During the month of October, I took an opportunity to Auxiliary Pioneer since the time was reduced to 30 hours. Being baptized for only two months, this was my first time pioneering.

Now for a continuous Auxiliary Pioneer and of course a Regular Pioneer, I know 30 hours is easy to them but to an individual who works full time, goes to school part time, lives in a divided household, and does everything else in between, those 30 hours were not easy to obtain.

Being the organized planner that I am, I researched and prepared for October weeks in advance to finish my game plan for the month.
There were five Saturday’s in the month of October so I planned early morning service, regular service, long days, letter writing, and my favorite, informal witnessing.

I wanted a supportive group of friends to help me reach this goal and when they agreed to early mornings or long days with me, I wanted to thank them. So my best friend who was also pioneering, and I decided to provide snacks for the car groups we were in.
I made a list of all the snacks and fruits the car group would enjoy and my best friend and I split the cost of everything.

I asked brothers and sisters who have been pioneering for awhile if they could share some tips with me:

• Schedule it out and stick to it!
• Start making plans with people for those days you want to do service when support isn’t strong.
• Allow for extra time if things come up that are out of your control and would cause you to miss service time so that you don’t get behind.
• Stay out the days you don’t work.
• Start practicing offers for that month.
• Make a goal/goals.
• Check your phone every couple of days, bring up a current event.
• Focus more on improving the quality of your service.
• Try new avenues and work with different people in service.
• Talk! Talk! Talk!
• Lots of prayer.

The first of the month was on a Saturday and I wanted to start the month off so strong but “time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all.”

During early morning service that day, I heard the tragic news that my favorite elder had passed away.
It was all so sudden and I couldn’t fully comprehend what happened, what was going on, and why it happened when it did.
I take pride in not crying in public but I could not contain myself that morning.

The next week was his memorial and things weren’t any easier but I knew that applying for auxiliary pioneer service days before, was my promise to Jehovah that no matter what happened, I would make my 30 hours.

I continued my service to Jehovah, placed several invitations, a few magazines, talked more than I ever have before, showed a video, made quite a few return visits, and even tagged along to Swahili territory.

The last weekend of October came and I was panicking that I wouldn’t make my time but with full reliance on Jehovah and tons of prayers, I made my time!

I hope to pioneer again someday, keep me in your prayers please.

Xoxo,

– R. Vargas