching vital truths to others.
“And appointed men have many responsibilities
“that involve reading. . . .
“In general,
Christians should be able to read.”
So how could we learn to read
or improve in our reading?
Here are two ways:
Ask a friend, a family member,
or someone in your congregation
to help you.
An excellent tool
to assist is the Apply Yourself
to Reading and Writing brochure.
It is available in 123 languages.
Why not ask your congregation elders
about how to obtain this brochure?
If you already know the alphabet
and you can recognize words,
audio recordings
of our literature may also help.
As you listen to the recording,
read along in the written publication.
Work to imitate the pronunciation
as you hear each word.
Improving our reading and writing
is a great way to use our time
during the pandemic!
You brothers and sisters have shown
that you can thrive spiritually
and build others up
during a time of adversity.
You have made good use of your time.
May all of us continue to do so
by assisting inactive ones
and by improving our reading skills.
Be assured
that the Governing Body keeps
all of you in our prayers.
From the World Headquarters
of Jehovah’s Witnesses,
this is JW Broadcasting®.

2021 Governing Body Update #10