May 8

Earthquake Devastates Guatemala

An on-the-scene Report

By “Awake!” correspondent in Guatemala

THE earth under Guatemala​—actually under much of Central America—​often rumbles. Many here are adept at waking from a dead sleep, jumping to their feet and making it to the street as the last rumbling dies down. But sometimes there is more than rumbling.

In 1917 a powerful quake badly damaged the capital, Guatemala City. But it was rebuilt and is now the largest city in Central America, with a population of about one million.

My wife and I live here in Guatemala City, and so are used to the frequent rumblings. But in the early morning darkness of Wednesday, February 4, we experienced a violent rocking and shaking such as few people in Guatemala have ever before experienced. Sadly, many did not live through it.

Some have estimated that 50,000 died, but the official count is now somewhat over 23,000 dead. About 74,000 or more were injured, and over a million were left homeless. In a nation of approximately 5.85 million people, this means that nearly one in five persons was without a home!

It is called the worst disaster in the recorded history of Central America, worse than the earthquake that destroyed Managua, Nicaragua, in 1972. The Director of the Mission of Aid from Argentina, Dr. Leandro Salato, went as far as to say that it was “more devastating than the earthquake in Peru in 1970,” even though Peru’s quake death toll of 70,000 was considerably greater.

Terror in the Night

After returning from our Tuesday-night Bible study, my wife and I went to bed and slept soundly. So it wasn’t until the violent rocking and shaking began that I awoke. However, others reported being awakened by the quake’s approach.

An American visitor said that she heard what she thought was distant thunder. As it approached, it continued to grow until it was a roar​—a roar from deep within the earth. This resulted from the tearing and rupturing of rock layers. The sound was amplified and magnified until at the surface the effect was ‘like standing between two jet plane engines.’ Or, as another person described it, “like a thousand stones rattling inside the earth.”

As I said, I didn’t awake until the violent rocking and shaking began. What does a person do in such a situation? Does he try to get out of bed with glass breaking and things crashing around him? Should he run for the door to get to the street? As the seconds ticked by and the shock waves gathered momentum, I knew that this was no usual tremor. As thoughts of the roof crashing down upon us crowded my brain, all I could do was to throw myself over my wife, trying to cover both our heads for protection.

Finally, the shaking stopped; the rollings of the house ceased. It had lasted for what seemed an eternity​—thirty-nine seconds. At last there was a calm. All was momentarily quiet. I could now get to my feet. At once I knew we had experienced a really terrible quake.

The electricity was off; all was dark. Groping in the blackness for a flashlight, I sensed the disarray that would greet my eyes in a moment. As I found the flashlight and switched it on, its beam confirmed what I suspected. How did I miss walking on the shattered mirror that had fallen from the wall? Vases and lamps were on the floor, some in pieces. Dishes had fallen from the cupboard. The bookshelf had toppled over. As I checked each room, I was thankful that we live in a well-built, iron-reinforced concrete house. The time of the quake, according to our stopped electric clock, was 3:03 a.m.

Practically everyone who survived tells of the terror they experienced that night. A tourist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, staying with his daughter at the Ritz Continental Hotel, was also awakened from a sound sleep. He explains:

“My first thought was of anger​—someone was trying to turn my bed over! My next thought, it’s Armageddon. Our hotel had been built earthquake proof, and I’m certainly glad, because it really swayed. It seemed as though we were literally hanging over the street. The plaster on the walls peeled off and the windows shattered. Toward the end, the earth heaved the building like a bucking horse.

“When the earth’s regurgitation stopped, the silence was eerie. People were stunned. The only description is horror, a continuing horror. The man in the next room had a candle. We didn’t walk down the stairs; we ran. I checked my watch; we were on the street before 3:15 a.m.

“It was cold, since Guatemala City is some 5,000 feet above sea level. We could see our breath. After an hour, we decided to go back into the hotel and get more clothing. With candle in hand we reentered the dark hotel, climbing to the eighth floor, all the time worrying about another tremor. In the semidark room we packed our belongings and were quickly back on the street. When we left home it took two days to pack; when we left the hotel it took ten minutes. My razor and our toothbrushes, however, were lost in the rubble on the bathroom floor.”

Meanwhile, we and our neighbors were coming alive from the shock. Cars were being started to get them out from under carports. And neighbors were putting their frightened children and the elderly in them for protection from the cold.

As we cleared a path through the debris in our house, a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses arrived to see if we were all right. We prepared hot chocolate and joined in a prayer of thanksgiving to Jehovah God for our lives. But we wondered how our Christian brothers fared. There are about 2,500 Witnesses in the city, and some 5,000 in all of Guatemala.

The Aftermath​—How Bad?

First we set out for the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses, generally a ten-minute drive. Within a mile, however, landslides partially blocked the peripheral highway. Then we proceeded through the older residential area. While our newer subdivision of houses had shown little sign of damage, here the facades of houses had fallen in the streets, and walls were flattened.

Already the traffic was as heavy as during daytime. People were rushing to the homes of their relatives and friends. Men, women and children were in the streets in nightclothes, robes and with blankets around them. They feared to reenter their houses, or what remained of them. The dust of fallen brick and adobe caused an eerie atmosphere in the dark of night, with only the beams of car headlights brightening the streets.

At the branch office we were relieved to find that all were safe. Also, there wasn’t any evidence of damage to the building. The Branch Coordinator had already left to check on Witnesses in another area. So we began making rounds of those in our own congregations. Throughout the early morning hours overseers and ministerial servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses checked on their Christian brothers and sisters. They found that some had lost their

homes, some had bruises, but all had escaped with their lives!

With the dawn came clearer evidence of the quake’s intensity. We learned that it had registered 7.5 on the Richter scale. Soon hundreds of corpses covered with thin sheets or plastic were lining the streets. A radio broadcast said: “The morgue is full. Please don’t bring any more bodies.” Later we learned that about 800 persons had been killed in the city.

In poorer sections thousands of homes had collapsed, leaving tens of thousands of persons homeless. Nothing but piles of debris were left in some areas. But in other sections the better constructed homes of the middle- and upper-class were relatively undamaged. However, many churches had extensive damage. Close to my house a modern brick Catholic church was demolished.

Officials estimated that 20 percent of all the buildings in the capital had been totally destroyed; 40 percent are too badly damaged to be used. The loss in the country has been put at over $5 billion. Guatemala City thus became a camp city. Even the well-to-do, fearing more big quakes, slept in their cars or outside on their lawns or under makeshift lean-tos.

Despite the hardships, the people in general had a fine spirit. Jehovah’s Witnesses stuck together and helped one another. We found that in one temporary street shelter thirty-five of them were sleeping. Outside was a crude barbecue-type cooking place made of fallen adobe bricks. Everyone was cheerful and even visitors were welcome.

Still there was anxiety. What contributed to this were the dozens of tremors that could be felt daily for some time afterward. One on Friday, February 6, registered 5.5 on the Richter scale. It brought down already wrecked walls and caused landslides. I believe the tourist from Iowa well described what it was like to live here after the major quake.

“A doctor in our group had to help with the dead and injured,” he explained. “One sight this doctor said he would never forget is that of a young woman. She had no visible injuries, but was dead, he thought, from fright.

“At 8 o’clock in the morning our tour guide suggested we move to Antigua Guatemala, a city about thirty-five miles to the southwest. It took us five hours by van to reach there, as the roads were blocked by landslides and were thronged with stunned, terrified people. Those in the villages were going to town, those in town were going to the villages, all checking on relatives.

“The continual shakes and tremors reverberated and echoed through the valley. It was a weird sensation for one who was walking. The ground didn’t feel right. It was like walking in mud, but your feet didn’t sink. In other words, the terra firma wasn’t firm.

“At our hotel in Antigua we all lived in the garden around the swimming pool. We ate there, the hotel staff cooked our meals there, and we slept there, or, rather, tried to sleep. Everyone was afraid to be inside a building in case of another big quake.

“It was a continuing horror, a miasma of terror. As we drove to the airport on Sunday, February 8, we saw soldiers burning piles of bodies. We saw villages with very few walls standing.”

At first many of us in Guatemala City had no idea of the extent of the destruction. Wednesday morning the U.S. Armed Forces Radio said that the earthquake’s epicenter had been near Gualán, about 105 miles (170 kilometers) northeast of Guatemala City. Soon our suspicion that the destruction might be worse elsewhere was confirmed as reports began trickling in from outlying areas.

Worse than We Could Have Imagined

First we heard that El Progreso, to the northeast of us, was leveled; over 2,000 were dead. Then from just north of us came news that the villages of San Juan Sacatepéquez and San Pedro Sacatepéquez were destroyed and thousands had died. Lastly came the shocking word of complete devastation in the south central state of Chimaltenango, with its many Indian towns. Over 13,000 were reportedly killed!

Thus the area hardest hit was situated about twelve miles (20 kilometers) north of Guatemala City, and running east and west for about 150 miles (241 kilometers). But we wondered if it could really be as bad as reported.

It took only a visit to one such town of almost 100-percent adobe construction to find out. On Friday, February 6, I visited San Pedro Sacatepéquez, which is less than 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Guatemala City. Hardly a building remained standing; the place was a shambles. The town streets were blocked by fallen mud walls of the houses. The Catholic church was destroyed, and people were still in a state of shock. Most of the dead had been buried, but corpses were still being pulled from the rubble.

A man was working with a small trowel to dig his few possessions from the heap that was once his home. I could see only the top of his cheap pine table. Another was pulling the metal roofing from the fallen rafters to salvage a little.

On Saturday I was able to take food to congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in some of the hardest-hit highland areas. Despite roads blocked by landslides, it was possible to reach Patzicía, Zaragoza, Tecpán and Comalapa. In Comalapa the mayor and justice of the peace had both been killed. Due to the great numbers of dead and the fear of epidemics, many had been buried in mass graves.

As one now drives through the highland towns, everything is flat. The only difference between the homes and the churches is that the churches are a bigger pile of ruins. These are or were Indian towns. Indians make up about 43 percent of Guatemala’s population, and their rural communities were the hardest hit.

Survivors in places that we visited were without water, and they had very little food. Most had no shelter against the wind and the mountain cold, which at night was in the low 40’s. The wind-blown dust from the crumbled dry adobe bricks was choking; the dust was often six inches thick.

Thousands who had gone to bed Tuesday night never awoke. Their adobe walls collapsed, dropping heavy tile roofs on them. One native survivor said of adobe: “It is of earth and it is our coffin.”

Many injured survivors suffered horribly. With roads blocked by landslides, medical aid often did not reach victims for days. One doctor reported: “They have been lying in pain for days. The swelling is often severe. Many of the bones, especially legs, broke through the skin’s surface. The wounds are often exposed, quickly getting infected.”

We found that the young daughter of a Witness in Tecpán had suffered a broken leg. Other Witnesses also had injuries. But we were amazed to find that none had been killed. In fact, nowhere in the country had a Witness died in the quake! Some, however, lost family members.

One Witness reported that twenty-five of his relatives were wiped out near Tecpán. He arrived at the village where they lived on Thursday, and fifteen members of the family had already been buried. There weren’t coffins enough, or wood to make more, to bury the rest. He explained to those caring for the corpses that the dead return to the dust anyhow, and urged them to put the bodies quickly in the ground to avoid an epidemic.

This Witness encountered a man walking down the street carrying a large sack over his shoulder. The man stopped to talk a few minutes, and then asked: “Do you know what I have in this sack?”

“No,” the Witness replied.

“I have my wife and two children. I’m on my way to the cemetery.”

A traveling representative of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who was visiting a congregation in Gualán near the quake’s epicenter, reports: “It is difficult to describe the horror of walking among the dead and hearing the cries of the injured trapped in the rubble.

“Many Witnesses came crawling out from under flattened houses. Some received medical aid by candlelight. The Kingdom Hall was damaged, but can be repaired. Due to my visit, many Witnesses from outlying areas had not returned to their homes, but were sleeping in the Kingdom Hall on the night of the quake. This may have saved their lives.”

The scope of the tragedy is hard to comprehend, even for those of us here. A little over a week after the quake, President Laugerud Garcia reported that some 300 towns and villages were more than 40 percent destroyed. The smell of death lingered in some villages for many days afterward. Trucks and helicopters delivered lime to spread on the hastily dug shallow graves.

As evidence of the violent motion of the earth, a huge fissure cuts across the countryside between Guatemala City and the Gulf of Honduras. In some places it is eight feet wide and ten feet deep! The Pan American highway reportedly had many landslides, making travel hazardous.

But bad as the destruction is, the people are recovering. What has helped to make this possible is the tremendous amount of aid that has been provided.

Help from Many Quarters

Aid was sent by over a hundred countries. Day and night for weeks the skies were full of planes carrying doctors, relief workers, medicines, portable hospitals, tents, food, clothing and blankets. However, it was difficult to get this help to the outlying towns and villages. When road travel was impossible, helicopters were used to deliver supplies, but even then it was sometimes days before help reached areas in need.

When help did arrive, the Indian villagers behaved well in the crisis, lining up in orderly fashion to receive food and medical attention. A relief worker from the United States observed: “If this were the States, there’d be violence by now. Here they stand in line and wait. There isn’t even a soldier here to keep order.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses in all Central America and elsewhere were also quick to send aid. On the very day of the quake, Witnesses in El Salvador brought in food and clothing. The next day supplies came in from Nicaragua. From Honduras came tents and galvanized roofing. Thousands of dollars were contributed by branch organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Central America and the Watch Tower Society headquarters in New York, as well as by concerned individuals. And from Guatemala itself congregations in less affected areas have provided generous aid in the form of food and staples and money.

As a result, we were able to deliver tons and tons of food and clothing to those in need. It was a real privilege to share in taking supplies to the outlying towns and villages. In place after place we were the first to reach those areas with relief. For example, the first truck reported to arrive with supplies at Rabinal, a hard hit town about thirty miles (50 kilometers) north of Guatemala City, was one from our branch office.

Anticipating a shortage of wood and galvanized roofing, one of the first things we did was to buy rough pine lumber and galvanized roofing. Then Witnesses with building skills loaded a power plant and electric saws on a truck and went to the devastated towns and villages of Chimaltenango. There they began putting up nine-foot-by-nine-foot rooms for the Witnesses who had lost their homes. Such a structure could be erected in an hour. Thus, even before other agencies were able to get tents into these areas, Jehovah’s Witnesses had shelter.

In Guatemala City two Kingdom Halls were badly damaged, and must be rebuilt. Congregations in other towns also had their meeting places ruined. Yet the Witnesses are not discouraged. They are busily rebuilding. They have confidence in the future.

Why Such Confidence?

Basically, it is because of their spiritual viewpoint. They understand the significance of today’s great earthquakes and, despite the destruction and grief these often cause, Jehovah’s Witnesses see in them reason for confidence in the future. But the predominantly Roman Catholic population has quite another viewpoint, a depressed one.

To illustrate: While visiting San Pedro Sacatepéquez the Friday after the quake a man pawing through the remains of his home dejectedly told me: “This is punishment from God, because we have been very bad people.”

Where, you may wonder, did he and many others of these humble hardworking people get such an idea? The next day it became apparent. The Catholic Cardinal of Guatemala, Mario Casariego, said, as quoted in the country’s principal newspaper:

“In these moments of great calamities to the people, the teaching of the Holy Scriptures comes to mind: God loves and because he loves, he corrects, sets straight and awakens. . . . Haven’t we resisted so much that we have obligated God to work in this way?” Then he added that helping to rebuild the Cathedral and other destroyed churches would “be the symbol of an authentic and personal return to God.”​—El Imparcial, February 7, 1976, page 6.

But Jehovah’s Witnesses know that the Bible does not teach that God brought this earthquake to punish people. Not at all! Rather, the Bible foretold that “the sign” of the near end of this wicked system of things, and of Christ’s presence in Kingdom power, would include “great earthquakes, and in one place after another pestilences and food shortages.” And after giving “the sign,” the great prophet Jesus Christ went on to say by way of encouragement: “As these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.”​—Luke 21:7-28; Matt. 24:3-14.

So Jehovah’s Witnesses, when they see such powerful evidence of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy as this earthquake, lift up their heads in confidence that God’s new system of things is very near. We are finding that the perplexed people of Guatemala are now especially receptive to this comforting message from God’s Word. (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:3, 4) Even prior to the earthquake, when N. H. Knorr, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, visited Guatemala City in December 1975, over 5,000 persons gathered to listen at the baseball park in the North Hippodrome. That was more than double the number of Witnesses in Guatemala City!

Nineteen seventy-six was to be a big year here. The sign on the Municipal building in Guatemala City reads, 1776 TWO HUNDRED YEARS 1976. On January 6 the city had begun celebration of its bicentennial. The former capital had been destroyed by an earthquake, and on January 6, 1776, the new capital was officially occupied.

So in January 1976 the modern, growing Guatemala City was optimistic regarding its future. But when one sees people working together to rebuild, and putting their trust in the true prophecies of God’s Word, surely there is even greater reason to be confident that the future will be a bright one for such persons.

[Blurb on page 4]

“The earth heaved the building like a bucking horse.”

[Blurb on page 6]

“The ground didn’t feel right. It was like walking in mud, but your feet didn’t sink.”

[Blurb on page 7]

“There weren’t coffins enough, or wood to make more.”

[Map on page 5]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

GUATEMALA

CHIMALTENANGO STATE

Tecpán

Comalapa

Patzicía

Pacific Ocean

Rabinal

San Juan

San Pedro

GUATEMALA CITY

Antigua Guatemala

Gualán

El Progreso

HONDURAS

EL SALVADOR

Singing a Way of Life for Me

I WAS happy, excited and quite nervous. The hour had arrived for my concert in a national gallery in eastern Europe. All entertainers experience nervousness at the beginning of a performance, even veteran professionals, and this feeling was nothing new to me. Why, then, was I feeling so excited and happy? For the first time my son, an accomplished pianist, would be my accompanist, and we wished to do very well.

At the appointed hour we were on stage, and a director of the gallery introduced me and my son. Over the footlights I could clearly see the faces of the audience in the well-lighted hall. Out there among them were professors associated with the gallery and other persons with considerable knowledge of music. They understood German, the language in which I was singing, and so could follow both words and music. All were giving us their complete attention.

I began with selections from Brahms and then sang some from Schubert and Mozart. My son and I were performing as one. In a few minutes the nervousness vanished as that inward feeling of having won contact with the audience was felt. After each rendition there was enthusiastic applause. At the end of the concert there were greater applause and encores. Backstage, many were the congratulatory expressions by visitors.

That concert was ten years ago, yet it stands out as a high point in my fifteen-year professional singing career. A more recent concert in Washington, D.C., in July 1971 is also a pleasant memory. Here, as in other places, I found that music lovers enjoy the music and the singer’s ability to interpret it properly, even though they may not understand the language in which it is sung.

As a lyric soprano, I do specialized singing of classical and light opera selections. This is very demanding on the voice and requires much technical ability and long years of preparation. However, it has been my way of life and has brought me happiness and pleasure.

My early childhood was spent in southern Germany, near the city of Strasbourg in France. As far back as I can remember, I loved to sing. I was always singing. My mother realized that I had a good natural voice and encouraged me. So did my friends. By the time I was twelve years old I was singing in the school and church choir. Also, I enjoyed having a role singing in school programs and Christmas plays.

Extensive Training

Madame Mischkin from the Paris Opera was my first teacher. Beginning in 1946, twice each week for a year and a half I traveled to Strasbourg to study under her. We students had to learn many new things, the most important of which was how to breathe properly. We had to learn to breathe from the diaphragm so that we could control our supply of air and use it to best advantage in producing musical notes.

Madame Mischkin would remind us of how nicely a dog trotting on the road coordinates his breathing with his motions, breathing from his diaphragm. It was very difficult to master. We would think we had it, only to realize later that we still had not acquired full control of our breathing. Proper control enables one to do all kinds of singing, such as staccato: “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” To develop technique in one’s singing voice requires two or three years of practice.

We had many lessons singing with piano accompaniment to learn to use what we call “the head voice.” It is the voice persons normally use, but which sometimes appears to come more from the back of the head or the nose rather than the mouth. This head voice, when properly trained, gives the voice carrying power so that it can be comfortably heard in large concert halls and opera houses without amplification. As we progressed, we were given assignments to sing in Madame Mischkin’s home to house guests. This gave us experience and confidence.

We had to learn how to sing in all positions: standing, sitting, bowing, even lying prone. In one opera the dying heroine sings her final aria while lying on the stage.

In 1948 I began studying with Professor Salvatore Salvati at the Conservatorium Mannheim in Germany. This was a higher level of training. Special attention was given to determine whether we were able to recognize notes. This is very important in singing. I had an “ear” for music, finding it easy to hear a composition and to learn the melody or music. It took more effort for me to learn the words.

During the year and a half of studying under Professor Salvati, I made more progress. To improve in technique and audience contact, I often sang in the school auditorium for friends and fellow students. Then I began to make public appearances.

In 1951 I married. My husband, too, appreciated music and the qualities of my voice. So he encouraged me to continue my singing and to pursue advanced training with a view to becoming a professional singer. I was eager to do so, and soon found myself struggling to shape my natural voice abilities into those of a trained performer.

Professional Status

Professor Hans Emge, who taught in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Karlsruhe, was my next instructor. He helped me to attain to professional status. He taught me to listen to my voice while singing, and to analyze it. I learned to sing both forte and pianissimo, very loudly and very softly.

Forte is not so hard for the singer with technique, but pianissimo really is difficult. One must be able to sing very softly and yet have resonance so that the voice can still be heard all over the auditorium. To attain this skill our exercises became more and more involved and difficult.

Of the selections that we sang, Mozart was among the most demanding. Anyone who can sing Mozart well has achieved the peak in singing ability. There was a time when I thought I would never make it. But I kept trying. Even when I was not able to be personally under Professor Emge’s observation, I made tapes and sent them to him for criticism and suggestions. Finally, after about six years, I gained my diploma.

I studied a further three years in eastern Europe. This put the finishing touches on my voice control and singing technique. A wonderfully gifted Romanian composer gave me extremely difficult dramatic exercises in order to get the most out of my voice. I had always done lyrical singing, but now I was learning dramatic singing. These exercises required me to sing dramatic arias such as the Contessa from Figaro and selections from Verdi. The professor made me sing these exercises until he was satisfied. At last I acquired professional status as a lyric, dramatic soprano, and was given a certificate as a qualified teacher of voice.

My Singing Career

During my years of training and professional singing, my husband’s work required much moving from country to country. Rarely were we more than three years in one country. I didn’t join any opera group or enter into contracts for long periods, but concentrated on concerts where usually I was the only singer. Since I wasn’t interested in acquiring wealth, most of my public concerts were for charitable purposes. The admission fees were turned over to some charitable organization, and it brought me satisfaction to help some worthy cause.

Although I was a Protestant, I had little interest in church or religion. I didn’t know much about the Bible, yet I felt a certain closeness to God due to the influence of my mother and my music. The compositions I specialized in were by men with strong religious sentiments. From them I knew that God’s name is Jehovah. Franz Schubert, for example, composed a song entitled “Jehovah Is Great.” Schumann also used Jehovah’s name in “Belsazar,” as did Stradella in “Pietà, Signorei” I sang these songs and so had this much information about God.

Life was pleasant for me, although I did observe with concern the poverty and hard life of many, especially when we lived in Africa. But another thing particularly troubled me. It just didn’t seem right to me that death should end forever our life on earth. I so much enjoyed living with friends and family, and I felt it unjust that we should so quickly be deprived of these things.

A Better Life Comes in View

I knew very little about Jehovah’s Witnesses, although I had heard of them while living in Germany. Then one day in 1960, when I was living in Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka, Witnesses called at my home. Even though my English was then very limited, I enjoyed what they were saying. They explained that death did not have to mean the end of our earthly prospects, for it is God’s unchanged purpose that humans live forever in an earthly paradise.

This thought really appealed to me! It seemed so reasonable that Jehovah God purposed for the earth to be inhabited by righteous humans, for does not the Bible tell us that God created the first human pair perfect and placed them in an earthly paradise? How happy I was when the Witnesses told me that such a paradise would be restored! To verify this, they read to me from the Bible book of Revelation, chapter 21, verses 3 and 4, which says:

“I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’”

Surely this is quite clear! It indicates that right here on earth, where untold millions of tears have been shed in mourning due to the sickness or death of loved ones, these lamentable things will be eliminated! It brought joy to my heart to learn that the Bible holds out the promise of everlasting life on earth, as Psalm 37:29 says: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” In time, my hope grew that I could be one of those who could reside forever on a paradise earth.

Finally, Living for God’s New System

Joyce, the Witness who had called, began a study with me in the Bible aid entitled “From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained.” When my husband showed some interest, Joyce’s husband accompanied her. Both my husband and I were greatly impressed with the zeal and sincerity of these Witnesses. They used a light motorcycle in their work, and even the monsoon season with its pouring rains would not stop them. We made some progress in our studies, but then we had to leave since my husband was transferred to Norway.

Here I located Jehovah’s Witnesses by looking in the telephone directory. But we again had a language problem, so we attended a university for three months and learned to read and speak Norwegian. We again became acquainted with a fine Witness couple who would call to take me to the meetings, sometimes in weather thirty degrees Fahrenheit below zero (-34.4° Celsius). However, my husband, being so wrapped up in his work, did not accompany us, and even tried to discourage me.

His attitude began to affect me. Also, I became overly interested in my career, enjoying the stimulating experiences of traveling to many lands and giving concerts in world capitals, including Washington, D.C., Addis Ababa, Colombo, Oslo, and so forth. So for quite a number of years I had little contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Yet during that time those Bible promises about a better life in God’s new system of things remained in my mind.

Eventually, in 1970, we moved to the United States, and I became friends with a woman who spoke fluent German. About this time she arranged to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I joined in the study. So again I started going to the meetings of the Witnesses, in Kensington, Maryland.

I realized now that if I really wanted to live in God’s new system, I would have to prove it by putting God’s service first in my life, even before my interest in singing. I began doing this. The Christian elders gave me good counsel about being selective in preparing songs for future concerts. I discontinued singing songs that contained teachings of false religion, or that were nationalistic. Finally, in February 1973 I was baptized by Jehovah’s Witnesses in symbol of my dedication to serve Jehovah God.

In June 1973 my husband and I moved to Trinidad and, along with nearly 3,000 fellow Christian witnesses there, I have kept on in Jehovah’s service. With full confidence in His promises, I look forward to continuing in God’s service forever. And it is my keen hope that both my husband and son will eventually appreciate Bible truth to the extent that they, too, will dedicate themselves to serve our loving Creator.​—Contributed.

Azulejos​—A ‘Tiletale’ of Ancient History

By “Awake!” correspondent in Portugal

HAVE you ever heard of azulejos? This is a common term in Portugal. Azulejos are tiles, but probably different from most varieties you have seen.

Azulejos are earthenware tiles beautifully decorated by an artist and covered with a thin glasslike layer for protection. Thereafter they are “fired” in a special oven, or “kiln”​—a process that works for great durability. Azulejos feature both eye-catching geometric designs and pictures of things, including life on land and at sea. Some depict tales from ancient mythology.

In many parts of Portugal one cannot walk far without encountering azulejos. Often they appear as signs identifying streets. Rua Alegre, meaning “happy,” “cheerful,” or “lively street,” is an example here in Lisbon. A rectangular plate of six tiles set in a wall bears the street name. The two words appear centered one above the other in elegant blue lettering on a white background. Forming a border around the outer edges of the rectangle is a cheerful design in gold color interlaced with green leaves. Two pink flowers adorn the upper corners.

Azulejos also appear as doorplates and numbers for houses. Dwellings, old and new, have decorative tile coatings. In villages near Lisbon it is common to see on an outer wall of whitewashed houses an image of the householder’s favorite “saint”​—in azulejos. Inside the homes, too, azulejos will meet your eye. You may see them as the facing for a fireplace, on stands for flowerpots, or as frames for mirrors and pictures.

Portugal’s azulejos have an ancient history. The name itself may be significant. While some trace its origin to azul, meaning “blue,” others suggest that the Portuguese word developed from an Arabic verb, zallaga, meaning “to be smooth, slippery.” In the fourteenth century Portugal imported artistic and colorful tiles from Andalusia in Spain, where there was a strong Moorish or Arabic influence in both art and language. One can still see tiles from that period both inside and outside religious buildings in the cities of Córdoba and Seville. Decorated in green, white, blue, black and cream colors, they display complex designs of polygons and star shapes, typical of the Spanish-Moorish style.

But Spain is not the only source of azulejos. Much of this decorative tilework displays Oriental designs, reminiscent of China. Centuries ago Portuguese explorers carried on trade in the Canton delta. Impressed with the beauty of delicate Chinese porcelainware, the explorers brought much of it back to Lisbon. The Chinese were fond of using blue on white for decorating porcelain, a color scheme you will frequently see on azulejos here in Portugal. During the seventeenth century the Dutch made a fine imitation of the Chinese product. Portugal was quick to import from the Dutch too. So our azulejos, while a monument to Portuguese artistry, have an ancient history that incorporates artistic features from other lands.

‘Revolutionary Stadium’

By “Awake!” correspondent in Hawaii

SPORTS fans earth wide are keenly aware of the variety of new stadiums and sports arenas constructed in many major cities. Such facilities are often of interest to Jehovah’s Witnesses also. This is not because of an overwhelming involvement in sports, but because each year they use stadiums and large arenas to hold Christian assemblies. All over the globe tens of thousands gather at these conventions to receive practical instruction in applying God’s Word in their lives and to observe the costumed reenactment of gripping Bible dramas.

Thus, there was interest from various quarters in the September 1975 opening of a new open-air sports stadium in Hawaii. The Honolulu Star Bulletin quoted its architect as saying: “The people here are going to have a revolutionary type of stadium. There is no other like it in the world.” What makes it unique?

One thing that attracts much attention is the fact that the $27,000,000 stadium has movable grandstands. Four large steelframed grandstand sections can move on “air cushions” over concrete runways to adapt the stadium’s configuration for football or baseball games, theatrical presentations and large rallies and conventions. You can imagine what a marvel it is to have a stadium with a seating capacity of 50,000 that can be arranged at will​—the rest rooms, snack bars and other normal facilities moving right along with the grandstands containing them.

Another feature that holds many delightful possibilities is the scoreboard system. Rather than being designed to display merely the score and statistics of a game, this new scoreboard includes the capacity to reproduce images on a huge screen. Any image taken by the numerous video cameras trained on the playing field can be displayed on the screen for most of the audience to see. Sports fans may immediately see its potential in connection with instant replays of crucial moments during games. But the scoreboard could also be employed to display a person giving a talk or to project, on a large scale, any entertainment or action on a stage, all the while being synchronized with the stadium’s sound system.

Such development certainly testifies to the interesting potentials for gatherings, whether for sports, entertainment or education.

Canadian Courts Block Discrimination

By “Awake!” correspondent in Canada

NOBODY likes to be discriminated against. Many laws are on the books to stop such practice. Even so, persons in local authority from time to time still attempt to thwart the application of such anti-discrimination laws. Such was the case when a religious minority in British Columbia, Canada, recently set out to build a lovely but modest place for meetings.

They had obtained an eight-acre piece of land in a rural part of the pretty municipality of Surrey, near Vancouver. The proposed building was to seat 1,800 people, and would be used as an assembly hall for special combined meetings of several congregational groups.

Would local zoning regulations allow the building of such a place of worship? They were delighted to learn that a church or assembly hall could be built anywhere in the district. And on January 3, 1974, the chief building inspector wrote them, listing the documents required to qualify for a building permit.

Eagerly they proceeded with architectural and engineering plans. These were ready by April, at a cost of over $34,000. The plans were filed immediately and a building permit requested. But eagerness quickly turned to chagrin. The permit was not granted, and the building inspector requested no further plans. Why the delay?

A New Zoning Law?

The answer came in May, when the Council for the District of Surrey ordered the permit delayed “pending possible amendment to the bylaw.’’ The proposed amending by-law #4294 named a new zone called “P-3” (Public Use #3), and sought to require that churches and assembly halls be built only in it.

But there was no such zone anywhere! It was an imaginary zone with no land in it! If churches could be built only in Zone P-3, the by-law would prohibit such buildings entirely! Why would a municipal council want to do such a thing?

The answer came at public hearings held on June 10 and 24, 1974. It soon became apparent that certain neighbors in the area were opposed to the assembly hall. They charged that there would be traffic, parking and septic problems. Yet the plans submitted had adequately covered these very problems and complied with all the regulations.

Municipal planner L. Kleyn tried to rationalize the proposed restriction by saying that a church property, being larger than a single-family residential property, made it inconvenient for developers to locate roads. Yet he maintained that hospitals, schools, and other public or semipublic buildings could still be allowed without restriction.

But would not hospitals or schools impede a new roadway as much as a church? Why stop churches while allowing other large public buildings? The real issue behind these inconsistencies became clear during part of the discussion when the city manager reportedly said: ‘A neighborhood should not have to put up with a religion it does not want.’

The mayor additionally contended that all neighbors should be notified of any proposed church building and have an open hearing to oppose it. But prominent zoning expert Richard Babcock, in his book The Zoning Game, calls such hearings “government by screaming” and “trial by neighbourism.” They would open the door to discriminate church buildings of minorities out of existence!

Fully aware of this threat, a number of other church groups in addition to Jehovah’s Witnesses, the victims in this instance, attended the public meetings. All recognized the menace to religious liberty lurking behind the bland words of the municipal officials.

The minister of the North Surrey Gospel Chapel reportedly said that the proposed neighborhood hearings opened the way to ‘decisions based on religious prejudice where bigoted people could influence what is done.’ A speaker for the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus also protested the proposed ‘mischief by law,’ saying: ‘We fought two world wars to protect our civil liberty and religious freedom.’

But to no avail. Bylaw #4294 was adopted on July 11, 1974. Thereafter the building inspector wrote: “Because of the recent adoption of the P-3 zone . . . we are therefore unable to issue the building permit.”

Thus Jehovah’s Witnesses had been led by municipal officials to spend uselessly over $34,000 plus untold time and energy. Though a search was made for an alternate building site, nothing seemed available. What else could be done? After consultation with counsel, a decision was reached​—legal action.

To Court!

About six months later the case finally came up for argument before Mr. Justice Ruttan, a senior judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. A day and a half was devoted to exhaustive argument. During the discussion Justice Ruttan is said to have remarked: ‘The public hearing has the effect of allowing the neighbours to decide whether or not a church shall go up. This opens the door to inconsistency and discrimination on the ground that they “don’t like that church or those people.”’

On February 11, 1975, his fourteen-page decision was given. Justice Ruttan wrote concerning the new by-law:

“It is mis-described as a ‘zoning’ by-law because it does not create any zone . . . to create a zone classification without a specified zone leads inevitably to individual discrimination and must render the purported zoning by-law meaningless and void as ultra vires [beyond the Surrey Council’s legal authority].”

He then ordered the District of Surrey to issue a building permit for an assembly hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

But the Surrey Council was not to be so easily turned from its discriminatory resolve. They appealed to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. More delay! Counsel for Jehovah’s Witnesses made a motion requesting an immediate hearing in the light of escalating building costs. The court ordered the appeal to be scheduled for the first dates that became available.

Hence, on June 5, 1975, legal counsel for the District of Surrey began his argument before three judges of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. During the argument, Chief Justice Farris reportedly pointed out to the lawyer that ‘seventy-nine churches have been built in the municipality without any trouble. All of a sudden you can’t build any churches! These applicants have met all the standards, then [Surrey] Council says arbitrarily, “No, you can’t build!” This is a very arbitrary decision. . . . The right to build a church depends on the whim of the Council.’

Justice Seaton added: ‘You have put yourself on the horns of a dilemma. You needed a ladder to climb up there; now you want us to help get you down.’

As the day drew to a close, there was time for the other side to speak briefly on only one point, reserving the main argument for the next morning. But the judges did not even bother to call for it! Instead, the next morning they gave a unanimous judgment in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses, delivering an oral decision right off the bench with no delay. Mr. Justice Seaton said:

“There was no land in the P-3 zone when Council said, or purported to say, ‘Churches can only go in P-3 zones.’ I think we have to look at the Municipal Act to see whether it authorizes the municipality to prohibit the building of churches, because that is what this by-law purports to do.

“Our section 702(1)(b) . . . does not authorize the municipality to prohibit the building of churches in the municipality.”

Could they now build? By court order, the officials of Surrey were “commanded to issue a building permit . . . in accordance with the application for which detailed plans were filed.” A telegram was then sent to the Surrey Municipal Office advising that Jehovah’s Witnesses would be coming on Tuesday, June 10, to get the building permit mandated by the court order. But this was not to be.

Still Another Obstacle

The council for the District of Surrey met again on Monday, June 9, and openly discussed what steps they could take to block the assembly hall in view of the court order. An observer noted the following remarks:

Alderman Millar: Is there any other way we can stop this? . . . They are going in there with a facility for 1,800 people on a septic field.’

Manager Closkey: ‘Our Health Inspector has already approved that; I don’t think we can do anything about that.’

Mayor Vander Zalm: ‘I think we could set up a Board of Health.’

The mayor thus suggested that, as a self-appointed “Board of Health,” the council could still thwart the building program. But not all members agreed:

Alderman Beale: ‘I think we are clutching at straws. I would not want to support a vindictive action of this nature.’

Alderman O’Brien-Bell: ‘We are going to make ourselves look silly . . . we are clutching at straws. We had our own appointed competent health inspector do the test and gave a ruling on it. He did not find anything wrong with it then.’

But others persisted:

Mayor: ‘I think we should form council into a Board of Health. We could have a meeting two weeks from tonight to consider this.’

Manager Closkey: ‘In this telegram requesting the permit, their counsel mentions that if we do not issue the permit we will be in contempt of court.’

Alderman McKitka: ‘What do we get? Two days in jail?’

Contempt of court, refusal to obey a court order, is a serious matter punishable by fine or imprisonment. On June 11 the court order was served on the building inspector. He did hand over a building permit​—but it was not according to plans approved by the Supreme Court. Instead the permit was “subject to review and approval of the sewage disposal system by the Local Board of Health.”

But the “Local Board of Health” was just another title taken on by certain obviously prejudiced members of the Municipal Council of Surrey! So, on June 13 legal counsel for Jehovah’s Witnesses notified Surrey council that the condition it had attached to the permit was illegal and left the municipality in contempt of court. At the same time, bulldozers moved onto the site and began to prepare the land for construction.

Four days later a contempt citation was served on the mayor and councillors of Surrey, except for the two who voted against setting up a “Board of Health.” The motion for contempt came before Mr. Justice Anderson on June 20, 1975.

After persistently probing the evasive arguments of the municipal lawyer, Justice Anderson reportedly observed that ‘there is no or little evidence that there was any necessity to pass the resolution passed by Council on Monday, June 9th, 1975, except for the purpose of preventing the building from being constructed.’ Justice Anderson therefore concluded:

“It goes without saying that the members of Council should not do anything directly or indirectly which would have the effect of harassing or molesting the Applicants or prevent them from proceeding in a lawful way with the construction of their building. I am sure that with the good will and common sense of all concerned that all matters in issue can be resolved for the mutual benefit of the applicants and the District of Surrey. The application is adjourned sine die [without date].”

By adjourning the motion in this way, the proceeding remained before him. If there should be any “harassing or molesting,” the matter could be readily revived before the same judge. Now could they build?

The Aftermath

The answer came at the next council meeting, June 23. The Columbian newspaper reported:

“Mayor Bill Vander Zalm urged council to ‘drop the whole thing’ and allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to work out any problems with the Boundary Board of Health.

“Council then voted to delete the condition and to bow out of the picture.”

What happened to the Surrey “Board of Health”?

“Earlier, council convened as a board of health, as scheduled, and adjourned immediately without discussion.

“It was the shortest board of health meeting on record.”

The District of Surrey Council did “drop the whole thing” and did “bow out of the picture.” Jehovah’s Witnesses much appreciated the ensuing fine cooperation from employees and inspectors of the Building Department during construction. After such long restraint, the volunteer workers began building with a burst of enthusiasm, so that the building was completed within about seven months!

Observing the rapid progress, three neighbors came over and said: “We have been watching you and are so impressed with what we have seen that we just had to come for a closer look.” Another nearby resident came to offer his assistance freely and worked willingly and hard. He is now himself enjoying free assistance with his own home Bible study. Still another person expressed appreciation for the legal efforts and spontaneously contributed a considerable sum toward the expenses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Vancouver area take real pleasure in welcoming all persons to their lovely new assembly hall. When the dedication of this fine structure was held on March 13 of this year, they were delighted to have 2,480 people from the Vancouver area present to share their joy. They know it will prove to be an asset to the community, but, most important, it is a center for worship of the true God, Jehovah.

[Picture on page 17]

Artist’s sketch of Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Surrey, British Columbia

[Picture on page 18]

Court rules

Witnesses have right to church

THE PROVINCE June 7, 1975

Appeal favors Witnesses in bid for Surrey hall

THE VANCOUVER SUN, June 7, 1975

[Picture on page 18]

THE COLUMBIAN, June 12, 1975

Surrey openly defying decision on Witnesses

‘Strings attached’ to Witnesses’ permit

THE PROVINCE, JUNE 12, 1975

[Picture on page 19]

Surrey Council Steps aside for Witnesses’ Plans

THE COLUMBIAN, June 24, 1975

Fine Conduct Provides a Witness

● “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.” (Matt. 5:16) These words spoken by Jesus Christ highlight the fact that the way a person conducts himself can have a powerful effect on others, causing them to develop appreciation for true worship.

This was the case with a bus driver in Finland. In his youth he had developed a dislike for religion because of his parents’ fanaticism. But this changed in 1975, when he drove a bus chartered by a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were attending a convention in Helsinki. Not having anything else to do during the day, he attended the convention and listened to the program. On the last day of the assembly while driving the conventioners home, he said to them:

“I called you ‘friends’ when we left for the convention on the first day, and did it just as a matter of form. But now I can call you ‘friends’ from my heart. Your deep sincerity, outstanding friendliness and your affection for one another have made a great impression on me. I have not had any time for religion before, but now I must say that you have changed my outlook. I want to look into your religion.”

“Go to the Ant”

NO ONE expects you to be very happy if droves of ants show up for your picnic under the trees. They have a way of making pests of themselves. And these persistent little insects would be likely to get you and your party on the move rather quickly.

Yet, ants receive favorable mention in the oldest book on earth. “Go to the ant, you lazy one; see its ways and become wise,” says the Holy Bible. (Prov. 6:6) Evidently this means that the lazy person can learn something from the lowly ant. But what?

The Bible also indicates that ants are among creatures “instinctively wise.” (Prov. 30:24, 25) Does this mean that they think deeply, make intelligent plans and then carry them out?

Searching for answers to such questions will put us in unusual company. In fact, tracking ants, observing them and visiting their abodes can be quite an adventure.

Meet a “Superfamily”

Ants are insects of the “order” Hymenoptera, which also includes wasps and bees. But ants themselves form what is called the “superfamily” Formicoidea. All very scientific, isn’t it? Well, whatever you call them, there are some 15,000 species of ants on earth, and they live everywhere except in the polar regions.

One thing is sure: Ants are supernumerous. Why, in just one ten-acre (4-hectare) woodland plot investigated, there were an estimated eleven to thirteen million of only one species, to say nothing of all the other ants in that same area!

A Close-up View

While there are ants by the millions, suppose we take a closer look at them as individuals. Let’s start with color. Some ants are yellowish, but the majority are black, brown or red. “But I’ve also heard of white ants,” you may remark. “What about them?” Actually, “white ants” are not ants at all. They are termites and belong to another family of insects.

Now, for a word about ant anatomy. The body consists of three parts: (1) the head; (2) the thorax; and (3) the abdomen. Ants have several nerve centers, the largest being the brain, situated in the insect’s head. Most of these creatures have a compound eye on each side of the head. These eyes may consist of six to over a thousand lenses, each like a minute eye. Additionally, certain winged ants possess three simple eyes on the back of the head. Though ant vision is often very dim, and certain ants have no eyes, at least some ants can see rocks and other things and use these “landmarks” as a guide in their travels.

While looking at the ant’s head, notice the two antennae extending outward. Feeling, tasting and smelling all are associated with these “feelers.” And please do not overlook those jaws. They open and shut from side to side, not up and down.

The ant’s three pairs of legs are attached to the thorax. So are wings, if the insect happens to have any. Next comes the abdomen, containing the crop, in which food is stored and carried to others of the ant community. The ant’s stomach and intestines are situated behind the crop in its abdomen. One more thing: Some ants have a pain-producing sting. In fact, by stinging, fire ants have been known to kill young birds that have not yet left the nest.

A Place to Call “Home”

“Home” for the ants is just a small place to begin with, ‘a little nest to call their own.’ It may be a mere burrow in the ground or under some rocks. Certain ants form mounds or anthills, by piling earth and twigs around and over their nests. Inside there are corridors linking a number of chambers. Other ants dig perhaps some sixteen feet (five meters) into the earth, and their underground maze of rooms and passageways may become quite extensive. Why, some nests cover a whole acre (.4 hectare)!

Carpenter ants set up housekeeping in wood. While they do not consume the wood, they do chew out spaces in it. This is not so bad if their home happens to be an old log in the forest. But it is another matter, indeed, if “home” turns out to be the beams of your house. Why, buildings may collapse because carpenter ants establish living quarters in their timbers!

Some ants weave leaves together to make the outer walls of their homes. In doing this, they use the silky material given off by developing ants, or larvae. While some adult ants hold the leaves in place, others move the larva back and forth, sewing together the edges. Still other ants make “carton,” using wood particles, and possibly some sand, all cemented together with their saliva. But the insects called army ants are not housing engineers. They merely cluster around the mother ant and her young ones, perhaps hanging from a log with their legs hooked together to form a temporary shelter.

A Caste System All Their Own

Ants live cooperatively in well-organized groups or colonies, and the Bible appropriately calls these social insects “a people.” (Prov. 30:25) Among them there are three basic castes: (1) the “queen” or “queens”; (2) the males; and (3) the workers. The Bible says that the ant “has no commander, officer or ruler.” (Prov. 6:7) A person might think that the “queen” is the ruler in an ant community, but that is not so. Interestingly, it has been said: “Outstanding in any typical colony is the queen; she is not a ruler in any sense of the word, but is the mother, and frequently the founder, of the colony. She lays the eggs from which all the other ants develop.”​—The Animal Kingdom.

Whereas the “queen” may live up to fifteen years, the males, which usually have wings, generally live just a few weeks. Their responsibility? To mate with the “queen.” For some reason unknown to man, ordinarily toward evening of a particular day all the ant colonies of a certain species within miles will drive out the winged males and females. The evicted ants then try out their wings in what is called the marriage flight. Usually while airborne, the males and females mate. At this time, and perhaps from more than one male, the female takes in sufficient sperm cells for a lifetime of prodigious egg-laying.

After the marriage flight, the ants drop to the ground and the males soon die or are eaten by various mammals or birds. The female chews or tears off her wings, crawls to a secure place under cover, lays some eggs and cares for them until workers develop. They then take over the arduous tasks and she becomes merely the attended egg-laying “queen.” This is the beginning of a new colony. How big do colonies become? They vary considerably, but one very large colony was made up of an estimated 238,000 ants.

Life in the colonies means laborious toil for worker ants, sexually underdeveloped females. Their tasks include finding and bringing in food, caring for the eggs and the young ones, cleaning and enlarging the nest, as well as defending the colony. Incidentally, with worker ants as caretaken, the eggs hatch into tiny white grubs that molt or shed their skin several times, becoming fully developed larvae. Some larvae spin cocoons from their own saliva. In time, the larva sheds its skin and becomes a pupa. While resting in this stage, changes occur and an adult emerges. Ants have no bones, but become hardbodied as adult insects.

Defending the colony is the task of “soldiers,” worker ants having rather formidable jaws and bigger heads. Speaking of heads, a janitor ant may block entry to the nest in a tree trunk by plugging the entrance from inside with its greatly enlarged and camouflaged head. Now, that’s really using one’s head! In defense, some ants use their stings effectively. Others spray intruders with caustic material or foul-smelling liquid that they produce. Upon contact, the caustic substance can cause a person’s skin to dry up and slough off. Insect victims may even be maimed or killed.

A Family of Many Kinds

There are ants of numerous types in the superfamily Formicoidea. Without being technical, let us look at them according to their “life-style.” Concerning the ant, the Bible says: “It prepares its food even in the summer; it has gathered its food supplies even in the harvest.” (Prov. 6:8) Once it was said that all ants were chiefly carnivorous and did not store food for the winter months due to remaining in a torpid state during that season. In the year 1871, however, a naturalist found certain ants in southern Europe that did “harvest” grain. Today it is known that some ants feed on seeds. Two very common varieties of ants in the Middle East​—the black Atta barbara and the brown Atta structor—​eat seeds and store them for use in winter, when it is difficult to secure food. For that matter, it is not uncommon to find the ant known as Messor semirufus nesting near threshing floors, granaries or grainfields, where their food is plentiful. Broadly known as harvester ants, certain species do ‘gather food supplies in the harvest,’ even as the Bible said centuries ago.

Some ants might be considered as “farmers.” Leafcutter ants use their jaws to cut bits of leaves and flowers. In fact, they have been known to strip an entire tree of foliage in just one night. As these insects take the pieces “home,” they appear to be carrying parasols; so they are called parasol ants. The leaves are not eaten, however. Rather, they are chewed into a mash on which fungus grows. Then the insects feast on these delicacies grown on the ants’ very own underground ‘mushroom farms.’

“Cows” of a sort are kept by some ants. These ants look after aphids (plant lice), leaf hoppers and scale insects that live on plants near the colony’s nesting site. For that matter, the brown cornfield ant keeps aphids right in its nest most of the time. With their antennae, the ants stroke the backs of their “cows,” thus ‘milking them and causing these insects to release from their abdomens a sweet substance called honeydew. On this, these ants feast ‘to their hearts’ content.’

Food storage poses no problem for the honey ants. Whether they themselves collect sweet juices from flowers or get honeydew from other insects, these ants store the delicious liquid. Some young ants continue swallowing it until they swell up to the size of a pea. Known as repletes, these living “honey pots” hang by their feet from the ceiling of the nest and give up honey from the mouth when hungry ants come along.

Whether intentionally or by accident, some ants turn out to be slave masters. They raid the nests of another species and bring home the pupae or cocoons of the other ants. Before these are eaten, however, some ants emerge and go right to work as though they originally belonged to the colony of their captors. It appears that the Amazon ant deliberately captures and enslaves other ants.

On the March!

Long-legged brown or black insects known as Driver Ants in Africa and Legionary Ants in the Americas can be quite a menace. Also called army ants, these “villains” go out in hunting parties, marching along in broad columns and devouring nearly all other insects in their path. Why, they have attacked birds and even humans, and have been known to reduce a tethered or tied horse to a mere skeleton in just hours!

Yet, there is a good side to this “villain.” Says The Animal Kingdom: “The Indians and other natives living in their palmthatch huts look forward to the appearance of driver ants. These people simply go outside and let the insects swarm through their homes, knowing that, when the ants have passed, every other insect, cockroach, fly, and spider will also be gone. Their only worry is that the colony might suddenly decide to bivouac for the night or longer in one of the houses, a situation not very pleasant for the occupants.”

Are Ants “Instinctively Wise”?

The Bible classes ants among things that are “instinctively wise.” (Prov. 30:24, 25) Scientists that have studied ants in mazes have concluded that these insects can use their sight to recognize “landmarks.” Employing the sense of smell, they can also be directed by odors. They even seem to learn from experience. None of this means, of course, that ants reason things out and make intelligent decisions. Why, when rains washed their normal odor trail away, a column of army ants accidentally started on a circular path on a sidewalk and went around and around until they all dropped dead! But of ants it has been admitted: “Small as they are when compared with man, they display memory, learning and the ability to correct mistakes.”

This is ‘instinctive wisdom’ in action. It results, not from the exercise of reasoning ability, but from the instincts with which the Creator has endowed these intriguing creatures.

By now you may realize why the “lazy one” is told, “Go to the ant.” (Prov. 6:6) Such a person can learn something about industriousness and foresight from this lowly insect. Instead of sleeping during a season favorable for work, he should be like the ant that ‘prepares its food in the summer.’ (Prov. 6:8; 30:25) In fact, if the “lazy one” happens to be loitering under a shade tree, perhaps a column of busy ants will get him into action without much delay.

“Sent Forth”​—Why?

THE year was 1943. World War II was raging and many people may have thought it impractical for Jehovah’s Witnesses to begin training missionaries for service throughout the earth. Nevertheless, that was being done at the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, which opened on February 1, 1943. Some months later, the School’s first graduates were heading for missionary assignments in various lands. Why were they being sent forth?

The basic reason is embodied in the words of the Christian apostle Paul, who wrote: “‘Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.’ However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent forth?”​—Rom. 10:13-15.

Gilead’s Sixtieth Class

It was with that very objective that twenty-five men and women came to Brooklyn, New York, from six countries to attend the sixtieth class of Gilead School. For them, Sunday, March 7, 1976, was especially significant. Their graduation exercises then took place at Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly Hall, Long Island City, New York.

During the graduation program, one member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses emphasized the fact that these Gilead School graduates were being sent forth to preach. Reference was made to the apostle Paul’s words cited earlier. The speaker also made the significant point that the greatest privilege any person can have is to receive an assignment in Jehovah God’s service.

On to Distant Lands

Before long, these happy graduates​—some married, others single—​would be taking up their assignments to preach in twelve lands. No, they would not be traveling to faraway places for the sake of adventure. Yet, they will find their assignments to be absorbing, even intriguing.

For instance, two of these graduates are young men assigned to preach in the “Land of Frost and Fire.” That title has been applied to Iceland because of its glaciers, geysers, hot springs and volcanoes. Though this island nation is situated in the North Atlantic just south of the Arctic Circle, and the inland plateau is cold and barren, the Gulf Stream warms the lowlands along the southern and western coasts and portions of the northern coast.

The two Gilead graduates will serve as missionaries in Reykjavík, the country’s capital. Over half of Iceland’s 216,628 inhabitants live in or near this southwestern city. During the year ending August 31, 1975, a peak of 157 Kingdom proclaimers was reached in Iceland. Hence, the ratio of Jehovah’s Witnesses to population was 1 to 1,380. Incidentally, one of these Gilead graduates is of Icelandic descent and speaks that tongue. The other is from the Netherlands, and he will have to learn the language. But he optimistically says, “It’s a challenge.”

To the southeast, in mainland Europe, is Spain. For many years, Jehovah’s Witnesses operated there without legal recognition. But in July 1970 the Spanish government legalized their organization in that country under a new law of religious liberty. During the years since then, the Witnesses in that land have been making intense efforts to preach the good news.

A married couple of Gilead School’s sixtieth class are “definitely pleased” with their assignment to serve as missionaries in Spain. Originally from Germany, they will have to learn Spanish, but will do so gladly, as this will give them a good opportunity to fulfill their great desire to help people. During the 1975 service year, a peak of 30,838 witnesses of Jehovah preached among Spain’s 34,196,245 inhabitants​—a ratio of 1 to 1,109.

One of the young women in this graduating class has been assigned to serve as a missionary in a West African land that got its name from the valuable trade carried on there for years. Late in the fifteenth century, the French began trading for ivory in this coastal country. Can you name it? Yes, this Gilead graduate will serve in the Ivory Coast.

What a contrast with Iceland! The Ivory Coast is a tropical land, the home of 4,100,000 people. Though French is the official tongue, over sixty languages are spoken by the country’s various tribal groups. Religions are diversified, too. Some 23 percent of the populace are Moslems, and about 12 percent belong to the religions of Christendom. However, the majority of Ivorians practice centuries-old tribal forms of worship. The latest published peak of Kingdom proclaimers in the Ivory Coast was 1,021. So, with a ratio of 1 to 4,016 persons, Jehovah’s Witnesses have much to do there in preaching the good news.

One married couple of Gilead’s sixtieth class ‘always wanted to go to South America.’ Now they will have this desire fulfilled, for they have been assigned to preach as missionaries in Colombia. More pointedly, their destination is that country’s second-largest city​—Medellin. It is situated in northwestern central Colombia, up in the Andes at an altitude of 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) above sea level. Medellin has a delightful climate and is in an area well known for beautiful orchids. It holds prospect of both pleasant and fruitful preaching, for this city is the home of an estimated 1,039,800 persons.

Many “Sent Forth”

When Gilead School was opened on February 1, 1943, attention was drawn to its name. “Gilead” was said to mean “heap of witness.” It was hoped that this institution would prepare preachers who would ‘pile up a heap that would serve as a witness world wide for God’s kingdom and for the vindication of Jehovah’s name.’ Since then, this School has lived up to its name, for many Gilead graduates have gone to lands around the earth, there to preach the good news of God’s kingdom “for a witness.”​—Matt. 24:14.

During the years 1943 through 1975, 5,809 graduates have been sent forth from Gilead School. Of these, over 2,500 still are active in their assignments. In fact, a number who attended Gilead’s first class are still serving in the lands to which they have been assigned.

Now, another twenty-five graduates of Gilead School have been sent forth. Like fellow witnesses of Jehovah throughout the earth, these men and women will zealously preach the good news of God’s established kingdom. They cherish their inestimable privilege of serving the Most High and of aiding others to call upon the name of Jehovah in faith.

[Picture on page 26]

Sixtieth Graduating Class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead

In the list below, rows are numbered from front to back and names are listed from left to right in each row.

(1) Ellis, M.; Walker, E.; Sissons, M.; Yamasaki, K.; Sagorski, C. (2) Halls, S.; Tomasko, P.; Plager, L.; Gross, B.; Nagorne, M. (3) Ellis, A.; Sagorski, D.; Nyitrai, K.; Hedman, L.; Sissons, T. (4) Nagorne, K.; Mills, J.; Halls, M.; Hunter, I.; van Veen, F. (5) Nyitrai, D.; Gross, R.; Jonsson, O.; Walker, T.; Gauntt, C.

What Is the Bible’s View?

Did Elijah and Enoch Go to Heaven?

TO ANSWER this question, certain Bible facts must first be considered. Among them are these: Through his manifestation upon earth nineteen centuries ago, the Son of God “shed light upon life and incorruption through the good news.” (2 Tim. 1:10) Through him God gave to many persons “a new birth to a living hope . . . to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance . . . reserved in the heavens.” (1 Pet. 1:3, 4) Jesus Christ himself was the first person resurrected to fullness of life, the first to be resurrected to heaven.​—Rev. 1:5.

Jesus was therefore the “forerunner” of those receiving life in heaven. The inspired Christian writer said of the heavenly hope: “This hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure and firm, and it enters in within the curtain [into the Most Holy of the temple, representing God’s own heavenly dwelling place], where a forerunner has entered in our behalf, Jesus who has become a high priest according to the manner of Melchizedek forever.” (Heb. 6:19, 20) The same writer shows that the curtain to the Most Holy compartment of the wilderness tabernacle represented Jesus’ flesh. (Heb. 10:20; compare Exodus 26:1, 31, 33.) As long as Jesus was in the flesh, he could not go into heaven, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom.” (1 Cor. 15:50) By his giving up his flesh, which he gave “in behalf of the life of the world,” and by his being resurrected “in the spirit,” the way was opened for those who would be invited to the kingdom of the heavens.​—John 6:51; 1 Pet. 3:18.

Furthermore, Christ’s resurrection is said to be “a guarantee to all men” that God will resurrect others. (Acts 17:31; 24:15) This would not be true if God had been resurrecting righteous men to heaven all through the preceding centuries.

How, then, are we to understand the Bible account about the prophet Elijah, which reads: “As they [Elijah and Elisha] were walking along, speaking as they walked, why, look! a fiery war chariot and fiery horses, and they proceeded to make a separation between them both; and Elijah went ascending in the windstorm to the heavens.” (2 Ki. 2:11) Did Elijah actually go into the heavens of God? Or did he die?

We have the words of God’s greatest prophet, Jesus Christ, who resided in the heavens with his Father for untold centuries prior to his coming to earth. He said: “No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.” (John 3:13) Speaking of John the Baptist, Jesus said: “Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is.” (Matt. 11:11) Accordingly, Elijah, not being greater than John, could not be in heaven.

What, then, were the “heavens” into which Elijah was taken by the windstorm? These were the physical heavens, the atmosphere, the “expanse,” also called “Heaven” at Genesis 1:6-8. A windstorm could exist only in this atmospheric expanse, not in the spirit realm of Jehovah’s heavenly presence. Elijah was carried up out of Elisha’s sight by the windstorm.

The Bible does not say that Elijah died on that occasion. As a matter of fact, Elijah was still alive and active as a prophet at least five years later, apparently over in the territory of Judah. The Bible tells us: “Eventually there came a writing to [Jehoram, king of Judah] from Elijah the prophet.” This letter foretold the sickness and death of Jehoram because of his wrong, idolatrous course. (2 Chron. 21:12-15) A further evidence that Elijah did not die at the time of being taken into the “heavens” is that his servant and successor Elisha did not then hold the customary period of mourning for his master.​—Compare 2 Samuel 19:1; 1 Chronicles 7:22; 2 Chronicles 35:24.

What about Enoch, the seventh in line from Adam? Of him, the Bible says: “Enoch kept walking with the true God. Then he was no more, for God took him.” (Gen. 5:24) Enoch as a prophet of Jehovah foretold God’s coming with his myriads of angels to execute judgment against the ungodly. (Jude 14, 15) Persecution was likely brought against him because of his prophesying. However, God did not permit his opposers to kill Enoch. Instead God “took him,” evidently meaning that He cut short Enoch’s life at an age far below that of most of his contemporaries. It appears that, as in the case of Moses’ body, Jehovah disposed of Enoch’s body, for “he was nowhere to be found.”​—Heb. 11:5; Deut. 34:5, 6; Jude 9.

So, in view of Jesus’ clear statement at John 3:13, Enoch was not taken to the heaven of God’s residence. He died, as the apostle Paul, after naming Enoch and other ancient faithful witnesses of God, makes clear in saying: “In faith all these died, although they did not get the fulfillment of the promises, but they saw them afar off and welcomed them and publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land.” (Heb. 11:13) These men knew that their reward was far in the future. The prophets of old knew that their Messianic prophecies did not apply to themselves, but had fulfillment later on. Hence, the apostle Peter says to those who are footstep followers of Jesus Christ the heavenly Forerunner: “Concerning this very salvation [promised to Christ’s joint heirs and being a heavenly hope] a diligent inquiry and a careful search were made by the prophets [including Enoch and Elijah] who prophesied about the undeserved kindness meant for you. They kept on investigating what particular season or what sort of season the spirit in them was indicating concerning Christ when it was bearing witness beforehand about the sufferings for Christ and about the glories to follow these. It was revealed to them that, not to themselves, but to you, they were ministering the things that have now been announced to you through those who have declared the good news to you.”​—1 Pet. 1:10-12.

Peter, speaking to the assembled Jews on the day of Pentecost, shortly after Jesus’ resurrection, said of the faithful King David, “a man agreeable to [Jehovah’s] heart”: “Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.””’ (Acts 13:22; 2:34, 35) Likewise, Elijah and Enoch, along with others, are in the grave, awaiting the Lord Jesus Christ’s action in putting his enemies under his feet by destroying them. (Acts 2:29) The glorious enthroned Christ will then resurrect these faithful men from the dead, making them “princes in all the earth.” (Ps. 45:16; Rev. 20:11-13) These trustworthy men will work well with the heavenly King to administer righteousness and justice in the earth.

Watching the World

Number of the Jobless

◆ The International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has reported that during December 1975 there were 18 million jobless persons in 23 countries. Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and 18 European lands outside the Soviet bloc of nations were surveyed. December’s unemployment level was the highest since the 1930’s.

Perilous Jobs

◆ In the United States, fire fighting is the most perilous work. Basing its report on the most recent annual survey by the International Association of Fire Fighters, Parade magazine says that during 1974, for every 100,000 fire fighters, 84 died on the job. In second place was mining, with 71 deaths per 100,000. Police work was third and had a death rate on the job of 51 for 100,000.

Blood Cells Unchanged

◆ An autopsy recently was performed on an Egyptian mummy by a research team associated with the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. This was the first time that intact leukocytes, or white blood cells, were seen in a mummy. Red blood cells previously have been observed in mummies. However, the researchers also found that both the red and the white blood cells had remained structurally unchanged in this mummy, said to be some 2,200 years old. Moreover, these cells do not differ from those of persons now living. Dr. Jeanne M. Riddle, Associate Professor of Pathology, is quoted as saying: “I can look at these cells today and recognize them by the same structural criterion that I would use in identifying these same cell types in my own blood.”

Bee Rustling

◆ The stealing of bees has become quite common in some areas of the western United States. Thieves take entire hives swarming with bees by the thousands. This bee rustling evidently is profitable, since honey prices have risen sharply in recent years. Also, bees are in great demand for the pollination of certain crops. Illustrating the upsurge in bee stealing is the fact that in California 300 colonies were purloined during 1972, whereas rustlers made off with almost 3,000 colonies there this past year.

Child Criminals

◆ A Scotland Yard study reveals that schoolchildren in Britain increasingly are becoming involved in serious crime, especially burglary. It was found that more than half of the burglaries committed in London during 1975 were the work of children between eleven and fifteen years of age. Comments London’s Daily Mail: “The Yard fears they could grow up to produce a state of lawlessness which would make the present crime rate seem insignificant.” The present crime wave among children of school age is said to be worrying police chiefs throughout Britain.

More Durable Mud Bricks

◆ Half of earth’s inhabitants reportedly live in houses that they themselves build with mud, generally using sun-dried bricks. But these homes are not very durable, since the bricks erode and rains ultimately wash them away. Recently, though, British engineers produced an improved mud brick, one very resistant to wind and water. They discovered that a much more durable mud brick can be made by mixing lime with Asian and African soils. It was suggested that likely the new brick would ease the housing shortage in developing lands while not adding much to construction costs.

Life After Death

◆ A poll carried out by West Germany’s Allensbacher Institute of Public Opinion reveals that the percentage of people in that country who believe in some form of life after death is lower now than it was twenty years ago. Forty-two percent of the populace held such views two decades ago, but the figure has dropped to 36 percent today. The poll also shows that fewer West German men than women believe in life after death.

Poisonous Crabs

◆ Most crabs may be eaten without imperiling a person’s health. However, John S. Garth of the University of Southern California has discovered some half-dozen species that are very poisonous when eaten. All of these are said to exist in remote regions of the Pacific, and they have bright colors and marks. So, persons living elsewhere need not eliminate all crabs from their menus. Nevertheless, Garth urges warnings in the press, and the journal BioScience quotes him as saying: “People who live off the reefs​—food gatherers, sailors, even servicemen from crashed aircraft or wrecked ships, who have to catch sea creatures for food—​must be made aware of this hitherto unsuspected danger.”

Who Decides?

◆ James Dawson, senior vice-president of the National City Bank, Cleveland, Ohio, states that most family purchase decisions are dominated by wives. There are exceptions, however. These include deciding on such things as life insurance, the family automobile, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes.

Ulcers and Coffee

◆ Ulcer patients may not find decaffeinated coffee any more soothing than regular coffee. This was indicated in a study undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania. Both types of coffee were shown to increase the secretion of stomach acid. However, the secretion was lower when caffeine was given alone in amounts equaling that present in regular coffee. This suggested that an unknown coffee ingredient may account for the higher levels of stomach acid in persons who have ulcers.

‘Haunting’ Cats?

◆ It is reported that there are two stray cats for every resident of tiny Yaku Shima Island in southern Japan. Just let the smell of cooking fish fill and dozens of feline invaders come streaming into the home, hoping to carry off a meal. Nevertheless, because of superstition, nothing is being done to curb the stray-cat population. The islanders say, ‘If you kill a cat, its spirit will haunt you forever.’ In other lands, cows and monkeys are viewed as sacred, and so are allowed to eat freely even when vast numbers of humans are going hungry. Does it make sense?

Habits of the Long-Lived

◆ A University of California study reveals that certain habits are common to persons enjoying long life. Changing Times cites these as: “Eight hours of sleep for men, seven for women; a good breakfast daily, followed by two nutritional meals at regular times; no snacking; regular exercise, usually in a sport; moderation in alcohol; no smoking and good control of weight.”

Was There an Earth-Wide Flood?

The quick-frozen carcasses of tens of thousands of animals, including huge mammoths, have been unearthed in the far north. What brought their sudden death? Was it the earth-wide flood of which the Bible speaks?

Read the evidence in the 192-page book Is the Bible Really the Word of God? Only 25 cents.

Please send, postpaid, the book Is the Bible Really the Word of God? I enclose 25c.

God’s Kingdom Is a Government

Did you know that, when you pray as Christ taught, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven,’ you are praying for a real government? It is true.

Learn how this government of God will bring righteous conditions on earth, just as God has purposed. Read God’s Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached. This 416-page hardbound book is only 50 cents, postpaid.

Please send the book God’s Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached; also the gift booklet A Secure Future​—How You Can Find It. Enclosed is 50c.