So this Sunday we arrived at the meeting late. Like towards the very end of the public talk. Local elder delivered the talk. Noticed a weird thing going on, for the past 5 Sundays, our public talk has been delivered by a different local elders. We have not had a visitor in over a month.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. As we enter the KH, the elder was relating experiences of beatings, after dark border crossings and military oppressions. I was waiting to see what country this was in reference to. He finally mentioned Malawi as the country where all this persecution was happening. It was obvious he was relating experiences written in the yearbooks.
As I sat there listening, my wonder was mounting up by the minute, as many of the elders and even regular brothers in our cong are Mexicans. Such of age that lived in Mexico during those years. I kept wondering...
- How many of them are thinking "I got away by bribing the local officials at the time"
- How is it that they could not do the same
- But at the end, were they even listening.
Not too long ago, we interviewed one of the sisters. She was asked to provide details on what it was like to be a JW in Mexico during those years. She related to us how they would go preaching without a bible and how they would not sing or pray during meetings. No one seemed to think this was wrong or that they should have done it even in the face of death.