LIFE STORY - "I Wanted to Work for Jehovah"/ASTOLD BY DANIEL VAN MARL -LEARNING VALUABLE LESSONS

 LEARNING VALUABLE LESSONS

I learned many lessons as a pioneer, and these have helped me throughout my career in full-time service. For example, one of the first lessons I learned was the importance of training others.  When I started pioneering, a missionary named Willem van Seijl took me under his wing. He taught me a lot about how to  handle theocratic assignments. At the time, I had no idea that I needed the training so badly. The following year I was appointed as a special pioneer and thereafter started taking the lead in isolated groups located deep in the rain forest of Suriname. How I appreciate the timely training the brothers gave me!  Since then, I have sought to follow their example by taking the time to train others.

A second lesson I learned was the advantage of living a simple but well-planned life. At the beginning of each month, my special pioneer partner and I would plan our our material  needs for the upcoming weeks.  Then one of us would make the long journey to the capital and purchase what we needed. We had to spend our monthly reimbursement carefully and ration our supplies so that they would last the whole month. If we ran out of something while in the rain forest, few people, if any could help us. I believe that having learned at a young age to live simply but be well-organized helped me keep focused on Jehovah's work throughout my life.

Next time: LIFE STORY -"I Wanted to Work for Jehovah"/AS-TOLD BY DANIEL VAN MARL - LEARNING VALUABLE LESSONS -Conclusion

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