Back on the Streets of Hilo After Pandemic Pause

If you happen to be on Hilo's Moku Ola (Coconut Island), or at Reeds Bay this week, you may notice that a pre-pandemic fixture is back on the sidewalks: smiling faces standing next to colorful carts featuring a positive message and free Bible-based literature.

Thousands of these carts will be rolling down the streets of communities like Hilo all across the world this week as Jehovah’s Witnesses recommence their global public preaching work some 24 months after putting it on pause due to the pandemic.

"I'm so happy that after the two plus years of Covid, I am finally able to get back to public witnessing and to represent Jehovah," said Leshem Jardine, a regular volunteer from Hilo. "I love it, it's awesome. I cannot thank Jehovah enough for the exciting opportunity to get out there again. To talk to people in person, it's just awesome to see their faces light up."

The Christian organization will return to its public ministry for the first time since March 2020 when all in-person forms of their volunteer work were suspended out of concern for the health and safety of the community.

In response to the global decision, the 22 congregations on the Big Island, from Hilo to Kona, are now beginning to reopen their cart locations across the Island of Hawaii.

The local congregations will also resume free in-person Bible studies along with personal visits to those who have invited them back to their homes. This comes two months after the organization began gathering at their Kingdom Halls once again for in-person meetings.

“While we understand that the pandemic is not over, we are entering into a phase of learning to live with COVID,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We are sensitive to the risks that still face our communities and our volunteers, which is why we will not resume door-to-door ministry at this time. Each volunteer will make a personal choice as to whether their ministry will remain strictly virtual or whether they are ready to make in-person visits again. We are excited that we all have a choice!”

Mobile displays of Bible-based literature have been part of Jehovah’s Witnesses' public ministry in the U.S. since 2011. While “cart witnessing” began in large metropolitan areas around the world, the practice quickly spread to the tens of thousands of smaller communities, becoming a fixture in rail and bus stations, airports, harbors and main streets. In 2015, Witnesses on the Big Island began offering a selection of Bible literature in English, and later in Spanish, Iloko, Tagalog, American Sign Language, Chinese and Hawai’i Pidgin at the carts to be accessible to the majority of the inhabitants on the island.

“The times we live in are so difficult. When people see the positive message on our sign, it affects them positively. Our public ministry is a gift from Jehovah that he gives to us,” said Jardine. “ When people see the positive message on our sign, it affects them positively. Our public ministry is a gift from Jehovah that he gives to us.”

To learn more about Jehovah’s Witnesses, their history, beliefs and activities, visit their official website jw.org, featuring content in more than 1,000 languages.