JW subtitle extractor

We were serving in a small town in Alberta,
and then we began having children.
When we moved to Craig we had four children.
And after living here,
we now have nine children.
You were given this trust,
and so as a parent,
you need to put the Kingdom first;
you need to set a good example;
you need to be at the meetings;
you need to be regular in field service.
We really believed
that we needed to love Jehovah first
in order to be
a good example for our children.
They helped us see that what would make
us happy were spiritual things.
My parents, more in action than in words,
taught us to seek first the Kingdom.
With nine kids,
it’s always going to be hectic.
You have extra children;
you have more excuses, perhaps.
Having nine children
is a challenge in a million ways.
Yeah, she had moments where she’d sit
in her rocking chair
and just look so exhausted.
I remember one time
when it was time to go to the meeting,
but I was so exhausted.
And I thought of Isaiah 40,
where Jehovah says
that “those hoping
in Jehovah will regain power.”
So I figured that Jehovah wants me to do it.
He’s going to make me
strong enough to do this.
So I prayed, and I got ready.
It’s a scramble.
In Hebrews, we see the encouragement
to never forsake “our meeting together.”
My dad always spoke of that.
There was a time
that we had to travel in the wintertime,
maybe up to two hours to get to the meeting.
You’d come back to your home late at night,
you know, with all these kids
that are worn out—and yourself too.
Seeing the importance
that they placed on the meetings,
I was able to see
that you never take meetings for granted.
My parents always instilled in us consistency
in field service just like the meetings.
It was just what we did.
That wasn’t questioned.
We got up on Saturday morning,
and we got ourselves
out the door and in service.
We couldn’t simply
just be a backseat ornament.
We knew that we were there to give a witness.
From an early age,
we were really following the example
of our parents in showing interest in people.
So because of that,
we enjoyed being in the ministry.
It gave me a sense of purpose.
I had people to go visit in service.
I had to know what I was going to talk
to them about and have a plan.
In field service, we would often take breaks
for the sake of the children and ourselves.
It was important to have our children
enjoy field service—not push them hard
and be too rigid, and so forth.
I think about Proverbs 22:6
in the Byington translation
where it says to “give a boy
the start his course requires.”
They did that by putting the spiritual things
before the material things.
Jehovah helped us
to be the best parents we could be.
We failed at times, but I always knew
that Jehovah was the best Parent.
So if we could teach them to love Him,
then he would take over.
Well, we as a family were successful
because we did have Jehovah in our lives.
All our children
are doing very well in the truth.
And so we’re very happy about that,
and I’m sure it makes Jehovah happy.

Dale and Nadja Bode: Jehovah Helped Us Raise Nine Children in Alaska