JOSHUA AND ALICIA TETHER

Background: He's 32. He was born in Middletown in a Jehovah's Witnesses household that moved to Troy when he was young. He was home-schooled from seventh grade through high school. After graduating, he was a Jehovah's Witnesses pioneer, which involves volunteering 70 hours a month, 840 hours a year, for seven years. He went back to school at Hudson Valley Community College and recently became a nurse. He works in the operating room at Albany Medical Center Hospital. He serves as ministerial servant in the Troy Kingdom Hall, a support position to help those who oversee spiritual needs of the congregation and to lead the community.

Alicia: She's 30. She was born in Albany, raised in Watervliet, the daughter of Jehovah's Witnesses parents. She too was home-schooled and took college courses at Russell Sage College and Dutchess County Community College. She pioneered for about six years volunteering for 70 hours a month, then became an auxiliary pioneer volunteering 50 hours a month. They married in 2008 in Albany and are parents of four children: Mason, 7, Emma, 5, Vera, 4, and Ford, who is 9 weeks old.

Jehovah's Witnesses' place of worship is called Kingdom Hall. Tell us about your congregation and other local ones.

Josh: Troy North has 84 people. The Capital Region has 3,500 Jehovah's Witnesses in 40 different congregations, including 33 English, 3 Spanish, 1 Chinese, 1 Karen and 1 American Sign Language.

Our website, https://www.jw.org/en, which can be translated into 899 languages, is all done by volunteers to reach as many people as we can with Jehovah's message. Worldwide, at the end of 2016, there were 8,340,847 Jehovah's Witnesses in 119,000 congregations in over 240 lands — and growing. We are unified in every thing we do. Every Sunday we study the same thing in the Watchtower group worldwide.

Alicia: The two of us took American Sign Language classes at Dutchess County Community College and also special language classes developed by Jehovah's Witnesses for ASL. We used those skills to help the deaf in our community to learn about Jehovah.

Jehovah's Witnesses are widely known for going door to door.

Josh: Jesus' last command to his disciples while on earth was "to go therefore and make disciples of the people." Jehovah's Witnesses today obey that command. We strive to go out regularly and to be a witness about Jehovah, his purposes and learn from his word — the Bible — to have a better life now and in the future.

Pioneering is when someone volunteers to preach and teach. Primarily this is performed from door to door the same way that Jesus sent out his disciples to preach and teach.

The 2017 convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Albany began Friday and continues this weekend.

Josh: The local congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are hosting the three-day convention at the Times Union Center in Albany. Seventy-six congregations have been invited. We are expecting 7,000 a day and hope to fill up the arena. The theme is, "Don't Give Up!" There are a lot of reasons people give up hope when they see the world around us: people suffering, injustice, hatred. This convention will show how to endure even when things are bad. There will be feature films, videos, talks and it is free. No collections will be taken. Everybody is welcome. They will be refreshed by the program and refreshed by the people they meet.

Alicia: Information at the convention will be worldwide, not just local and not just national.

More Information Gathering in Albany What: Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses with discussions, interviews, short videos. Screening each afternoon of one segment of a three-part film about a family that learns the meaning of Jesus' words in the book of Luke, "Remember the Wife of Lot," which is the film's title. Sunday morning's discussion theme is "Don't Give Up." When: It began Friday and is Saturday from 9:20 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. and Sunday from 9:20 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Where: Times Union Center How: Open to the public, free admission Info: www.jw.org See More Collapse

On April 20, the Russian Supreme Court declared Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist group. Are you hopeful that the crackdown will be eased?

Josh: We are very sad for our brothers and sisters in Russia. Jehovah's Witnesses are a peaceful group. We don't get involved in politics. We are model citizens and law abiding.

On May 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the "Order of Parental Glory" to Russian Jehovah's Witnesses Valeriy and Tatiana Novik, who raised eight children, during a ceremony in Moscow. Does that sound like a radical group? Until recently, they were going to conventions like we will be attending.

Jehovah's Witnesses have filed an appeal requesting a full reversal of the court's previous ruling. We hope and pray for a favorable ruling for our brother and sisters. The appeal will be heard on Monday.

— Azra Haqqie