Even though the Internet is still not widely available in Cuba, it is now possible to connect to it at shops that a telephone company has opened. The cost, however, is very high. Therefore, to help the brothers benefit from jw.org, the branch encouraged congregations to arrange for one publisher to download publications, recordings, and videos from the Web site and then share them with other Witnesses in local congregations. This arrangement is working well.

Teona, aged 10, and her eight-year-old sister, Tamuna, live in the Republic of Georgia. The girls wanted a cell phone. To help them buy one, their grandmother promised to give them some of her pension money each month. Sadly, the grandmother died suddenly. Nevertheless, the family gave her last pension payment to the girls so that they could buy the phone they wanted. After thinking about it, the girls wrote this to their congregation: “We know that in two weeks construction of our new Kingdom Hall will begin in our village of T’erjola. Our grandmother really wanted to help with this work, so we have both decided to give Grandmother’s last full pension payment to the congregation instead of buying our cell phone. Please build us a nice Kingdom Hall!”

On January 17, 2014, in Dili, Timor-Leste, Geoffrey Jackson of the Governing Body released the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Tetum, the most widely spoken language in the country. Previously, the only copies of the Greek Scriptures in Tetum were printed and distributed by the Catholic Church, which refused to sell them to Jehovah’s Witnesses or people suspected of studying with the Witnesses. However, the Catholic translation had many inaccuracies, omissions, archaic words, and printing errors. In contrast, regarding the New World Translation, Darren, a missionary in Timor-Leste, stated: “Many Timorese  who read the New World Translation are impressed by its accuracy, and they immediately request copies. They find it easy to read, and they appreciate the large text, especially since many homes have poor lighting. Many who have obtained a copy are now studying the Bible.”

In January 2014, the translation work for the Romany language, which is spoken in Macedonia, reached a milestone. A permanent translation team was formed, and approval was given to produce publications in this language not only in Roman script but also in Cyrillic. This is a great help to the Romany-speaking people, who are more accustomed to Cyrillic, which is the official script in Macedonia.

Many of the Romany-speaking population are touched by the fact that Jehovah’s organization provides literature in their language. One sister said: “As  someone who speaks Romany, I often experience that people of other races look down on me, so I am very grateful to Jehovah that he considers me worthy of receiving literature in my own language. This draws me even closer to him.”

As of February 1, 2014, the United States branch office began to oversee the territory and congregations in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. What unity exists among the more than 1.2 million publishers in the United States branch territory! This includes the 50 U.S. states, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The brothers and sisters in Japan continue to maintain a vibrant pioneer spirit, and the number of regular pioneers serving on this island country is the fourth largest in the world. At the beginning of the 2014 service year, 2,646 new ones joined the pioneer ranks, increasing the number of pioneers to 65,668. During March 2014, more than half of all publishers participated in some form of pioneer service.