Our spiritual families in Afghanistan

[Raven]

11 hours ago, carlos said:

That's true. But if there are any publishers there, they are not in contact with the branch, even during these two decades of US ocupation when conditions were more favorable. That seems to suggest that there are no publishers in the country.

Maybe, however there could be more to it than that. For instance, would there be consequences for someone to be seen communicating with an American soldier? Would someone feel confident doing that, even if they cannot speak a word of English? Would they live in more isolated and peaceful parts of the country where there they didn't see soldiers? There might be reasons that would have prevented them from making contact.

[carlos]

41 minutes ago, Raven said:

Maybe, however there could be more to it than that. For instance, would there be consequences for someone to be seen communicating with an American soldier? Would someone feel confident doing that, even if they cannot speak a word of English? Would they live in more isolated and peaceful parts of the country where there they didn't see soldiers? There might be reasons that would have prevented them from making contact.

Well, I didn't mean to talk with soldiers but to contact the branch for guidance, spiritual food and so on. During this time Afghans have been able to use the internet, any publishers there could have contacted the branch by email and receive the current magazines and so on. Maybe they did and we simply never heard about it for safety.

[bagwell1987]

7 minutes ago, carlos said:

Well, I didn't mean to talk with soldiers but to contact the branch for guidance, spiritual food and so on. During this time Afghans have been able to use the internet, any publishers there could have contacted the branch by email and receive the current magazines and so on. Maybe they did and we simply never heard about it for safety.

There is SOOOOOO much going on in this world that we simply don't know! IMO just because I don't know doesn't make it true or untrue. I've mentioned it before, hindsight will be amazing. We'll have so many ah ha! moments. I'm so excited to learn all those unknowns. 

[Thesauron]

What we can do is pray that God”s word reaches anyone with the right heart disposition in these difficult areas and that they then can worship in peace, and have the strength from God’s spirit to withstand any opposition with their joy and faith intact.

[blueyellow]

On 8/18/2021 at 11:15 AM, Raven said:

Yep, at the very least there must be Pashto language groups outside of Afghanistan, and I know there are Farsi language groups.

 

Our website mentions 2 groups in Paris and London, in Pashto.

[M.J.]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:41 PM, happiness IS said:

 I met one Pakistani refugee when I went to the Kingdom Hall in Bangkok.

  Hide contents

Under quite tragic circumstances too. I had lost my wallet about USD90 near my my hostel and had only small change to go around. Not enough for a meal though. I was too shy to ask for financial help from the local Witnesses (English congregation). The congregation were all foreigners. No Thai friends there. The wife of BCOE did ask if I needed money but I was too shy to tell her that I was broke. I was about to go home the next day and didn't have money to pay for room that night. I sat at the bus stop feeling very sorry for myself. Then this lady came and sat next to me. Turned out she had also attended the same weekend meeting as myself. When I told her my story, she felt moved to share with me her biscuits and offered to give me a tiny amount of money. I thanked her for the biscuit but didn't take her up on the money. She and her family were refugees in Bangkok and studying the bible with a sister. The whole family were squeezed in a small rented room a distance away from the meeting place. 

How I long to see this bible student once again and I would like to give her $100 for her compassion to me during one of the darkest moment in my life.🤣 In Bangkok there is free food near the stadium but I figured it would be too dark for me to go there. Also there are free buses in BKK (my new found friend told me how to spot that type of buses)

Funny I didn't pray to Jehovah for help but still He sent a angel to comfort me.

 

Note : I travel very often to Thailand and rest assuredly the local brothers would bend backwards just to render aid to  person in need. 

 

I find this story sad. I find it sad that you didn't feel you could speak about your problem with a baptized sister, yet you did feel able to share your problem with a Bible student.......

[jwhess]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:48 PM, bagwell1987 said:

There is SOOOOOO much going on in this world that we simply don't know! IMO just because I don't know doesn't make it true or untrue. I've mentioned it before, hindsight will be amazing. We'll have so many ah ha! moments. I'm so excited to learn all those unknowns. 

Not being negative but I truly wonder what Noah's or Lot's AH-HA moments were during the end of the system in their lives?

[Roberto Flores]

Yearbook 1972 pp.195-213

THE “GOOD NEWS” COMES TO AFGHANISTAN

In September 1957 the Pakistan branch territory increased by some 250,000 square miles and more than twelve million inhabitants. How? It came about because the first witnesses of Jehovah had arrived in the rugged, neighboring country of Afghanistan. Philip Zimmerman, employed with an international airline, had moved from the United States to Kabul, the capital. With his wife, his mother and his young child, he had come to this city of 350,000 people.

As with its eastern and western neighbor countries Afghanistan is almost totally Islamic as to religion, and the preaching of Christianity to the Afghans has never been tolerated. Nothing may be said officially against the Koran or the Moslem religion because the king is a Moslem, and so anything derogatory to him is viewed as lese majesty—affording sufficient grounds for expelling a foreigner from the country. To this day Witnesses must confine their work to the transient foreign community, while relying on ingenuity to reach the local people with the Kingdom message. Most of the population are illiterate peasants who speak only Pushto (also spoken in the northwest frontier region of Pakistan) or Dari, the Afghan form of the Persian language. Well-educated Afghans usually speak at least one European language.

Due to Brother Zimmerman’s type of occupation and his need to return to the United States at regular intervals, not very much consistent preaching was possible at this time; enough, though, for quite a few people to know of the family’s departure for the New York international assembly in 1958, people who were interested in learning what went on there when the family got back to Kabul. The ninety-seven publishers in Pakistan were also represented at that great convention. Five missionaries and Brother Sadiq Masih from Karachi were grateful for the financial assistance they received from brothers all around the world so that they could attend that assembly and return spiritually strengthened and loaded with experiences to share with their brothers.

Since at first the whole country of Pakistan formed one circuit, it was necessary for some to travel anywhere from 500 to 900 miles one way at least twice a year in order to attend circuit and district assemblies. It was at one such circuit assembly in Rawalpindi held in April 1959 that the brothers were surprised by the arrival of a delegate shortly before the start of the Friday evening program. This was Brother Werner Schwarze. He had traveled the more than 300 miles from beyond Kabul, Afghanistan, on motorcycle. From the extreme cold of the mountains he had come through historic Khyber Pass to the hot dusty plains beyond. Even though he could not express himself easily in English, his happiness at being there was radiated to the conventioners. Just two months previously Brother Schwarze had come to Afghanistan from Germany to serve where the need is great.

His return trip to Afghanistan was not without problems. He was carrying with him on his cycle a suitcase full of literature, and was somewhat concerned about how the border officials would react. However, a few miles from the checkpoint a passing car stopped and the driver said: “That case on your cycle is too difficult for you. Give it to me and I will deliver it to your embassy in Kabul.”

All along the way he tried, despite his limited knowledge of the language, to share the “good news” with the local inhabitants. This same tactful, incidental witnessing about Jehovah’s purposes in such places is carried on by him to this day whenever he travels. At the next assembly, Brother Schwarze was accompanied by his wife and two daughters, recently arrived in Kabul. This had increased the proclaimers of the Kingdom in Afghanistan to seven. Soon three more publishers were to arrive from Germany to serve there where the need is so great.

A real milestone in the progress of the work in Afghanistan was reached in 1962 when Milton Henschel, from the President’s office, visited Kabul. On that occasion the brothers there had their own small assembly, which certainly indicated some little easing of the restrictions. How very encouraged they all were! In 1964, after seven years of service there, the Zimmermans had to leave Afghanistan. For the next five years there were only five publishers to serve the country’s millions—Brother Schwarze, his wife, his daughters and Brother Muecke, the husband of one of those daughters.

The brothers keep literature in some thirty languages, and in Brother Schwarze’s home there is a display of the Paradise book in several languages, which serves as a talking point whenever anyone visits. Brother Schwarze recalls that in 1959 they had up to seven policemen watching their meeting place, and if a local person wanted to study they would have to meet him on a corner somewhere and take him by car for a picnic in the hills. Now there are no police watching.

In the house-to-house work one must become expert at recognizing non-Afghan names on the gates. As to the homes in Kabul, they usually have high walls around them and when you knock on the gate an Afghan servant responds. You first ask him in Persian if a foreigner lives there. Should the reply be in the negative, then you apologize and try another house.

Thanks for that record in our publications

[daydream]

Dear Sister M.J. Thank you for showing an interest in my post

Spoiler

I was sitting at the last row of the somewhat small kingdom hall situated in a high rise office block. And who should be sitting next to me but the wife of CBOE, a westerner. I told her my story and asked if anyone knew how to courier money. I had never done it before.

 

While chatting with the sister, she  told me a case of a visiting brother who locked his money in his suitcase and later found it stolen. We chatted for some time because she had to wait for the BOE to finish their meeting in a smaller room.  She asked me how much I would have to pay for my room for that night. 300, I replied. I hoped she didn't think it was $300. 300 baht is $7.

I even directly asked the Filipino sisters if I could board with someone for the night but they just gave me the cold shoulder and were rushing off for preaching at 5 pm. 

I was quite surprised at the treatment that I received but I did learn a thing  or two. I asked my family to courier me USD20. They charged me the same amount for the transfer. Western Union was not able to transfer the money quickly to me because of line disruption (on the Malaysian side)  and I ended up receiving the money 3 hours before my flight. An anxious wait of around 2 days. So fortunately with the couriered money,  I was able to spend 70 cents on my lunch (Food is cheap in Bangkok) as well as on the bus fare to the airport on that Tuesday at 2 pm. 

 

As for my dorm room, my poor clueless hubby had an arduous time booking a dorm bed for me. He had never booked a room online before. 

So all in all I pretty much survived on biscuits from Saturday evening to Tuesday morning. But the surprising thing happened when I arrived at my hostel after the Sunday weekend meeting. My Korean hostel owner knocked on my dorm door and came inside to invite me for a seafood BBQ dinner. I had a slight suspicion it was his wife who scooped up my purse with $100 inside. He quite innocently told me his wife saw a wallet that looked exactly like mine while walking the dog. But they were the nicest people I have ever met. So I was so thankful to Jehovah for his small mercies. Quite a tale to tell too. 🤣 

I read in Mohandas Gandhi's biography that he was able to survive without solid food for 21 days. I must try fasting more often. Good for the body and soul.

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by happiness IS

[M.J.]

1 hour ago, happiness IS said:

My Korean hostel owner knocked on my dorm door and came inside to invite me for a seafood BBQ dinner. I had a slight suspicion it was his wife who scooped up my purse with $100 inside. He quite innocently told me his wife saw a wallet that looked exactly like mine while walking the dog.

What an experience!