Jehovah Help Us to ‘Grow Where He Plant Us’

In 1979, brother and sister Kassholm went to Gilead School. From da time, they na get different-different assignment dem in Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. When they wor in Gilead, one of their teacher name Brother Jack Redford, advice dem da they mon be happy and accept any assignment. And this advice really help them because they receive plenty assignment. Let hear what they will say.

Yor please tell us how yor find the truth.

Mats: The time my Pa wor living in Poland during World War II, he see plenty people from the Catholic Church who wor not doing the right thing. But he always use to say, “I know they get religion somewhere da teaching the truth.” After sometime, I wor able to see for myself da he wor saying the truth. I use to buy plenty old-old books. One of them da wor blue book with the title, The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. Da title really touch my heart, so I read the whole book da same night. When I finish reading it, I wor convince da I na find the truth!

From April 1972, I start reading plenty Jehovah Witness book and I wor able to get answer for the plenty question dem I wor get about the Bible. I wor feeling like the business man da Jesus talk about in his parable. When he find one rock da get value, he sell all his thing dem just so he can buy it. And da just what I do. I make up my mind to serve Jehovah instead of going to university to be doctor. (Matt. 13:​45, 46) I get baptize on December 10, 1972.

In one year time, my parents and my small brother study the Bible and get baptize. And I start regular pioneering in July 1973. We wor having one fine regular pioneer sister in our congregation name Ann-Catrin. She wor having zeal and she really use to love Jehovah. We fall in love and we get marry in 1975. After we get marry, we spend four years in one town in Sweden they call Strömsund. The place wor fine and plenty people there wanted to learn the truth.

Ann-Catrin: My pa learn the truth during the time he wor in university in Stockholm. When I wor just three months old, he use to carry me to meeting and field service. My ma never use to like it, so she wanted to prove da Jehovah witnesses wor not teaching the truth. But she wor not able to prove it, so after sometime she get baptize too. I get baptize when I wor 13 years old and I start pioneering when I wor 16 years old. I went to Umeå where they wor not having plenty publisher da time. After some time, I become special pioneer.

After we get marry, we wor happy to help plenty people to learn the truth. One of dem da wor one young girl name Maivor. She stop playing sports just because she wanted to serve Jehovah and do more for him. Later on, she and my small sister start pioneering together. In 1984 two of them attend Gilead, and now-now they serving as missionary in Ecuador.

What help yor to adjust and always be happy in yor missionary assignment?

Mats: We use to get plenty different-different assignment. But one of the thing da help us da to follow Jesus example to be humble. (Col. 2:​6, 7) For example, we not use to force our way on the brother dem, but we try to learn the reason why they can do certain thing. We also wanted to learn their culture and the way they can think. Because we follow Jesus example, it make it easy for us to adjust and be happy in any assignment.—Ps. 1:​2, 3.

Ann-Catrin: When we get new assignment, we can be like tree da they just plant da need the sun to grow. Jehovah na really show to us da he just like da sun. (Ps. 84:11) He na give us plenty brother and sister dem da really love us. For example, in our small congregation in Tehran, the brother and sister dem wor kind to us. It just remind us about the way people use to be free handy in Bible time. We really wanted to stay there. But in July 1980, the government put stop to our work. Then one day, they give us 48 hours to move from in the country. So they reassign us in Zaire (now-now, they call it Democratic Republic of the Congo) in Africa.

The first time I hear da they assign us to Africa, I really cry. The thing dem I use to hear about snake and the sickness dem in Africa really make me scary. But two of our friend dem who na stay long serving in Africa say: “Yor mon na be scary, yor not go there yet! Yor will really like the place.” And da true they say, because the brother and the sister dem show us love and they wor friendly. After six years, the government put stop to our work in Zaire. Because of da one, we wor suppose to move from in the country. So I smile because the way I wor thinking about Africa na change. Then I start begging Jehovah; “Please we want stay in Africa.”

What blessing dem yor na enjoy in yor different-different assignment dem?

Mats: Because of our assignment, we wor able to make friend with other missionary dem da come from different-different place. In some of the place dem they assign us, each of us wor conducting almost 20 Bible studies and this one really make us happy! And I will never forget the way the brother and sister dem in Africa show us love and wor kind to us. When we use to visit the congregation dem in Tanzania, we use to sleep in our car. But the brothers and sisters use to try their best to give us everything we need, even though they wor poor. (2 Cor. 8:3) One of the thing we really use to like da story time. In the evening, me and my wife Ann-Catrin use to sit down and talk about the thing dem da happen during the day. And we use to tell Jehovah thank you for taking care of us.

Ann-Catrin: For me, one of the blessing I na enjoy da to know brother and sister dem from all around the world. We learn different-different language. Some of dem da Farsi, French, Luganda, and Swahili. And we also learn about different- different way people can live. We help to train brother and sister dem da just come in the truth, make good friend, and we enjoy serving Jehovah with them.—Zeph. 3:9.

We also enjoy seeing plenty different-different thing dem da Jehovah make. Anytime we use to accept new assignment, it use to be just like Jehovah wor there to direct us. He na teach us different-different thing dem da we wor not coming learn on our own.

What some of the problem dem yor na face and wetin help yor to go through it?

Mats: Sometime, we use to get different-different sickness like malaria. They operate on Ann-Catrin different-different time and we wor not expecting it. We wor also worrying about our ma and pa because they wor getting old. But we grateful to our family member dem who wor able to take care of our ma and pa the time we wor on our assignment. They wor patient with our parents and they wor happy to take care of them. (1 Tim. 5:4) Da true we use to send some thing dem for them, but sometime we use to feel bad because we wor not around them to take care of them.

Ann-Catrin: In 1983 when we wor serving in Zaire, I suffer from one bad sickness they call cholera. The doctor tell my husband say: “Take your wife from this country today!” So the next day, we get on one plane da they fix to only carry load. And the plane carry us in Sweden.

Mats: This one make us to cry bad way because we wor thinking we will not be missionary again. But Ann-Catrin get well even though the doctor wor thinking da she will not get well. After one year, we go back to Zaire to serve in one small congregation in Lubumbashi where they use to speak Swahili.

Ann-Catrin: The time we wor in Lubumbashi, I get pregnant but the belly spoil. Even though we wor not thinking about borning, when our baby die we really feel bad. But during da time, Jehovah bless us in some way dem da we wor not even expecting. We start studying the Bible with plenty people more than before. In just short time, the number of publisher in the congregation go up from 35 to 70 and the number of people da wor coming to meeting go up from 40 to 220. We really use to take our preaching business serious and because of this one, Jehovah bless our effort and it really make me happy. But we can still be thinking and talking about our baby da die from us. We can’t wait to see the time Jehovah will finish all our problem dem in paradise.

Mats: Later on, Ann-Catrin start feeling weak in her body bad way. At the same time the doctor say I wor having cancer and I wor suppose to go under serious operation. But now-now, I alright and my wife Ann-Catrin doing her best for Jehovah.

We na see da we not the only one da going through problem. After they kill plenty people in Rwanda in 1994, we try our best to go visit the brother and sister dem in the refugee camps. Even though they wor passing through all this problem dem, they wor still having strong faith. They wor also free handy and they bear the problem dem they wor going through. All this one dem just teach us da Jehovah get the power to help his people when they going through any problem.—Ps. 55:22.

Ann-Catrin: We face another problem when we went for the branch dedication in Uganda in 2007. When the program finish, we wor about 25 missionaries and Bethelites da wor going back to Nairobi, Kenya. Just before we reach Kenya border, one car wor coming from the direction we wor going. It loose control and get on our lane and hit our car. The driver and five of our brother and sister dem die on the spot. And one sister da they carry to the hospital die later on. We really praying for the time we will see them coming back to life!—Job 14:​13-15.

After some time, the sore and the pain we get from the accident finish. But me and Mats and some other people da wor in the car, can still be feeling bad when we think about the accident. For me, my heart just use to cut in the night just like I coming get heart attack. Then I can wake up from sleep. I really use to be scary. But some of the thing dem da really help us da praying to Jehovah every day and reading some Bible verse dem we really like. We also use to go to the doctor dem for help. The way we feeling now-now not looking like the way we use to feel before. And we can pray to Jehovah so da he can help us to comfort other people who going through this same problem.

Yor na talk about how yor wor able to bear all yor problem dem. Yor say da Jehovah even carry yor just “like raw eggs.” What yor mean by da one?

Mats: They get one saying in the Swahili language da say, “They carry us just like raw eggs.” It mean, the same way somebody can take their own time to carry raw egg so da it can’t burst, da just how Jehovah na take care of us in all our assignment dem. For example, he na provide all the thing dem we need more than the way we wor expecting it. Another way we na see da Jehovah love us and supporting us, da the way the Governing Body understand the problem dem we wor going through.

Ann-Catrin: I want talk about another way Jehovah na help us. One day somebody call me from Sweden and they tell me say my Pa wor really sick and he wor in the hospital. Around da same time my husband Mats wor still getting better small-small from malaria, but he wor still weak. We wor not having money to buy plane tickets to go back home. So we decide to sell our car. It not stay long, our phone start ringing. The first call wor from one brother and his wife who hear about our situation and they say they want pay for one person plane ticket. The second call wor from one older sister who been keeping money in her cash box da she write on, “For somebody who need help.” Just in short time, Jehovah help us to get our plane ticket!—Heb. 13:6.

When yor think about the 50 years yor na spend in full-time service, wetin yor na learn?

Ann-Catrin: I na learn da we can be strong by “keeping calm and showing trust.” When we really trust in Jehovah, he can fight for us. (Isa. 30:15; 2 Chron. 20:​15, 17) Because we na serve Jehovah with our whole heart in all our assignment dem, we na get plenty blessing da we wor not coming get from doing any other work.

Mats: The main lesson I na learn da to depend on Jehovah when I going through any problem and see how he will fight for me. (Ps. 37:5) He can always do the thing dem he promise. And now-now, we can still see Jehovah helping us in our Bethel assignment here in Myanmar.

We really want see plenty young people who want do more for Jehovah enjoying the same loyal love da Jehovah na show us. We convince da Jehovah will bless them if they allow him to help them to grow anywhere he plant them.