YUMA, Ariz. — Tears well up in Maria Luisa Garcia's eyes when she recalls how Yuma's thriving community of Spanish-speaking Jehovah's Witnesses all began with the work of five women.
"From five people, look at the growth. There are now many congregations. I cry at conventions when I see so much growth," Garcia said, her voice breaking.
That small group of five women has now grown to a dozen congregations of 1,300 Jehovah's Witnesses, along with many more interested people who attend twice-weekly meetings. Today there are 12 Spanish and four English congregations in Yuma County.
But back when Garcia arrived from Mexico in 1953, there wasn't even an official Spanish congregation in the county.
Soon after arriving in town as a young lady, Garcia, now 77, started studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses.
However, she didn't set out to become a Witness. Upon her arrival, she found her mother already studying with them. Having been born and raised a Catholic, the 20-year-old became concerned with what the Witnesses were teaching her mother.
"At first I only wanted to know what my mom was learning. Maybe they're deceiving her. Then I started to read the magazines (Watchtower and Awake) and I liked them. I thought, this is very nice," Garcia said in Spanish.
In 1954 she and her mother got baptized, making them official Jehovah's Witnesses. They became two of five women who were part of an emerging Spanish group.
The women ran the group, conducting meetings and handling all duties, from accounting to organizing the house-to-house preaching, the work Witnesses are most known for.
The group met in a small Kingdom Hall, as their meeting places are called, on 10th Street and 6th Avenue, where an English congregation already met.
When a new Kingdom Hall was built on Avenue A in the early '70s to accommodate the English congregation, the little group moved with them. This hall still houses several congregations, both English and Spanish.
The Spanish group then received needed help when Pedro Rojas arrived from California in 1968. He would become the first elder when the group became an official congregation.
By the time Rojas arrived, the congregation had grown to 40 people. That congregation grew until it became two, and the congregations continued to multiply.
"We went through the roof," said Ricardo Rodriguez, who arrived in Yuma in 1974 when there was only one congregation. "Pioneers of the work here in Yuma include Pedro Rojas, Enrique Ramos, Eleuterio Ceniceros and Wilfredo Ponce."
"Their wives supported the arrangement. Women like Jessie DeAnda and the late Lidia Ponce were founding women who dedicated their lives to this work," said Jaime Medina, a congregation elder.
Today there are five Kingdom Halls: three in Yuma, one in Somerton and one in Wellton. In the Yuma and Wellton area, some 700 Spanish-speaking Witnesses and interested ones meet in six congregations.
But the quickest growth is taking place in San Luis and Somerton, where about 600 Spanish-speaking Witnesses meet in six congregations, not counting people who attend meetings but who are not Witnesses. (Only members who actively "witness," or preach, known as publishers, are considered active Jehovah's Witnesses.)
The growth is such that there is no room for more congregations in the available Kingdom Halls, and they are looking for property in San Luis for a new hall.
Witnesses are known for sharing their message from house to house. Garcia explained that the early group spent entire days preaching from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., covering San Luis, Somerton, Gadsden, Yuma and Wellton and all the ranches in between.
"We took lunch," Garcia recalled.
Why do they preach with such zeal? "We try to get everywhere," she said, then added, "not just because we want more people. We want people to realize what Jehovah will do in the future."
Medina said the growth is due to the personal interest shown to families.
Rodriguez offered another reason. "We offer free Bible studies and many accept them. It's a study without obligation, but over time people will compare what they learn with the Bible. They reach a point when they decide to become Witnesses. Nobody pushes them, it is a personal decision."
Jessie DeAnda said hearing God's name for the first time made a deep impact on her. She also grew up Catholic and first became acquainted with the Witnesses when a teenage girl gave her a Bible-based booklet.
"That's when I saw Jehovah's name for the first time. I had never heard it before. Mass was in Latin so I didn't understand anything, and I had never read the Bible before."
DeAnda started studying with the Witnesses in 1954 and was baptized in 1958.
Nowadays, "people are so crushed by economic problems or they're seeking something better, that the thought of a New World appeals to them," Medina said.
Witnesses believe that one day Earth will become a paradise, according to God's original plan.
Tony Romero, another congregation elder, said a common misconception is that Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in Jesus.
"But we do believe in him. He is our only means of salvation, he is our King. As Christians we follow Christ when he said in Matthew 28:19, 20 'Go and make disciples.'"
That's why Jehovah's Witnesses strive to share what the Bible teaches to all people, Romero pointed out.
Jehovah's Witnesses attend district convention
During recent weeks Jehovah's Witnesses may have come knocking on your door. They made a special effort to invite all Yuma County residents to their three-day convention.
Approximately 1,300 Spanish-speaking Witnesses living in the area attended their 2011 District Convention with the theme "Let God's Kingdom Come!" in San Diego from May 27-29.
The program was presented in both English and Spanish with the purpose of "strengthen(ing) confidence that the Kingdom of God is a reality," according to a news release.
The 12 Spanish congregations in Yuma County joined the more than 33,000 people who attend the Bible-based program at Qualcomm Stadium.
Information from: The Sun, http://www.yumasun.com