"Let the Many Islands Rejoice"-AS TOLD BY GEOFFREY JACKSON

It was a  day I will long remember.  I was with a number of brothers from different parts of the world, and we nervously waited in the Governing Body conference room.  The Writing Committee was about to enter, and we had been assigned a presentation.   During the preceding few weeks, we had analyzed problems that translators were facing, and now we had to recommend solutions.  It was May 22, 2000.  But why was this meeting  so important?  Before I explain, let me tell you something about my background.

I WAS born in Queensland, Australia, in 1955.  Shortly thereafter, my mother Estelle, started studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses.  She got baptized the following year, and my father Ron, came into the truth 13 years later.  I was baptized in the Queensland outback in 1968. 

Ever since I was young, I have loved reading and I have been fascinated by language. When we went on family road trips, it must have been frustrating for my parents to see me sitting in the backseat reading a book rather than looking at the scenery.  But my love of reading helped me in school. In high school in Glenorchy, in the island state of Tasmania, I won several awards for academic achievement.

Then, however, it came time for a serious decision. Would I accept a scholarship to go to a university?  As much as I loved books and learning, I am grateful that my mother had helped me to acquire a stronger love-one for Jehovah.  (1 Corinthians 3:18, 19)  So with my parents' consent, I left school and started pioneering in January 1971 at the age of 15, having received the required  school certificate. 

For the next eight years, I had the privilege of pioneering in Tasmania.   During that time, I married a beautiful Tasmanian girl, Jenny Alcock, and for four years we served together as special pioneers in isolated assignments in Smithton and Queenstown. 

Next time: "Let the Many Islands Rejoice" -AS TOLD BY GEOFFREY JACKSON - OFF TO THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC

From the Watchtower magazine