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In my territory,
most buildings have very tight security.
Many of them are apartments, condos,
or studios that only residents can enter.
Some days,
I can spend the whole morning in service
and not meet a single person.
‘Is the territory just bad,
or is the problem with me?’
Pretoria is a vast territory.
We currently serve
in the foreign field in Portuguese.
It is getting harder
to find people at their homes
or that ideal Bible study
sitting in somebody’s home.
And we had all got into a rut
of just going to parks
and standing there
and trying to find people.
But it’s a foreign field,
so we weren’t getting many.
It was almost like we were waiting
for the people to come to us.
And it wasn’t working;
so we got very discouraged.
We thought, ‘We need a change.’
There’s no greater joy for me
than seeing the truth touch someone’s heart.
It is something
I honestly really pray
a lot to Jehovah about.
And I got it—Jehovah gave me that study.
She used to never miss a study.
If there was any issue, we would reschedule.
But then, she lost that zeal.
The study wasn’t important to her anymore.
She lost that zeal for going to meetings,
being with the brothers,
and even making changes.
During our family worship,
we made a detailed ministry schedule.
As for me, I used to join the ministry
mostly in the mornings
and do housework or other things
in the afternoon.
Now I’ve adjusted my schedule
so that I get all my housework done
early in the morning
and join the ministry
until late in the afternoon.
So I started praying to Jehovah
to know whether it was the right time
to stop her study.
I researched publications
and watched a video
showing how to stop a study.
So I understood
it was time to stop the study,
but it wasn’t easy at all.
I really enjoy applying
what the organization says
about just starting a conversation
with people at the shop
or at the park
or with your neighbors even.
We find it very productive
because we’re going to where the people are.
They’re at the businesses.
Some of them,
they’re literally on the street.
We got hold of this youngster
who was selling potatoes.
We studied every Tuesday
on the road with him.
And he progressed, and he was baptized
—now less than two years.
The biggest change was
that I actually started meeting people.
I could finally talk with people
who just weren’t available in the morning.
When we’re doing cart witnessing,
instead of just standing there
(maybe Luis
and I are talking to one another),
we actually are observing the people
as they walk past.
We try to make eye contact.
A lady approached the cart,
and she was wearing a traditional necklace
that is usually worn by somebody
that’s lost a family member in death.
So I just tactfully asked her
if she had recently lost somebody in death.
And she said that, yes, her father had died.
And she was very, very sad about it.
So we were able to share a scripture with her
of the resurrection hope.
She really enjoyed that.
She said it had saved her life.
You’re making better use of that time.
You are not just guarding the cart.
I ended the study.
I was devastated,
even though I knew
that I needed to stop the study.
From that moment,
I had to leave her in Jehovah’s hands
and Jehovah would take care of her.
If it is his will, at some point,
even if it’s with someone else,
she will learn.
She will come to know Jehovah.
I began conducting other studies
and making more return visits.
They are with people
who are making real changes.
And it’s these people
that I should focus my time and energy on.
When I think about it,
the territory and the people are the same;
all I did was change the time.
But once I could meet
and speak with people,
the ministry became
so much more enjoyable.
Jehovah hasn’t given up;
he’s given us this time
to be able to find rightly disposed ones.
When we know
that people’s lives are at stake,
every time we make good use of our time.

Love the Ministry—Wisely Using Our Time in the Ministry