JW subtitle extractor

In the 1960’s,
South Africa started to become
increasingly involved in military conflicts
in neighboring countries.
As a result, many of our young brothers
were drafted for military service.
But because of their neutrality,
the brothers were sent to prison.
Initially, when the brothers
were sentenced to military prison,
they were required to wear the army uniform,
which of course they refused to do.
The brothers felt
that dressing in those clothes
would identify them
with the military prisoners,
and they took a stand on that.
They wore blue overalls
and hence became known as the Blue Boys.
Everyone knew the Blue Boys
were Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In the early days,
the brothers served their entire sentence
locked up in individual cells,
and that made it very difficult for them
to be able to meet together for worship.
One of the brothers who served
during those days was David Carikas.
Just recently, Dave and I got together,
and we talked about some
of our experiences in prison.
When I got into prison,
we were not allowed to communicate at all.
We were, strictly speaking,
in solitary confinement.
Their aim was to break the Witnesses;
they said as much.
There were 64 cells, 32 on each side.
And we used to perch ourselves up
on the bars above the door
and made a little mini hammock, as it were,
and when everything was locked up and quiet,
then we would have the meetings.
We had our whole spiritual program.
We had a public talk
and the Theocratic Ministry School.
And we had to conduct the meeting
just audibly enough
to hear each other.
The brothers who went to prison
in the ten years or so before I went in
had a big impact.
They laid the track, as it were.
These brothers came out of prison
with their faith strong.
They had a joyful countenance,
and that was really inspiring
to younger brothers like me
who were preparing for our time in prison.
Things were a little different
when I was in there.
We were in the prison blocks.
But on the weekends, we were not locked up;
they left us alone.
And so we’d bring out chairs
or upturned buckets and sit in groups,
and we could have most of our meetings
that way, including the songs.
Some of the brothers had made
their own musical instruments.
So the army was used to the idea
of us singing various songs,
and so it didn’t create as much attention.
“Jehovah God is my Shepherd;
so why should I fear or fret?”
Also, if we were careful enough on a weekend,
we could bring in the materials
for circuit assemblies
and district conventions . . .
Wow!
. . . and have our conventions.
One of these pictures shows
the brothers’ costumes for dramas.
We’d have those at six o’clock in the morning
so that there was much less opportunity
of being discovered.
And the brothers loved that
because they were able
to really get into the spirit of the dramas.
That especially we didn’t want
the corporals to see.
It’s amazing how Jehovah
kept a flow of spiritual food
going in even behind prison walls!
Yeah.
Our meetings were very important,
whether they were approved
by the authorities or not.
This was one thing we would not let go.
Yeah, that really was.
The source of our strength
was the spiritual food we had
and the brotherly love that existed
and the encouragement.
So the brothers made every effort
to keep the meetings going.
And a good example of that was the Memorial.
When I went into prison,
we were asking the authorities,
“Please let us have the Memorial.”
And the answer was a definite no.
So we were ready to do it on our own,
but we kept asking.
And eventually on the Memorial day,
that Tuesday afternoon,
suddenly they let us all out of our cells
and let us go and shower.
We weren’t allowed
to use the showers normally.
And they said,
“Get dressed for your service tonight.”
Really?
And about seven o’clock,
we had the Memorial
in the little chapel there.
When we started singing the song
in that little chapel,
about 125 of us,
the volume was deafening
and there was hardly a dry eye
in the audience.
After the Memorial, we got out
and I still remember the full moon
rising in the east,
there over the military headquarters
of South Africa.
And it was like a victory.
If it’s Jehovah’s will
for us to have the Memorial,
nobody is going to stop it.
But it was the most memorable Memorial
of my life.
I can just imagine.
Meeting together in prison, as we did,
made me realize
that the privilege of meeting together
is not our gift to Jehovah
as much as his gift to us.
It is. Yes.
And it really binds you together
in a very special way.
Yes, it does.
We really need the meetings.
We need that spiritual strength.
Meeting attendance,
I think especially since that time,
has become a treasured gift.
We don’t easily want to miss our meetings
and certainly want
to be there in person if we can.
Hearing other brothers express their faith
and them giving you
an opportunity to express your faith
is a great source of encouragement
—a vital source.
It’s not just a group of people
who are learning the same thing.
This is a spiritual family.
And Jehovah knows
that we need to draw together
and encourage one another personally,
particularly, as Paul said,
‘as the day draws near.’

The Blue Boys Treasured Spiritual Gatherings