Finding True Happiness

It started in the early 2000’s…by now, I was visiting various Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses and givings talks. Mom had never heard me speak in public before so, out of curiosity, and whenever she could, she would go to the meetings to hear me speak.

She started feeling more comfortable attending the meetings and getting to know new people. She would tell me, ‘I like the Witnesses, they’re just like regular people!’

Eventually Mom got close to one of the sisters, Mona Okumoto, and started asking questions about Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Bible.  So, a Bible Study was started.

Mom really started to appreciate the things she was learning from the Bible, things she never learned anywhere else.  She also started attending the Kingdom Hall regularly and making new friends. Eventually, Mona had to move, so Mom continued studying the Bible with Marilee White.

Mom knew that what she was learning was good, but she was so busy with other things. So, she decided to stop studying for a while. What she had learned though made such an impact.  She never stopped reading her Bible, praying to Jehovah or attending the Christian meetings at the Kingdom Hall.

As a result, Jehovah became more real to her, and she drew closer to him.

Jesus said at Matthew 5:3: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them.”

That’s exactly what happened to Mom. Learning about Jehovah, then stopping, made Mom realize that she was definitely happier with Jehovah in her life.  So she resumed her study and never looked back.

The change in her was amazing. Although Mom was generally a happy person, she was never THIS happy.  And now, at 95, she had a new goal in life. She wanted to get baptized and use her life to help others learn about Jehovah.

So, rather than working at the UH each summer, as she always did, Mom decided to take the summer off to focus more on serving Jehovah in the ministry.

And she was a natural when it came to preaching to others.  Caring for people and talking to everyone was what she loved to do. Helping others to learn about Jehovah made Mom so happy.

With this new passion, Mom decided that the fall semester of 2023 would be her last at the University. At the age of 95, and after 29 years of working there, she would retire.  Sure, she would miss all of the students, but serving Jehovah was so much more important to her now

After she retired, Mom got baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses on February 4th, 2024. That was such a happy day for Mom, maybe her happiest day ever.  Seeing Mom truly happy, after everything she went through, still makes me very emotional.  She knew Jehovah loved her, she had a real purpose in life with so much to live for, and this made her truly happy!

Think about it. How many people do you know of who reach the age of 96?  And of those people, how many will tell you that their last year was their happiest?

Thanks to Jehovah, that was Mom’s life. After 95 years she had finally found true happiness.

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