Zeal Has No Age Limits!

A 105-year-old pioneer, 106-year-old auxiliary pioneer, 80-year-old walks to preach and for meetings, 81-year-old learns greetings in 32 languages, 90-year-old sister gets responses to letters – these are the results of a quick search on the Watchtower Library under Old Age. Goes on to show that age cannot hold these elderly ones back for sure.
Elderly ones in the organization are wonderful examples of faith and zeal. Here at Legacy Place too we have many elderly ones who continue to amaze us every day with their deep love for Jehovah and their extraordinary determination to keep preaching despite age and health limitations. We thought we would give you a small glimpse of what they are doing. We also wanted to share the experience of Doris, a beloved sister here at Legacy Place.

Putting Kingdom Interests First

Ministry is an integral part of our lives here in Legacy Place. Our residents are friends who have spent their lives in service to Jehovah. Many of them have been pioneers, missionaries, circuit overseers, and Bethelites. The preaching work is their lifeblood and so we have arrangements at the home to ensure that they can continue this work to the best of their abilities.
Letter Writing arrangements are in place every Thursday. Come rain or shine, you can find them gather together with their stack of letters. Their zeal in this has been so great that we have run out of envelopes many times and have had to ask for more! Here are a few pictures of the residents hard at work on their letter writing!
The residents are also helped with Telephone Witnessing, and many have been able to conduct effective Bible studies. We have had several local sisters come and volunteer in helping the residents do this as well.

A Fine Example of Zeal – Doris

Doris Madeson, a faithful sister who lives as a resident in Legacy Place Cottages, recently had a wonderful experience and we would love to share it in her own words. Doris studied with Diane and theirs is a story that is encouraging in so many aspects. Here is a video where she relates her experience. The transcript is given below too.

Studying with Diane

Well, I can take absolutely no credit for this one other than having the privilege of helping her to get to know Jehovah. Because Anne Cotet was in my congregation, she was a single lady at the time and her mother would ask her questions about what she was learning relative to the bible and Jehovah’s truth and finally she said to her mom, “Look I really think that you should have your own bible study so that you can personally ask these questions.”
So, Diane agreed, Anne Cotet got us together and we studied for about… about a year and a half, I think it was. And she knew she was ready for baptism, but during that year she was probably one of the best students it has ever been my honor to be able to share the truth with, because not only did she do her homework but she watched all of the videos and in fact we didn’t have to take the time to watch the videos again because she told me what they were all about, which was a wonderful thing. But it also entailed much more study on my part than I used to do in the past because I had to know that what she was telling me so, so I had to do my studying just as much as she did. But it was a delight, she was a wonderful student.

Making Progress

I was ill a couple of months ago. I was scheduled to give a talk, I couldn’t give it and asked her if I could pair her up with Sister Subcul and she said “yeah” so and then I said to Diane, “You know, if you want to give the talk yourself go ahead and do it.” She says “Yeah, I’ll do it!” Well, I almost had cardiac arrest!
She gave the talk last Wednesday and it was outstanding. So really it has been really an upscale situation right from the beginning. What a wonderful student! So, these lovely people are in the world, they’re still looking for truth and I can’t take any credit for Diane because the study was in essence handed to me. But with Jehovah’s help I muddled through, and she was baptized two weeks ago. And I’m happy to say that she is now very active in service with us, in telephone witnessing and letter writing and whatever needs to be done, she’s ready to do it.

Using the New Teaching Tool

Oh! I have to be very honest and tell you that after 60 years I was in a little bit of a panic when I saw this book that was totally different than anything we’d had before. Because it was – read the paragraph, underline the answer, and give it back to the conductor. Which was fine, I mean there’s nothing wrong with that, but I could see with this now not only was it imparting knowledge to the student, but it was also making sure that it went beyond the brain and reached the heart.
It would take meditation and study to find out… well for instance I would ask her, “Now how do you feel about this? What’s your take on this? Do you agree with what the scriptures say?” Well, we didn’t go to that depth before. At least I didn’t, because it was a cursory coverage of material. But this was more, this was examined… is it reaching where it should be? Or where it should go? And I could tell by her answers what needed to be worked on and what was already accepted by her. So, the book was absolutely fantastic and an answer to a prayer.
Jehovah knows what we need, when we need it and it’s there. Which makes you wonder – why do we have such trouble putting our problems in his hands? He does such a good job of answering our questions.

Teaching Through the Pandemic

At first, she was able to come here (Legacy Place) for the study because I was not permitted to leave the premises for a while. We have very good control here by our board and they keep us safe and do not expose us to the world as far as contagion is concerned. So, she was more than happy to do the study on Zoom, and it worked out beautifully, after things eased up a bit where we could have visitors, we would just sit in one of our small conference rooms and have our study there. If she could not visit me here, then of course we would do it over Zoom. But we hardly ever miss a meeting. She was so faithful in her meeting attendance and her desire to reach that dedication point.
Come Listen to These Wonderful Experiences at LP.

Doris is one among the many faithful elderly ones at Legacy Place, who continue to maintain their zeal in the ministry and are a fine example for all of us. Come visit us and become friends of these zealous brothers and sisters. You can also follow us here to receive more updates and life stories.