UpstateKate

Sister

Kate

Married

Upstate New York

Yes

Yes 4/13/02

I grew up "around" the truth. My Dad started studying when I was little, about 4 I think, and was baptized in 1980. My Mom studied a bit at first but did not accept the truth at that time and was fairly opposed. Growing up my brother and I attended meetings on and off but by the time my brother was 13 (1986) he was attending meetings regularly. I was not, and my Mom and I lived a non-witness lifestyle, celebrating holidays and birthdays. My Dad was appointed an elder, my brother progressed to baptism and eventually regular pioneered and had the privelege of serving at Brooklyn Bethel, Wallkill and Patterson. Meanwhile, I got involved with drugs, ran away from home and was living a very worldly lifestyle. Seeing the vast differences between how my brother and I were living really opened my Mom's eyes, to where she became tolerant, then to being favorable. She began attending meetings regularly and became an unbaptized publisher. My Dad then became a regular pioneer. Meanwhile, I had straightened up somewhat, grown up, moved out, and eventually married my husband. He was raised Catholic and was very disappointed with that religion but really had a desire to learn about the Bible. When he saw the New World Translation and realized it was written in modern English so he could understand it, he began reading it everyday. I always had a lot of respect for the Witnesses and knew it was the truth but I had feelings of unworthiness and doubt about whether I was good enough to be a Witness. I also knew I had to do something because by then we'd had our first son and I knew he'd have questions about life and the world and I wanted to be able to answer them truthfully. So, around that time my Dad asked us if we'd like a Bible study and we discussed it and said yes. (Although we laugh now because my husband said he'd study but he'd never attend all those meetings, lol!) So, we scheduled our first study with my Mom and Dad for my husband's next day off of work which was the following Tuesday, which ended up being September 11th, 2001!! That caused us to take our study very seriously. We sat down and read the Knowledge book from cover to cover that day and progressed rapidly in our study, attended all the meetings from the get go and we were baptized, along with my Mom, on April 13th, 2002.

Whew!!! So that's my story. We're happily moving ahead with the organization. My husband is serving as an elder and is on the RBC. My mom has been regular pioneering for the last 10 years and I'm happily attending meetings and homeschooling our 4 kids. I'm so thrilled to have been able to auxiliary pioneer (30 hours) four times! I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in June of 2010 but I'm feeling strong, my prognosis is good, I'm leaning heavily on Jehovah and he has strengthened me more than I can express.

I hope this story serves as an encouragement for those with unbelieving spouses and family members. It took 22 years but my Dad is able now to serve Jehovah with his family by his side.

As a teen and young adult my Dad would always tell me I would be a great Witness one day and I always doubted I could do it myself. In a way I was right because I didn't consider how much Jehovah will strengthen you when you earnestly seek to do his will.

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