LIFE STORY/A PRIVILEGED SHARE IN POSTWAR EXPANSION AS TOLD BY FILIP S. HOFFMANN

World War II had just ended in May 1945. That December, Nathan H. Knorr, who had oversight of the worldwide preaching activities  of Jehovah's Witnesses, visited Denmark with his 25-year-old secretary, Milton G. Henschel. A large hall was rented for that eagerly anticipated visit. For us young ones, Brother Henschel's talk was especially exciting, since he was our age and had chosen as his theme:  "Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth." -ECCLESIASTES 12:1, American Standard Version.

During that visit, we learned that exciting things were taking place to advance the worldwide preaching work and that we could be involved in them.  (Matthew 24:14) For example, a new school to train young men and women for missionary work had been opened in the United States. Brother Knorr stressed that if we were invited, we would get  "only a one-way ticket"  and that would not know  where we would end p. Even so, some of us applied.

Before i describes my post-World War II experiences, let me go back to my birth in 1919. There  were a number of events prior to and during the war that greatly influenced my life. 

Bible Truth From a Black Sheep

When Mother was pregnant with me-her first child-she prayed that if i was a boy, I might become a missionary. Her brother was a Bible Student, as Jehovah's Witnesses were then called, but her family members considered him a black sheep. Our home was near Copenhagen, and when the Bible Students had annual conventions there, Mother would invite Uncle Thomas, who live some distance away, to stay with us. By 1930 his Amazing Bible knowledge  and logical reasoning had convinced Mother to become a Bible Student. 

Mother loved the Bible. Following the command of Deuteronomy 6:7, she taught my sister and me 'when she was sitting in her house, walking on the road, lying down, or getting up.'  In time, I began to share in house-to-house preaching.. I loved discussing such subjects  as the immortal  soul and hell-fire, which the churches were teaching. I could effectively show from the Bible that such teachings were in error. -Psalm 146:3, 4;Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Ezekiel 18:4. 

Next time: LIFE STORY'/A PRIVILEGED SHARE IN POSTWAR EXPANSION -Our Family Became United

From the Watchtower magazine, 2002