LEARNING AND TEACHING IN CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT WORK

 Ruby and I received an invitation to enter the circuit work in January 1965. We were assigned to a circuit that stretched over a wide area, from Knoxville, Tennessee, almost to Richmond, Virginia.  It included congregations in North Carolina, Kentucky, and West Virginia.  I served only the black congregations because at the time segregation prevailed in the southern United States, so blacks could not meet together with whites.  The brothers has little materially, and we learned to share what we had with those in need.  A longtime circuit overseer taught me a vital lesson:  "Be a brother.  Don't go into a congregation like a boss. You can help them if they view you as a brother." 

While we were visiting one small congregation, Ruby started  a study with a young woman who had a one-year-old daughter. When no one in the congregation was in a position to conduct the study, Ruby did  so by mail.  On our next visit, the woman came to every meeting. When two special pioneer sisters moved in, they continued the study, and soon she got baptized.  Some 30 years later in 1995, at Patterson Bethel, a young sister introduced herself to Ruby. It was the daughter of the woman with whome Ruby had studied.  The daughter and her husband were students in the 100th class of Gilead School.

Next time:LEARING AND TEACHING IN CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT WORK

From the jw.org publications