So here we are counting down to the final week of the JW tract campaign, and how is it going? Well, for us, it's over. What?? Why is it over early in this part of the world?? Well, when we ran out of tracts, it was over, pretty simple. The few thousand tracts we received didn't last very long. After the first 2 weeks, they were mostly gone. Originally, it was thought that we would roll from the JW tract right into our assembly invitation work... Well, a little more on that later.
But, how did the tract work go while they lasted? At first, we were a little skeptical. After all, we are offering a tract that focuses on the internet, mostly to people who don't have access to the internet. How is this going to turn out? Also, very few publishers have smartphones, and it seems like we might be the only ones who have actually connected our phones to the internet (mobile internet is quite cheap here, compared to an unlimited plan in the US, but is still an unimaginable luxury for most people. Even those who start trying it usually only buy a few mega-bytes at a time, not enough to really do much with). So, showing the householder the website is mostly out of the question. However, we were able to focus on the younger ones in the territory as the best potential readers of the tract. While ones under 20 years old typically can't afford their own smart phone, the large majority of them have some awareness of the internet, and are likely to use it at some point. (Did we ever mention that cyber-cafés are still big business here? They are all over, using 10+ year old towers, a spotty cellular connection, and are ALWAYS, ALWAYS full) However, the age group from 20-30, especially university students, are quite likely to have a connected phone, or even tablet, with them. We had a lot of good responses from ones in this age range, a few even taking a look at the site right away. Also, we found lots of success, when talking to parents, by focusing on how the website can help their kids. After all, the world is changing, and it's only a matter of time before the kids are surfing the web just like we do! So, while there were probably a lot more spectacular experiences in the more connected parts of the world (anywhere not Africa), we were able to feel like the campaign was a success here. It will be very exciting to hear how much the traffic on the site increased during August!
On a side note, when we ask the question on the front and ask for their choice between the 3 sources of answers, the response was 99.9% "the Bible". That's one reason that we love it here, you don't have to convince anyone to talk about spiritual things. They already see the value of them.
Another side note, are you using the videos from JW.org in service? We love them! Although we started using them before the campaign, it was a pretty logical step to show people content from the site when offering the tract. At this point, the videos "why study the bible", "what happens on a study", and "what happens at meetings" are all available in the major languages of Burkina. You should see the face of someone who is expecting the "colonial language", French, and instead hears their native language!
Now, as I promised earlier, a little bit about our convention invitation program. The convention will begin 2 weeks from today... however we haven't begun our invitation work yet. Why not? Well, we aren't even sure yet where the convention will be! Although it was initially announced as being at a conference hall near our house, there seem to have been difficulties getting a contract signed. For the moment, our congregation has a supply of invitations, but doesn't know what location to print on them! We are really hoping that it will be the hall close to our house. It would be nice for us, but the best part would be the benefits for our territory. If it's close to us, it will be very easy for everyone in our territory to find and attend. We will be sure to post a few pictures and an update after the convention, no matter where it ends up being!
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