It’s been one year since Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide adjusted their hallmark outreach of ringing doorbells and knocking on doors to making phone calls and writing letters. In March 2020, 1.3 million Witnesses in the United States suspended their face-to-face forms of public ministry and moved congregation meetings to videoconferencing. The pandemic affected the close-knit rural Joshua Tree area, where neighbors don’t just knock-on doors, but often signal friendly visits with the honk of a car horn.
When the pandemic struck, Joy Stoker, along with over 600 other Morongo Basin Jehovah’s Witnesses, adjusted the ways they support their community. Writing personalized letters and calling neighbors on the phone, Stoker reached people who normally would not be at home, saying, “while every other area of my life was shut down, my ministry opened up.”
Stoker, who calls Yucca Valley home, has spent the last 36 years talking to her neighbors about the Bible. She said she “loved meeting people from all over the world and sharing the website jw.org in their language near Bible literature displays near Joshua Tree National Park.”
Stoker said, “I enjoy being able to share with others resources and scriptures that have helped me cope during the pandemic.”
