Yearbook—1997

Title Page/Publishers’ Page

1997 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Containing Report for the Service Year of 1996

“Teach me to do your will.”

That earnest prayer, recorded at Psalm 143:10, is our yeartext for 1997. It should be the fervent desire of each one of us to be taught by Jehovah so that we really learn how to do, not our own will, but the will of God.

[Picture Credit Lines on page 2]

Picture credits: Page 33 background: NASA photo. Page 33 globe: Drawing based on NASA photo. Page 167 Amazon River: Abril Imagens/João Ramid.

Index

3 Highlights of reports from around the world

33 Worldwide report for 1996 service year

Acts of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Modern Times:

67 Benin

125 Brazil

209 Micronesia

253 A Letter From the Governing Body

Jehovah’s Witnesses—1997 Yearbook Report

JESUS CHRIST had completed his earthly ministry. He had trained his followers for a work unlike anything that they had done before. They had observed as he witnessed about God and His purpose wherever he found people—by the seashore, on a mountainside, along the road, at places of business, in the temple area, and in private homes. He was, indeed, Jehovah’s “faithful and true witness.” (Rev. 3:14) He had also sent out his disciples by twos to get experience in this work of witnessing.

Then, before ascending to heaven, Jesus said to them: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) What a gigantic assignment! How could they possibly do it? As Jesus stated, Jehovah’s spirit would be a vital factor.

With the backing of holy spirit, their witnessing quickly reached people in Mesopotamia, southern Europe, and North Africa. But more was to come—much more! Jesus had foretold that at the conclusion of the system of things, when the Messianic Kingdom of God was established in heaven, ‘this good news of the kingdom would be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.’ (Matt. 24:14) The facts show that this is exactly what is being done.

This past service year, a Kingdom witness was given in 233 lands, island groups, and territories. The report shows that 1,140,621,714 hours were devoted to this activity. This is the fifth consecutive year in which over a billion hours were devoted to this vital activity.

There were, on an average, 5,167,258 who shared each month in giving a public witness about God’s Kingdom. A peak of 5,413,769 participated at some time during the year. Each month, on an average, 645,509 were able to share in the ministry as pioneers. As the chart on pages 34-41 shows, the ingathering of sheeplike ones continues to progress. While the growth in some lands was less than in former years, in other places there were outstanding increases. Rwanda reported 61 percent; Albania, 52 percent. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, and Russia showed increases of more than 20 percent.

Equipment for Use in the Ministry

The foremost instrument used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in their ministry is the Holy Bible. They use many Bible translations. But with a view to helping people gain an accurate knowledge of God’s Word, they give special emphasis to distribution of the New World Translation. Year after year, that translation is being made available in more languages. At present it is being circulated (either the Christian Greek Scriptures or the whole Bible) in 27 languages (in addition to English Braille and Portuguese Braille).

This past year, the entire New World Translation was released in Norwegian. Announcement of this at the district conventions in Norway was met with thunderous applause and tears of joy. For Norwegian Witnesses, it was the highlight of the year. A revised edition of the French translation including all the features of the Reference Bible was also published. And instead of putting their former French edition on the shelf, tens of thousands of Witnesses in France sent those Bibles as gifts to their brothers and sisters in ten other countries, Haiti and lands in Africa, where French is widely used. Additionally, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was released in Sesotho and Xhosa, and the translation has been completed in two more African languages. To date, 91,403,319 copies of the New World Translation have been printed in its various languages.

For use in the ministry as well as for personal study, other valuable publications are also provided. During 1996 the book The Secret of Family Happiness and the brochure What Does God Require of Us? were released. Initial preparation of such publications is only a beginning however. To reach the world field, translation is required. During the service year, translation work was completed on 206 books and 226 brochures, involving a total of 164 languages. The book Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life (released in 1995) is now in 119 languages. The Family Happiness book is already available in 86 languages. The brochure Enjoy Life on Earth Forever! (released in 1982) has been printed in 237 languages; and the new brochure, What Does God Require of Us?, is already being distributed in 113 languages, with another 99 on the way.

During the year, 18 new languages were added to the list of those in which the Society publishes Bible literature. The tracts and brochures already printed in these languages are helping to make the Kingdom message available to some of the smaller language groups in the area of the former Soviet Union, many in Southeast Asia, more in Africa, some in the Americas—a total of over 25,000,000 people. The effect that receiving the literature in their mother tongue has on many of these people is marvelous to behold.

Videos are also used in our modern-day ministry, and mention should be made here of what was done to supply these. They are being used to strengthen faith in the Bible, to teach basic Bible truths, and to acquaint people with the organization behind the name Jehovah’s Witnesses. To date, some 7,000,000 have been produced in 35 languages. In addition to the studios in the United States and the related facilities already in use in Denmark and the Netherlands, an audio/video recording and editing suite was installed in Japan this past year to care for Asian languages.

The Watchtower and Awake! magazines, of course, are published regularly. A mammoth, sustained effort is involved in doing the research, the writing, the compiling and designing, then the translating and printing in order to make The Watchtower available simultaneously in 113 languages (plus 12 other languages later) and Awake! in 55 languages (plus another 25 later). The effort is well worthwhile because the principal objective of these magazines is to point people to the only sure hope for the future—God’s Kingdom. This past year, these magazines were printed and distributed to an extent far beyond what was ever done in the past.

Pressroom production in the United States rose by 7.1 percent, to 235,981,300 magazines during the service year. Britain reports that in its printery, production figures for the magazines increased by 34 percent in the past two years. With more emphasis on extending the witnessing work into business territory and on the streets, zealous Kingdom publishers there are finding great joy in the response they are getting from many to whom they witness.

The branch in Germany had never before printed as many books and magazines as they did during the past service year. Books totaled nearly 18,500,000—a 46-percent increase over 1995. Magazine production was more than 169,500,000—a 35-percent increase. Of the 3.7 million copies of each issue printed in Germany, approximately 1.3 million copies of The Watchtower and Awake! are in Russian, to contribute to the intense witness being given in that part of the world field.

In Ukraine, 2,073,011 magazines were placed in the hands of truth-hungry people during April. That marked a 68-percent increase in magazine distribution in just three months. On the island of Malta, magazine distribution in May was two and a half times as great as during the previous May. In many parts of the earth, the brothers set aside a date for a very special magazine day. Some of them had three or four meetings for field service that day. They were excited about the results.

A very important part of the ministry involves following through on interest found. This is reflected in the fact that 421,827,954 return visits were made last year, and on an average, 4,855,030 home Bible studies were conducted each month. Some of these studies, using the book Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, were conducted several times a week. A nurse in Tanzania, East Africa, though not able to cover a full chapter at each study, nevertheless had daily studies until she had completed the book and was ready for baptism. From Siberia, to which at one time our brothers in Russia were exiled because of their faith, comes this report: “There is such a great desire for Bible studies that the brothers are not able to handle all of them. They therefore have to put interested ones on a waiting list, and they ask them to attend the congregation meetings in the meantime.”

A Night to Remember

The most outstanding event on the Christian calendar each year is the Memorial of Christ’s death. In 1996 this fell on April 2, after sundown. The Memorial is, first of all, the occasion when the “little flock,” those who are spirit-anointed followers of Christ, partake of the symbolic bread and wine in obedience to the command given by the Lord on the last night of his life as a human. (Luke 12:32; 1 Cor. 11:23-25) But the “other sheep” are also present as observers. (John 10:16) They are deeply appreciative of Christ’s ransom sacrifice and the fact that it makes possible for them the prospect of eternal life on earth as subjects of God’s Kingdom. They urge others to attend with them in order to learn about this marvelous provision or to deepen their appreciation for it. As a result, this year there were 12,921,933 present for the Memorial, only 8,757 of whom were partakers.

In the 10,643 congregations in Mexico, attendance totaled 1,518,156. In the 6,526 congregations in Brazil, 1,075,039 were present. In the United States, attendance reached 2,024,476. In Cuba, 145,337; Malawi, 105,630.

Early in March a special campaign was organized in Albania to locate interested ones and then to arrange for the Memorial program to be held in locations where they would be able to attend it. Although there were only 15 congregations and 14 isolated groups in the country, the Memorial was held in 50 locations. A congregation of 45 publishers had 400 at the Memorial at one place; and at the book study location, another 110 attended. So in this country where 773 publishers were then reporting, there were 6,523 at the Memorial—more than eight times the number of publishers!

“Messengers of Godly Peace” Assemble

In all parts of the world, Jehovah’s servants look forward to their annual district conventions. If they cannot assemble locally, they endeavor to cross national borders in order to be on hand for this annual spiritual feast. The series of conventions that began this past year featured the theme “Messengers of Godly Peace.” How true are the words: “Abundant peace belongs to those loving your law”!—Ps. 119:165.

In many lands two or three conventions accommodated everyone. In both the United States and Brazil, upwards of 190 conventions were needed in order to provide room for all who wanted to attend. Mexico arranged for 181.

An international convention was held during July in Prague, Czech Republic. Three members of the Governing Body were present to speak to the more than 21,000 who had gathered—most of them from the Czech Republic, but also several thousand from Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United States. Two more international conventions were held in Poland—one in Lodz and the other in Warsaw—and those who were present were keenly aware that Jehovah’s spirit was manifest. Another two international conventions were held in Tallinn, Estonia, in August. These were attended by Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Russians, along with others—from a total of 15 lands. A local newspaper observed: “Tallinn is literally filled with the worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” And one of the convention delegates added: “This was a tiny foregleam of what the new world will bring.”

Along with the others in Eastern Europe, an international convention was planned for Bucharest, Romania. But the Romanian Orthodox Church bitterly opposed it. Inflammatory posters appeared throughout Bucharest. Newspapers, TV, and radio were used to fan the flames. Hotel managers were induced to break agreements. The government and the stadium management yielded, and the stadium contract was canceled. Through it all, the brothers were sustained by such inspired promises as those found at Isaiah 51:7 and Jeremiah 50:34. But would they be able to benefit from the convention program?

Well, months before, when arrangements were being made for a district convention in Budapest, Hungary, the brothers did not plan to rent the huge stadium that they had used in 1991, when delegates came from 35 lands. They thought that this time the stadium would be much too large. Nevertheless, the manager offered it at a price that was so attractive that the brothers rented it anyway, having in mind that they could use just part of it. However, as difficulties escalated in Romania, directions were given to the branch in Hungary to plan for an international convention in Budapest. How providential that they already had a stadium that could hold such a crowd! A headline in the biggest evening newspaper in Budapest declared: “BUCHAREST: No—BUDAPEST: YES. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Nép Stadium.” In Budapest, 23,893 from 12 countries attended. Two more conventions in Hungary boosted the total attendance to 36,326.

During this time, there were further developments in Romania. In recounting what took place, Theodore Jaracz, a member of the Governing Body, said: “We can only say that Jehovah’s heavenly chariot was on the move. It can adjust its speed; it can adjust its movement, change directions, at any time. The problem is for the earthly organization to keep pace with it!” (Ezek. 1:4-28) Just one week before the convention was scheduled to begin, the brothers were able to sign a contract for a stadium in Cluj-Napoca, in the northwest part of Romania. Travel plans for thousands of delegates had to be changed. Accommodations for 6,000 had to be obtained. All the work of preparation had to be compressed into a few days. And then with just two days to go, a second convention site was obtained, in Brasov, in the east-central part of the country. The preparations made could only have been done with Jehovah’s spirit. The outcome? At the Cluj-Napoca convention, there was a peak attendance of 22,004; in Brasov there were 12,862, including 1,056 from Bulgaria. The total baptized was 1,631.

Back in Bucharest the church called for a protest rally on the opening day of the convention, but only the police and one elderly man showed up—and our brothers gave them literature and a good witness. As stated at Jeremiah 1:19: “They will be certain to fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for ‘I am with you,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘to deliver you.’”

An Ongoing Fight for Freedom

In the first century, the apostles and other disciples often met with severe opposition. When this occurred in Philippi, in what is now Greece, the apostle Paul and his associates dealt with the matter in such a way that they ‘legally established the good news.’ (Phil. 1:7) Following that precedent, in 1936 the Society established a Legal Department at its world headquarters. Under the direction of the Publishing Committee of the Governing Body, the Society’s Legal Department, now located at the Watchtower Educational Center in Patterson, New York, and assisted by legal departments in a number of other branches, continues to aid Jehovah’s people in a modern-day fight for religious freedom.

Legal battles for religious freedom are in response to Satan’s efforts to stop the spreading of the good news either by outright frontal attacks or by more subtle encroachment on the personal lives of those sharing in this work. (Rev. 12:17) The freedom to obey God’s Word in abstaining from blood, to rear children in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah, and to remain neutral as to the world’s political affairs has a bearing on our ability to share in the witness work. All these matters have been the subject of legal dispute. During the 1996 service year, we saw abundant evidence of Jehovah’s blessing on our fight for these freedoms.

For instance, after nearly five years of litigation in lower courts, the Japan Supreme Court handed down its first decision on the issue of freedom of worship in connection with public education. This unanimous decision, which is reported on in the November 1, 1996, Watchtower, will benefit all of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan.

The United States was the scene of significant legal battles in state appellate courts. In August 1994, claiming concern that a child might be raised without a mother, a hospital in Connecticut obtained a court order at 3:30 a.m. to force a blood transfusion on Nelly Vega. The argument of her husband and of her attorney that her bleeding had stopped and that she had clearly stated her refusal of blood was pushed aside. However, on April 16, 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the transfusion order “violated [Sister] Vega’s common-law right to bodily self-determination.” That ruling did not come in time to prevent the transfusion, but it will benefit others. In Florida, in a case involving Tina Harrell, an appeal court rebuked both a hospital and a trial court for challenging her refusal of blood transfusions.

The island of Puerto Rico was the scene of another appellate court victory for Jehovah’s people. Luz Quiles, admitted to a hospital for elective surgery, was forcibly restrained, two nurses and a doctor holding her down and giving her a blood transfusion against her wishes. A lawsuit was filed in her behalf. On April 1, 1996, the San Juan Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that her constitutional right of freedom of worship and privacy guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico had indeed been violated.

In a child-custody dispute, a trial court judge in the United States had ruled that the three-and-a-half-year-old daughter of Teresa Palmer could not attend meetings or share in the field ministry until the age of seven. But the Nebraska Supreme Court has now set aside those restrictions on religion. The Supreme Court of Norway has also upheld the right of Witness parents in child-custody disputes. On March 29, 1996, that court made it clear that the decision regarding which parent should be awarded custody ought to be based on the best interests of the child, not on the court’s subjective opinions about the religious beliefs of the parents. Additionally, in Belgium the Regional Court of Mons ruled that an 11-year-old had the right and capacity to follow through with her personal choice of adhering to the faith and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In another child-custody decision, in Germany, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm rejected the argument that the religious teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses would hinder the growth of the child. In yet another case, one originating in Austria, appeal was made to the European Court of Human Rights in behalf of Ingrid Hoffmann. A notable legal precedent was established, and Sister Hoffmann now has sole custody of her children.

In Colombia, Jehovah’s Witnesses for the first time gained official recognition as a religion. This was important because without it recent changes in the law would have made it impossible for us to obtain visas for missionaries or to receive tax exemption. In a matter of similar importance, the Society’s branch in Nicaragua acquired International Mission status during the service year. Good news also came from Tanzania, where we were officially registered on October 5, 1995, as “The Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses of Tanzania.”

An unusual six-year legal fight came to a positive conclusion in Brazil during this service year. In November 1990, Brazil’s National Institute of Social Insurance notified the Society’s branch office that henceforth the 853 (now 1,150) members of the Bethel family there would not be viewed as religious ministers and so would come under the country’s labor laws. A long legal battle began. Happily, on June 7, 1996, the Judicial Advisory of the Office of the Attorney General in Brasília issued a decision upholding the position of members of the Bethel family as religious ministers working as full-time volunteers.

Educating government officials about the true nature of the work and activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses has proved to be an important aspect of the fight for freedom in modern times. The Watchtower of May 1, 1996, has been significant in this regard, explaining Jesus’ direction to “pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” (Luke 20:25) After receiving that issue of The Watchtower, government officials in Ukraine told the brothers: “Very often we had discussions on this subject and tried to understand you. Now we have read your magazine carefully, and your position regarding civilian service is set out very clearly.”

At times, corrective information needs to be published in order to respond to campaigns of misinformation initiated by enemies of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In France more than 11,000,000 copies of a four-page tract entitled Jehovah’s Witnesses—What You Should Know were distributed throughout the country in May and June 1996, resulting in many positive comments from the public. It was also extensively distributed in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Turning on the floodlight of publicity has often proved to be of great use in our modern-day fight for freedom. After unsuccessful attempts in the Singapore court system to uphold the rights of our brothers, the Governing Body approved the distribution of a special four-page tract to select government officials throughout the world to inform them of the unjust treatment of our brothers in Singapore. The cover of the tract, entitled Religious Persecution in Singapore, displayed a picture of one of the so-called “criminals” who were arrested for possessing Watch Tower literature. Under the picture of our faithful, smiling sister was the caption, “A 71-year-old Witness tells judge: ‘I’m no threat to this government.’ Yet, she was sentenced to prison.”

In Eritrea, situated along the Red Sea, our brothers, while not openly brutalized, have lost jobs, housing, and government benefits because of their neutral stand. After The New York Times published an article touting Eritrea’s economic development as an “African Success Story,” the Society’s Legal Department reminded them of the subheading in their article entitled “Jehovah’s Witnesses Suffer Reprisals” and asked if the country could truly be called a “success story.” In response, The New York Times of May 7, 1996, printed the Society’s letter, and the Times itself gave it the bold heading, “Call Eritrea a Failure in Respecting Rights.”

As can be seen from this report, evidence abounds that Satan the Devil tries every legal and illegal means conceivable to interfere with the activity of Jehovah’s servants. May all of us persist in ‘wrestling against those wicked spirit forces’ that seek to keep mankind from hearing the good news about God’s Kingdom. (Eph. 6:10-18) As we do so, how comforting the words of the apostle Paul are at Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who will be against us?” The answer is: No one that really matters, because no one can thwart Jehovah’s purpose.

Willing to Serve Where There Is Greater Need

During the past year, those graduating from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead were sent out to help with the work of spiritual harvesting in many fruitful fields. Couples were assigned to 12 countries in Africa, 8 lands in the Western Hemisphere (mostly in Central and South America), 3 countries in Eastern Europe, and 3 in Asia.

Other pioneers made themselves available to serve wherever they were needed in their own countries. In the United States, this past year, 1,172 willing pioneers helped to witness in areas not assigned to congregations. Another 1,236 assisted in witnessing in seldom-worked territory in the 294 congregations that had made special request to the Society for help.

In Britain, many pioneers have realized that fruitful missionary fields are in their own backyard. These include immigrants who have moved from other lands in recent years. Pioneers in Britain have been busy learning 28 languages in order to care for this truly international field.

School for Branch Committee Members Inaugurated

When the Watchtower Educational Center at Patterson, New York, was being designed, plans included facilities in which to train Branch Committee members. A special school curriculum was designed for these brothers. The first class of 24 students was enrolled on Friday, November 24, 1995. On the following Monday, classroom sessions began.

During the past service year, this school had three classes, each one lasting for eight weeks. Training was given to brothers from 60 of the Society’s branches. These branches supervise the ministry of more than 2,825,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses and have in their assigned territory over 45 percent of the world’s population. So the effects of the school quickly reached many parts of the earth.

Heavy responsibilities rest upon the shoulders of Branch Committee members. According to the principle stated by Jesus and recorded at Luke 12:48b, more than usual is demanded of spirit-appointed men who have been put in charge of much. For this reason periodic training sessions for them are very beneficial.

What are some of the responsibilities that come under the supervision of these brothers? Caring for Bethel family members and Bethel homes. Oversight of office work, which includes handling correspondence, literature orders, service matters, and translation of the Society’s publications. Printing operations—some small and some on a large scale. Shipping literature, magazines, and other supplies to congregations. The Kingdom-preaching and disciple-making work done by congregation publishers, pioneers, and missionaries. Making arrangements for traveling overseers to visit congregations as well as isolated groups on a regular basis. Planning for circuit assemblies and district conventions.

During the school course, all of this and much more, involving both branch procedure and field organization, are thoroughly discussed. Bible teachings constitute a substantial part of the course. God’s law and Scriptural principles governing all aspects of a Christian’s life are reviewed. Each Saturday morning, help is given to the brothers with a view to their improving their ability as public speakers. Experienced brothers from the headquarters organization and the field as well as members of the Governing Body make up the teaching staff. Evenings are devoted to homework and preparation of assignments for class presentation.

The wives who accompany their husbands to Patterson benefit from the association and the assigned work they do in the Bethel Home and other departments. They get to see how things are handled at the headquarters of the Society. Once each week, in the late afternoon on Friday, they join their husbands in the school’s lecture hall to hear a discourse, which is usually given by a member of the Governing Body. These spiritually oriented presentations have proved to be most encouraging and practical and have been really appreciated.

Branch Committee members have found the school course to be refreshing, stimulating, and wholesome. Expressing appreciation for what they have been taught, one class said: “Having this school at the Watchtower Educational Center impressed upon us the wonderful advancement of Jehovah’s organization and enlarged our vision of the worldwide preaching and teaching work under way.” Regarding highlights of the course, a number of students observed that ‘an outstanding feature has been the special effort on the part of the Governing Body members to come up from Brooklyn and teach us both in class sessions and by giving special lectures. This attention is heartwarming. It gives proof of their deep interest in the welfare of God’s people all over the world.’

The second class of the school expressed their resolve as follows: “We are determined to apply what we have learned by word and by example in order to maintain a smoothly functioning international theocratic organization, all to the praise of Jehovah God and to the spiritual advancement of his people.” When the third class concluded their studies, they reviewed the benefits of the two-month course and said: “The school has enriched us very much spiritually and at the same time motivated us always to prove worthy of the responsibility entrusted to us.”

Branch Committee members from each class gave the headquarters Bethel family brief reports on the progress of the Kingdom work in their respective territories. The Bethel complexes at Brooklyn, Patterson, and Wallkill (also Georgetown, Ont., Canada) were tied in for these programs. The information and experiences from various parts of the world provided striking evidence of Jehovah’s blessing upon the faithful and zealous efforts of his people. The reports also illustrated the self-sacrificing love as well as the unity of thought and action on the part of the whole association of our brothers.—1 Pet. 2:17; 5:9.

As the service year ended, another class was in session. This one included representatives from 47 of the Society’s branches.

Benefits of the Ministerial Training School

The past service year has also seen great strides made in connection with the Ministerial Training School. There were 85 classes conducted in 30 different lands, with students enrolled from 62 countries. The curriculum was updated, and more instructors were trained to handle future assignments.

As the Kingdom activity increases year by year, more congregations are formed. To care for them, there is a need for qualified elders and ministerial servants who are willing to be used where they are especially needed, as well as for more traveling overseers to visit the congregations. The Ministerial Training School is helping to equip brothers to fill these needs.

The branch in Ecuador reports that some of those trained in that country are ‘serving where there is a need for maturity, and others are assigned to isolated areas where new congregations have been established.’ In Costa Rica “congregations have become spiritually stronger because these brothers are taking the lead in all features of the preaching work.” Graduates in El Salvador “serve as examples to others,” and their training has “enabled them to be better teachers.” In Mexico, where 466 congregations were established this past service year, a report states that “graduates are very useful in helping to organize the work in congregations and in supporting the activities in the field ministry.” Congregations in Poland that have graduates assigned are impressed by “their complete engagement in the service and the supportive influence that graduates have on the congregations.”

In the Far East, those sent from Malaysia to the Philippines for training carry on in their home country and are “devoted and conscientious in fulfilling their assignment.” It is noteworthy that they have improved in their speaking ability. Barbados, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad, as well as Guyana and French Guiana, are all benefiting from the fine service of Ministerial Training School graduates.

In Bolivia, almost half of the traveling overseers are graduates of the school. When the Philippines branch needed more circuit overseers, they drew on available qualified men who had gone through early classes of the school. The same is true in other lands.

Heartfelt expressions on the part of various classes of the school reflect how greatly this provision is appreciated. Graduates in Peru said that the course ‘equipped them to render sacred service of higher quality.’ A class of students in the United States asked themselves, in line with what is written at Psalm 116:12, “What shall [we] repay to Jehovah for all his benefits to [us]?” Their answer in part was, “It is our determination to be loving and caring shepherds, zealous evangelizers and skillful teachers, to the benefit of our brothers.”

Single brothers who have served as elders or ministerial servants for a minimum of two consecutive years, who are between the ages of 23 and 50, who are in good health, who really want to serve Kingdom interests and their brothers wherever they are needed, and who are otherwise qualified may be invited to the school. In many lands, more young brothers are making it a goal to qualify for the school. They give evidence that they are taking to heart the words at Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Remember, now, your Grand Creator in the days of your young manhood.”

Building to Promote True Worship

Construction of buildings has become a prominent activity associated with true worship. In 1512 B.C.E., at Jehovah’s direction the nation of Israel built a portable tabernacle for use in connection with their worship of Jehovah. But it was not a meeting place in which the nation gathered for instruction. They assembled out in the open. About a thousand years later, synagogues were built as meeting places. Early Christians at first met in private homes. However, in order to carry out the assignment of preaching and teaching that God’s Word sets out for true worshipers in our day, it has proved necessary to have offices and printeries along with required support facilities, also to provide large Assembly Halls and smaller Kingdom Halls. This has involved building work, and there was much of that done this past year.

During the 1996 service year, the Society was building new facilities or enlarging existing ones for branches or for translation/service offices in 37 countries. Some of the larger projects were in Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Japan, France, Spain, South Africa, the United States, Venezuela, and Australia. Preliminary work was being done on building projects for 22 lands. Besides this, the Society’s Engineering Offices and construction teams were helping with work on Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, and missionary homes in many parts of the world where there was special need.

During the year, construction was being done on new Assembly Halls in such places as Santa Cruz, Bolivia; Madrid, Spain; and Dakar, Senegal. Two Assembly Hall projects are well under way in the United States, and five more are getting started. Although the new Assembly Hall in Maputo, Mozambique, was not yet completed, it was used for a district convention during July, attended by 1,938, and for another convention in August, attended by 10,040. This year also saw the dedication of an Assembly Hall in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, one in Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire, and a second hall in Guatemala. The Assembly Hall completed in Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, has overflow facilities that make it suitable for district conventions of modest size. The practical design of the new Assembly Hall in Nouméa, New Caledonia, includes three Kingdom Halls, which are already being used on a regular basis by six congregations.

In Japan, although there were strong antireligious feelings as a result of cult-related terrorism, Jehovah’s Witnesses were able to build an Assembly Hall in Tochigi, not far from the emperor’s villa. After the work was completed, groups from various local government offices toured the premises. The officials who brought them said that they wanted the others to see for themselves that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not like the other religions. What makes them different? An indication is found in what John Barr, a member of the Governing Body, said during the dedication of the Tochigi and Hokkaido Assembly Halls in 1996. He proposed a resolution to use those halls “to further Bible instruction and education for living in harmony with the divine principles outlined in God’s Word.”

In many places the building of modest but well designed Kingdom Halls was given high priority this past year. Twenty-seven more were completed in the former territory of East Germany. Thus far, 47 have been built in Ukraine, and another 56 are under way. Many more Kingdom Halls are needed in Russia. The increase in the number of Witnesses there is very rapid, but about 85 percent of the congregations under the Russia branch do not have permanent meeting places. In Zimbabwe, where there are some 800 congregations, it has been necessary for many of these to meet out in the open. This has caused some newly interested ones to hold back from attending. But with the help of three Regional Building Committees, the number of Kingdom Halls in the country has increased to 37. As a result, in places where there used to be one congregation, there are now three or four congregations meeting in a hall. Obviously, many more halls are needed.

Poland reports the dedication of 64 Kingdom Halls this year! In Slovakia, the building or the reconstructing of buildings to provide 95 Kingdom Halls was truly outstanding. Some officials in Slovakia have been very cooperative. In one case, however, a mayor declared that as long as he was mayor, Jehovah’s Witnesses would never have a Kingdom Hall in his city. Well, about half a year later he was removed from office, and the new administration reversed his decision. Yes, our brothers rejoiced in the evidence of Jehovah’s blessing!—Zech. 4:6.

Memorial attendance in Togo is about four times the number of publishers. More than two Bible studies are being conducted per publisher. And there is a very great need for Kingdom Halls in which to meet. To help fill that need with suitable buildings, the Society has acquired a molding press to enable the brothers to produce their own stabilized earthen bricks and another press for making roofing tiles. The first of these halls has been completed, and more are under way.

In a few instances, it seemed that the only way to build in a particular location was with international cooperation. This was the case at Popondetta, Papua New Guinea, where both a missionary home and a Kingdom Hall were needed. Popondetta can be reached only by boat or plane; most materials had to be shipped in. International volunteers who know the building trades came from Australia. Local publishers, including young ones and sisters, gave of themselves. As they worked together, ties of international brotherhood were made firm. Sand from a riverbed was put through a sieve to remove larger stones. Then it was measured into buckets. A line of volunteers passed at least 27,000 bucket loads of sand, cement, and water from hand to hand into the cement mixers. Gradually the buildings took shape. When the time came for testing the new sound system and the sound of Kingdom Melodies filled the open-sided Kingdom Hall, many were overcome with emotion and their tears flowed freely as they stood in awe. Then up went the yeartext; next, the Kingdom Hall sign. In June, 362 gathered in this hall for an assembly—evidence that there is a large field for harvesting in this area where there is at present only one congregation.

Some of the building projects that involved printeries, offices, and Bethel homes for use by the Society were completed, and dedication programs were held during the year.

Early in the service year, on September 18, there was an unusual dedication program at the world headquarters, a program that reflected the rapid international expansion of the entire organization. The time had come for inauguration of the new 30-story Bethel residence in Brooklyn. It was decided that it would be appropriate to include in this program the dedication of 22 other buildings. Eighteen of them were residence buildings that had been renovated or newly constructed and were being used to house the headquarters Bethel family, two were buildings that had been erected for maintaining vehicles, and two others were large factory buildings. It was an enjoyable evening as the speakers reviewed evidences of Jehovah’s leadings and his blessing on what had been done. Those who heard the program were assembled not only in Brooklyn but also at the Society’s facilities in Patterson and Wallkill, New York, and in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. Details are found in The Watchtower of April 15, 1996.

There are 5,581 volunteers who serve at the world headquarters on a regular basis; all of these are members of the Order of Special Full-Time Servants. All together, there are 16,966 Bethel family members around the globe. Housing is provided for them in the Society’s facilities.

Dedication programs were also held at some of the Society’s branches. The first of these was in South America.

PARAGUAY: During the 30 years since the first branch dedication in Paraguay, the number of Witnesses in that country had grown from about 500 to over 5,000—this in spite of a 12-year ban on their activity. New branch facilities were needed. To fill that need, a complex of seven buildings was dedicated on January 13, 1996, at a location about six miles [10 km] from Asunción, the capital. In attendance were many longtime servants of Jehovah, including missionaries who had formerly served in Paraguay and other visitors from abroad.

In his dedication talk, Lloyd Barry, of the Governing Body, discussed the handiwork of the Master Builder, Jehovah God. Mankind needs to learn about him; it is our work to help them. After pointing out that the new building complex would be used to support that work, Brother Barry asked: “Do you want to give it to Jehovah?” The audience heartily agreed.

IRELAND: The program for dedicating new branch facilities in Ireland was held on May 4, 1996. For over 100 years, there have been preachers of the good news in Ireland. But the past decade has seen especially rapid growth. There are now some 4,400 publishers in 114 congregations in Ireland. To care for these, new branch facilities have been built in a beautiful rural setting about 20 miles [30 km] south of Dublin, on the edge of the village of Newcastle, County Wicklow. The complex comprises three linked buildings—a 20-room residence, modern offices along with kitchen and laundry facilities, and space for vehicle maintenance and for shipping literature.

Willing volunteers provided all the building skills needed to do the work. Workers from abroad were joined by many local brothers and sisters who willingly exerted themselves in what for them was a new facet of Kingdom service. Every congregation in Ireland had a share in the work. Witnesses coming from distant congregations left their homes early in the morning so as to be on-site ready to work at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, and then they worked a full eight-hour day in construction. No one complained about weather conditions or work assignments. They just willingly got on with the work.—Ps. 110:3.

Gerrit Lösch, of the Governing Body, gave the dedication talk, discussing prophecies from Isaiah foretelling restoration of God’s people and expansion among them. Jehovah’s people in Ireland have shared in the fulfillment of those prophecies in many ways, and they continue to do so.

INDONESIA: Dedication of Bethel facilities was truly a highlight of the service year for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Indonesia. In view of the unfavorable legal status of the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses in this country, any hope for such a provision had long seemed to be only a dream. However, the need for such facilities had been pressing since 1990.

With the permission and kind direction of the Governing Body, new facilities were finally to be built. But the local brothers were unfamiliar with construction work; so how was it going to be done? The answer came by means of our international brotherhood. The Brooklyn Construction Office and the Regional Engineering Office in Australia made the necessary preparations. Up to 100 international servants and volunteers provided the needed expertise. They trained 40 local brothers and worked shoulder to shoulder with them during the two years of construction. Only with Jehovah’s spirit were the brothers able to overcome the many and varied obstacles encountered during the construction project.

Thus, it was an especially happy and historic day for the brothers when John Barr dedicated the new facilities on July 19. Included in the audience of 285 were 118 who were branch representatives or ex-missionaries from overseas. Circuit and district overseers and, of course, the 59 members of the Bethel family were also on hand to share in the joy of the occasion.

With their new facilities, the brothers can work more productively and efficiently in serving the more than 12,000 publishers in this part of the world field. They have much to do because nearly 200 million people speaking various languages are scattered about on thousands of islands in this vast archipelago and are yet to be reached with the Kingdom message.

The dedication day was also one of joyful reunion and association. In the following two days, the delegates enjoyed together the “Messengers of Godly Peace” District Convention. With a member of the Governing Body among them, and with the greetings, special reports, and experiences brought by the overseas guests and delegates, the spirit of international brotherhood permeated the whole convention. Yes, the week of the dedication was truly special for Jehovah’s people and historic for the Kingdom work in this country.

ALBANIA: The preaching of the good news in Albania is done under the general supervision of the Italy branch. But the needs of that part of the field have made it advantageous to have an office right in Albania. Thus, on May 12, 1996, Milton Henschel, a member of the Governing Body, addressed an audience of 1,534 who had gathered in Tiranë, the capital, for the dedication of the two buildings that now serve as the Society’s office and Bethel Home in Albania.

The program began as guests who had come from 14 lands were told: “We thank you for coming to share with us in the dedication of our new Bethel. May Jehovah bless you. Welcome to Albania!” That warm welcome was delivered in the language of each of the visiting groups.

The program afforded an opportunity to get to know longtime faithful servants of Jehovah in Albania as well as newer ones. Among those who related experiences was Linda DiGregorio. She and her husband, Michael, who were missionaries in the Dominican Republic, had planned a visit to his relatives in Albania for the spring of 1992. However, the Governing Body asked them to extend their three-day trip to Albania to two or three months. “This three-day visit turned into our new home!” she said. After the work was legalized in May 1992, they began to preach openly from door to door. “Warm, hospitable people began opening their doors and hearts to the Bible’s message,” Linda explained. “We had just a few tracts and magazines, no Bibles or books. But people responded to the truth. They accepted invitations to the meetings, and some of them are now baptized!”

Five months later, special pioneers from Italy arrived. Others came from Greece. The Society organized a language course to help them. But physical conditions were very difficult. Electricity was scarce and water was limited. It was hard to get food and supplies. They had to stand in line for hours for everything. The 100 special pioneers from abroad have since been joined by 15 Albanian special pioneers. Together, they are now serving in over 40 cities and towns in the country. They are being well supplied with literature, including The Watchtower, semimonthly, in Albanian. As of August 1996, Albania had reached its 40th consecutive peak, with 908 publishers—52 percent more than a year ago. It was particularly exciting for them to welcome 6,523 to the Memorial this past April. There is much to be done in this very productive field.

This is just a small sampling of what has taken place worldwide during the past year. The pace at which it is moving is breathtaking. The work that Jesus Christ foretold is indeed being accomplished, and under his direction it will be successfully completed before the end comes.

[Pictures on page 4]

Over 90 million copies have been printed

[Pictures on page 5]

Translation of books and brochures into 164 languages was done last year

[Pictures on page 6]

Printing and distribution of magazines reached record levels

[Pictures on page 7]

Videos are now being produced in 35 languages

[Pictures on page 12]

1. Audience at Cluj-Napoca, Romania

2, 3. Some of the 1,631 baptized at Cluj-Napoca and Brasov, Romania

4. Enthusiastic crowd at Népstadion, in Hungary

[Pictures on page 20, 21]

School for Branch Committee members is being held at Watchtower Educational Center

1. School building

2. Instructor with students after class

3. School classroom

4. Students going to rooms to study

5. Courtyard

6. A residence building

7. Student relating experiences at morning worship

[Pictures on page 29]

1. Ireland branch

2, 3. Views of Paraguay branch

[Pictures on page 30]

1. Indonesia branch

2. Office in Albania

Worldwide Report: 1996 Grand Totals

Watch Tower Branches: 104

Number of Lands Reporting: 233

Total Congregations: 81,908

Worldwide Memorial Attendance: 12,921,933

Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 8,757

Peak of Publishers in Kingdom Service: 5,413,769

Average Publishers Preaching Each Month: 5,167,258

Percentage of Increase Over 1995: 4.4

Total Number Baptized: 366,579

Average Pioneer Publishers Each Month: 645,509

Total Hours Spent in Field: 1,140,621,714

Average Home Bible Studies Each Month: 4,855,030

During the 1996 service year, the Watch Tower Society spent $60,932,324.26 in caring for special pioneers, missionaries, and traveling overseers in their field service assignments

[Chart on page 34-41]

1996 SERVICE YEAR REPORT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES WORLDWIDE

(See publication)

Worldwide Report

Go Where the People Are

The apostle Peter and some of his associates were experienced fishermen. Yet there were times when they toiled all night without catching anything. On two of such occasions, Jesus told them where to lower the nets. They heeded his direction, and both times they hauled in unusually large numbers of fish. Jesus used these occasions to give the disciples instructions about the ministry. (Luke 5:1-11; John 21:1-17) Through “the faithful and discreet slave,” he continues to give instructions about how to carry out the ministry in the most fruitful manner.—Matt. 24:45-47.

During the past year, all of Jehovah’s Witnesses were urged to take practical steps to reach more people with the good news. First, emphasis was placed on being alert to opportunities to give a witness every day. Then we were counseled that if few people were at home, it would be wise to think seriously about witnessing where people could be found.

In recent months the motto of our brothers in Peru has been: “Go where the people are!” We are witnessing, not to houses, but to people. On Sunday mornings or weekday mornings, so many are not in their homes. Where are they? At their work, in bus and train stations, on the street, at the market, sitting in the park. That is where our brothers go to find them.

In Mexico, house-to-house witnessing continues to be the main avenue of preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom. In the past year, however, as our brothers have reached out to contact people wherever they might be, publishers and pioneers have been appearing at bus stops early in the morning, in hospital waiting rooms, on the streets, in parking lots, in public parks. You can find the Witnesses preaching everywhere and at any time, day or night. One congregation has an arrangement for five daily times when groups go in street work, that is, to bus stops and wherever people tend to gather during the day. They begin at six o’clock in the morning and are finding people who have never talked to Jehovah’s Witnesses before. One man who was approached on his way to work in the morning saw more publishers out when he came home at night; he decided that perhaps he ought to have one of them call at his home.

At first, some publishers were somewhat timid about approaching people in public places. But those who did it began to have good results. A sister in Australia said: “I am a shy, reserved person; in fact, I find it most difficult to speak up about the truth when the opportunity arises. I was encouraged to try other avenues of witnessing; I knew I had to try. I prayed to Jehovah about my concerns and decided to get on with it. But I was still nervous and continued to hold back, and this bothered my conscience.” Finally, on a bus one day, she smiled at a fellow traveler and started talking to her. The next day the sister offered the young woman a tract. When they met a week later, the publisher said she was on her way to conduct a Bible study. To her surprise, the young woman wanted to go along. Soon a study was started with her in the Knowledge book.

Publishers in Argentina realized that some people who did not welcome the Witnesses at their doors were conversing with them on the street. All that was needed was a simple, timely question, such as, “Do you agree with capital punishment?” In another case, a woman who was met on the street had always wanted to talk with the Witnesses, but her husband would not permit it. Away from home she felt free to talk. After a long conversation, she agreed to a Bible study in the home of one of the Witnesses.

Two publishers in the United States approached a parked car and held out the magazines to a young woman seated inside. They relate: “As she reached for the magazines, she burst into tears. We saw that she was reading the Bible. She said she wanted to please God but didn’t know how.” The woman told them: “I’ve been praying for God to send someone who can help.” It was not difficult to start a study with her.

Regarding their efforts to witness in business territory, an enthusiastic witnessing team in New Zealand wrote: “We have called on 650 business places, with the majority of managers and owners, although busy, favorably responding to our visit. A surprising number of them have a Bible at work with them.”

Taking to heart the recommendations given, some brothers in Austria are out witnessing at 5:30 a.m. They go to a place where truck drivers rest overnight close to the border. Many of the trucks are from Eastern Europe, and some of the drivers have never before heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The brothers go equipped with literature in 20 languages, and three or four publishers may place between 50 and 70 magazines in just two hours. Though return visits are difficult, it is hoped that some of the seed will take root and grow.—Eccl. 11:1.

A sister in Italy decided that some of the people who are not at home are on the beach. That is where she met a young man from Senegal. She placed with him the book Mankind’s Search for God. In it she wrote: “My wish is that you will find the true God, the One who taught me and my family to respect men of all races, colors, and languages.” He determined that when he returned to Senegal, he would locate Jehovah’s Witnesses. What a surprise it was for him to learn that while he was away, Jehovah’s Witnesses had been studying with his mother! Soon the whole family was sharing in the study.

A circuit overseer in Peru organized a group to witness at an open-air bus terminal. The place was filled with people. Buses were lined up everywhere. It was easy to approach the police who were on duty, those selling prepared food to travelers, and people in general. One brother climbed aboard an already loaded bus and, with the permission of the driver, held up his two magazines and announced: “I have the latest Watchtower and Awake! magazines for you to read on your journey.” There was a prolonged silence, and then one man in the back said: “I’ll take two of them.” Then another and soon others began calling for the magazines, making modest donations toward the work. The brother asked if any would like someone to call on them at their various destinations. Sure enough, several gladly gave their names and addresses. Loud enough for everyone to hear, one elderly lady said: “Be sure to have someone visit me. I want to understand more of my Bible.”

A publisher in the United States observed that high school students gathered on certain city streets near the school during their lunch hour. A group of publishers prepared well and then proceeded to approach them, with excellent results.

In order to reach certain groups of people, some publishers have learned another language. In the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, two pioneers learned Russian so that they could witness to Russian sailors who spend six months every year fishing off those shores. The pioneers use a speedboat to go out to the larger ships on which the men work.

A pioneer sister in Hawaii volunteered to do airport witnessing. Many were glad to receive literature. On her first trip to the airport, several studies were started. She spoke with two young military men who had just returned from duty in Egypt. One of them said that his mother is a Witness. He came to the Kingdom Hall and agreed to a Bible study. The other soldier had many probing questions because his job exposed him to things that made him wonder about the purpose of life. He too came to the Kingdom Hall and requested a Bible study.

One of the pioneers in Argentina finds it advantageous to use the telephone for witnessing. Each day after she comes home from service, she calls one or two numbers. She relates: ‘One day I called a number and a young girl answered. I asked her if she felt it was possible to trust anyone. Her answer was a curt “No.” I introduced myself and explained that my purpose in calling was to assure her that there are people whom we can trust in spite of world conditions. She insisted that she could not trust anyone, not even her family, including her mother. I began to use the Bible. She said that she had tried to read the Bible but could not understand it. I commented that God and Jesus are interested in people and so are we. We made arrangements to meet at the door of the Kingdom Hall. She did not come. I called her immediately, and she explained that it had been necessary to hospitalize her father and that she had tried to call me. Again we arranged to meet. This time she came and was amazed at the welcome she received, especially from the young Witnesses. She now studies twice a week, is making good progress in the Knowledge book, and comes to all the meetings. An excellent result from a telephone call!’

It continues to be a big challenge to reach people in remote areas of Iceland with the good news. A missionary on the east coast makes good use of the telephone. He travels once every month to visit and conduct studies with a group about 180 miles [300 km] distant. During each visit, he also gives a public talk and conducts the Watchtower Study. These interested ones then have their weekly Bible study by phone. By combining two telephone lines and using phones with a speaker and a microphone, it has been possible for up to five people in three different homes to study simultaneously. When handling the studies by phone, the conductor assigns the answering of the questions before he reads them. They all get much encouragement from studying the Bible in this way. At least six studies are conducted each week.

While caring for her husband who was ill for an extended period, a sister in the Bahamas witnessed by mail. Each morning, she spent some time writing letters to women listed in the telephone directory. She used information from the Reasoning book and offered a free home Bible study. One day, a woman phoned the sister to say that she would appreciate a Bible study very much. The woman said that when she received the letter, she told a coworker that God was telling her that she needed to study the Bible. Despite strong opposition from her mother and from a clergyman, this woman made fine progress. She began attending the meetings regularly, resigned from her church, and has been baptized.

A 79-year-old sister living in a rural area in Japan has serious health problems. But out of gratitude to Jehovah, she is a pioneer. She walks two or three hours every day for health reasons, using a cane or leaning on a buggy to support herself. Along the way, she approaches others in a friendly manner, and she talks to the farmers in the fields. She carefully notes the addresses of interested ones. As a result, she has more than 100 people on her magazine route, places 600 magazines a month, reports around 200 return visits, and conducts three Bible studies.

Some publishers have been able to lower their nets, spiritually speaking, into waters where very little fishing has been done. In Mexico, especially along the mountain ranges (sierras) in the State of Oaxaca, there are territories that are difficult to reach and therefore are rarely worked. Here the language that is spoken is, not Spanish, but the Mixe or the Mazateco dialect. In recent years, some brothers from Tehuacán, Puebla State, started to travel to various towns in this area to witness. Twenty-five pioneers who came to help now live and work in the region, and there are also 15 local regular pioneers. Good results are in evidence because there are now 13 congregations.

A couple who had lived outside their homeland for 28 years took an early retirement and returned to the Philippines to pioneer. Travel from their home in Cavite City to Trece Martires, where there is special need, takes an hour each way. Is it worth the effort? A year and a half ago, there were only 19 publishers in the congregation. The two now conduct 28 Bible studies, and the whole congregation recently reported 98. Fruitful territory indeed!

A good number of our brothers have first worked in areas of special need within their country and then moved to other lands. For example, during the past few years, some 40 brothers (single brothers and sisters, young married couples, and entire families) have moved to Honduras from Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Japan. Many of them transferred from Quebec. Earlier they had moved to Quebec to help, but when the work got very well established in that part of Canada, they began to look for new “fishing grounds.” And in this new field they are having fine results.

Africa

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote: “Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God.” (1 Cor. 2:12) That spirit has truly been evident among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Africa, and it has set them apart from the selfish and turbulent world around them.

The neutrality, impartiality, and love shown by Jehovah’s Witnesses attract people to Jehovah’s Word and his organization. Concerning this, a brother in Zaire writes: “In the village of Monigi, on the outskirts of Goma, Hutu and Tutsi people no longer attend Christendom’s churches, to avoid ethnic attacks from each other while they are inside the church! Since the majority of refugees have returned to Rwanda, the remaining population in the two neighboring villages know that the only place where Hutu and Tutsi gather peacefully is the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Consequently, many of them have asked for a Bible study.”

After 30 years of civil war, Angola is beginning to experience relative peace. Jehovah’s Witnesses are making good use of it to witness about God’s Kingdom. In some areas the response is outstanding. After a four-year interval, a circuit overseer was finally able to visit a certain congregation in the northern province of Uíge. Arrangements were made for a public talk, and the 75 publishers were thrilled to have 794 in attendance! In the south of the country, missionary homes were established in Benguela and Namibe. With 108,394 attending the Memorial, and 28,969 publishers, there is much to do.

A pioneer sister in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was on her way home after field service. At the entrance of a house, a woman was holding her child on her lap. Suddenly, the four-year-old struggled until she got loose and bolted toward our sister with outstretched hand to be greeted. Our sister was unknown to the family, but she seized this opportunity to approach the mother and ask whether they could talk inside. Once the pioneer began to witness about the Kingdom hope, the woman started weeping. Asked for the reason, she revealed that she had been preparing to end her life by taking poison. She had just been praying to God, asking why she had been forsaken, when the child attracted the attention of our sister. The woman proceeded to recount her many problems. Our sister comforted her, and this led right into a Bible study. In spite of family opposition, she is making good progress with the truth.

Stella, a university student in Nigeria, was searching for the truth. After a few years as a Pentecostal, she thought she had found the right religion. She decided to write a book to show that all other religions are false. However, as she made a list of the prominent religions around her, she realized that she did not know much about Jehovah’s Witnesses. “I’ll attend their meetings for three months to find out about them,” she said to herself. That weekend, she went to a circuit assembly. By the end of the program, she began to have doubts about her own religion. The following week she was at the local Kingdom Hall. She also read as many Witness publications as she could find. After her third meeting, she approached one of the congregation elders and said: “Brother, baptize me. I am now one of you.” The brother explained that there were things she had to know before she could be baptized. He then gave her a book to study. Stella read it in two days and then went back to the elder and said: “I have finished the book, brother. Baptize me.” The elder arranged for a sister to study with her, and a few months later, Stella did get baptized.

Our brothers in Mali realize that Christian meetings are among the kindly provisions that God has made for his servants. They want newly interested ones to appreciate that too, so they exert themselves to make the new ones feel comfortable. One of these wrote, saying: “The first time I visited the Kingdom Hall I was really struck by all the happy faces and the love that was shown to me. I came a few minutes late, so I sat down alone. Right away a young couple handed me a Bible and a copy of The Watchtower. After the meeting almost everyone in the Kingdom Hall came up to me and shook my hand and made my stay a most pleasant one. I left the hall with three books—the New World Translation of the Bible, The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, and You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. That very evening I started to read, and I learned for the first time that God’s name is Jehovah.”

At school, in Sierra Leone, Stephen was harassed by his schoolmates because he did not participate in their discussions about sexual immorality and did not engage in fornication. Unknown to him, some schoolmates had written a love letter in his name to a certain girl in school. The girl approached him and said: “I received your letter and I agree, but you have not approached me.” The brother was startled and replied that he had not written anything to her. The very next day, he brought to school his book Questions Young People Ask—Answers That Work. He got the girl and his classmates together and discussed the subject “Sex and Morals” with them. Later on, his classmates tried the same thing again. Our young brother again used the Young People Ask book to reason with them on Christian conduct. Gradually, most of these “tormentors,” as he calls them, left school. The remaining few highly respect him for his courageous moral integrity.

The publishers in Swaziland are finding it easy to place the Knowledge book, and a pioneer wrote about a woman with whom she had covered nine chapters in just ten studies. Regarding the student, she said: “She has not missed a congregation meeting since the first study. In Swaziland work is scarce, so when you are offered a job, even for a meager salary, you take it. The neighbor of my student invited her to go with her to the local casino, where interviews were being conducted for employment as croupiers. My student declined, saying that she did not want to miss her Bible study later that evening. The neighbor then offered to pay her taxi fare so that she could get back on time. Still my student refused. When she told me about it, I asked her why she thought Christians cannot work at a casino. She told me that from what she had learned in her study of the Bible, Jehovah does not approve of gambling. She added: ‘Since I love Jehovah and want to do his will, how could I work in a casino?’” The pioneer probed: “They pay good money, and it would help you to buy things you need. Wouldn’t Jehovah understand?” The student pointed to the Knowledge book and told the pioneer that she had seen at Matthew 6:33 that Jehovah will always look after her and help her with her problems if she puts him first.

Asia and Islands of the Pacific

The branch in India supervises a vast field—about one sixth of the world’s population. In July, it reported its 23rd consecutive peak in the number of publishers. Intensified work by the Translation Department is making literature available for more language groups, some of these including millions of people. The Knowledge book was printed in 11 languages of India last year. The brochure What Does God Require of Us? has been published in 20.

This year is the first time that one of our full-color brochures has been made available in Assamese, Khasi, Konkani (Devanagari), Manipuri, and Tibetan. In an effort to reach 250 million people in the east and northeast sections of the country, eight of the major language groups for whom we have little or no literature were given special attention. Brothers are earnestly working in harmony with the prophetic promise that people out of ‘all nations and tribes and tongues’ will stand approved before Jehovah’s throne when the old system ends.—Rev. 7:9, 10.

The Society’s videos are helping people learn about the magnitude of the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Determined to make good use of this provision, one couple in Australia drew up a list of people to whom they could show the different videos. Those who were glad to view one or more of the programs included their family doctor, their accountant, their mailman, one of Christendom’s missionaries encountered at a diner, and a local clergyman. In a short period, this couple were able to show the Organization video to 70 persons, the Prophecy video to 35, and Purple Triangles to 19. Eight who saw the videos are now studying the Knowledge book, and four of these are now publishers.

Pressure to stay within the traditional pattern of family living makes it very difficult for interested ones in some clans in the Solomon Islands to embrace Bible truth. Thus, a woman who agreed to study the Bible was soon under pressure from throngs of relatives. According to custom, relatives may visit a family for days on end, often filling the house and requiring meals too. However, the woman continued her study, using the brochure Enjoy Life on Earth Forever! To her surprise, one day her husband, a government officer, agreed to have a study. He soon saw the need for family Bible study, and visiting relatives were helped to realize that this was not to be interrupted. The relatives also learned that chewing betel nut, smoking, and heavy beer drinking were no longer allowed in his home. The stream of constant visitors soon declined. The husband is well-known, and people were amazed to see the changes that were taking place. As a baptized publisher, our new brother spends many hours sharing the truth with people who want to know: “What is it about this religion?” His wife and children also continue to make fine progress.

When Witnesses in Tahiti began talking to Rémy and the young woman with whom he lived, he was a member of a kick-boxing club. He had won numerous bouts and as a result had been selected to compete outside Tahiti. He felt himself invulnerable. He gambled in casinos and quarreled with his mate at home. His outlook was egotistic. Could the truth really help such a person? In spite of opposition from his family, he agreed to study. Bible truth gradually molded his outlook. He left a job that was contrary to Bible principles, quit kick-boxing, and gave up gambling. Quarrels at home became less frequent. He got properly married, and his outlook on life has completely changed. Precious to him now are the spiritual things that he has gained for himself and his family as a result of acquiring knowledge of Jehovah, the true God.

Thongpliu is a sister in Thailand who has had little secular education. However, as a regular pioneer, she gives Jehovah’s service a prominent place in her life. As she was walking to the Kingdom Hall one Sunday afternoon, she saw that the front door of a large house was open. No one had ever been at home when she had called there. Thongpliu summoned up her courage, went to the gate, and called out to the householder. The woman of the house gladly accepted two magazines. On the return visit, the woman asked Thongpliu how much secular education she had. When she replied that she had gone only to grade four, the lady asked in wonderment: “How is it you know many things that I don’t know? I have graduated from university.” She also confided that in her air-conditioned car she had passed by many times as Thongpliu walked in the hot sun. Then she added: “I didn’t know where you were going, but you always looked so happy and content. I myself might look happy from a distance, but if you look closely, you will notice that I am not happy. It must be your Bible knowledge that makes you happy. Will you bring me a Bible and study it with me?”

Europe

While sharing in the door-to-door work in Latvia, two publishers met Svetlana, who listened as they read John 17:3. They demonstrated how to study the Bible with the help of the Knowledge book. After the study they asked her when she would like to continue. “Tomorrow,” she replied courteously. After each study when asked about the next appointment, she answered, “Tomorrow.” They discussed one chapter of the Knowledge book each time.

After ten days she looked straight at the one conducting the study and said: “I wish to be a God-fearing person. What should I do?” Accepting the counsel given, she promptly made the congregation meetings an important part of life for herself and her children. At her third meeting, she began to give comments. The Knowledge book was completed in four weeks plus one day. When studying chapter 12, she threw out spiritistic literature. At chapter 14, she ceased all cheating and started to pay her fare when traveling by train. She said: “After each study I felt cleaner and cleaner.” On completing chapter 15, she started a family study, although it was a bit rough at the beginning. Chapter 18 convinced Svetlana of the necessity of field service and baptism.

Before learning the truth, Svetlana had lived quite a wild life. Following an experience that shook her badly, she had decided to quit what she had been doing, but life was empty. However, that began to change when she started to gain a knowledge of Jehovah. Now she says: “I am so happy. . . . I love Jehovah and the brothers, and I hope that my children and I will be able to live in the Paradise.” After just four weeks, she became an unbaptized publisher, and at the Russian assembly in Riga, she got baptized.

Twelve-year-old Ryan, in Britain, had to prepare a talk to be given to his class at school on the subject, “The Person I Admire Most.” What a fine opportunity to witness! Ryan decided that he would talk about Jesus Christ. He prepared well and delivered a ten-minute discourse, citing scriptures to support the points he made. In conclusion, he offered the book The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived to anyone interested. The two copies he had with him were eagerly accepted, and orders were taken for five more. He took six copies to school the next day, placed these, and got requests for another six. The next day, he took seven copies along, distributed these, and was asked for yet two more.

In the Faeroe Islands, some students were given school assignments that required them to gather information about Jehovah’s Witnesses. What was available at the school was inadequate and misleading. When a young Witness volunteered to bring some material for them to use, her offer was well received. She also gave the teacher the video Jehovah’s Witnesses—The Organization Behind the Name. He showed it to the whole class, and later in the week, it was also shown to other classes.

When a young man on the police force in Greece began to study the truth, he met with strong opposition from his relatives. His father-in-law took the young man’s wife to the priests, to theologians, and then to the bishop, who urged her to divorce her husband and promised that he would find her another one. Back with her husband, she could see how the study was improving his conduct, and she observed the conduct of the Witnesses with whom he was associating. She studied along with him, but her parents took it upon themselves to have the young couple’s daughter baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. The wife’s father threatened to beat up his son-in-law and, along with two other family members, went to the Kingdom Hall to cause trouble. However, the storm passed when the young man and his wife took a firm stand for the truth. Both he and his wife got baptized. Now the father-in-law and his wife are having a Bible study. The brother-in-law, who shared in causing trouble at the Kingdom Hall, was also baptized along with his wife.

In order to renew her passport so that she could travel from Bulgaria to attend this year’s district convention in Romania along with her mother and grandparents, nine-year-old Blagomira needed the signature of her father, who had left the family before they became Witnesses. The father firmly refused to support his little daughter’s desire. She frequently called him to ask for his OK, but to no avail. Unexpectedly, on Monday of the convention week, Blagomira’s older sister visited the family and told the grandmother that the father would agree to sign the application for the passport. With no further explanation, she left. Nobody knew when and how the father would be available for the signature. Upon arriving home from field service and hearing the news, Blagomira and her mother prayed together: “If it is your will, Jehovah, that we should be together at the convention, please help us. We will be waiting at the passport office tomorrow morning.” In order to be sure to be the first ones there, they took two small chairs and left home at 4:30 a.m. After some time, Blagomira walked to her father’s home, which was not very far away. She kissed him and asked: “Daddy, will you come? Mother and I have been waiting in front of the office since ten minutes after five this morning.” He got dressed immediately and accompanied his daughter to give his signature. Amazingly, the passport was ready the very next day, just in time for travel the following morning! Blagomira’s mother helped her daughter to appreciate that this was a clear proof of Jehovah’s existence and of his love for Blagomira. She said that it should strengthen even more Blagomira’s decision to serve him forever. After the convention, Blagomira made a gift to her father of the new book The Secret of Family Happiness.

When witnessing on the street, a special pioneer in Poland met a young lady who invited her to her home and even showed her how to get there. However, when the Witness called at the appointed time, nobody opened the door, though she could hear someone inside. When leaving the block, our sister witnessed to an older gentleman who showed interest. On the next visit, a wonderful study was started with him and his wife. Yet, the sister decided to visit that young lady again. Looking at her notes, she realized that she had previously gone to the wrong block. She hurried to the right address, and the lady was happy to see her. When the sister began apologizing, the woman said: “I told my husband that I had invited Jehovah’s Witnesses. He waited for you to chuck you out. I was so afraid and prayed in my room that you would not come, but I am very happy you came today.” The sister now has two fine Bible studies and is convinced that the angels helped to bring this about.

The Americas

A brother in Canada found it very difficult to identify himself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses at his place of employment and to witness informally. But he prayed about this, gathered courage, and got started. His workmate initially rejected his efforts, but mention of the resurrection hope led to a Bible study. That evening, the brother prayed: “Jehovah, I promise that I’ll never miss another opportunity to talk to my neighbors. I’ll always see them as future brothers and sisters.” He has. At his next place of employment, the workers nicknamed him Moses because of his zealous witnessing during lunch hours and coffee breaks. He makes good use of the Society’s video Jehovah’s Witnesses—The Organization Behind the Name. By the early part of this past year, 394 persons at his place of employment had seen the video, not counting their families and friends, and he has a waiting list of many others who also want to see it. After 14 years in this factory, our brother has been able to help 34 persons to baptism.

In Chile, special efforts were made during the summer to reach remote territories. Many families spent their vacation in this manner. They found people who were thirsting for the truth. About 30,000 live on numerous small islands in the south of the country. Brothers endeavored to reach these by airplane. Where possible, they landed and witnessed. Where they could not land, they flew over the villages and dropped packets containing two magazines so that there, too, people could become aware of what Jehovah has purposed to do by means of his Kingdom.

In the Dominican Republic, it is not uncommon for Bible students to become so enthusiastic about what they are learning that they begin conducting studies with others even before they are approved to serve as unbaptized publishers. After a gentleman attended meetings in a larger town for a few months, he moved back to his mountain town and began to share with others what he had learned. When two pioneers arrived in this “unworked” territory, one householder after another told them that he knew from Radhamés about the things the pioneers were saying. At last, the brothers found Radhamés. Before he and his family began their own personal Bible study, he took the pioneers to visit some of those with whom he had been studying. Both he and his wife are now baptized.

In Yacuiba, Bolivia, a local evangelical group arranged for a TV station to show a film that was evidently produced by apostates. In view of the bad effects of that program, the elders decided to visit two TV stations and offer to pay to have them show the public the videos Jehovah’s Witnesses—The Organization Behind the Name and The Bible—A Book of Fact and Prophecy. After seeing the Society’s videos, the owner of a radio station became indignant at the misrepresentations in the apostates’ program and offered to make free spot announcements for Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding their upcoming district convention. Attendance was unusually high, and many honesthearted ones began to ask sincere questions when the Witnesses visited them in the ministry.

The management of a large glass factory in Ecuador wanted to organize a course on family and moral values for its employees. The director of human resources asked some priests but without results. On hearing of this, a Witness called on the director and showed him a list of subjects covered in our magazines. The director was impressed, selected three topics, and arranged for a two-hour program for the entire work force, which he divided up into seven groups of 30 each. Three qualified brothers directed the sessions. The audience was invited to comment and to ask questions. When honesty was being discussed, a guard said that he thought that it would be proper to steal under certain circumstances. Another agreed, saying, “If my mother is ill and I have no money, I have to steal. Or should I just let her die?” In reply, the brother told them about a young father who owed three months’ rent. He got in with a gang of thieves and was killed during an attempted robbery, leaving a widow and three children. “On the other hand,” our brother explained, “honest persons usually have good friends who come to their assistance in an emergency.” At the end of each session, many expressed appreciation. Others left their name and address and asked the brothers to visit them. The management offered a free Family Life book to anyone who wanted it. Sixty-six left their names. So the book The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived was put on display in the lobby, followed by Questions Young People Ask—Answers That Work. At the writing of this experience, orders for the books were still being taken. The management was very impressed by the practical information and wanted to arrange another session in six months.

In Paraguay a pioneer placed a Knowledge book with a woman who showed some interest but who changed the subject when offered a Bible study. In time, she told the pioneer that what she was being shown from the Bible did not agree with her beliefs, and so she did not want the Witness to continue visiting her. However, months later when the pioneer called with a special issue of Awake!, the woman acted as if she had been patiently waiting for the sister to return. The woman explained that she had read the Knowledge book, that it was marvelous, and that she had been studying the Bible with three of her neighbors, based on what she had learned in chapter 16 of the book. When our sister returned with her husband, the woman was waiting. However, instead of having a study in her own house, she took them to the house of her neighbor, one who had been present when earlier calls were made. With this neighbor they went on to the second neighbor’s house, and then the five of them went on to the third house, where the lady was also waiting for the Bible study. All of them are progressing well.

When witnessing from house to house, a pioneer sister in Uruguay called at a door where a young girl answered. The girl’s parents were not at home, so our sister witnessed to the girl, and she showed real interest. At the end, the Witness offered the girl a regular Bible study but told her to ask for her parents’ permission first. What would the reaction of the parents be? To the publisher’s great surprise, the mother said it would be quite all right to study the Bible with her little daughter, but she asked whether the rest of the family could also participate. Of course they could! So now a regular Bible study is being conducted with four members of this family—all because a witness was given to a little girl.

It has been estimated that within the continental United States, there are upwards of two million deaf people who communicate in American Sign Language. There are many challenges in performing the ministry in the sign-language field. Some pioneers travel as much as 200 miles [300 km] a day to reach eight or nine persons, many of whom may not be at home. It takes initiative to locate the deaf in the territory. In some cities that sponsor events for the deaf, publishers who are skilled in sign language have obtained permission to set up a table or booth with an attractive display of our publications for the deaf. They also set up TVs and VCRs to play our videos in American Sign Language. This creates a fine opportunity to meet more of the deaf population, to place literature with them, and to make arrangements for home visits. At one such festival, the brothers received names and addresses of 40 individuals that they had not previously met.

One of the big events in Guyana this past year was the marriage, in one day, of 79 couples attending the meetings at the Baramita Congregation. A member of the Branch Committee delivered the marriage talk, which was translated into the Carib language, and then had each couple audibly repeat the vows in Carib. Why were the 79 couples moved to get married? Because Bible truth had changed their outlook on life. Before Jehovah and many witnesses, they were agreeing to live with just one mate and to abide by the Biblical standard for honorable marriage. Three days later, 41 persons, mostly from the couples that had just got married, came forward with their teachers and expressed their desire to become unbaptized publishers.

The Caribs in this area are determined to learn as much as possible about Jehovah and his organization and to learn it as quickly as possible. They walk for two, three, or more hours to get to the meetings week after week. Very few ever arrive late, though they come on jungle trails along which there are rivers, tigers, poisonous snakes, and the like. So many want to learn the truth about God that the Witnesses conduct their Bible studies with groups of from 40 to 70 students.

Acts of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Modern Times

Benin

From Benin, West Africa, many thousands were sold into slavery from the 17th to the 19th century. But those remaining were held in an even more diabolic form of slavery. A 14-year ban was imposed on the activity of those who endeavored to provide help by teaching Bible truth. Read this eyewitness report of what happened when the ban was imposed and what has been taking place since it was lifted.

Brazil

The majority of Brazilians profess Catholicism, and a high percentage of these also incline toward spiritism. Up to 50 years ago, most of them had never seen a Bible. But now people throughout Brazil are being given opportunity to see for themselves what God’s Word contains. And some of the largest conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern times have been held in Brazil.

Micronesia

Have you ever wished that you could visit Micronesia? Come with us on a tour of the islands. You will find the people friendly. The beauty of their islands may make you think of paradise. Yet, as you look closer, you will understand why here too people need the good news of God’s Kingdom. You will also meet some of those who work hard to tell them about it.

Benin

It was April in 1976. Soldiers with automatic weapons banged at the door of the Bethel Home. “Come out and join in the flag-raising ceremony!” demanded the commanding officer. An angry mob of people chanted political slogans.

Inside, the missionaries continued their discussion of the day’s Bible text, as was their custom. “The powers of the heavens will be shaken” was the Scripture text under consideration. (Matt. 24:29) How that proved to be a source of strength for the missionaries that morning! Outside, the soldiers raised the flag on the grounds of the branch office. They had taken over the property!

Soon the soldiers ordered all the missionaries outside. They were allowed to take with them only the personal belongings that they could carry in their suitcases. Without delay, the missionaries were loaded into the Society’s van, to be escorted out of the country.

As the van left the Bethel grounds, a young brother on a bicycle came up alongside. “What’s going on? Where are they taking you?” he asked. The missionaries waved him away for fear that he too might be arrested.

What led up to the ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Benin? How did the local Witnesses stay spiritually strong during that difficult 14-year period? Did the missionaries return? And once the restrictions were finally removed, how did Jehovah’s Witnesses in Benin use their newfound freedom?

This Is Benin

A keyhole-shaped country, sandwiched between Togo and Nigeria on the coast of West Africa—this is Benin. You may know it by its former name, Dahomey. The people here are warm and friendly, and the climate is pleasant. Although more than 50 local languages are spoken by some 60 ethnic groups, French is the national language.

Benin is home to miniature castles and ancient African kingships. In a blue lagoon sits Ganvié, a floating village called by some the Venice of Africa. There the streets are rivers and the taxis are colorful pirogues, or dugout canoes. Two national parks, the Pendjari and the “W,” are found in the north of the country, and there lions, elephants, monkeys, hippopotamuses, and other animals roam free in the savanna. To the south, palm trees dance to the music of the ocean winds.

Yet, life has at times been very bitter for the people of this land. Early in the 17th century, Kpassè, ruler of the kingdom of Houéda, entered into trade relations with French, English, and Portuguese slave traders. In exchange for trinkets and arms, this ruthless king sold his own brothers. These were loaded onto ships at Gléhoué, now called Ouidah, and transported to Haiti, Netherlands Antilles, and America. The slave trade continued from the 17th century until the early part of the 19th century. Then, at last, it was abolished in many countries.

It was early in the 20th century, however, that the people in Benin began to have the opportunity to be freed from the shackles of a much more fiendish type of slavery—bondage to false religion in all its hideous forms. In Benin, that includes Voodoo.

Birthplace of Voodoo

Animism is the traditional religion, and among the animists here, the god viewed as supreme is Mahou. He is represented by a great number of secondary gods, or voodoos, to whom sacrifices are offered on certain feast days. For example, Hébiosso is the god of thunder, and the god Zangbeto reportedly protects the farmers’ fields at night. Inferior to these voodoos are under-gods, also what are believed to be spirits of dead people. Hence, ancestor worship is practiced. In many a home, you will find an asen, a sort of small umbrella made of forged iron, ornamented with symbols in memory of a dead loved one.

Relations with these gods requires an intermediary, a fetish priest, either male or female. After spending three years in a fetish convent, the priest is deemed qualified to communicate with the gods and other spirits. This powerful hierarchy has an enormous influence on the lives of the Beninese people who adhere to it.

Those who practice this form of worship believe that after a person dies, he can come back in spirit form and kill the other members of the family. Many people will sell their possessions or go deeply into debt to pay for animal sacrifices and lavish ceremonies to appease dead relatives. As a result, the family may be left in poverty. The superstitious fear engendered by these beliefs holds people in bondage.

The so-called Christian religions are also represented here and are oftentimes practiced right along with animism. Mixing the two forms of worship is not usually viewed as objectionable by the people, but ceasing to participate in the animistic traditions is considered a serious sin. Yet, many have done it.

The Early Years

It was in 1929 that Bible truth, which can truly free people from superstitious fear, reached Dahomey. Having learned such truth from Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called) in Ibadan, Nigeria, Brother Yanada of the Gun tribe returned to teach his fellow tribesmen. He gathered a group of six in his native city, Porto-Novo, the capital, and began studying the Bible with them. Of this group, Daniel Afeniyi, originally from Nigeria, firmly held to the truth and was baptized in 1935. But persecution from the local clergy pushed Brother Yanada back into Nigeria, and newly baptized Daniel Afeniyi was forced to go back to his village, Daagbe. When four other Nigerian Witnesses began preaching in Porto-Novo, they were arrested and deported on the spot.

In 1938, twelve brothers from the Ibo tribe in Nigeria were assigned to serve in Porto-Novo. To the chagrin of the Protestant clergy, many people appreciated what the Witnesses were teaching them from the Bible. Moïse Akinocho, a trader from the Yoruba tribe, was one of these. He had been a Methodist who also practiced ancestor worship. As a result of clergy pressure on the local authorities, Jehovah’s Witnesses were again forced to leave Porto-Novo. But when the flames of persecution became intense for those Ibo brothers, Brother Akinocho stood by them and said: “If the administration is going to kill all of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I am ready.” He continued steadfast in the faith until his death in 1950.

During the second world war, Nigerian Witnesses no longer had access to Benin. Yet, seeds of truth had been sown, and later on, with a little watering and cultivating, they sprouted quickly. That opportunity came soon after the war. Nouru Akintoundé, a native of Benin, had become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses while in Nigeria. In 1948 he returned to his native land as a pioneer, spending a large proportion of his time witnessing to others about Jehovah God and His purpose as revealed in the Bible. The results surpassed all reasonable expectations.

The May 1948 field service report stated: “It is indeed a thrill to send a report for a new country. The gospel has broken into French Dahomey [Benin] and the people of goodwill are rallying to the ‘signal for the nations.’”—Isa. 11:12.

That same month, application was made to the governor of Dahomey for official recognition of the Society. This was referred to the high commissioner in Dakar, Senegal. However, after a delay of over a year, authorization was refused. Regardless of this, the work continued to expand. Wilfred Gooch, branch overseer in Nigeria at the time, later wrote: “So much latent interest was there that within six weeks 105 persons had joined the pioneer [Brother Akintoundé] in field service. During the next few months, this pioneer continued to spread the good news in nearby towns, and a fine increase continued—a peak of 301 publishers of the Kingdom being reached in July 1948.”

Preaching of the Good News Spreads Out

From Porto-Novo the preaching of the good news spread to outlying towns and villages. Brother Akintoundé took some of the newly interested ones with him to witness in such places as Lokogbo and Cotonou. They would remain in a village for several days, being welcomed and entertained by newly interested ones. At that time, interested persons started preaching with the visiting brothers soon after their initial contact.

Less than four months after Brother Akintoundé returned to Benin, a three-day convention was held in Porto-Novo. On hand were W. R. (Bible) Brown, Anthony Attwood, and Ernest Moreton from the Nigeria branch. Thirty persons were baptized on that occasion, and this greatly displeased the Protestant missionaries. They did all they could to dissuade the newly interested ones, but these remained steadfast. One of the persons baptized at this convention stated: “If you’ve examined all things and found that something is not good—that is for you to decide. As for me, I have found that this is very good.” Many more also examined what Jehovah’s Witnesses were teaching and found it to be “very good.” By January 1949, there were three congregations in Benin—Porto-Novo, Lokogbo, and Cotonou.

A Polygamist Finds the Truth

Although the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses was not legally recognized in this country, permission was granted in January 1949 for us to hold an assembly in Cotonou. Sound cars were used to announce the program, and over 1,000 persons attended the public lecture “Government of Peace.”

One of those who attended this assembly was Sourou Houénou, who was a notary and judge as well as the head of the Revenants, a group involved in ancestor worship. He had four wives. Would he be able to make the changes necessary in order to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? He turned away from ancestor worship, with its spiritistic connections. He did this in harmony with Jesus’ declaration: “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Luke 4:8) He also adjusted his marital affairs in harmony with Christian standards. Although he had a career that is prized in the present system, as did Saul of Tarsus before he became the apostle Paul, he considered it all “as a lot of refuse” and left it behind. (Phil. 3:8) In order to free himself for Kingdom interests, he left his position as a notary and judge and took up the full-time ministry.

The Cotonou Congregation met regularly in Brother Houénou’s home in the Missebo area of the city. On one occasion, Catholic leaders incited a mob of children to disrupt the meeting. While the public talk was in progress in the walled-in courtyard of Brother Houénou’s house, a youth climbed a tree and started hurling both insults and stones over the wall at the speaker. Apparently he was a poor aim, because none of his stones did any harm to the speaker. Instead, one missed its target and struck one of the other youths of the disruptive group so hard that he had to be hospitalized! All the children ran in fear, believing that this was punishment from God. The meeting continued without any further incidents.

Voodoo Versus Jehovah

Dogbo-Tindé Ogoudina was observing from a distance what happened. She was a cloth merchant who had her shop across the street from Brother Houénou’s home. She was also the secretary of the fetish convent in Porto-Novo. However, she was so favorably impressed by the Witnesses’ conduct in the face of this opposition that she became interested in the Kingdom message. Soon she herself became the object of fiery opposition from the fetish priests. The chief fetish priest proclaimed that she would die in seven days because of her stand with the Witnesses! He employed witchcraft in an effort to make his prediction come true.

Although some have been killed by wicked spirits, Sister Ogoudina was undaunted. She said: “If it is the fetish that made Jehovah, I will die; but if Jehovah is the Supreme God, then he will vanquish the fetish.” On the night of the sixth day, the fetish priests offered goat sacrifices and incantations to their fetish—Gbeloko. They cut down a banana plant, dressed it in white garments and dragged it on the ground to symbolize her death. After that, they were so sure of the outcome that they proclaimed publicly that Sister Ogoudina was now dead. But what happened the following morning?

Sister Ogoudina was right where she had been almost every morning—selling cloth in the market. She was not dead; she was very much alive! Immediately, a delegation was sent to the chief fetish priest in Porto-Novo to inform him of what had happened or, rather, what had not happened. He was enraged that his spell had had no effect. Knowing that this would undermine his influence over the people, he left Porto-Novo for Cotonou with one purpose in mind—to find Sister Ogoudina and kill her. The local brothers knew that trouble was brewing, so they helped her to close her small shop and took her to a safe place.

After keeping Sister Ogoudina in hiding for a week, Brother Houénou hired a car and drove her throughout Porto-Novo so that everyone would see that she was alive. Automobiles were still rare in Africa in 1949, so few went by unnoticed. Brother Houénou made sure that she was seen by as many people as possible; then they ended their trip at the door of her former fetish convent. She got out of the car and publicly proclaimed for all to hear that, though the chief fetish priest had cast a death spell on her, Jehovah, her God, was the victor! He had proved to be “a strong tower” for her. (Prov. 18:10) In spite of poor health, she continued serving Jehovah faithfully until the end of her days. Her courageous stand helped other fetish worshipers to break free from the bonds of spiritism.

Opposition Intensifies

Near Memorial time in 1949, arrangements were made for a special talk in Porto-Novo. Over 1,500 interested ones attended. This news, however, was not well received by the clergy. Once again, they incited the authorities against the brothers, and ten were arrested.

A brother later reported: “The brethren were held in custody for some days and then released after a strong warning that they should not ‘teach or preach in that name.’ Such opposition has afforded the brethren the opportunity to witness before ‘kings and rulers’ and to give an account of the hope that is in them.”—Compare Acts 4:17.

The Memorial was held in secret that year, with an attendance of 134, including five partakers. When a baptism was held, it was at night, in the Porto-Novo lagoon. Meeting locations were changed constantly, and a brother always stood guard. Before each meeting, a table was set with food; if anyone approached, the brothers quickly sat down at the table and pretended to be enjoying a meal together. And they were indeed enjoying a meal—one of fine spiritual food!

The brothers had to be cautious at all times—as Jesus said, “cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16) The authorities were continually looking for Brother Akintoundé, who they felt was the ringleader of the Witnesses. One day a policeman was sent to look for him. Not knowing where Brother Akintoundé lived, the officer asked a gentleman to direct him to the home of Mr. Akintoundé. In accord with the custom of the hospitable Beninese people, the man did so. But the man giving directions was Brother Akintoundé himself! The policeman did not recognize him. When they arrived at the house, it was no surprise to Brother Akintoundé that he was not at home! Finally, however, in June 1949, when the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses came under official ban, Brother Akintoundé returned to Nigeria.

In August 1949 the government published a warning against Watch Tower literature, fixing a penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 F CFA (about US$1,000) for anyone found distributing such literature in any language. The Watchtower magazine and the book “Let God Be True” were especially targeted. The brothers were not discouraged by this turn of events. They well knew that Jesus Christ had said: “A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”—John 15:20.

During that time, Kpoyè Alandinkpovi, one of the first ones to accept the truth in this country, made good use of the traditional dress for Beninese men to help him in the ministry. The full-sleeved robe that they wear, called a bubu, has a fairly large interior pocket. When Brother Alandinkpovi was sure that he had found someone who was genuinely interested, he would reach into his robe and pull out a book or a booklet hidden in that large pocket. He always pretended that it was the last one, but there always seemed to be another when he found someone else who was hungry for the truth.

Scattered, but They Kept On Witnessing

“Preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season.” (2 Tim. 4:2) That counsel, written by the apostle Paul, was taken to heart by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Benin, and the witness work flourished even in “troublesome season.” During the latter part of 1949, one of the newly appointed Beninese pioneers, Albert Yédénou Ligan, went to Zinvié, a small village north of Cotonou. The very first day he was there, he contacted Josué and Marie Mahoulikponto. They soon recognized the ring of truth in the Bible teachings they heard. Although Protestant, Josué practiced ancestor worship, had two wives, and was the chief fetish priest of the god Zangbeto. In the same month that they came into contact with the truth, they left all those practices behind. Their newfound faith was not well received by their families, who opposed them bitterly, even chasing them from the family home and destroying their fields.

The Mahoulikpontos fled the village to save their lives, and they settled in Dekin, one of the lake dwellers’ villages. This move served to spread the truth to a new area. The village chief in Dekin was the first to accept the truth there. Within two years, 16 persons in that area embraced true worship, even though the authorities arrested and beat them, and all their literature, including their Bibles, was destroyed.

While witnessing in a village in 1950, a pioneer met a man who told him that there was an elderly gentleman who taught the same things from the Bible that the pioneer did. That elderly gentleman turned out to be Brother Afeniyi, who was one of the original group that had learned the truth in this country and who had been baptized in 1935. Although he had been isolated, Brother Afeniyi had not been forgotten by Jehovah, nor had he forgotten the joy he had experienced upon being freed from the unscriptural beliefs of his former Protestant religion. His wife never did embrace the truth, and voodoo was deeply rooted in the village where he preached, yet Brother Afeniyi did not give up. For years he could be seen faithfully teaching the Bible to others. He died at the age of 80, after having served Jehovah faithfully for more than 42 years.

Early in 1950, waves of persecution continued to beat against the Witnesses. In the Kouti area, a police officer found a group of brothers studying the day’s text. Some were arrested, tied with ropes, and brought before the commandant, or district officer. They were later released, with a stern warning not to preach or to hold meetings anymore. Nevertheless, Jehovah’s people appreciated the importance of continuing to meet together regularly to study God’s Word, doing so secretly when necessary. One of the local elders wrote: “Now the only opportunity for our brethren to assemble together is by waking very early in the morning for study. Those who have bicycles go to faraway places to witness . . . Even carrying their Bible is dangerous. Despite these difficulties we shall continue to preach the word until the end.” In March 1950 they faithfully met for the Memorial of Christ’s death. They were not ‘shrinking back’ out of fear. (Heb. 10:38) At the beginning of 1951, there were seven congregations reporting, and 36 of the 247 publishers who reported were enrolled as pioneers.

He Returned the Religious Paraphernalia

In the early 1950’s, many of our brothers could not read well; but they did what they could to give a witness, and Jehovah blessed their efforts. One day, two brothers were trying to explain Bible truth to a third person when Samuel Ogungbe came along. He later reported: “I did not know it then, but these men were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they were disagreeing with each other because they could not read for themselves in their own Gun-language Bibles. I joined the discussion and was able to help them, as I had learned to read the Gun Bible.” Now, Samuel Ogungbe was a treasurer and board member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. Members of this religion are easily recognized; they dress in long white robes and white caps because they believe that they are the bride of Christ. But in spite of his own religious connections, Samuel Ogungbe found the discussion with these Witnesses of Jehovah interesting. An appointment was made to continue the discussion on Saturday, just four days later. However, before then something occurred that made him fearful.

“The church to which I belonged uses divination and fortune-telling along with other magical arts,” he explained. “The day following my first encounter with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I went to church as was my custom. Immediately, I was warned by fellow church members who had been consulting the spirits that I should watch my step for two reasons—first, although I held a high position in the church, I was in danger of ‘defecting,’ and second, I would soon have serious stomach problems that would prove fatal unless I followed the advice given by the spirits. They said I should purchase seven candles together with frankincense and myrrh for a special ceremony with loud prayers and fasting for seven days. If I disobeyed, it would mean my death.”

Later he frankly admitted: “When I went home Thursday night, I was afraid. Friday morning I started praying and fasting, knowing that I would soon have to decide whether I was going to continue my discussions with the Witnesses or not. I almost missed the appointment with them, but at the last minute I decided to keep it. We discussed many things, and they invited me to their meeting on Sunday.” Changes came quickly. Members of the church with which Samuel Ogungbe was associated tried to dissuade him, but he was convinced that he had found the truth. He gave back all his religious paraphernalia and, that same month, began to share in the field service. Within six months he got baptized in symbol of his dedication to Jehovah. By the way, Brother Ogungbe did not die because of his newfound faith. He served Jehovah faithfully for more than 40 years, until he died in 1996.

Literacy Classes Stressed

A person may be able to witness without being literate, yet reading God’s Word can help him to gain strength to bear up under difficult situations. Being able to read is also an important factor in effective teaching. However, in years past, many people in Benin, including our brothers, did not know how to read; so the Society encouraged the brothers to organize literacy classes. At first, such instruction was given personally, in a one-on-one setting. Then, in the 1960’s, literacy classes were established in the congregations.

Right down to the present, literacy classes continue to be held in many of the Benin congregations. In addition, other people are helped on an individual basis. But as better public schools have become available, the need for such assistance has been diminishing. Once individuals learn to grasp the meaning of what is on the printed page, they are personally able to apply it more fully in their own lives and can use God’s Word more effectively to help others.—Eph. 6:14-17.

Catholic and Juju Priests Join Forces

Unable to refute the truth taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Bible, the clergy often used the secular authorities in an effort to stop the work of Jehovah’s people. In one case, a Catholic priest and a juju priest joined forces to rid the Dekin area of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They made accusations to the authorities, mixing half-truths with outright falsehoods, claiming that the Witnesses were seducing the people to revolt against the government, that they were predicting a world war, that they were preaching the end of the world, and that they refused to pay taxes! The juju priest told the district commandant that because of the Witnesses, the spirits refused to give rain and that for this reason famine menaced the land! The Catholic priest said that the Witnesses were responsible for the fact that his prayers and Masses were not being heard by God!

Honesthearted ones understood those attacks for what they really were—a sign of fear on the part of the religious leaders. They feared that the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses was taking a firm hold among the people. Such attacks only served to strengthen the brothers’ confidence in Jehovah. A report written at that time stated: “The brothers are truly ‘standing firm in one spirit, with one soul striving side by side for the faith of the good news,’ and Jehovah is blessing their efforts with increase. (Phil. 1:27) We have faith that he will continue to do so.”

Did Jehovah continue to bless their determined efforts? He most certainly did! In spite of harsh opposition and persecution, the number who shared in giving a witness to his name and Kingdom increased from 301 in 1948 to 1,426 in 1958! Sometimes, though, that witnessing was done in prison.

Giving a Thorough Witness in Prison

When David Denon from Porto-Novo was arrested because he would not stop serving Jehovah, he treated the prison as his territory. And he had a truly captive audience! But his preaching displeased the prison warden, who had him transferred to another prison. However, there he was given better treatment and was able to preach to the other inmates without hindrance. The head warden himself became interested, and two other prisoners accepted the truth and joined Brother Denon in preaching in their territory—within the prison walls.

During the day, Brother Denon, who was highly trusted, was sent out of the prison to work as a carpenter in the home of the superintendent of police. This man too proved to be interested in the Bible’s message, even allowing Brother Denon to go home to get him some literature—the same literature that Brother Denon had been imprisoned for possessing!

More help in covering this unusual territory soon arrived. In 1955, fifty more Nigerian publishers stepped over into Benin to help take the good news to isolated parts of the country. The entire party was rounded up and taken to the local jail. Alas, it was not large enough to accommodate everyone, so all the sisters and some of the brothers were sent home. Twenty-seven brothers, held on the charge of distributing “forbidden literature,” were transferred to a prison in the interior of the country to await their trial. While there, they wasted no time. When they came from Nigeria, this was not the territory that they had in mind covering, but there were people here who needed to hear the good news. As a result of their activity, at least 18 showed interest, including prison officers and the prison doctor.

At the end of August, these Witnesses were brought to trial. News of the affair had spread far and wide, and more than 1,600 persons were present. Catholic priests came from a wide area and told many that the brothers would each receive a 12-year sentence—and that before the court hearing started!

Nevertheless, the judge was favorable and permitted the brothers to give a good witness in court. He likened the Witnesses to Jesus Christ, who was brought to trial though he had never committed any offense. The judge expressed his regret at having to pass sentences of three months on the majority of the brothers. The sentences, however, would count from the time of their arrest, which had occurred almost three months earlier. The brothers put their remaining time in prison to good use. During the month of August, they reported more that 100 hours each in preaching the Kingdom message within the prison walls! The entire incident brought the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses into the public eye in a spectacular manner.

Bible Publications in the Gun Language

Having literature in the language of the common people is a great aid in teaching them Bible truth. The Gun language is widely spoken throughout this country. How happy the brothers were when, in 1955, they received in the Gun language the tract What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe? This was followed, in 1957, by the Kingdom Ministry, which helped the brothers to organize their Service Meetings and field service activity more effectively. A Bible society also began reprinting the complete Bible in the Gun language.

Next came the booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom.” When the first copies were received, arrangements were made to study it at all the Congregation Book Studies. Early the following year, it was made available for distribution to the public. The effect was truly remarkable. The humble people in this land gladly accepted its clear explanation of Bible truth. By April 1958 a new peak of 1,426 publishers had been reached—84 percent more than the previous year’s average.

So encouraging was the wide acceptance of these publications in the Gun language that work soon got under way on translation of the book “Let God Be True.” Mimeographed copies of The Watchtower in the Gun language were also made available, starting with the issue of December 1, 1960. All these publications helped the brothers to grow in appreciation for the truth and to aid others in breaking free from servitude to false religion.

Some Prove to Be “Not of Our Sort”

When a person learns that he has been taught lies, he may quickly abandon his former religion and begin to worship Jehovah. But continuing to practice pure worship requires humility and genuine love for Jehovah, a willingness to progress to Christian maturity and to apply God’s Word in every aspect of life. Not all in Benin who so enthusiastically began to preach were pursuing that course. Some proved to be “not of our sort.”—1 John 2:19.

When an overseer in the Gbougbouta Congregation turned away from the truth, he tried to persuade Kouadinou Tovihoudji to do the same. Brother Tovihoudji tactfully reminded him that when he had been a servant of Jehovah, he had told others that the love of some for the truth would cool off. (Matt. 24:12) Brother Tovihoudji further added that since the overseer’s own love had cooled off, he could now see that what the Bible had said was true. Brother Tovihoudji wisely did not follow him but remained faithful to Jehovah.

However, not all the brothers clearly understood how to deal with those who no longer wanted to follow God’s righteous principles. They needed help. In 1959, Theophilus Idowu, a Nigerian circuit overseer, was assigned to the city of Porto-Novo to build the brothers up. They were happy to see him, but they were somewhat disheartened when they learned that he did not know their language. Translators were needed for his talks and for discussions with the elders. Brother Idowu discerned that there were problems that needed to be dealt with in the congregations. But since he was not able to speak the language, he was limited in what he could do. This disturbed him, so he set out to learn the Gun language. He made rapid progress and was soon able to help the brothers with even difficult situations. Gradually, the problems were cared for; those who chose a morally unclean way of life and clung to it were removed from the congregation.

One of the principal weaknesses continued to be a lack of understanding on the part of newer ones who were unable to read and write. However, those who did understand the truth clearly and impressed it on their hearts made profound changes in their lives. Germain Adomahou was one of such.

A Polygamist Finds a Better Way

Germain Adomahou’s father had 12 wives. But even before becoming a Witness, Germain decided to marry only one wife. He could see that although having many wives was a sign of wealth and influence, there were bitter disputes and jealousy among his father’s wives. Yet, after Germain married, his wife remained childless, and this is a dishonor among some Africans. Despite his earlier good intentions, he soon took two more wives. Later on, he again took two more, making a total of five. It was not long before bitter rivalries and jealousy developed in his own home. In his efforts to forget these problems, he turned to other women who were not his wives. His home had become like his father’s, which he had disliked so much.

Although he was a fetish worshiper, he sought comfort and counsel from a Catholic priest, who told him that to go to heaven he would have to get baptized. Nothing was said about his fetish worship, his five wives, or what the Bible said about having relations with women to whom a man is not married. Germain got baptized by the church and continued on in his fetish religion and polygamy. Nothing had really changed. Then in 1947 he obtained a copy of the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free.” After he read it, he broke free from the Catholic Church and from his fetish religion. However, polygamy and an immoral way of life still held his heart in chains. He realized that to become one of Jehovah’s people, he would have to give these up. Then one day things changed.

Some from the Abomey Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested and put into jail. This news spread throughout the village. Germain had never seen people belonging to other religions treated in such a way. He was deeply impressed by the willingness of Jehovah’s Witnesses to endure persecution in order to preach the Bible’s message. He was convinced that Jehovah’s Witnesses were true Christians. (2 Tim. 3:12) His mind was made up. He gave up his polygamous life-style, conformed to Bible teachings, and dedicated his life to Jehovah God.

Yet, his newfound faith would not allow him simply to abandon his former wives. Though he no longer lived with them, he cared for their needs both materially and spiritually until they later married. Two of his former wives later became dedicated servants of Jehovah; the younger one married a full-time minister and eventually served with her husband in the circuit work. Many of the children born through his polygamous marriages also learned the truth.

A Dying Man’s Wish

Others too were thirsting for truth. Amos Djagun was the leader of the Methodist church in Kilibo, a village in the north of Benin, and Silas Fagbohoun was one of its prominent members. But when one of Jehovah’s Witnesses called at the home of Silas Fagbohoun, he frankly stated that he and many others were dissatisfied with the confusion in their church and that they knew that wrong practices were permitted among them. He himself had two wives and numerous concubines, including the wife of one of the principal lay preachers of his church.

After the Witnesses called on Amos Djagun, he gathered together many of the church members who he knew were hungering for the truth. The circuit overseer, who was visiting at that time, showed them how to study the Bible with the help of the book “Let God Be True” and the booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom.” He also showed them how to make good use of the daily text. Many of them, including Amos Djagun and Silas Fagbohoun, accepted with great joy the things that they learned.

Of course, Silas Fagbohoun longed for his wife and his children to accept his newfound faith, but there seemed to be little response. The night before his death, in June 1963, Silas called his eldest son, Joseph, to his bedside and said: “I am sorry that until now you have not taken a firm stand for the true religion. Know that what you are now rejecting is the truth that leads to eternal life. I pray that Jehovah will be with you in the difficult task that I am leaving you; hereafter you are responsible for all your brothers. Look after them materially and especially spiritually.” Would Brother Fagbohoun’s last wish be granted?

Joseph seemed to be set in his views. In time, he enrolled in a Protestant secondary school in Cotonou. While there, one day he had a discussion of the Scriptures with the chaplain before a class of 80 students. The chaplain’s answer to most questions was, “That remains a divine mystery.” With the help of the book “Let God Be True,” Joseph was able to give satisfactory answers to many Bible questions. With his father’s last request echoing in his ears, Joseph publicly requested, before the entire class and the chaplain, that his name be struck from the Protestant membership roll. He was free! He got baptized in July 1964 and took up the regular pioneer service in 1969.

Though a very kind and goodhearted person, Brother Fagbohoun’s wife, Lydie, saw no need to change her religion. She believed that she could have everlasting life and still remain a Protestant. Her eyes were opened, however, when an elderly pastor in her church asked to have sexual relations with her so as to “console” her in her widowhood! Never again did she set foot in that church! With encouragement from her son and help from a special pioneer, she began to study with Jehovah’s Witnesses. In time, not only did she get baptized but almost all the children made the truth their own.

Gilead-Trained Missionaries Arrive

How the brothers rejoiced when the first missionaries from Gilead School arrived on February 3, 1963! Keith and Carroll Robbins were graduates of the 37th class of Gilead. They located a home and were soon learning the Gun language. The brothers were greatly encouraged by the presence of these fellow Witnesses who were white—an evidence to them of the unity of the worldwide brotherhood. Traveling by bicycle, the missionaries not only visited congregations in the bush but also trained others who were assigned to do so. When they found it necessary to return to their native Canada to care for family responsibilities, the local brothers felt a great loss.

In the months that followed, two more Canadian missionaries were assigned to Benin—Louis and Eleanor Carbonneau. They knew French, so a French-language congregation was established in Cotonou shortly after their arrival. The fact that much literature was available to study in the French language contributed to rapid spiritual growth in that group.

Brother Carbonneau was chairman for the “Fruitage of the Spirit” District Assembly in Abomey in November 1964. The police were on hand, in accord with their custom for large gatherings. They found no fault; in fact, they were very friendly toward the brothers and enjoyed the Bible talks. They also marveled at seeing 1,442 persons, some from the north and others from the south, all mingling together as brothers. This was outstanding because riots pitting other northerners and southerners against one another were occurring at that time.

Other missionaries also served in Benin—some for only a short time; but others came with a desire to make it their home. After some delay due to political upheavals in Benin, Don and Virginia Ward and Carlos and Mary Prosser arrived early in 1966. Soon after their arrival, in March 1966 a branch office was established in Cotonou to supervise the preaching of the good news in this land.

Ever since 1948, Jehovah’s Witnesses had been seeking official recognition of their Bible education work in Benin, but this had been refused. What a joy it was, therefore, when they saw the name Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania in the official journal of Benin, with notice that Jehovah’s Witnesses could teach the Bible from door to door in all parts of the country and that missionaries would be allowed to carry on their activities without hindrance!

Time to Get Married

Prior to 1966, there had been no provision made by the government for legal registration of marriages. All marriages had been celebrated in the traditional way, but the brothers would also send a signed statement to the branch office. However, in 1966 the government made provision for the legal registration of marriages, though it was not mandatory. The missionaries showed the local Witnesses that it was important to get their marriages registered, in harmony with this legal provision.

This presented a variety of problems for the brothers. First, it cost money to do so—money that was very hard to come by. Second, birth dates would have to be established for the newlyweds. These were not always known, as accurate records were seldom kept. In spite of these obstacles, Jehovah’s people were determined to have marriages that were “honorable” in God’s sight.—Heb. 13:4.

The Witnesses in Hetin, a village made up mostly of houses built on stilts, decided that it would be less expensive to arrange for the official marriage registrar to come to them instead of having 25 couples go to him. Since there were so many, the official agreed. When he finally arrived, he found 60 couples waiting to have their marriages legalized! What had happened? While arrangements were being made for this mass marriage ceremony, the other villagers heard about it. Since their own church leaders were offering them no help to get their marriages registered, they asked the Witnesses if they too could take advantage of the services of the government registrar when he came. In a period of about four months, the size of the congregation jumped from 69 to 90 publishers.

Providing Suitable Branch Facilities

In order for the branch office to function properly, suitable facilities were needed. Don Ward had been a builder before entering the full-time service. During 1968 he used that experience in connection with the construction of a combined branch office and missionary home in Cotonou. With the help of 16 pioneers and many other local Witnesses, actual construction took only eight months. On the ground floor of the facilities, there was a fine Kingdom Hall, also office space, a dining area, and a shipping area for the branch. Upstairs, six bedrooms overlooked a large garden filled with palm trees. A sparkling lagoon speckled with fishermen in dugout canoes could be seen over the garden wall.

January 12, 1969, will go down as a special day in the theocratic history of Benin. On that day the new branch and missionary home facilities were dedicated to Jehovah. The brothers felt that such a fine building was truly evidence of Jehovah’s blessing on their work. Of even greater value than that building, however, were the Christian personalities that were being built with godly qualities.

Honesty—The Right Way

Daniel Aïnadou, who worked in one of the higher-class hotels, had the quality of his Christian personality put to the test one day. When taking a pair of trousers belonging to a hotel guest to the cleaners, he found the equivalent of US$1,600 in one of the pockets. This sum represented over two years’ wages for him. What would he do? There he was, with a fortune in his hand and no one around.

The brother had been baptized only a short while but had recently studied in The Watchtower an article on honesty. He was determined not to displease God by accepting ill-gotten gain. He reported the money to the receptionist at the front desk. But when the receptionist saw all that money, he took our brother aside and said: “Let’s keep the money and make it our little secret.” “I can’t do that,” said our brother. “I am a Christian and one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” “I’m a Christian too,” protested the clerk. “I go to the Catholic church regularly. I don’t see anything wrong with keeping this money. After all, the man did lose it, didn’t he?” Undaunted, our brother took the money to the owner of the hotel, who put it into the house safe.

Sometime later, the guest returned to his room and frantically searched for his money—under the bed, in the closet, behind the chairs. It was nowhere to be found. Greatly distressed, he went to the hotel owner, who assured him that his money was not lost but was in the hotel safe. Upon learning that one of the hotel workers had turned it in, the guest asked to meet this honest person. Much impressed, the guest said: “I know that Jehovah’s Witnesses are good people. When I return to France I am surely going to look them up because I want to know more about them.” Even the hotel manager, who formerly had little time for Jehovah’s Witnesses, now said he was happy to have them working for him.

This incident was not quickly forgotten. Later on, another guest reportedly lost a small amount of money and accused Brother Aïnadou of having stolen it. When the owner of the hotel heard about the incident, he quickly came to our brother’s defense and related the above experience.

In the years that followed, steady increases in the number of active Witnesses were reported in Benin. In 1971, twenty-two missionaries served in the field and in the branch office here. By 1975, there were 2,381 publishers active in the field ministry, compared with a peak of just 290 back in 1950. Jehovah was surely blessing honesthearted ones who were breaking free from the bonds of false religion. However, such increase did not please everyone. More dark clouds of persecution began to loom on the horizon.

Changes in Government

“Pour la révolution?” (Are you ready for the revolution?) “Prêt!” (I’m ready!) Such were common greetings heard in the streets of Benin as the Marxist-Leninist regime took hold in the country in the early part of 1975. At the end of each letter emanating from government offices were found the words, “Ready for the revolution, the fight continues!”

Jehovah’s people are known throughout the world for keeping neutral regarding political issues, and their Bible-trained consciences did not allow them to repeat such slogans. (John 15:19; 18:36) This brought them much hostility.

November 1975—An Arrest Occurs

Pierre Worou was engaging in the ministry in November 1975 when he met a man who greeted him with a political slogan. When Brother Worou did not reply affirmatively, he was promptly taken to the police station. The police tried to make him repeat the slogans, but he refused. He was forced to crawl around on his knees and elbows for several hours. Brother Worou remained steadfast.

Finally some of the brothers talked to the responsible police officers, and since it was Sunday, they agreed to release him at the end of the day. What had taken place alerted the brothers to what lay ahead.

December 1975—Radio and Newspaper Warnings

During December the government-run radio, “The Voice of the Revolution,” lashed out against organized religion as a whole. Youth groups reportedly pillaged certain churches. Many revolutionaries warned the Witnesses to quit preaching. By January 14, 1976, public witnessing had been obstructed by the authorities in a number of places. Kingdom Halls had been closed in six locations, and meetings had been stopped in three private homes. In Hetin, the Kingdom Hall had been seized and used for political meetings. Yet, in some of the larger centers, the pioneers and missionaries were still able to continue in the ministry without too much interference.

March 1976—Restrictions Increase

On March 24, 1976, the branch in Benin reported to the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses: “The authorities in different sections of the country continue to restrict religious activities in various ways. Many fetish ceremonies and other religious ceremonies have been prohibited in many parts of the land. Also preaching from house-to-house or in different quarters of the towns and villages has been prohibited.”

Two weeks later, the branch further reported to the Governing Body: “In one area in the north (Gouka) the entire congregation of brothers (but not the sisters) was arrested and held for 72 hours. It was to warn them against the preaching work and to try to force the brothers to repeat political slogans, which they refused to do. . . . The brothers were told that they could meet in their Kingdom Hall as long as they put a flag in front of it, and before as well as after each meeting, they would have to organize a period of singing political songs and slogans. The brothers knew they could not do this, and were forced to continue their meetings in the homes of the brothers.”

April 1976—Brothers in Cotonou Arrested

Political tension continued to increase throughout the country. By early April most workplaces had study periods each week for political slogans, flag ceremonies, the national anthem, and “ideology” courses. Those not sharing in these meetings were to be reported to the authorities. Such a meeting was called in one area of Cotonou where three brothers and a sister worked. The brothers refused to attend the meeting; the sister went but refused to participate. When they reported for work the following Monday, first the sister and then the three brothers were forced to run through the streets in front of a police vehicle all the way to the police headquarters—a distance of some three miles [5 km]. The sister was four months pregnant at the time. At the police station, their position remained unchanged; they refused to repeat the political slogans. Though badly beaten, they remained strong—physical blows did not break their faith.

Carlos Prosser, representing the Benin Branch Committee, wrote to the Governing Body on April 7, 1976: “Just as I am writing this letter, the district chief with his guard and secretary came to pay me a visit. He raised questions about slogans, flag salute, etc., and I was able to discuss some of these points with him. He also mentioned that some of our people were arrested for refusing to participate in these things and also mentioned a list of names he was having prepared. The visit was quite friendly but he was quite definite on some points, for example, saying that we were no longer allowed to preach in the homes of people but should stay in our ‘temple.’ We do not know what these men in authority are deciding to do, but one thing is certain: Jehovah’s Witnesses are becoming known more than ever before, and we pray that all this will work out for a witness. All the missionaries are beginning to wonder how much time we have left here.”

Intensity of Persecution Stepped Up

On April 16, 1976, in a radio broadcast to the nation, the minister of the interior strongly criticized Jehovah’s Witnesses. Among other things, he said that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to participate in ideology courses and are taught that they cannot repeat political slogans. In strong language, he stated that if Jehovah’s Witnesses did not change their attitude by the end of the month, all their representatives who are ‘licensed agents of the C.I.A.’—a misrepresentation of the role of the missionaries—would be deported from the country!

Such comments were broadcast for about two weeks in all parts of Benin. Many who had never heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses before started wondering, ‘Who are these people they are talking so much about?’ Such broadcasts stirred up much curiosity, and Jehovah’s name was heard throughout the country to an extent that the Witnesses themselves were not able to achieve by means of their now-restricted public activity.

Another representative from the district chief’s office came to the branch to get everyone’s name and other particulars. They wanted the names of all the keymen in the country. They were given the names of the missionaries living at the branch/missionary home. When they left, all the Society’s records and files were removed from the premises and carefully hidden.

The following day, April 17, two officers returned, asking to see the person in charge. As both were smoking, Brother Prosser told them that they would have to put out their cigarettes before coming in. They complied with the request and were invited into the office. They still wanted the names of all the responsible brothers throughout the country. But by that time, the important files at the branch were nowhere to be found, even if they had decided to conduct a search.

Final Hours for the Missionaries

On April 26, 1976, some brothers thought it would be wise to go to see the district chief in Akpakpa, Cotonou, to explain matters more clearly. Had the branch known of their intentions, such action would have been discouraged. Although some local elders tried to dissuade this well-intentioned delegation, they insisted on going. The outcome was disastrous. After talking to them for some time, the district chief shouted some political slogans, and when they did not reply, he had them arrested.

At this point, 10 of the 13 missionaries were still in the country. Brother and Sister Mahon were expecting a baby and had been preparing to return to England in a few weeks. In view of the threatening situation, the branch had encouraged them to leave as soon as possible instead of waiting till the last minute. They had done so. Maryann Davies from the Porto-Novo missionary home was in Canada because of her mother’s illness.

On the evening of April 26, the remaining missionaries became “prisoners” in the Bethel Home—they could not go out, nor could anyone come in. There was no telephone. The missionaries began packing their things in the event that they were to be deported.

April 27, 1976— Branch Committee Coordinator Taken

The following morning an armed policeman came to get Brother Prosser. He told him to get into the Society’s van and drive; all the while, the policeman kept a weapon pointed at him. Brother Prosser was taken to the police station in Akpakpa for questioning. No physical abuse was used, but they tried to intimidate him with verbal abuse.

“Give us the names of all your key people!” shouted the policeman. Brother Prosser replied: “I cannot give you the names of my brothers. If you want them, you can come to the Kingdom Hall and write them down yourselves.” They accepted this. However, he knew that there was no danger because no meetings had been held in the Kingdom Hall for quite some time. Meetings were now being held in private homes with Congregation Book Study groups.

“What about Samuel Hans-Moévi? Do you not know him? Is he not one of your people?” This question came as a shock to Brother Prosser. It was at Brother Hans-Moévi’s house that they had hidden the Society’s records in two old, beat-up suitcases. These records contained the names of many brothers. Had the police already found those records? Brother Prosser managed to keep a calm outward appearance, while deep in his heart he prayed for Jehovah’s guidance.

Finally the questioning was over. No names had been given, and no physical harm had come to Brother Prosser. He was then released—alone! Some years later, when reflecting on that moment, Brother Prosser said: “My first thought was: ‘What can I do to help the brothers?’ Then I thought: ‘Be careful! It may be a trap. They may plan to follow me in hopes that I will lead them to the brothers.’”

“Rather than go straight home,” Brother Prosser recalled, “I crossed the bridge and went into the city to see if there was any mail at the post office. I did not want to do anything that would make matters difficult for the brothers. But I desperately wanted to see them to assure them that we were all right and to give some direction for the days to come.

“I started for home, all the while wondering how I could contact the brothers. Suddenly, a very heavy wind came up, and a torrential rain began to fall. Without warning, a motorcycle with two people on it raced by me. I wondered who that could be, as it was dangerous to pass on the narrow bridge, especially in the pouring rain. With the motorcycle now in front of me, the man on the back turned his head and raised his helmet so that I could recognize him. To my amazement, it was a member of the Branch Committee! And the driver was another member! I had not seen them for days because we had been under house arrest at the Bethel/missionary home.

“The rain continued to come down by the bucketful, and most people ran for shelter. I drove on across the bridge, passed by the road leading to our house and waited on the side of the road . . . praying . . . waiting . . . hoping to see my brothers, perhaps for the last time.

“It seemed like ages, but the motorcycle carrying the two brothers finally pulled up beside me. It was an ideal time to talk, since no one was around because of the pouring rain. I told the brothers about the need to move the Society’s records to another place, in view of what the police had said during the questioning. We also discussed matters pertaining to the special pioneers, arrangements for the circuit overseers quickly to visit all the congregations to inform them of what was happening, and plans to continue meeting in small groups in private homes. It seemed quite certain that there would be a ban very soon.”

Bethel/Missionary Home Searched

On Tuesday afternoon, April 27, the military surrounded the Bethel/missionary home. They carried automatic weapons. One soldier was stationed at the entrance, another at the back door, and others in the garden. All the missionaries were ordered down into the dining room and were held at gunpoint. One by one, they were taken to their room, where a search was conducted by the soldiers, who thought they would surely find information proving that the missionaries were American spies or foreign revolutionaries. The soldiers marched into Margarita Königer’s room and began their search. Aha! They now had their hands on some incriminating documents—or so they thought. They seized Sister Königer’s copy of her father’s last will and testament in the German language! They were sure it was a coded message. In Peter Pompl’s room, they found what they believed to be a secret formula, but it was really just a medical prescription for toenail fungus.

Carlos and Mary Prosser’s room was the last one to be searched. In one suitcase, soldiers found a large sum of money. It had been withdrawn from the Society’s bank account two days earlier, as it was feared that perhaps the account would be frozen. Since all the missionaries had been under house arrest for some time, they were unable to get the money out of the house. For some reason, when the soldiers found it, they were almost afraid to touch it and quickly put it back in the suitcase. The entire amount was later delivered intact to the branch in Lagos, Nigeria.

Sister Prosser describes the scene: “One of the soldiers said to me, ‘You have been here a long time, surely you must know the names of some of the ones in charge of your congregation.’ I replied, ‘Well, you know what it is like here, no one is really called by his full name. We know everyone as Papa Emmanuel or Mama Eugenie, and so forth. I don’t really know how everyone signs his name.’ The soldier asking the questions had to laugh and say, ‘You really have been here a long time!’”

Sister Prosser continues: “We noticed that one of the men had stopped searching our room and was sitting down. His commanding officer noticed this and told him to get on with his work. His reply was touching as he looked up and said: ‘I have known Mr. and Mrs. Prosser for many years, and they have often discussed the Bible with me at my home. How can I now come here and search their room?’”

The soldiers finished searching the Prossers’ room and went downstairs. They had found nothing incriminating. Most of the missionaries had already spent a good part of the night cutting off names from any file folders that still happened to be at the branch. These were either flushed down the toilet or burned. During the search, one of the guards noticed a smoldering heap in the garden and asked about it. “Oh, yes, that is where we burn our garbage,” replied Brother Prosser. Both the guard and Brother Prosser knew that important documents had been burned.

“Hey, look at this!” cried one of the soldiers conducting a search of the shipping area. The soldiers had found the reel-to-reel tapes along with the script for a Bible drama from a district convention. They were sure that the names of the drama characters must be keymen in the organization. They gleefully collected the tapes and scripts as evidence.

To the Sûreté Nationale

The soldiers ordered the missionaries to get their passports, and they were taken to the Sûreté Nationale, a branch of the Ministry of the Interior. Their deportation papers were read—the missionaries were to be driven to the border and expelled on the spot, without even letting them return home to get their belongings! Fortunately, it was now late, and most of the police had gone home. Since there was no one to escort them to the border, the missionaries were ordered to return home and to be ready to leave at 7:00 a.m.

“By the time we got back home,” Brother Prosser relates, “it was well after 8:00 p.m. We knew it would be a difficult night. Thousands of revolutionaries had surrounded our home and were chanting political slogans, urinating against the wall, calling out derogatory names at the missionaries. Such conduct continued all through the night. No one slept much, if at all, because we did not know what the angry mob outside might do. Some wondered silently if they would be harmed that night or if they would live to see the following day. The sisters did not break down and cry but kept busy packing and encouraging one another. Thanks to Jehovah, the revolutionaries did not enter the home, nor was anyone harmed physically. However, the emotional stress and psychological harassment were a trial that the missionaries were able to endure only with Jehovah’s support through prayer and encouragement from one another.” How important it would be to help one another and to rely on Jehovah in the hours to come!

The Last Day in Benin

The first rays of the morning sun peeked through the clouds around 6:00 a.m., announcing the beginning of a new day. It was April 28—a day that would not be forgotten quickly. As was their custom, the missionaries gathered at the breakfast table at 7:00 a.m. to discuss the morning’s Bible text. Today was certainly not a day to neglect studying God’s Word! All the missionaries knew that they would need extra strength to get through the day.

Theophilus Idowu, a Nigerian who had learned the Gun language years earlier, served as a translator at the branch, although he did not live on the property. He had been closely observing the whole situation from the outside. Since no one could come in or go out, there was no bread for the missionaries’ breakfast. Brother Idowu knew that, so he went to the bakery, bought some bread and presented himself to the soldier at the Bethel gate as the bread man. He was dressed in old tattered clothes with a hat pulled down over his face so that no one in the crowd still lingering outside would recognize him. The guard allowed him to enter. How encouraging it was for the missionaries to see dear Brother Idowu’s smiling face once more! This simple gesture gave new meaning to the prayer, “Give us today our bread for this day.” (Matt. 6:11) Yes, the missionaries saw Jehovah’s hand in matters and took strength from it.

“Bang! bang! bang!” Someone was pounding on the main gate. As discussion of the day’s text began, a lot of commotion was heard outside. The district chief and other revolutionaries had set up a flagpole outside the branch property, a sign that the building now belonged “to the people.” The missionaries were ordered outside to take part in the flag-raising ceremony. They were not sure if they would be taken by force, but all were determined to have no part in it. One of the missionaries, Paul Byron, declared: “They will have to drag me out bodily.” His comment served to strengthen the other missionaries’ determination. For some reason—perhaps Jehovah’s intervention—the soldiers did not make the missionaries go outside. This gave them a few more minutes to finish the day’s text.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the military officers ordered the missionaries to bring their personal effects downstairs. These were thoroughly searched. They were allowed to take only what was in their suitcases. All other possessions were left behind. Soldiers took Brother Prosser around to the Bethel rooms to lock the doors and demanded that he hand over the keys. The branch had been seized! It was with heavy hearts that a few local brothers watched the whole scene from a distance outside the Bethel walls as their dear missionaries were taken from their home, escorted like criminals under armed guard.

Deported!

The missionaries were again taken to the Sûreté Nationale, and deportation papers were issued to each one of them. All except Margarita Königer and Gisela Hoffmann were herded back into the Society’s van to be taken to the Nigeria border. Sisters Königer and Hoffmann were later taken to the Togo border.

The armed guard riding in the vehicle with the majority of the missionaries was very tense. He was sure he was escorting dangerous criminals to the border. He did allow the vehicle to stop for gas. The young gas station attendant, who recognized the Society’s vehicle, asked what all the commotion was about. “We are missionaries being deported for preaching about the Bible,” replied the missionary sadly. “Don’t worry, you will return someday,” he replied. The young man’s words proved true, but not right away.

Under Ban

The Benin newspaper Ehuzu of April 30, 1976, carried the headline “THE SECT OF ‘JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ BANNED IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BENIN.” Persecution was not a new experience for Jehovah’s people in this country. From the early days, Satan has worked hard to stop the waters of truth from flowing in this stronghold of false religion.

In the days, weeks, and months after the missionaries were expelled, many brothers—over 600—fled the country with very little materially but with much spiritually. Many who stayed, both young and old, were beaten mercilessly. Still others lost all their belongings and their jobs.

Brothers who occupied positions of importance in the work force were the hardest hit, since they were expected to end each letter, answer the telephone, and greet people with political slogans such as “Ready for the revolution?” and “The fight continues!” Apollinaire Amoussou-Guenou cared for a medical clinic in the Cotonou area. He refused to take part in such activities because he gave his support solely to God’s Kingdom. Family members pleaded with him to repeat the slogans, even if he really did not mean what he would be saying. “Think of your children,” a young nephew reminded him. As the persecution was stepped up against Jehovah’s people, he decided to leave Benin for Nigeria.

From Nigeria he wrote: “In a relatively short period of time, I’ve lost everything materially—house, automobile, and work. I’m now living in a house that is under construction here in Nigeria. There are no windows or doors nor cement on the floor. My nine children are with me, and fortunately the two oldest have found jobs. We are fighting against worms, mosquitoes, the rain, and the cold. A brother has given us a small bed that we use as a cradle for our three-month-old child. We content ourselves with what we have as we continue to hope in our loving God, Jehovah, who will soon wipe every tear from our eyes.” After the ban was imposed, the plight of many brothers was similar to this.

“Cautious as Serpents”

Such conditions could not stop the true religion. There were still people who highly prized freedom from religious bondage. Circuit overseers continued to visit the congregations but often only for two or three days at a time. Now the brothers had to use caution and foresight to avoid being apprehended. Most circuit overseers wore dirty old clothes when they came into town, usually before dawn or after sundown, so that no one would take any note of their arrival. In the event that someone suspected who they were, they were always ready to change quickly into other clothes. Zacharie Elegbe, now a member of the Benin Branch Committee, recalls visiting the congregations as a circuit overseer during that time. “I remember once spending a whole day in a corn silo of mud construction while the authorities were looking for me,” he said. “I could hear their voices, but they never thought to look for me in the silo. I was able to go on my way at the end of the day.”

To hold any large gathering at that time, a permit had to be issued by the local town hall. However, Jehovah’s servants proved themselves “cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16) When it was known that a couple wanted to get married, a permit was requested from the local authorities for the reception. This was usually granted without any problem. The chairman would begin the program by explaining how the “two-day reception” would be carried out. A two-day reception? Yes. In actual fact the reception was really a miniature district convention! The newlyweds would sit in the front row before the speakers, and Bible-based talks would be given for the benefit of the newlyweds and the happy audience. On one such occasion in the village of Hetin, over 600 attended the “reception,” and 13 got baptized. Many of the townsfolk would remark that Jehovah’s Witnesses had such odd wedding receptions—especially when they heard about the baptism! Funerals also provided opportunities to hold assemblies.

Bible literature was brought into the country in various ways—in canoes, on bicycles, in knapsacks, along bush paths or any other route that seemed fitting at the time. Not all in authority were violently opposed to our work. Thus, in 1984, when two young brothers were crossing a river by canoe with a load of literature from Nigeria, they were surprised by two customs officers on the Benin side. Would the literature be seized, or would the brothers be beaten and imprisoned? “What is in the bags?” demanded one of the customs officers. “Bible literature,” replied the brothers. “Let us see.” The brothers offered them each a copy of the brochure Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!, which they readily accepted. “Are you still bringing in literature for Jehovah’s Witnesses?” The brothers froze, not sure what to say next. “Be on your way,” said the customs officer. The two brothers silently thanked Jehovah. Such examples strengthened the brothers’ confidence that Jehovah was blessing efforts to get spiritual food to the brothers “at the proper time.”—Matt. 24:45.

“The Word of God Is Not Bound”

The Witnesses still in Benin could not hold back from speaking about the precious truths that were in their hearts. Thus a change came to the life of Maurice Kodo. He was a schoolteacher in Calavi, a village some 12 miles [20 km] from Cotonou. He had thought that if he was a good person, he would go to heaven. However, when he came in contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses, he learned from the Bible that more was required if he wanted God’s approval. A cousin introduced Maurice to a Witness neighbor, and the Witness, upon observing the interest that Maurice showed in the Bible, promptly offered him a free home Bible study. Maurice and his wife began studying the Bible and progressed rapidly. He soon wanted to share in the preaching work, as he was convinced he had found the truth. Of course, the brothers had to be sure of his sincerity. Others had feigned interest, only to betray them. However, that was not the case with Maurice Kodo. He seized every opportunity to talk about the truth to his relatives, friends and coworkers.

Then on February 11, 1982, Brother and Sister Kodo were arrested. They were imprisoned along with the brother who had originally studied the Bible with them and a newly interested person with whom Brother Kodo was studying. Why? They either were Jehovah’s Witnesses and were talking to their neighbors about God’s Kingdom or were showing an interest in what the Witnesses taught. According to the report drawn up by the authorities, the village of Calavi was becoming “a beehive of activity” for Jehovah’s Witnesses. That greatly displeased the authorities.

The four who had been arrested, including Brother Kodo’s wife, were put into a cell alongside criminals of the worst sort and in the most inhumane conditions. They were told that they could be freed if they would do one simple thing—sign a letter saying that they were no longer Jehovah’s Witnesses. This, our brothers flatly refused to do. They could not disown their God, Jehovah. Their dedication to him was unconditional and nonnegotiable. This stand infuriated the officials, and any Bible literature that the brothers had with them in their cell was confiscated.

Brother and Sister Kodo’s two children, Nadine and Jimmy (six and three years old respectively), fell ill. Sister Kodo asked if she could return home to care for her sick children. This was refused, but permission was granted for her to care for them in prison. Now they were six in prison, including the children!

How would they celebrate the upcoming Memorial? The local brothers were able to smuggle unleavened bread and wine to them for the celebration. Brother Kodo recalls: “It was strange. While we were celebrating the Memorial, there was a certain calm that came over the prison, so that our Memorial celebration was not disturbed.”

Finally, the local official who was responsible for their imprisonment was assigned to another part of the country. The man who replaced him was more favorable; so on May 26, three and a half months after their imprisonment, they were freed.

Four years later Brother Kodo again found himself behind prison bars—this time for refusing to repeat political slogans. He later told how he used this time wisely: “I served as an auxiliary pioneer while in prison. This time, I was able to keep a good supply of literature for use in ‘my personal territory.’ I preached to the other inmates, the guards, and the police, and I conducted many Bible studies.” Although he was in prison, ‘the word of God was not bound.’—2 Tim. 2:9.

Looking back, the brothers agree that the village of Calavi did indeed become “a beehive of activity” for Jehovah’s people. From 4 publishers in 1982, their numbers have grown, so that now two congregations are thriving there, with over 160 publishers. Since his baptism, Brother Kodo has had the privilege of helping over 30 persons to gain freedom, not from prison chains, but from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion.

Late in the 1980’s, changes began to take place in the government. No one was sure what the outcome would be. But the hot winds of persecution upon Jehovah’s people began to cool down. They were even able to hold meetings openly in some areas, but not everywhere.

“I Am Only the Forerunner”

During this time an experience was taking place that indicated that there were yet many in Benin who would gratefully accept the liberating truths of God’s Word. Pierre Awhanto was disheartened to see religious hypocrisy, love of money, and immorality in the Eglise du Christianisme Céleste (Heavenly Christianity Church), of which he was a member. Though the church practiced faith healing, this was unable to save his child from death. ‘God has called your son to heaven,’ the pastor told him. Unsatisfied with that explanation and disturbed by practices permitted in the church, he left it in 1973, with the intention of establishing his own religion. He wanted a religion free from the hypocrisy and the wicked practices that he had seen elsewhere.

He then became the self-acclaimed founder and pastor of the Ayi-Wiwé (Sacred Heart) Church. In 1964 he had been contacted by Jehovah’s Witnesses. He admired them. He was sure that if he established his own church, he too could have a religion free from greed and immorality like that of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Within a short time, his church grew to over 2,700 followers in 21 congregations. He enjoyed the influence and wealth.

One day a man came to him to be healed. He had a skin disorder that had persisted for quite some time. Pierre Awhanto cured him. The man was so pleased that he gave him a house as a reward!

However, immorality and greed, the very practices that had motivated Pierre Awhanto to establish his own religion, were now filtering into his church. He began to realize that if he wanted pure worship, he could not imitate Jehovah’s people—he would have to become one of them. He began to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Gradually, he taught from the pulpit what he had learned from his Bible study with the Witnesses. He often ended his sermons with a curious statement: “I am only the forerunner. The genuine bearers of truth will come later.” Many of those who heard him wondered what this meant.

After he increased the frequency of his studies with the Witnesses to twice a week, he realized that he would have to make a decision. He called all his pastors together for a meeting. There were 28 of them. Using the Scriptures, he explained the difference between true religion and false. At that meeting the decision was made that all images in their churches would be done away with and that special robes would no longer be worn by the clergy. The pastors were then instructed to contact the Witnesses in their own locality for a home Bible study. The pastors in many of the churches started doing what Pierre Awhanto had done. On Wednesdays the church leaders would study the Bible, and on Sundays they would base their sermons on what they had learned. Later, the Wednesday arrangement became the Congregation Book Study, and the Sunday sermon became a public talk.

In 1989, Pierre Awhanto called a meeting of all his followers. Over 1,000 were present for that gathering in Porto-Novo. On that occasion he told them: “You recall when I used to end my sermons saying, ‘I am just the forerunner. The genuine bearers of truth will come later’? They have finally arrived—they are Jehovah’s Witnesses!” That announcement gave rise to a question-and-answer session that lasted for some seven hours! Not everyone viewed this as good news. Some preferred their own way of life, which included plurality of wives. However, to date in Benin alone, over 75 former members of the Ayi-Wiwé Church have been baptized and approximately 200 more are studying and progressing toward that same goal. Many of the group are also learning to read and write.

As for Pierre Awhanto, he was baptized in June 1991. He has legally severed all ties with his former religion. Eight of his former churches have been converted into Kingdom Halls. And what about the house that he had received as a gift from a man whom he had healed? Brother Awhanto returned it to him. Understandably, the man was very surprised. But our brother explained that now that he had found the truth, he knew that whatever cure he had been able to perform was a result of power, not from God, but from the demons.

How encouraging it is to see people—yes, even large numbers of them—being freed from religious error and coming to “an accurate knowledge of truth”! (1 Tim. 2:4) And the time had come when they would be able to assemble freely to be instructed in God’s Word.

A Day Never to Be Forgotten

On January 24, 1990, two brothers from Benin traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, with an important document in their hands. They wanted to advise the Nigeria branch, which cared for the work in Benin during those difficult years, that Decree No. 004, dated January 23, 1990, proclaimed that the earlier decree (No. 111 of April 27, 1976) banning the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of Benin was henceforth null and void! Jehovah’s Witnesses were at last officially free to preach publicly and to hold Christian meetings! How would the local Witnesses be informed?

Plans were made for a meeting in Cotonou. However, the brothers organizing it did not make known in advance the reason for this gathering. The local Witnesses could not help wondering why they were being invited to gather in a public hall in the center of Cotonou. On arrival, how surprised they were to see a large banner welcoming Jehovah’s Witnesses! ‘How could this be done? We are under ban,’ thought many of the brothers. Some wondered, ‘Is this a trap?’

The meeting was to begin at 10:00 a.m., but by 9:00 a.m. all the seats were filled. Inside the hall were two large banners. One displayed the words of Revelation 4:11: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor.” The other featured Psalm 144:15: “Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah!”

When the meeting began, the chairman announced that according to the document he held in his hand, “the government has lifted the ban on our work!” Brother Olih, a member of the Nigeria Branch Committee who was present, relates: “The applause and the clapping that greeted this announcement was such that if the building had not been properly built, it could have collapsed under the accumulating avalanche of the thunderous ovation. Then the clapping stopped all at once, as if those in attendance wanted to remember what was said. Then they started again, and this went on for some minutes. The chairman mentioned Psalm 126 but could not read it because of the clapping. Quite a few of us, including the chairman, had tears welling up in our eyes. It was like witnessing a resurrection scene, as the brothers turned around to look at each other and held each other’s hands in thankfulness and rejoicing.”

In the talks that followed, the brothers were commended for their endurance during the 14-year ban. This was no time for bitter tears but a time to build, to use their newfound freedom wisely in taking up the pioneer service if their situation so permitted, or to reach out for other privileges of service in the congregations. It would be important to continue to rely on Jehovah, who had now given victory to his people! The meeting lasted for four hours without a break, but to those present it seemed like just a few minutes.

The final speaker mentioned that only a few days earlier, when brothers met on the street, they were careful not to betray one another. But on this occasion they were told that they could begin to make up for lost time by greeting their brothers freely. About two hours after the heartfelt final prayer, many Witnesses were still in front of the building hugging and kissing one another and renewing acquaintances. Religious freedom had a sweet smell to it. But how would the brothers now use this freedom?

Rejoicing to Be Able to Meet for Worship

Kingdom Halls needed to be cleaned, painted, and repaired to get them back into usable condition. The brothers freely gave of their time and resources to do the work. Arrangements were also made by the Society for the circuit overseers quickly to visit all the congregations, spending two or three days with each. Reorganization was under way.

What a joy to see families once again flocking to their Kingdom Halls! Meeting attendance is often two or three times the number of publishers. Many arrive on bicycles; some on motorcycles or in dugout canoes. Others walk, and their having to go several miles does not deter them. Mother attaches the youngest child to her back with a piece of cloth wrapped around her torso. Older children help the younger ones. Father will often carry the precious books needed for the meeting—precious because by means of these, Jehovah provides instruction, precious too because each of the large books may represent a whole day’s wage.

In time, all Kingdom Halls throughout the country, the missionary home in Porto-Novo, and the branch facilities in Cotonou, which had been seized during the ban, were returned to their rightful owners. Basic renovation on the branch and on the Porto-Novo home was done promptly, and in August 1990, less than a month after the branch property had been returned, an assembly was held right there on the Society’s property, with some 2,000 in attendance. Everyone became aware that Jehovah’s Witnesses were again using this property in connection with their work of Bible education.

The Benin branch began to function once more in September 1991, thus making possible closer contact with the brothers and greater help in dealing with their spiritual needs.

Eager to Bear Witness to the Truth

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Benin wanted to preach the good news in the way that their brothers in other lands were doing it. During the 14-year ban, most witnessing had been done in an informal way. Even some of the elders had never witnessed from house to house. But with a little encouragement and instruction, they got started.

Witnessing is not difficult in Benin. The people in general love the Bible. They often offer the visiting Witness a seat and listen attentively. As Witnesses go from one house to another, it is not unusual for someone on a bicycle to call out to them, asking for the latest issues of The Watchtower and Awake!

Frequently, there are many from the same family who live in dwellings off a common courtyard. Out of respect, the Witness asks to speak to the head of the family first. After that, calls are made on his adult sons and their families whose houses open onto the same courtyard.

To show their appreciation for all that Jehovah had done for them, hundreds entered the pioneer service after the ban was lifted. The special, regular, and auxiliary pioneers numbered 162 in 1989; by 1996, there were 610 of them.

What response have they met? A special pioneer couple was assigned to a town where there were no Witnesses. In just a few months, the time came for the celebration of the Memorial of Christ’s death. The interested ones in that town learned that we usually celebrate the Memorial in a Kingdom Hall, but there was not one there. One of those interested folks approached a man who had a large tract of land and asked whether they might clear a portion of it to build a Kingdom Hall. The man was favorable toward the work of the Witnesses so he assented. Within a few days, the two special pioneers and the interested ones had cleared the land and built a pretty Kingdom Hall that had walls of woven palm branches and a roof that was thatched. In front were two arches made of palm branches and decorated with flowers. When a local voodoo priestess tried to stir up opposition, the village elders told her: “You do not own the land in this village. We want Jehovah’s Witnesses to stay. If they go, you’ll go too!” She caused no further trouble. For the Memorial, 110 were present, among whom only the special pioneers were baptized Witnesses.

Convention Facilities

Shortly after the ban was lifted, a 12-acre [5 ha] plot of land was acquired in Calavi, a village not far from Cotonou, and an adjoining plot of 10 acres [4 ha] was purchased later. This village is where some of our brothers had been imprisoned because the authorities said that the area was “a beehive of activity” for Jehovah’s Witnesses. How true those words had become! In 1990, Jehovah’s people were able to hold a convention here in freedom and on their own land!

But how could convention facilities adequate for 4,000 people be built at a cost that would be within the means of our brothers? In a manner that is typical of Jehovah’s Witnesses in West Africa. Brothers went out into the bush and cut down bamboo and coconut tree leaves. The bamboo poles served for seating. Posts protruding upward about 20 inches [50 cm] were set into the ground at 4-foot [1.2 m] intervals. These would serve as legs for the seats. Two longer bamboo poles were laid across the 20-inch posts and tied down. Voilà! Seats for 15 people. Larger bamboo poles were used to support the roof structure, and the leaves were woven and used for roofing. Though such a structure is not waterproof, it keeps the hot African sun off everyone, and those underneath it are quite comfortable.

In time, new branch facilities, as well as an open-sided Assembly Hall that is of more durable construction, are to be built here.

Missionaries Return

About three months after the ban was lifted, another government decree was issued. This annulled the decree that had resulted in the expulsion of the missionaries in 1976, and it declared that Jehovah’s Witnesses were free to carry on missionary work in Benin.

In response to that official action, in November 1990, missionaries were again assigned to Benin. Tab and Janis Honsberger, who had been serving in Dakar, Senegal, were reassigned to Benin. Michel Muller and his wife, Babette, as well as Claude and Marie-Claire Buquet, arrived in Benin a few days later. They had recently served in Tahiti.

Brother Honsberger recalls: “We were pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the people we met when we first started preaching from door to door in our new assignment. They were actually welcoming us back to Benin! One man said that when the missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses left years ago, the country started going downhill.” Remember the words of the young gas station attendant, spoken to the departing missionaries 14 years earlier—“Don’t worry, you will return someday.” His words had come true—the missionaries had returned!

Brother Buquet calls Benin the missionaries’ paradise because many of the Beninese people have a deep love for God and the Bible. Many of the more than 50 missionaries now serving in Benin have been stopped on the street by someone who wanted to ask for a Bible study or the answer to a deep Bible question!

Using Freedom Wisely

Years ago, the people of Benin were sold as slaves and shipped abroad. Terrible as this was, another sort of slavery, one that results from false religion, persists down to the present. It binds the hearts and minds of people who may think they are free. At times, it causes more fear than the whip of a slave master.

Thousands in Benin have been freed from such bondage and have become Jehovah’s joyful Witnesses. They also know what it means to be “no part of the world” in imitation of Christ. As a result, they are able to enjoy freedom from bondage to “the ruler of this world,” whom Jesus said had no hold on him. (John 12:31; 14:30; 15:19) The years of intense persecution experienced by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Benin did not bring them back into bondage again. They well knew the words of Jesus Christ: “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20) And they knew that the apostle Paul had written: “All those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.” (2 Tim. 3:12) Although they were deprived for a time of the freedom to meet openly for worship and to witness to others publicly—some were even thrown into prison—yet, they continued to have freedoms that no human could take from them.

Now about seven years have passed since the ban was lifted and Jehovah’s Witnesses were again given legal recognition. Have our Beninese brothers used that freedom wisely? Shortly before the ban was imposed, there were about 2,300 active Kingdom proclaimers in the country. Now there are more than twice that number. As for those who are sharing in the full-time ministry, these have more than tripled in number. Many people are responding to the invitation to “take life’s water free.” (Rev. 22:17) When the congregations meet for the Memorial of Christ’s death, large numbers of interested people join them, so that the attendance is more than four times as great as the number of Witnesses. There is obviously much that still needs to be done to help those interested ones to appreciate and apply all the things that Jesus himself commanded.—Matt. 28:19, 20.

There are also many difficult circumstances with which people must contend as long as the old system of things continues. Nevertheless, it is heartwarming to visit the congregations of Jehovah’s people in Benin and observe firsthand the freedom that God’s Word has already brought to people here. There is the former polygamist in the village of Logou who, because of his desire to have the approval of Jehovah, freed himself from local unscriptural traditions and now lives with one wife. There is the young man in the Togoudo Godomey Congregation whose father offered him educational opportunities that many would eagerly grasp and promised that in time the son would become a voodoo priest and would inherit his father’s house and his wives; but the son chose instead to serve Jehovah. There is a sister in Tori-Cada Zounmé who formerly spent many years in a voodoo convent but who is now a regular pioneer. A young man who used to make his living from stealing has put on the new personality and now serves as a special pioneer in Kotan. A former military man who once persecuted Jehovah’s people is now a regular pioneer and a ministerial servant. These and many more like them are busy helping honesthearted people to learn how to gain freedom from religious bondage, even as they were helped. They know from experience that “where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.”—2 Cor. 3:17.

[Full-page picture on page 66]

[Picture on page 72]

Nouru Akintoundé returned to Benin as a pioneer and helped many to start serving Jehovah

[Picture on page 80]

Literacy class in Sekandji (1996)

[Picture on page 86]

Germain Adomahou abandoned polygamy to live with his senior wife, Vigue

[Picture on page 89]

Amasa Ayinla and his family, when he was a circuit overseer in Benin

[Picture on page 90]

Carlos and Mary Prosser, missionaries ready for field service

[Picture on page 95]

Kingdom Ministry School in 1975, during a time of political tension in Benin

[Picture on page 102]

Peter Pompl with Mary and Carlos Prosser—all deported from Benin, now serving in Nigeria and Cameroon

[Picture on page 115]

Pierre Awhanto, formerly a self-styled minister, now an ordained minister of the true God

[Pictures on page 116]

Meeting at which the lifting of the ban was announced

[Picture on page 118]

Calavi assembly grounds

[Picture on page 123]

Benin branch office, with Branch Committee as of the past service year (left to right): Zacharie Elegbe, Tab Honsberger, Sourou Hounye

Brazil

In the year 1500, Pero Vaz de Caminha wrote to the king of Portugal about Brazil, where Portuguese explorers had just landed. He stated: “The best fruit that can be taken from it . . . will be saving its people [Indians].” These words reveal one of the main reasons for the Portuguese overseas expansion in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was to spread Christendom’s religious teachings to other lands.

However, it was not until much later that God’s Word, the Bible, was made available to the inhabitants of Brazil, so that they could see for themselves what it teaches. The entire Portuguese Bible was first available (part in Europe and part in South India) in 1751. Another 125 years passed before any of it was printed in Brazilian Portuguese. And it was well into the 20th century before even part of the Bible was published in any of the languages of the Indian tribes in Brazil.

Brazil is one of the few countries in South America where Spanish is not the predominant language—Portuguese is. Occupying about half of South America and bounded by all other South American countries except Chile and Ecuador, Brazil is a land of great variety. Its people are enthusiastic and friendly and are interested in spiritual matters. The majority (85 percent of the 161 million inhabitants) profess Catholicism, and a high percentage of these incline toward spiritism. In recent years, there has also been a notable increase in the number of adherents to evangelical religions.

Real Bible Education Gets Under Way

God’s will is that ‘all sorts of people should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.’ (1 Tim. 2:3, 4) That kind of knowledge began to be spread in Brazil toward the end of the 19th century. It was in 1899 that Sarah Bellona Ferguson, of São Paulo, first received some of the Watch Tower Society’s publications by mail from the United States. As she learned precious Bible truths, she did what she could to share these with others. When the opportunity presented itself after about 25 years, she got baptized.

In the meantime eight young Brazilian sailors on leave from their ship in New York City were attracted by meetings of the Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then known). There they obtained a Portuguese Bible. They were also helped to understand it. When they returned to Brazil in March 1920, after several months of association with the Bible Students in New York, they continued to meet together and to talk to others about what they had learned. At first, they used Watch Tower publications in Spanish as study helps because nothing was available in Portuguese. However, a few years later, George Young was sent to Brazil, and arrangements were made to translate literature into Portuguese and to publish it. In 1923 a branch of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was established in Rio de Janeiro to promote Bible education in this vast land.

More Help Arrives

In spite of this good start, progress was slow. So at the invitation of J. F. Rutherford, who was then president of the Watch Tower Society, Alston Yuille arrived in Brazil in 1936 to help the Witnesses there to benefit more fully from the spiritual provisions that Jehovah was making through his visible organization. With him was his wife, Maude, as well as Antonio Pires de Andrade, a fellow worker who, at least at the start, also served as his interpreter. Three years later, Otto Estelmann and Erich Kattner were sent from Europe to serve as pioneers, devoting themselves to calling at the homes of people to show how Bible truth could benefit them. Then in 1945 two missionaries from the first class of Gilead School came: Charles D. Leathco and Harry Black.

Jehovah blessed the work of these and many other zealous Kingdom proclaimers, and by 1948 there were 1,000 Witnesses of Jehovah in Brazil sharing with others the precious truths in God’s Word. The group increased rapidly: 10,000 in 1957 and 50,000 in 1968. In the meantime the Bethel Home and factory had to be enlarged, and in 1968 the branch office was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to larger facilities in São Paulo. (For more information on the work in Brazil from 1920 to 1972, see the 1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, pages 33-88.)

Making God’s Own Word Available

Some 50 years ago, the average Roman Catholic in Brazil always went to Mass, always prayed to Mary, always obeyed the priest, and never read the Bible. Why? For one thing, priests prohibited to their flocks possession of a Bible that lacked the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, all such Church-approved Bibles carried forbidding price tags—way out of reach for the man-in-the-church. No wonder Witnesses back then often met Catholics who had never seen a Bible!

“I used to read the Lord’s Prayer to such people,” recalls Fern, a longtime missionary. “Catholics knew that prayer by heart but were surprised to see it in the Bible.” In many cases, surprise led to interest and interest to the request: “Could you get me a Bible?” The Witnesses would gladly obtain an affordable version from the Brazilian Bible Society.

The ten missionaries then in São Paulo were frequent visitors at the Bible Society’s outlet in that city. The outlet’s Protestant clerks, though, were not happy that the entire stock of the Tradução Brasileira—a Bible version containing the name Jehovah—was moving from their shelves into the missionaries’ book bags. One day the clerk told the missionaries that she could not let them have any more of those Bibles. Shortly thereafter, the Tradução Brasileira was out of print. Not surprisingly, many Witnesses longed for a change. In 1963, there were 57 delegates from Brazil at the international conventions in the United States when the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Portuguese was released. Four years later, when the complete New World Translation in Portuguese became available, the days of distributing the Bible in dribbles were finally over.

During the past three decades, millions of copies of the New World Translation from the Society’s printeries have streamed into the country and have caught the public’s eye. In 1987, Veja, Brazil’s leading newsweekly, described the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References as the country’s “most complete version of the Scriptures.” Brazil’s Witnesses of Jehovah (now more than 430,000) agree and are thrilled that as a result of their Bible-distribution campaign, many Brazilians in cities, towns, and villages are now at last gratefully turning the pages of their personal copy of God’s Word.

Personal Instruction in Bible Truth

Reading the Bible is one thing, but understanding what one reads and how to apply it is another. That calls for a program of personal Bible instruction. In 1968—a year after the release of the complete Portuguese New World Translation—the 50,000 Witnesses in Brazil received The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, a book that would help them to study the Bible.

After reading the book, one experienced pioneer exclaimed: “This book is going to help millions to accept the truth!” And she was right. Annual placement of books more than tripled. The number of Bible studies increased dramatically. Rute, from southern Brazil, speaks for many of those who studied, saying: “When I studied the Truth book, I felt grateful and furious. Grateful for learning the truth about the condition of the dead and the Paradise hope and angry that the Catholic Church had misled me all my life.”

Then, in 1983, the Witnesses welcomed a new aid for Bible instruction—the Portuguese edition of the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. That book has reached the heart of many more in all walks of life. Early in 1996, more than 500,000 persons were benefiting from Bible instruction, most of them through studies based on this effective teaching tool.

While the text of the Live Forever book was touching Brazil’s reading public, the pictures in the brochure Enjoy Life on Earth Forever! were teaching Bible truths to many of Brazil’s 28 million who could not read. Over six million of these brochures have been printed in Portuguese in the last 13 years. Are illiterate people understanding the Bible’s teachings? They certainly are! Consider Maria, an elderly woman. With the help of the brochure, she learned that God’s name is Jehovah, not Senhor, just as her name is Maria, not Senhora. Although she had never heard God’s name before, she gratefully accepted this new truth during her first Bible study. When the Witness who was teaching her was leaving, Maria called out: “May Jehovah be with you!” Maria’s sincere wish has certainly proved true. With Jehovah’s blessing, Bible education in Brazil is moving forward.

Making Room to Print Again

In 1971, three years after the branch office was moved to São Paulo, the number of active Witnesses passed 70,000. That year, there were 1,202 congregations throughout the country; Jehovah’s Witnesses devoted over 11,000,000 hours to their public ministry; and they were conducting, on an average, 58,902 home Bible studies. To provide the needed direction and equipment for this program of education, it was apparent that the branch facilities would have to be enlarged again. Looking to Jehovah for direction, the brothers gave this need their attention.

For many years the Portuguese edition of The Watchtower had been printed in Brazil on an old flatbed press. But in 1957, because of increased demand, problems with the press (which had been built in 1918), and an insufficient supply of paper, this printing had been transferred to New York. Now, having found solutions to the problems of press and paper, the brothers were able to resume printing in Brazil.

In order to furnish the space needed for printing, work got under way on an annex to the branch facilities. At the same time, arrangements were made to import a high-speed rotary letterpress. Because of the educational nature of our magazines, an effort was made to obtain exemption from import taxes on the press. But at times, religious organizations that had been granted tax exemption for items had later sold these for a big profit. Understandably, some of the authorities were not in favor of granting further exemptions to religious groups. However, help came from an unexpected source—a government official who was an agnostic. He showed interest in our request for exemption and indicated how we should proceed. In November 1972, after just four months, the desired tax exemption was granted. Augusto Machado, who was working in the Society’s office, reminisced: “We started from scratch, knowing practically nothing; but with confidence in Jehovah, and doing our homework, we got what we needed. Jehovah really directs his servants.”

There Was Much to Learn

The prospect of printing on a web rotary letterpress presented new challenges. The completely dismantled press arrived in December 1972, packed in 47 large crates, some of which weighed as much as six tons. To see that it was set up properly, Milan Miller was sent from the world headquarters. He coordinated the work of a group of nine brothers to install the press and then taught them how to operate it. Their sharing in the installation of the press helped them to understand how to care for it. The majority were young brothers who, until then, had little or no experience in printing. Karl Rietz, who shared in that installation project, was the factory overseer, and he continues to serve in that capacity down to the present.

At about the same time, the paper being imported for printing the magazines arrived. “The first shipment was 150 tons,” recalled Euclides Justino, who was sent from Bethel to the port to get it. “We arranged for trucks to transport the paper from the port in Santos to Bethel in São Paulo. But we did not realize that, since the forklift at the port only lifted the rolls of paper up onto the trucks, we would need strong men to put those heavy rolls in order on the trucks. So Brother Machado and I climbed up onto one of the trucks and began to tip the rolls—each weighing 400 kilograms [880 pounds]—and to roll them into place. The stevedores had a good laugh as they watched two men in neckties struggling with the rolls. Happily, it was nearly lunchtime, so we soon quit. During the lunch hour, we hired men to finish the job.” But gradually the brothers were learning some of the work involved in printing with a web rotary press.

In 1973 a second web rotary press arrived, with printing capacity similar to the first: 12,500 magazines an hour. Since then, more presses—ones with four-color capacity—have been installed. So over the years, we have been able to keep up with the demand for Bible literature.

Dedication of the New Bethel Annex

About four months before that second press arrived, the new Bethel annex was scheduled to be dedicated. Some expressed doubts that the construction work would be completed on time. But the reply of Fred Wilson, the branch overseer, was: “You don’t know our brothers.” They put their hearts into the work, staying with it till late at night, also on Saturdays and Sundays. On March 17, 1973, the day for the dedication, they were still putting on finishing touches. At noon, everything was ready! The last truckload of rubbish went out the back gate as the visitors began entering the lobby!

Nathan H. Knorr, then president of the Watch Tower Society, and Max Larson, Brooklyn factory overseer, were on hand for the occasion. Brother Knorr gave the dedication talk. The next day, there was a special three-hour program attended by a crowd of more than 28,000, who packed out Ibirapuera Gymnasium. On that occasion, after speaking about the importance of a regular consideration of the daily text, Brother Knorr released the 1973 Yearbook, published for the first time in Portuguese. (Previously, material for use as a basis for daily text discussions in Portuguese had appeared in The Watchtower.) Such daily reading and discussion of a portion of God’s Word is important in the lives of Jehovah’s people, in harmony with what Jesus Christ himself said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.”—Matt. 4:4.

“Divine Victory” International Convention

The year 1973 closed with the largest convention ever held in Brazil by Jehovah’s people, in Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo, December 26-30. A huge balloon announcing the theme “Divine Victory” floated over the stadium. The program strengthened the conviction of those in attendance that divine victory by God’s Kingdom will indeed bring the greatest blessings for humankind. During the assembly itself, they saw evidence that education regarding God’s will as recorded in the Bible had already transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people in Brazil. Twenty-eight years earlier, Brother Knorr had spoken to an audience of 765 in a nearby gymnasium. On that occasion, when looking over toward the mammoth stadium, he had wondered aloud whether Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil would ever fill that facility. That idea became a reality in 1973, when Brother Knorr spoke to an overflow audience of 94,586 in that very stadium! The previous day, 3,187 new ministers had been baptized. That five-day convention was in itself an evidence of divine victory!

Delegates were on hand from all parts of the country. From the city of Manaus, capital of Amazonas State—about 2,500 miles [some 4,000 km] away—came three buses and four cars with delegates, the first group ever to travel the precarious Trans-Amazon Highway. Another group traveled some 1,800 miles [more than 3,000 km] from Belém, on the northern coast, and a special train and more than 180 buses brought joyful delegates from Rio de Janeiro. So great was the publicity that the governor of the state of São Paulo and the mayor of the city visited the convention grounds.

Obtaining rooms for these thousands of delegates was a challenge, since many of them did not have the means to pay for hotel accommodations. Some 21,000 room requests were handled by the Rooming Department. In harmony with the Bible’s counsel to “follow the course of hospitality,” Witnesses and others made rooms available in their homes. (Rom. 12:13) More than 6,000 delegates were accommodated in Kingdom Halls. The delegates from Amazonia were all housed in a factory offered by a sister’s husband. Mattresses were lent by Witnesses and interested persons.

Two months later the same convention program was repeated in Salvador, Bahia, with an attendance of 32,348 persons.

“You Should Prove Yourselves Holy”

Although Jehovah’s Witnesses had looked with disfavor on the use of tobacco, the seriousness of the matter was not fully discerned until 1973. So some Witnesses continued to smoke even though they were baptized. However, in his due time, Jehovah helped his servants discern Bible principles that should have a bearing on their attitude toward that habit. (2 Cor. 7:1; Gal. 5:19-21, footnote) The Watchtower of December 1, 1973 (in Portuguese), pointed out that, henceforth, all who wished to be baptized would have to be free from the use of tobacco. Those who were already baptized and who still smoked were given six months to quit the habit if they wanted to remain a part of the congregation.

Being properly motivated, the majority were able to break free from the filthy habit. One brother who was still smoking at that time, though baptized in 1964, reasoned that if others were able to quit for health reasons, how much more should he be able to quit so as to continue serving Jehovah. It is true that some were disfellowshipped, but a number of these finally had a change of mind and heart, quit smoking, and were reinstated. In this way Jehovah’s people continued to adjust themselves to God’s high standard of holiness.—Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:16.

Is Time Running Out?

With a view to helping people see the urgent need to take a stand on Jehovah’s side of the issue of sovereignty, an intensive distribution of Kingdom News tracts was undertaken during the 1970’s. Is Time Running Out for Mankind? was the title of Kingdom News No. 16. Amaro Santos, who has served at Bethel for the past 25 years, explained: “The Society sent each congregation the equivalent of 100 tracts per publisher, to be distributed free in just ten days, from March 22 to 31 of 1974. The tract was printed in an attractive style that caught the attention even of those normally indifferent to the Kingdom message. More than 7,000 new publishers joined the other Witnesses in distribution of eight million tracts.”

Some who received the tract acted promptly on what they learned. That was true of a 22-year-old college student in São Paulo. Impressed by the urgency of the situation, he agreed to study the Bible with the aid of the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. Soon he began to speak to others at college about what he was learning, and three months later he shared in the special distribution of another tract.

Earnest effort was put forth to reach people even in remote areas. Young publishers gladly shared. Concerning what two of such younger ones did in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Belarmino Colla, who was then 15 years old, wrote: “We left home at 6:00 a.m., and since the homes were scattered, we did not contact anyone until 10:00 a.m. At times, we had to go on foot because it was impossible to go on horseback on the trails. We worked until 8:30 p.m. and then stayed overnight with an interested person. At seven o’clock the next morning, we started again, working until 3:00 p.m., and then we headed for home, arriving at midnight. In the two days, we had walked 90 kilometers [56 miles] and placed only 30 tracts.” These Kingdom proclaimers recognized that the message they were delivering set before people an opportunity that could mean everlasting life and that millions of people in Brazil needed the opportunity to benefit from it. They felt the urgency indicated by the title of that tract, No. 16.

‘Impossible to Get Away From the Witnesses’

In 1974, Edivaldo Gil da Silva and his wife, Marli, who were special pioneers at the time, arranged to study the Bible twice a month with a lady who lived on an out-of-the-way farm near Ribeirão Prêto, São Paulo State. To get there, they would hitch a ride on a milk truck at 4:00 a.m. and then walk another six miles [10 km]. The study went well for a few months until the husband began to oppose. He even moved his family without leaving a forwarding address.

At a district convention eight years later, a couple came up to Edivaldo and Marli and asked: “Remember us? We are the couple you visited on the farm.” The husband explained that he had moved to get away from Jehovah’s Witnesses. When they arrived at their new home and even before they had unloaded their furniture from the truck, however, two Witnesses appeared and spoke to them about God’s purpose for humankind. This made the man think. He accepted a Bible study and made good progress; months later both he and his wife got baptized.

A Spiritually Refreshing Visit

In September 1974 a special treat was enjoyed by the brothers in São Paulo. What was it? A visit by Frederick W. Franz, then vice president of the Watch Tower Society. This was not his first visit to Brazil. Along with Brother Knorr, he had served on a convention program in São Paulo in 1945. This time, however, he was accompanied by Karl Klein, who shortly thereafter began to serve along with him on the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were spending three days in São Paulo on vacation, but they also took pleasure in imparting “some spiritual gift” to their Christian brothers. (Rom. 1:11, 12) What could be more enjoyable than a discussion of spiritual matters? Quickly, arrangements were made for a special meeting in a theater. A total of 2,000 attended.

Massasue Kikuta, who has been a member of the branch staff since 1967, recalled: “Brother Franz surprised everyone by giving his talk in fluent Portuguese. Without using a Bible or any notes (his eyesight was already failing), he quoted and explained all of Psalm 91, verse by verse, for more than two hours, in spite of being 80 years of age.” It was learned later that he did the same thing in Spanish for the brothers in Paraguay!

Eleven Orphans Learn the Truth

At about this time, a family in the state of Goiás urgently needed help to understand the reason for human suffering and the real purpose of living. Their father, depressed by serious financial problems, had committed suicide, and a few months later, their mother had died of a heart attack. The surviving members of the Vinhal family were orphans—all 11 of them. When calamity struck their family in that way in 1974, the eldest was 17 years old and the youngest only 40 days old. With determination and hard work, it was possible for five of them to stay together, but the six youngest children had to be sent to live with relatives. Trying to console them, some people said that their tragedy was God’s will. This, of course, only made them feel more distressed.

The eldest, Maria Lucia, had serious questions about God and about the Catholic Church. When she heard a Witness offer a free Bible study to one of her workmates, her interest was aroused. Observing her interest, a fellow worker made a gift to her of the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. When Maria Lucia saw the Witness again a few days later, she earnestly requested the free Bible course that had been offered to her workmate. The promise of resurrection, set out in Jesus’ words recorded at John 5:28, 29, filled her with hope. Learning what the Bible says about why God permits evil helped her to appreciate that he had not forgotten them. In time, all but the youngest lived together again as a family. They encouraged one another spiritually. All 11 of the children studied the Bible and got baptized. From the Bible they learned principles of Christian conduct. In a spiritual sense, they were no longer orphans; they came to have “brothers and sisters and mothers” a hundredfold. (Mark 10:29, 30) Today, one of the sisters is a special pioneer, another is a missionary in Paraguay, and Paulo serves with his wife in the Brazil Bethel.

100,000 Publishers!

Over the years, there was a steady increase in the number of Kingdom publishers. The 1959 service year showed an increase of 23 percent over the preceding year. During the following decade, the percentage of increase dropped, ranging from 9 to 14 percent. Then in 1975, the number of persons baptized rose to 16,789, and for the first time, the number of publishers passed the 100,000 mark, with a 17-percent increase over the preceding year. For the first time also, the number of special pioneers in the field passed the 1,000 mark, as more emphasis was being given to working isolated and seldom-worked territory. Although the rate of increase diminished in the following decade, the preaching work was moving ahead. And more increases were on the way.

At the time, Brazil had more than 100 million inhabitants, and about 20 percent of them were not being reached regularly with the good news. Many of these lived in smaller towns some distance from large cities. In an attempt to reach these people and to arrange for meetings where there was sufficient interest, the Governing Body gave approval for the assigning of temporary special pioneers in addition to the 1,000 already serving as special pioneers. At first, some were assigned for three months; later on, the period was extended. The first of these temporary special pioneers were assigned in November 1985, when 128 were sent to 113 different towns. The results were very encouraging.

In a town in Goiás, when the pioneers made a return visit on a lady who had requested a copy of the New World Translation, they found her crying. Why? She had been told that she should not read that Bible, since it contained a different name for God—Jehovah. But when helped to investigate the matter, she and her friends learned that the name Jehovah also appeared in certain places in their own Bible. She was furious with the pastor of her church. As a result, 45 new Bible studies were started!

In the state of Piauí, a man was found who was thirsty for the waters of truth. Prior to being contacted by the pioneers, he had read parts of a borrowed copy of the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. He became so enthusiastic about what he was reading that he determined to copy the book by hand. When the pioneers contacted him, he had already copied 21 chapters. How happy he was to receive his own printed copy of the book and to have a regular Bible study in it!

Two pioneer sisters serving in the state of Sergipe met much opposition from a church deacon who was serving as a substitute for the priest. What was the outcome? The deacon announced to the public over a loudspeaker that Jehovah is not the name of God but that this name was invented by an American sect. This merely aroused the interest of many members of the church, and in a short time the pioneers were conducting 67 home Bible studies!

In Rio Grande do Norte, the pioneers started a study with a lady who enjoyed her first study so much that she invited her neighbors to come to the next one. In preparation she borrowed five benches from the school. Thirty people attended, but more wanted to get in, so the studies were continued in the school patio.

In a small town in Mato Grosso do Sul, a doctor and his wife studied the Bible and, in time, began to share in the field ministry. The sight of the doctor going from house to house to talk about the Bible caused quite a stir in that town. When the pioneers who had studied with this couple found it necessary to leave, the doctor and his wife were the only active Witnesses left there. They served as auxiliary pioneers and later as regular pioneers. At first, they held the meetings all by themselves, but in time, a congregation with ten publishers was formed. That couple now serve in the Brazil Bethel.

The First Assembly Halls

As the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses increased throughout the country, it became increasingly difficult to find suitable places for us to hold assemblies. The first attempt to have a place of our own was in Salvador, Bahia, which enjoys a mild, tropical climate year-round. In 1975 a partially covered amphitheater with sufficient rows of concrete benches for 4,000 people was constructed on one slope of a valley. It was called Assembly Park. Later in the same year, construction began on an Assembly Hall in a beautiful wooded area in Ribeirão Pires, São Paulo, about 25 miles [40 km] from the city of São Paulo. Years later, another hall was built alongside this first one and was linked to it by closed-circuit television. The two have a total seating capacity of 3,300. In 1979, construction was begun on a second Assembly Hall, in Duque de Caxias, near Rio de Janeiro.

Those who worked on the construction of these Assembly Halls manifested an enthusiastic spirit. This fine spirit compensated for what many lacked in experience and for the shortage of appropriate machinery and equipment. For example, at Ribeirão Pires it was necessary to dig to a depth of 23 feet [7 m] to reach firm ground for the base of the foundations. A backhoe was used, but it could be used for only half the depth that was needed. The rest had to be done with pick and shovel. More than 20 such holes had to be dug.

What about mixing and pouring concrete? There were no concrete plants or concrete-mixer trucks available for the project at Ribeirão Pires. Natal Batulevicins, a member of the Bethel family, recalled: “The concrete was mixed in two old, manually fed cement mixers and taken by wheelbarrows to the area being concreted. There were lines of from 20 to 30 volunteers pushing wheelbarrows. For the high and difficult-to-reach areas, a second person helped by pulling the wheelbarrows with hooks. To concrete the floor areas, all the volunteers—including those in administrative services—shared in the work, which at times took 24 hours.”

A New Administration

For Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, the year 1976 saw a significant change in the branch-organization structure. On February 1 of that year, the arrangement of Branch Committees became effective. Instead of one overseer, a committee of spiritually mature brothers representing the Governing Body was assigned to supervise the work in each country. All of these are spiritually older men, shepherds of the flock of God.

In Brazil, the committee was composed initially of seven members: Massasue Kikuta, John Kushnir, Augusto Machado, Karl Rietz, Amaro Santos, Heinrich Selbert, and Fred Wilson. In the years that followed, Brother Selbert had to leave Brazil because of family responsibilities, and Brother Kushnir passed away in 1988. The others continue to serve on the committee, and in 1995, Östen Gustavsson was appointed to be a sixth committee member. Toward the end of 1976, some members of the Brazil Branch Committee, along with other branch representatives from around the world, shared in meetings held in New York by the Governing Body. The meetings served to acquaint the committee members more fully with their responsibilities, with the members of the Governing Body, and with the world headquarters.

Obtaining More Benefit From Conventions

Also in 1976 attention began to be given to the need for improvement in the sound systems used at conventions. Previously, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and horns designed for small areas had been used. At times several different types—some of them quite old—had been used on a given occasion. The result? Deficient sound reproduction and frequent interruptions of the program.

Years of work and much new equipment were required to improve this situation. Now, at most conventions, everyone present can hear clearly and enjoy the spiritual program. This is important when we realize that in 1995, there were 158 district conventions held in 82 different cities and that the 724,849 persons who attended spent much time, energy, and resources to be present. They deserved the best in sound so as to derive full benefit from the program. Happy with the results, a circuit overseer in Rio Grande do Norte wrote in 1994: “It is a pleasure to inform you that at our convention the sound was excellent, and as a result, the brothers were very attentive and took many notes.”

But what about the quality of sound in Kingdom Halls throughout the country? In 1993, more than 100 special programs were held country wide to give practical suggestions on how to improve the quality of sound for congregation meetings. More than 9,000 brothers attended these talks, and one instructor related: “The talk in Floriano, Piauí, was held during a period of extreme drought, and the brothers were in difficult straits financially. Nevertheless, all those invited were present! Some had traveled more than 12 hours to attend.”

Freedom Suspended in Cachoeiras de Macacu

At times, obstacles have been raised as a result of misunderstandings on the part of officials. On Sunday, June 13, 1976, the police sealed the Kingdom Hall in Cachoeiras de Macacu, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, as a result of an order issued by a judge there. All Kingdom preaching was also prohibited in the municipality. For what reason?

Two days earlier, a 17-year-old youth had accidentally injured himself with a shotgun. He was taken to the hospital with internal hemorrhaging and acute anemia. His father asked the doctor to do all he could to save his son but without resorting to blood transfusions. Unhappily, the young man died during the operation even though a blood transfusion had been given, contrary to the expressed will of his father. A judicial investigation was made to determine who was responsible. Distorted news reports influenced the decision, and the result was an order to close the Kingdom Hall. Aided by four lawyers, Ladislau Lehký, the local congregation overseer, petitioned for an injunction. The petition was finally heard on October 26. Brother Orlando do N. Paula, one of the lawyers, used the available opportunity to make a rapid oral presentation of the case. The judges unanimously granted the injunction, thus canceling the original order and making it possible to use the Kingdom Hall again and to continue the work of Kingdom preaching. Freedom of religion had been reaffirmed!

At the “Joyful Workers” District Conventions the following year, a discourse was given that emphasized once again Jehovah’s requirement that blood be treated as something sacred. (Lev. 17:10, 11; Acts 15:28, 29) On that occasion, the booklet Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood was released, and during the months of April and May 1978, a campaign was undertaken to place it in the hands of judges, lawyers, doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators in an effort to help them to understand and respect the position taken by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The brothers were encouraged to give a copy of the booklet to their family doctor. Besides this, however, brothers were assigned to deliver the booklet along with a covering letter to doctors and other professionals who might not be contacted by individual publishers. There were more than 70,000 doctors in Brazil. It was a huge project, and it was completed successfully; but more needed to be done. At a later time, this matter would be given attention again.

Preparation for More Increase

Further increase in the number of Kingdom proclaimers, as well as the extent of their witness work, was on the way, and preparations had to be made for it. (Compare Isaiah 54:1-3.) To produce the needed literature, it became necessary to replace the rotary letterpress equipment with more modern, faster offset presses. A larger work area was required. In a stopgap effort to deal with this need, an annex to the Assembly Hall in Ribeirão Pires was built in 1975. This provided storage space for some of our paper. However, it was obvious that we had to find more property on which to expand the Bethel Home as well as the branch office and the printery.

The possibility of purchasing additional property near the existing facilities in São Paulo was considered, but zoning laws and the high cost of property made this impractical. The alternative was to move the branch to an entirely new location. The Governing Body recommended that we look for property outside the city of São Paulo. After several possibilities were considered, a property of 285 acres [115 ha] was purchased in August 1977 in the municipality of Cesário Lange, São Paulo, about 90 miles [150 km] from the city of São Paulo.

‘You Are Thinking Too Small!’

Immediately after we purchased the property, an invitation was sent out for volunteers to assist in preparing the ground for construction. Building proposals were also submitted to the Governing Body. We thought that our plans included ample room to care for expansion for a long time to come. In fact, we thought we might be planning too big. However, the answer from the Governing Body amazed all of us: ‘You are thinking too small! You should build about twice as large as you have planned!’

The result was a plan that called for residential and factory/office space five times as great as what we had in São Paulo. Was it needed? Well, since 1977 the number of Witnesses in Brazil has quadrupled, and the number of hours being devoted to the ministry each year is about six times what it was then.

Arrangements were made for a construction firm to put up the new branch facilities. But our brothers also cared for necessary aspects of the work. Paulo Tinoco Carneiro, a Witness who is an experienced civil engineer, moved with his family from the city of Salvador to a location near the construction site. About 150 other Witnesses, including some members of the Bethel family, provided support services, such as the making of aluminum window frames and the preparation of meals for the workers, as well as maintenance and cleaning. At the peak of construction, three meals a day were being served to more than 1,000 workers. No small task!

The large number of men employed by the construction company constituted an excellent territory for the preaching work in the evenings and on weekends. In one month a brother placed more than 80 copies of My Book of Bible Stories with the workers. Bible studies were started, and six workers progressed to the point of baptism. One of them now serves as a member of the Brazil Bethel family.

Shouldering Added Responsibilities

Construction of the new branch facilities brought with it added responsibility. Max Larson, from the world headquarters, spoke about this during a visit to Brazil in 1980. In a stimulating discourse given in Pacaembu Stadium, in São Paulo, he stressed the need for the brothers in each country to finance the preaching work and the building of printeries and Bethel homes in their respective territories. Would it be possible for the brothers in Brazil to assume that responsibility? Brazil faced a serious economic crisis, with high rates of inflation and unemployment. In spite of this, the response was excellent. Congregations and individuals contributed voluntarily and regularly, so that the construction was completed and the needed equipment was installed. The generosity shown reminded one of the spirit manifested in ancient Israel when plans were being made in the time of King David for construction of the temple in Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 29:3-9.

The transfer of the 225 members of the Bethel family and all the printing equipment from São Paulo to Cesário Lange began in August 1980. It took more than 160 truckloads to make the move. Then came the installation of the equipment and the period of adjustment to the new environment.

A dedication program was held on March 21, 1981. Lloyd Barry, a member of the Governing Body, was on hand to deliver the dedication discourse. Quoting the beautiful words of King Solomon at the time of the inauguration of the temple in Jerusalem, Brother Barry made it clear that all the credit and glory for the fine Bethel buildings belong to Jehovah God. Then he concluded by saying: ‘It was because of the increase in the preaching work that these buildings were built. So the preaching work deserves the undivided attention of all of you.’

During the following months, groups of Witnesses from all parts of the country came to visit Bethel. On just one holiday, 12,000 visitors came, in 300 buses and dozens of cars.

They could see that more was taking place at the branch than settling into new buildings. Important forward steps were being made in the field of printing Bible literature. In 1981 the Spanish editions of The Watchtower and Awake! began to be printed in Brazil for shipping to neighboring Spanish-speaking countries—Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In addition to printing magazines, the Brazil branch also began to print and bind books for Bible study. That required much new equipment and the learning of new skills. In 1981, the new factory’s bindery line began to function, and the first item produced was the Portuguese Yearbook for 1982. Soon afterward, the first of four volumes of Aid to Bible Understanding was printed and bound. And starting in 1987, the most important book of all came through that bindery—the Bible, the Portuguese edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

Deliveries With the Society’s Trucks

With a view to reducing the cost of shipping publications and to assure their arrival at the congregations, the delivery system using the Society’s vehicles was amplified in 1982. The arrangement had been in operation since 1974, but now it would include congregations in the northeast—some of them 1,850 miles [3,000 km] away.

At present the Society’s trucks make 463 deliveries every three weeks, covering more than 20,000 miles [30,000 km]. Under this arrangement more than 4,600 congregations are served on a regular basis. The trucks cover 12 routes, the longest taking 15 days and covering over 4,000 miles [7,000 km]. The drivers are Bethel family members. Witnesses in various congregations along the way hospitably accommodate the drivers in their homes, and the drivers attend congregation meetings with the local brothers at their overnight stops.

Reaching Out to Isolated Territory

The preaching of the good news continued to reach out into areas where little or no witnessing had been done. In 1976, Francisco Albuquerque and his wife served as special pioneers in Tefé, in the Amazon region. They took advantage of festival occasions to preach to people who came to town by boat. One day Francisco placed a copy of the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life with a young traveling salesman and explained how to study it. When they finally met again after two years, Francisco saw that the youth had studied the book and had with understanding underlined the answers. A weekly Bible study was started with him. Since it was a two-hour boat trip to where the young man lived, Francisco would travel to his house two times, and then the next two weeks the young man would go to Francisco’s home. Within a short time, the youth and four other men were baptized. The youth transformed one room of his house into a Kingdom Hall, and soon thereafter a congregation was formed.

In 1977 some special pioneers who witnessed in small towns and rural areas in the central part of the country used a trailer for housing. One of those pioneers, Jair Paiva Ferreira, who is now a member of our Bethel family, related: “We would park the trailer in a larger central town and travel from there by car to witness. We got up early, and after a good breakfast, we were in the territory by 8:00 a.m. After working all day, we would find a spot near a river, have a bath, and then eat supper. We slept in the car, interrupted only by the sound of the wind and the crickets. It was very pleasant to wake up and watch the parrots and macaws in flight nearby. As for the people in the territory, it was heartwarming to observe their thirst for the truth. Some obtained a copy of each of the books we had with us. In one day I placed 48 books, and in one month I made 109 return visits and still had not managed to contact all the interested persons again. Many studies were started, and although many people had difficulty reading, a good number came into the truth.”

Marriage—Honorable Before God and Man

Besides the lack of basic education in reading and writing, another obstacle that kept many from making the truth their own was their marital status. Some had not been able to pay for a civil marriage ceremony as well as a religious one, so they had opted for the latter, and this had no legal value. Of course, when such people study the Bible, they learn of the need to legalize their marriage union.—Heb. 13:4, 18.

There was a lady in this situation in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. She had been “married” in a Catholic ceremony seven years before, and her companion did not see any need to legalize their union. What would she do? As she progressed in understanding of the Bible, she told him that if he would not legalize their union, she would have to leave him, although she did not want to do so. Realizing that she was serious about the matter, he finally agreed. After their marriage she promptly got baptized.

Until 1977, there was no provision for divorce in Brazil. So anyone who had been married and then left his or her partner and entered into a relationship with another mate had no way to legalize the present union. Some even had grandchildren through their second union. In harmony with Jehovah’s own example of forgiving sins that had occurred in the past because of ignorance, a concession was made by the Governing Body for Bible students in that situation to be baptized if they would sign a declaration vowing faithfulness to their mate and promising to legalize their union whenever this became possible. (Acts 17:30; Rom. 3:25) At one time, there were quite a number of such declarations in the Society’s files.

One case involved a mother of 13 children. She had studied the Bible for eight years but had been unable to legalize her marital status. Then she signed a declaration and was accepted for baptism. When her children learned what had been involved in her qualifying for baptism, eight of them also studied the Bible, and later five of them were baptized and the others began attending meetings.

At last, a divorce law was passed, and although it stipulated a waiting period of three years from the legal separation until the divorce, it was possible to resolve most cases of those who had signed declarations. In 1988 the government reduced the waiting period to one year.

Special Schooling for the Ministry

In 1978 further attention was given to training congregation elders. Ever since 1959, the Kingdom Ministry School had provided special training for those appointed to be overseers. However, in 1978 all the elders in Brazil, whether they had attended the school previously or not, were invited to benefit from a special two-day program of schooling. During that period they discussed from the Bible how to improve as shepherds and teachers of the flock, ways in which to take the lead in the evangelizing work, how to keep the congregations spiritually and morally clean, and also how to work together as bodies of elders. Nearly 7,000 elders attended. Since then, further refresher courses in the Kingdom Ministry School have been held periodically.

The ministerial servants were not forgotten. Classes of the Kingdom Ministry School were also organized for them in Brazil, beginning in 1985. And since 1988 it has been possible to use Assembly Halls in addition to Kingdom Halls for the school, thus enabling large numbers of elders and ministerial servants to attend the course together. The latest course, in 1995, was attended by 22,092 elders and 27,544 ministerial servants. What a fine body of men who are willing and Scripturally qualified to be entrusted with responsibility in the congregations!

Yet another school began to operate in Brazil in 1978—the Pioneer Service School. The first class, of two weeks’ duration, was held in Fortaleza, Ceará. The objective of this school is to strengthen the pioneers’ relationship with Jehovah, to help them to walk more fully in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and to improve their effectiveness in the ministry.

The Society’s records show that during the past 18 years, 1,650 classes have been held in Brazil and 39,649 regular pioneers have benefited from this marvelous provision. In 1994 alone, in an effort to aid pioneers throughout the country, 187 classes were held in 107 different cities and towns.

Worthy of note is the effort that some pioneers made to attend the school. A sister with an unbelieving husband got up at 5:00 a.m. every day to care for her household duties before going to class, and then she left immediately after class to pick up her children as they came from school. Another sister wanted to change the dates of her vacation so as to attend the school. Her employer would not agree to this, but she kept trying to convince him. The answer was always the same: “Impossible!” Finally, after praying to Jehovah, she told her employer that she would be quitting her job. Why? She just had to attend that school. Impressed by her sincerity, he finally agreed to change her vacation dates.

Paulo Azevedo, instructor of the first class, stated in an interview: “The Pioneer Service School helps pioneers to see their territory in a new light by emphasizing the need to show personal interest in the householder, taking into account his or her problems, circumstances, concepts, and beliefs. Pioneers who keep this in mind agree that it is like having new territory to work.”

Missionaries for Brazil

Missionaries have done invaluable service in establishing a solid organizational structure. The first two missionaries, graduates of the first class of Gilead School, arrived in Brazil in 1945. By 1967 the number of Gilead graduates had increased to 76, and it reached a peak of 117 in 1974. Some served for decades in the circuit and district work, as did Richard and Ruth Wuttke and Eric and Christina Britten. Down through the years, some 250 missionaries from 11 countries have served here.

Generally speaking, the people in Brazil show respect for foreigners. Nevertheless, adapting to a new country with different climate, food, language, and customs requires determination and a good sense of humor. Sylvia Gustavsson, a missionary from Sweden, recalled: “The first return visit my husband, Östen, and I made in Brazil was on a married couple in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. After talking with them for about an hour, we said that we should be leaving. ‘It’s early. Stay a little longer!’ was the answer. Thinking that they were really interested, we sat down again and continued the visit. A half hour later, we repeated that we should be leaving. ‘It’s early. Stay a little longer!’ they repeated. This happened three times, and finally we left at almost midnight! This drama was repeated on following visits, until we learned that the expression ‘It’s early. Stay a little longer!’ was merely a polite way of expressing appreciation for a visit, without necessarily meaning that one should stay longer. Happily, the couple’s interest in the truth was genuine!”

Missionaries From Brazil to Other Countries

In view of the excellent help received from missionaries who had come to Brazil, how happy we were to learn in 1982 that brothers from Brazil would be invited to serve as missionaries in other countries! By the end of the year, three married couples had been assigned to Bolivia, and since then, 90 Brazilian brothers and sisters have been invited to serve as missionaries in Angola, Bolivia, Mozambique, and Paraguay.

Some of these Brazilian missionaries had themselves been helped to learn the truth by other missionaries. This was the case with Átila Carneiro, from Belém. He had become disappointed with religion. When contacted by missionary Delfina Munguia, he showed interest in the truth and began to receive the magazines regularly from her. After a time, she made arrangements for him to study the Bible three times a week with a missionary brother. Following his second study, Átila began to talk to others about what he was learning, and even before his baptism, he was conducting three Bible studies! After baptism, he served as a regular pioneer and then as a special pioneer. Now he and his wife are missionaries in Mozambique.

Benjamim Silva and his wife, Iolanda, are also among the Brazilian missionaries serving in Mozambique. For many years they had been pioneers in northern Brazil. They managed to reconcile two great responsibilities—serving as pioneers and raising a child. When their daughter, Martha, got married, the parents made themselves available to serve as missionaries. Martha continues to pioneer, and Jehovah’s blessing is evident on all three of them.

Floods in the South

Ever since the first century, Christians have been providing material help to their brothers in times of great hardship. (Acts 11:29, 30) The southern states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul were devastated by heavy floods in 1983. In Blumenau, Santa Catarina, the waters of the Itajaí-Açu River rose 52 feet [16 m] above normal, flooding practically the whole city. In harmony with the example set by first-century Christians, the Witnesses in other places contributed relief supplies—43 tons of food and 41 tons of clothing.

The desire to help was exemplified by João Vicentim Carrer, an elder in Campo Grande in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 870 miles [1,400 km] away. When he saw a television report about the flood, he phoned the Society’s office and asked how he could help. Along with other elders, he gathered three tons of food, clothing, shoes, and medicine provided by the congregations in the city. On the same day, he and his son were on their way to Blumenau with the relief items.

Luiz Bognar, an elder in Blumenau who shared in the distribution of the material sent to them, wrote: “With the help of the brothers, we adapted a boat by adding wheels so that it could travel in the water or over the small ground elevations that jutted up out of the river. We then set out to search for the isolated brothers. In some places, because of the height of the water, we had to cut electric wires to get through. My two sons, 10 and 12 years of age, went with me. They were good swimmers. I also knew that boats with children were more respected than others.”

In one of the homes, they found 16 persons who had been stranded for ten days and whose food supplies had run out. Just prior to the arrival of the boat, when they had considered the day’s text, one of the brothers had commented that Jehovah would supply their needs in His due time. And that is just what happened. In another home, there were 22 persons who had been confined to the upper floor and the attic for a week. When they heard the sound of a boat approaching, at first they thought that it might be thieves; but then they heard someone calling: “Brother Walter Germer!” These were brothers bringing help. “This was a good witness for the neighbors who were not Witnesses,” recalls Janis Duwe, one who was in that house and who is now a member of the Brazil Bethel family. What was provided was far in excess of their needs for a day or two. “Several months passed before we had to buy any nonperishable food,” she said.

The Contagious Spirit of Pioneering

Though Jehovah’s Witnesses help one another materially when urgent situations arise, their principal activity is the preaching of the good news of God’s Kingdom. They know that it alone will forever solve the countless problems of humankind. Emphasizing this work, the Society’s office sent a letter in 1984 to each baptized publisher in Brazil. It began: “We are writing at this time to extend an invitation to you to share in the auxiliary pioneer service in April.” That would mean devoting at least 60 hours during the month to sharing Bible truth with their neighbors. Was the invitation accepted? The previous peak of auxiliary pioneers had been 8,000 in April 1983, but in answer to this invitation, more than 33,000 took part—21 percent of the total number of publishers! And what a happy month of theocratic service it was!

Diligent effort was required. A Witness who was a truck driver and another one who was a bricklayer arranged to be in the field service regularly from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., after finishing their secular work. A sister who worked as a seamstress at home got up early to care for her work before leaving for the field service. A mother of eight children—the eldest 12 years of age and the youngest 5 months—was assisted by her family, the older children helping to care for the younger ones, and her husband preparing dinner. Among the 12 publishers in a certain congregation, 5 served as auxiliary pioneers. Included were two family heads, one with 10 children and the other with 14. Both lived about ten miles [15 km] from the city. They traveled to the city twice a week to share in field service for nine hours each day. Another sister, unable to walk, sat in a chair on the sidewalk in front of her home, where she contacted passersby.

Having tasted the joy of this service, several who served as auxiliary pioneers during that month applied for regular pioneer service. (Ps. 34:8) In April 1984, there were 3,500 regular pioneers on the list. Six months later there were 4,200, and a year later the figure was 5,400. Now there are over 22,500 regular pioneers in the country. And what joy they have as they share so fully in the most important work being done on earth today!

Simultaneous Publication

Prior to 1984, material in our Portuguese magazines was not published until six months after it appeared in English. However, in that year, two rotary offset presses as well as MEPS (Multilanguage Electronic Phototypesetting System, developed by the brothers at the world headquarters in New York) were installed in Brazil. Translated material was entered directly into the computer, and the MEPS programs greatly speeded up the process of page composition. Paul Bauer, Erich Kattner, and Franz Schredl were given training in New York for MEPS operation and maintenance. Thus in 1984, material published in English began to be printed simultaneously in Portuguese.

The rotary offset presses, each of which could print 32,000 magazines per hour, were donated by the brothers in the United States. Harry Johnson, of the Brooklyn Bethel family, supervised the installation. First came simultaneous publication. Shortly afterward, the printing was being done in four colors and on better-quality paper. The results were excellent! Never before had so many subscriptions for the magazines been received in one month—50,000 in June 1987. The number of subscriptions increased steadily, reaching a peak of 87,238 in April 1994. Each month, we now print an average of 3,500,000 magazines in Portuguese and in Spanish.

Integrity Keepers Convene in Record Numbers

Another outstanding event in 1985 was simultaneous use of the two largest stadiums in Brazil—Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo and Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro—for our “Integrity Keepers” District Conventions. These conventions, held August 23-25, 1985, were attended by delegates from 11 countries. Two members of the Governing Body, John Barr and Lyman Swingle, were also present.

The public discourse “God’s Times and Seasons—To What Do They Point?” was presented by John Kushnir to an audience of 162,941 in São Paulo and by Augusto Machado to 86,410 in Rio de Janeiro—a total of close to 250,000 persons! That is almost as many as were present in New York in 1958 when delegates from 123 lands met simultaneously in two stadiums there. Yet that was not the full extent of the 1985 conventions in Brazil.

Besides these two international conventions, 23 others were held in various parts of the country, with a total attendance of 144,000, and with 1,192 getting baptized. Among those baptized was a lady from São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, who had recently lost a child in an accident and as a result had turned to spiritism. However, she read the brochure Unseen Spirits—Do They Help Us? Or Do They Harm Us? and was so impressed by what she read that she went looking for the local Kingdom Hall. There she accepted the offer of a Bible study and progressed rapidly to the point of baptism. Today, she, her husband, and a granddaughter serve Jehovah.

‘Gathering Together’ in Spite of Distance

Our Christian brothers and sisters in Brazil truly appreciate the Bible’s counsel not to forsake gathering together, and all the more so as they behold Jehovah’s day drawing near. (Heb. 10:24, 25) Sometimes this requires considerable effort on their part. A brother in the congregation in Fazenda Taquari, Bahia, though lame and 70 years of age, walks five miles [8 km] to get to the Kingdom Hall. Brothers in the Olindina Congregation, Bahia, walk ten miles [16 km] carrying a plastic bag with garments so that they can replace the clothing that gets wet when they cross a river. In Pará, several families walk four miles [6 km] through a forest where they often see jaguar footprints. Also, in the congregation at Repouso do Amatari, Amazonas, two families, consisting of 15 persons, walk through the jungle with one adult out front to bang the trees and the ground with a stick in order to chase away the snakes.

A pregnant sister, with a child in her arms, walked ten miles [16 km] to the Kingdom Hall in the small town of Axixá, Tocantins, whenever she could not get a ride in a truck. In order to take her small children with her to the Kingdom Hall, a sister in Bahia puts them in two large baskets, one hanging on each side of a donkey that she leads.

At the time of a circuit assembly in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, 37 persons from the congregation in Rio Badejo, Amazonas, were present, although the congregation was reporting only 9 publishers. That group walked eight hours in order to attend. Among them was a sister with eight children, the youngest of whom was five years old. Also, ten brothers traveled 62 miles [100 km] by bicycle to attend their assembly in Floriano, Piauí. They are truly grateful for the spiritual provisions that Jehovah makes.

Self-Sacrificing Shepherds of the Flock

The rapid increase in the number of publishers has given rise to the need for more spiritual shepherds to care for the flock of God. (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2) There is a need not only for elders to care for individual congregations but also for qualified overseers who can arrange to travel in order to provide loving oversight to circuits and districts. A number of the brothers have been giving of themselves as traveling overseers for more than 30 years. Twelve new circuits, on an average, are formed each year, and there are now 326 circuit overseers and 21 district overseers in the Brazilian field. These brothers manifest a fine spirit, being willing to serve anywhere, no matter what the conditions are.

What might that involve? Some have left behind comfortable homes, and now they gladly accept accommodations in the varied conditions in which our brothers live. Since the climate is tropical, they have to deal with mosquitoes and other insects. Because of the heat, some sleep in hammocks rather than beds. There are homes that have a roof but no walls. In remote areas, transportation may be by boat, on horseback, in run-down buses, or simply on foot.

José Vertematti, who served in the 1970’s as a circuit overseer in Maranhão, wrote: “To get to the congregations in Sítio Ceará and Guimarães, my wife, Mazolina, and I had to travel two hours by boat and then wait for whatever means of transport came along, since there was no bus service. Several times we went by truck, Mazolina in the cabin and I on top of the cargo, which included pigs, chickens, and goats or sacks of flour, rice, and beans. When the truck would get stuck in the mud, we had to get out and push. If all went well, this part of the trip took about five hours. Then we walked another four hours to reach the Kingdom Hall.” The local Witnesses appreciated these visits very much.

To attend meetings in the Kingdom Hall in Guimarães, some brothers had to walk about 20 miles [30 km] weekly, which took five or six hours. During the visit of the circuit overseer, they would stay in town the whole week in order to benefit fully from his visit.

There are circuits that cover huge, sparsely populated areas. During the 1980’s, for example, one circuit included the states of Acre, Rondônia, and parts of Mato Grosso and Amazonas, an area equivalent to that of Spain. While in that circuit, Adenir Almeida visited the congregation in Lábrea, Amazonas, a town where many people suffered from Hansen’s disease, or leprosy. To get there, he traveled four hours by bus, stayed overnight in a boardinghouse, and in the morning set out, along with eight other passengers, on the back of a truck loaded with bottled alcoholic drinks. After several hours of traveling in the heat, all of them were very thirsty. The only liquid available was in those bottles. Brother Almeida confesses that under the circumstances it was hard to resist the offer of the others to share the bottles they pilfered from the cargo. After traveling for ten hours under a burning sun, with plenty of dust and then rain, at last they arrived in Lábrea. There, the whole congregation was on hand to meet him—two special pioneers and two unbaptized publishers! On Sunday, he had the pleasure of baptizing the two publishers.

For Wladimir Aleksandruk, a single brother who has served as a traveling overseer for nearly 30 years, sleeping accommodations have included the local prison. It was 1972, and he was visiting an isolated publisher whose husband was an unbeliever. The town was small, and there was no hotel, so the circuit overseer arranged to sleep in the jailhouse. He laughingly recalls: “Everyone took me for the new chief of police, since they saw me going in and out of the prison at will, and I wore a suit and tie. At first, I was the only inmate, but the second day, I had the company of a man who had stolen a pig. So I was able to witness to him.”

These self-sacrificing overseers readily admit that any discomfort or lack of privacy is more than offset by the warm love and genuine zeal shown by the brothers.

Heading West

During the 1980’s, many families from the south heeded the call, “Go west, young man!” They moved to western Brazil, especially to Rondônia, looking for land suitable for cultivation. The government offered it free of charge. Roads about 22 miles [35 km] long, called lines, were opened in the forest, and the land along both sides of these “lines” was opened for settlers. This provided excellent territory for witnessing!

In Pimenta Bueno, Rondônia, a barber who belonged to an evangelical religion built a church. However, he became upset when he observed the disputes among the pastors of his own religion, each wanting to go to a church in which more money was collected. He had never listened to the Witnesses. But one day as he watched the special pioneers working along the street, evidently very happy, he wondered: ‘If I have the truth, why am I so upset? And if they are the “false prophets,” why are they so happy?’ He visited the pioneers—at night, so as not to be seen by others—and accepted a Bible study. Impressed by what he was learning, he invited the pioneers, Jonas and Robson Barbosa de Souza, to preach to the 30 members of his church. Several accepted the truth, and in time the church was closed. Shortly thereafter, the Catholic church in that area was also abandoned, since the man who conducted the services, and his family, likewise became Jehovah’s Witnesses.

At the time of the first visit of the circuit overseer to that congregation, there were already 49 publishers, and 280 persons attended the public discourse. The territory was small, and in a short time, all the inhabitants either were Witnesses or were studying with them. So the publishers had to go by truck to neighboring settlements to preach. They also used the truck (with a canvas covering) to travel to conventions in the nearest city, Pôrto Velho, 370 miles [600 km] away.

The Amazon Region

Witnessing in the Amazon region presents special challenges, but the spiritual needs of people living there are not being neglected. This is an area larger than Western Europe. The Brazilian part of the forest occupies almost half of the whole country, but it has only 9,000,000 inhabitants—about 6 percent of Brazil’s population. Some sections of the rivers in this area are really like seas. For example, the Negro River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River, is 11 miles [18 km] wide near Manaus, the state capital, and the mouth of the main channel of the Amazon River delta is 31 miles [50 km] across. Among the rivers of the world, the Amazon is in most respects viewed as king.

In this region it is not unusual to travel several days by boat to get from one city to another. Two special pioneers assigned to Eirunepé, Amazonas, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, wrote: “The trip to our assignment took 13 days by boat. We considered the boat to be part of our territory. While on the boat, we placed several publications and began eight Bible studies, which we conducted twice a day.” In Amazonia, there are 213 special pioneers busy helping people to benefit from God’s Word.

Aboard the Society’s Boats

Since 1991 some of our special pioneers have been using boats as part of their regular equipment in the ministry. In that year the Society provided two boats for such use. There is Boas Novas (Good News), which travels on the rivers Negro, Purus, Madeira, and Solimões. Proclamador das Boas Novas (Proclaimer of the Good News) circles the island of Marajó—the size of the Netherlands—at the mouth of the Amazon River.

Five special pioneers are assigned to each boat. While two pairs of pioneers are in the service, one pioneer stays on board to prepare the meals and to do the cleaning as well as to guard against possible piracy. The main objective is to reach the inhabitants of the small villages on the riverbanks and others who live in huts built on piles or in floating homes.

“Entre!” (Come in!) is the welcome the pioneers hear almost invariably as they approach homes. This is followed by a witness of 40 minutes or more. The pioneers stay for nearly two months in the larger settlements, conducting Bible studies with interested persons, often several times a week. Public talks and the Watchtower Study are generally held in a school or in a private home. Other meetings are held on the boat. If people show a genuine desire to serve Jehovah, special pioneers are assigned to stay and develop the interest.

About three hours by boat from Manaus, in the vicinity of Janauacá, there is a unique Assembly Hall built by the local brothers. Here, there is no problem in obtaining rooms for those coming to assemblies from a distance. Many live in floating homes, so they just tow their home by boat to the Assembly Hall, which is built on an island, “park” their home, and disembark for the assembly. Although the congregations nearby have fewer than 100 publishers, attendance at the assemblies reaches almost 250.

Indians Helped to Learn the Truth

The Indians, who are all too often treated with little respect by people in general, are impressed when Jehovah’s Witnesses do treat them with respect. A number of them have progressed spiritually to the point of baptism.—Acts 10:34, 35.

Hamilton Vieira, who served as a circuit overseer in an area where Indians live, remembers an experience he had with them. In a talk, he quoted Luke 21:34-36, which warns against “overeating and heavy drinking.” At first, he discussed “overeating.” When his audience had difficulty understanding what that meant, he explained. The Indians were astonished and then started to laugh. The idea of overeating was totally absurd to them. As part of their way of life, the Indians may encircle fish on one side of the river but then will catch only enough to satisfy their immediate needs and no more. But what about “heavy drinking”?

Unhappily, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages is common among the Indian population. Abuse of alcohol has been encouraged by people who buy drinks for them and consider it entertainment to watch the ridiculous way they act when drunk. Brother Vieira was able to explain that just as it is foolish to eat too much, it is equally absurd to drink too much.

In this region a visitor at times must walk on narrow paths through the forest and learn to balance himself while walking on tree trunks laid like a bridge over a small river channel. These trunks are generally moist and slippery. “Walking on them was not easy for me,” recalls Brother Vieira. “The local brothers had no problem, nor did sisters who even had children in their arms and who, to my embarrassment, carried my bags, while I struggled to keep my balance.”

Unexpected Assistance

During the 1970’s and 1980’s, public talks that included the showing of slides played an important role in the preaching of the good news. Pataíba, Bahia, had only 1,500 inhabitants and a small congregation, but attendance for the slide showing was 1,572. How did that come about? Moacyr Soares, the circuit overseer, explained: “Since the Kingdom Hall was small, I suggested to the elders that they ask permission from the mayor to use the marketplace located in the main plaza, across from the Catholic church. With his permission, we removed the stalls and made an auditorium. It was ‘Holy Week,’ and a large procession had been planned to start from the church at 6:00 p.m., the time when our public talk was to begin. People from nearby towns had been invited, and since no priest lived in town, one was to come from outside to lead the procession. However, the priest’s car had a flat tire, and he did not arrive in time. As a result, most of the people who came for the procession attended our talk instead. Appropriately, the title of the talk was ‘Bringing the Many to Righteousness in the Time of the End.’”

200,000 Publishers!

In January 1987 the number of Kingdom publishers exceeded 200,000 in Brazil, and the increase was continuing at a fast pace. During 1988, there were 367 new congregations formed; 370 more in 1989—an average of more than one each day! More workers—more publications! So a third rotary press, with a capacity of 38,000 magazines an hour, was sent to help us. It was also necessary to modernize the Shipping Department so that it could handle the thousands of literature orders from the congregations.

Plans were made for an annex to the existing factory, thus increasing the work area from 291,000 square feet [27,000 sq m] to 452,000 square feet [42,000 sq m]. Construction began in December 1988 and was done by a Bethel construction crew under the expert direction of several international servants—all volunteers.

Assistance From International Servants

We were happy to have with us 35 skilled brothers from other lands who helped on this project of enlarging the factory and, later, worked on constructing more residential blocks. Some of the brothers and sisters served for several weeks, others for months, and a few for more than six years. Their presence was encouraging, upbuilding, and because of their expertise, very productive.

Some of these international servants were young; others were grandparents. Keith Colwell and his wife, Rae Etta, were the first to arrive, in March 1989, and were in the latter category. They were over 50 years of age. Keith says: “Being far from our two daughters and sons-in-law, four grandchildren, and Mother and Dad has not been easy. Sometimes, we think about going home and just being ‘grandparents,’ but as long as we can be used and we have the strength, we will be happy to say: ‘Here I am! Send me.’—Isaiah 6:8.”

Darwin Harley and his wife, Shirley, also served in Brazil for nearly six years. They too thought with nostalgia about their four children and eight grandchildren. Nevertheless, they were determined to put Jehovah first in their lives and to continue to set an example in that regard for their children. So, after the youngest of them had married, Darwin and Shirley had no doubts about what to do. They applied to serve permanently as international servants. Now, although more than 60 years of age, they say with feeling: “We are grateful to the Governing Body for the opportunity to serve Jehovah in this special way.” There were many tearful eyes when the Brazil Bethel family had to say good-bye to all these faithful servants from other countries. Some of them returned to their homes, whereas others left for new assignments.

A Priest Learns the Truth

Foremost among the grand things that Jehovah has done in Brazil is the freeing of people who were deeply involved in false religion. On a bus one day, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses sat next to Ademir de Oliveira, who had been serving for ten years as a priest in the Brazilian Catholic Church. A discussion arose as to the meaning of the word “hell.” Later, Ademir reflected on that conversation, and as he read our magazines, the truth became clear in his mind.

In his church he began to teach that Jehovah is God and that the use of images is wrong. But he realized that he was not practicing what he preached—after all, the church still had its images. Meanwhile, when his father and his mother died in the space of just ten months, he began to feel that God was punishing him for thinking of leaving the Catholic Church. However, on the occasion of his mother’s burial, he realized that Jehovah was the One who could raise her to life again. In 1989 he went to his first meeting in a Kingdom Hall and attended regularly thereafter. He left the Catholic Church, and in his first month as a Kingdom publisher, he reported 60 hours and placed 12 copies of the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. After his baptism he became a regular pioneer, and now he serves also as an elder in Jundiaí, São Paulo.

Answers to Questions Young People Ask

Young people need assistance in order to serve Jehovah acceptably. (Eccl. 12:1) The series of “Godly Devotion” District Conventions, held in 1989, provided a useful tool to that end. One girl 15 years of age wrote: “At the beginning of the program, it was announced that all young people from 10 to 19 years of age should sit together at the front of the auditorium. We were all very excited, wondering what was to happen. At the end of the program, after an enthusiastic talk, the speaker announced that each young person would receive the gift of a book entitled Questions Young People Ask—Answers That Work. It was very, very thrilling! I wanted to cry, I was so happy. It was just what we needed. Since then, I have referred frequently to the book for counsel. With this valuable gift from Jehovah, we are well equipped to face the pressures of this system.” More than 70,000 books were distributed among the young brothers and sisters at the 108 conventions held in the country.

It is estimated that about 35 percent of those attending congregation meetings in Brazil are young people. Daily they are confronted with the degrading influence of the materialistic, immoral world. They face the challenge of getting an adequate secular education to prepare them for adult life while at the same time obtaining the vital education from God’s Word that can prepare them for survival into his new world of righteousness. The majority of them are facing up to this challenge. Many serve as auxiliary pioneers even while going to school, and then they enroll as regular pioneers as soon as they graduate. Others consider the school their personal territory and take advantage of all opportunities to witness there.

When a Witness in Minas Gerais called at a school and talked to one of the teachers, the teacher explained: “I had two girls in my class, 9 and 11 years of age. I noticed that they were different from all the other students. I observed that during our prayers they stood quietly with the others but did not repeat the prayers. When I asked them if they did not know how to pray or if they felt uncomfortable praying, they told me that Jehovah God does not hear repetitive prayers and that while we prayed they prayed silently. I asked them: ‘How do you pray?’ The older one said to me: ‘Please bow your head,’ and then she prayed. She thanked Jehovah for their parents, their food, their teacher, and she even prayed for the health of their mother, who taught them the truth from the Bible. I could not hold back my tears and had to run to the bathroom to cry.” On the return visit, the publisher learned that the girls’ family had moved because there was no Kingdom Hall in the town where the teacher taught. “I miss them very much,” the teacher concluded.

The Truth’s Transforming Power

God’s Word can have a powerful, transforming effect on the lives of people. For example, individuals enslaved to the demons are being set free. That was true of a young man in São Paulo whose family practiced spiritism. Ever since he was 13 years of age, he had cared for a spiritist (macumba) center, where many went for help in solving problems of all sorts, dealing with family, health, employment, and courtship. Besides the use of herb mixtures, the rituals included animal sacrifices—of frogs, chickens, and goats—in cemeteries at night. At times, human bones stolen from cemeteries were used. In 1990, when he was 19 years old, he had his first contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses. When he realized that what he was learning from them was the truth, he called together the 11 spirit mediums who worked under him and explained that the Bible disapproved of spiritistic practices. To free himself from demon attacks, he burned all the spiritistic objects he had. After five months of Bible study, he became a publisher, and during the first month of preaching, he reported 12 Bible studies. (Acts 19:19, 20) The majority were with people in his vicinity who knew him as a macumbeiro (an adept of macumba). After his baptism he served as an auxiliary pioneer, then as a regular pioneer, and later, as a member of the Brazil Bethel family.

The life of a man who had taken an active part in the carnival annually for 20 years was also deeply affected. He had received prizes for his part in famous carnival balls in Rio de Janeiro. His life-style had included excessive drinking, gambling, and contact with people who practiced all kinds of immorality. When he learned the truth, he changed his way of life completely. Now he is a ministerial servant, and he uses his talents to decorate the platform at conventions.

Another young man in Rio de Janeiro had made soccer his passion. He was part of a cheering group organized by a club that would brutally harass members of the opposing cheering section. It was his practice to go to the soccer stadium armed with a revolver or a homemade bomb. At almost every game, he was involved in fights with the opposing group and with the police. However, an ex-schoolmate, a Witness, started a Bible study with him. He came to understand who were his real friends and who was his greatest enemy. He allowed Bible truth to transform his personality, and then he got baptized.

Pedro, a young man living in São Paulo, was also involved in a violent way of life. He took part in a form of martial arts called capoeira (a technique of violent assault) and liked to carry firearms. Over six feet [c. 2 m] tall, with a superb physique, he was constantly involved in fights. One day, however, he agreed to have a Bible study. After listening to a Bible discourse in the Kingdom Hall, he realized that he would have to make big changes in his life. He destroyed his weapons and made progress to the point of baptism. Since then, he has helped ten members of his family to join him in serving Jehovah.

Can the truth help a person to overcome timidity? It did in the case of a lady in São Paulo. When she first heard the Bible’s message, she marveled at what she was learning. Still, attending meetings and sharing in the public preaching of the good news were enormous obstacles to her. Why? Because of her timid nature and her fear of going against her husband. But she kept in mind texts such as Matthew 10:37 and finally found the courage to share in the field service. She wanted to please Jehovah, yet many times she would cry, fighting the urge to quit and go home. Eventually, however, witnessing became easier and even enjoyable for her. As a result of her perseverance, her mother, five brothers, and husband all learned the truth.

Dealing With High Inflation

One of the main problems of the 1980’s was severe inflation. In spite of several economic plans, inflation kept increasing until it reached 6,584 percent for the period from May 1989 through April 1990. In some months, prices increased nearly 3 percent a day! By the end of the month, a person needed almost twice as much money as was required at the beginning of the month to buy the same item. In an effort to deal with the situation, for 18 months starting in March 1990, the government froze all bank accounts. More than once, the government also had to eliminate several zeros from the money and print new bills.

The problem of inflation, of course, was not new, but what took place in 1990 was excessive. Happily, we had a good stock of paper and other supplies at the branch for printing. We made only purchases that were absolutely essential and postponed others. The Bethel family of 800 members agreed to do without their monthly reimbursements for a time. It was also encouraging that the Society’s office received phone calls and letters from brothers offering donations and loans to keep things going. After some months, the government allowed nonprofit organizations such as ours to resume normal operations. For the Society the crisis was over.

During this difficult period, the Witnesses continued to be active in the ministry. They used their time, money, and energy wisely. Many demonstrated real appreciation for the godly counsel to seek the Kingdom first. (Matt. 6:33) As a result, there were new peaks in publishers, pioneers, and literature placements during 1990. The 11-percent increase in publishers that year has not been surpassed since then.

When the bank accounts were frozen, the Floresta Congregation in Joinvile, Santa Catarina, had the equivalent of US$100,000 on deposit for use in building a Kingdom Hall. They postponed the project, but contributions received made it possible to erect the new hall without the money in the bank. When the funds in the bank were finally released, the congregation was able to purchase a lot next to the Kingdom Hall for parking and to help another congregation to build a Kingdom Hall.

Learning to Read the Bible With Understanding

Describing a happy man, the psalmist said: “His delight is in the law of Jehovah, and in his law he reads in an undertone day and night.” (Ps. 1:2) But there are many people who never had an opportunity to go to school to learn how to read. Could they be helped to experience the joy to which the psalmist referred? Beginning in 1958, special classes were held in Kingdom Halls to assist those who did not know how to read or write. In 1970 a further step was taken in this program of education when the booklet Learn to Read and Write was released in Portuguese. To date, more than 20,000 persons, including many who were not Witnesses, have been helped to learn how to read.

Even some who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses have observed the benefits from the classes and have appreciated them. In São Paulo an unbelieving husband thanked the local congregation for what had been done to help his wife to learn to read. The chief of police in Ferros, Minas Gerais, sent a letter of commendation to the Society for the work done in teaching prisoners in jail there, saying: “Whether from the spiritual point of view or from the material side, Jehovah’s Witnesses have collaborated with this chief of police in teaching prisoners to read. Like fine rain that falls silently but that can cause rivers to overflow, they have done much to integrate the prisoners into society.”

Of course, reading has its greatest value when a person takes delight in God’s Word and shares it with others. A 74-year-old Witness in Rio de Janeiro who benefited from the literacy course does just that, and she has now been able to teach the truth to many people living in her area.

When the booklet Learn to Read and Write was released, the publishers were encouraged to use it to conduct studies with interested ones who needed such help. One day Sonia Springate, who was serving as a missionary in Curitiba, Paraná, asked a lady to whom she was witnessing to read Revelation 21:4. The woman hesitated and then said: “No, you read it.” When making a return visit on that person, Sonia found out that the woman did not know how to read. Although the woman was busy caring for four children, a study was conducted with her with the help of the booklet Learn to Read and Write. At first, she felt discouraged, but with encouragement she persisted and, within a year, was able to read. Today, she and her husband are baptized Witnesses, and the children are making progress in the truth.

Some who knew how to read needed assistance to improve their comprehension. To deal with that, groups receiving advanced help in reading and in conversation were organized in some congregations in 1990. Such assistance is now being provided to nearly 6,000 Witnesses, and the results are favorable. When beginning the course, one sister in Rio de Janeiro took about two hours to read and understand the material for the Congregation Book Study. After two months in the course she could do it in 20 minutes.

Special Distribution of Magazines

High on the list of reading matter for Jehovah’s Witnesses is The Watchtower, which is designed to help people who love truth to understand the Bible. It exalts Jehovah God as the Sovereign Lord of the universe and shows how God’s Kingdom will solve the problems of humankind. Its companion, Awake!, points to the real meaning behind current events and builds confidence in the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure new world. Jehovah’s Witnesses are eager to share this valuable information with others. In order to increase distribution of these magazines and to encourage new ones who qualify to share in the ministry, special magazine distribution was scheduled for May 1, 1990, a holiday. It was recommended that congregations organize field service for the morning, afternoon, and evening and that entire families take part in the service that day.

The response was excellent! As an example, in Rio de Janeiro, a congregation of 125 publishers had 121 in the service in the morning and 118 in the afternoon. A new peak of 288,107 publishers for the country was reached that month, and more than 500,000 magazines were reported as being placed on that one day. Since then, other special magazine days have been arranged with good success.

“Pure Language” District Conventions

Conventions are milestones in the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some of these are long remembered by those in attendance. Such a convention was held in São Paulo in August 1990. On the final day, more than 134,000 persons—86,186 in Morumbi Stadium and 48,220 in Pacaembu Stadium—listened to a public discourse delivered simultaneously by two speakers at the “Pure Language” District Convention. On hand were C. W. Barber and A. D. Schroeder, members of the Governing Body, as well as 2,350 foreign delegates from 14 countries.

At the end of the final discourse in both stadiums, the delegates began waving handkerchiefs and scarves. Deeply moved by what they were witnessing, many shed tears of joy. How grateful the Brazilian Witnesses were that their Christian brothers and sisters had come from other lands to join them for this grand occasion!

The outstanding love that is manifest among Jehovah’s servants is a big factor in helping sincere people to identify the truth. (John 13:35) This was the case with a young man and his sister who had opposed their widowed mother’s study of the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. An elder visited the family and invited them to attend that convention in São Paulo on Sunday afternoon. He picked them up early, since he had to care for his duties as a volunteer at the stadium. The two were deeply impressed. They commented on the order and cleanliness in the stadium, the way things were organized, and, yes, the outpouring of love toward the visiting delegates at the conclusion. They accepted a Bible study, made good progress, and were baptized with their mother. Today, that young man is a ministerial servant.

Hospital Liaison Committees

All of Jehovah’s Witnesses, whether newly baptized or more experienced, know that abstaining from blood of all sorts is an important Christian requirement. (Gen. 9:3, 4; Acts 21:25) In 1984 a number of committees of experienced elders were formed to interview doctors and register those who would respect a patient’s decision to reject transfusions of blood. This arrangement gained strength in 1991 when an international seminar of Hospital Liaison Committees (HLCs) was held in São Paulo. Eugene Rosam and Fred Rusk from Hospital Information Services in Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A., were present. Also, more than 700 other brothers attended the seminar, including some who are doctors or lawyers as well as members of the HLCs.

The seminar showed that there was much work ahead. The committees would be reorganized, and their members would begin to make presentations to doctors and medical teams, clarifying our position on the use of blood and offering them scientific articles on bloodless treatment. The goal set before the committee members in their relationship with doctors was “communication and cooperation, not confrontation.” After the reorganization, the number of committees was reduced from 200 with 1,200 members to 64 with about 350 members. As a result, there were fewer but better-equipped committees in cities with large centers for medical treatment.

In October 1992, there was an opportunity to make a presentation before 1,300 doctors from more than 100 countries, at the XXII International Convention on Blood Transfusion, in São Paulo. The organizers of the event gave approval for Sister Zelita da Silva Souza, a hematologist, to exhibit a poster listing 65 medical alternatives to blood transfusion. Pedro Catardo and Sergio Antão, of Bethel, reported: “In the beginning, we were a bit apprehensive as to the reception we would have, but the reaction of the more than 500 doctors contacted personally was very favorable. One of the main speakers at the convention carefully examined the poster and the articles on display. Later, in a talk he gave in the main auditorium, he expressed admiration for the valuable information received ‘from an unexpected source—Jehovah’s Witnesses.’”

In the following months, presentations were made to 20 Regional Councils of Medicine, and several of them recommended that when problems related to blood arise, doctors should contact the local HLC. In the past four years, more than 600 such presentations have been made, and there are now more than 1,900 cooperating doctors listed.

Interestingly, a number of doctors who appreciate the advantages of alternative, bloodless medical treatments have promoted seminars in Brazil in order to discuss the matter with others in the medical profession. Some of our brothers who are doctors or who serve as members of HLCs have been invited. Such a seminar was held first in Rio de Janeiro and then in other cities. Later, the Regional Council of Medicine in Rio de Janeiro issued a statement encouraging the use of alternative treatments.

“I’ll Never Forget That Prayer”

The HLCs have given much support to sick brothers and their families. Alaide Defendi, a special pioneer, recalled: “My sister was injured in a car accident in Curitiba, Paraná, in February 1992. The doctor stated that her life depended on her receiving a blood transfusion. I phoned the HLC, and within 15 minutes, three brothers, dressed in suits and ties and with briefcases in hand, arrived at the hospital and presented their visiting cards to the doctor.”

Arrangements were made to transfer the patient to another hospital 25 miles [40 km] away. A product that is accepted by some who reject blood transfusion is erythropoietin, a synthetic hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to increase production of red corpuscles, but the doctor said that this remedy was not available in Brazil. However, the brothers contacted a member of the HLC in São Paulo who sent the remedy by airplane that very day. Sister Defendi concluded, saying: “When my sister was in serious condition, a member of the HLC stayed in the hospital the whole day, and at a critical moment, he took me aside and said: ‘Let’s offer a prayer to Jehovah.’ I’ll never forget that prayer.”

A Visit to the Hills and Slums of Rio

Their reputation as people who are truly devoted to God has enabled Witnesses in Rio de Janeiro who live in areas dominated by drug traffic to continue in their ministry in these sections. There are several congregations in these localities, and as one elder explained, the more the brothers preach, the better it is. The brothers become known to the drug traffickers and are not bothered by them. There are hills with more than 200,000 inhabitants living in slum conditions. The vast majority of these people are not involved with drugs, but their financial circumstances do not allow them to live elsewhere.

An elder who lived in another part of the city drove into a slum area to give a public talk in one of the congregations. When he parked his car in front of the Kingdom Hall, two armed youths appeared, asking who he was. When he identified himself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and said that he had come to give a public Bible talk, the youths told him to go ahead and not to worry about his car because it would not be touched.

“On one occasion,” related Francisco Duarte, a circuit overseer, “the traffickers came to the Kingdom Hall at the end of a meeting to warn the brothers that there was going to be a shoot-out. My wife and I were a bit frightened, but the publishers kept on talking normally, in spite of the sound of shooting. After a while, the traffickers returned to say that we could leave, since the shooting was over.”

It is not wise for anyone from outside the area to walk about without being accompanied by someone who lives in that locality. It is also necessary to dress so as not to attract the attention of thieves. Brother Duarte, although accompanied by a local publisher, was stopped by a man who asked for his watch. “At first I thought it was a holdup,” Brother Duarte recalled, “but the man continued, saying: ‘I know you are the new circuit overseer, but if you continue to use that gilt watch, someone will steal it, thinking it is gold. You use my watch and keep yours in your pocket.’ He was a brother. With that, I learned to be more careful.”

A youth who belonged to a gang of drug traffickers and who began to study the Bible discerned that he would have to change his occupation. But how? He knew that if anyone leaves a gang, he is generally killed by his colleagues as a security measure—so that gang secrets will not be revealed to others. In spite of this, the youth mustered up courage, prayed to Jehovah, and went to talk to the gang leader. The youth explained that he was studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses, read some Bible texts, and said that he could not continue with the gang. He found that the gang leader had himself studied the Bible in the past. The youth was released without reprisals and is now an active publisher in the congregation.

300,000 Publishers!

As new ones came into the congregations, more literature was required for use in the program of Bible education. Our printery had already been expanded, but we needed more room to house the Bethel family, those volunteers who work at the branch. Some young brothers were being housed in dormitories with more than 20 beds each. So in 1990 we began work on a services building and on eight more residential blocks with a total of 384 rooms. The dining room was also enlarged to accommodate 1,500 people.

For this construction project, more than 1,000 volunteers came from all parts of the country. Some came for several weeks; others, for months. Many were professionals in their trade. (About 130 of them later became permanent members of the Bethel family.) From Feira de Santana, Bahia—more than 1,200 miles [2,000 km] away—came a group of 23 brothers from 12 different congregations. They had rented a bus and traveled 40 hours to help with the work for one week. Thirty-five experienced brothers from other lands also came to help with the work. Very valuable too was the assistance of hundreds of brothers and sisters who were from congregations near Bethel and who helped on weekends.

During 1991 the number of publishers passed the 300,000 mark. An increase of 100,000 in just four years! The enlarged facilities at the branch were truly needed.

“You Really Are Fast”

The progress of the disciple-making work also required more places of worship. During previous years, Assembly Halls had been built in Salvador, Bahia; Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro; Ribeirão Pires, Cosmópolis, and Sertãozinho in São Paulo; and Betim, Minas Gerais. The largest Assembly Hall in the country is located near Vargem Grande Paulista, São Paulo; its construction was finished in October 1992. Shortly thereafter, another hall, with a capacity of 4,000, was completed in Queimados, Rio de Janeiro. In September 1993, five more Assembly Halls were dedicated simultaneously in Fortaleza, Ceará; Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro; Quatro Barras, Paraná; Recife, Pernambuco; and Sapucaia do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul. At the present time, 16 Assembly Halls are in use, and 5 more are in the planning stage.

In harmony with the Bible’s command not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together, more Kingdom Halls are also needed to care for the great influx of sheeplike ones. (Heb. 10:23-25) Only one third of the congregations in Brazil have their own meeting place, and the rate at which new congregations are being formed is much higher than the construction rate. Besides this, it was taking an average of three years to complete a new Kingdom Hall. So in 1987 we began to form Regional Building Committees, composed of elders who had experience in construction and who could provide help for the bodies of elders in the congregations. The Bethel Engineering Department also provided practical suggestions.

Another significant step was taken in 1992 when a program of rapid Kingdom Hall construction was initiated. The first construction was in Agudos, São Paulo, with 200 volunteers and a team of 25 from Bethel. The project took three weeks, but since then the time needed for such a building has been reduced to 16 days. During the 1995 service year, a total of 129 new Kingdom Halls were completed and dedicated to Jehovah’s service.

Observers are always surprised at the speed with which the construction is done. At the end of the first week of construction on one Kingdom Hall, a worker from the firm that was contracted to provide panes for the windows was surprised when the brothers insisted that he return the following Wednesday to install them. “You must be mistaken,” he said. “Next week you won’t have the walls up, much less be ready for the windowpanes.” He returned Wednesday but without the panes. On seeing the walls up and plastered, the window frames in, and the roof on—all in less than a week—he took about five minutes to get down from his truck. He admitted, “You really are fast!” Then he left to get the windowpanes.

A man who lived near the place where a Kingdom Hall was being built, amazed at the rate of the construction, asked: “What do I have to do to help you?” “First you have to study the Bible with us,” was the answer. A Bible study was started with him the very next day.

Sharing the Message With Hands That Sign

The rapid growth has not resulted in lack of concern for those who are deaf or blind. Attention to their needs has produced excellent results. In 1992, Sign Language, a book of 336 pages, in Portuguese, was produced to teach sign language to the deaf. The book has unified the signs used among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil and has also endeavored to eliminate signs based on Babylonian ideas. One of these was a hand movement that imitates sprinkling—which, of course, does not properly convey the idea of Christian water baptism.

The first congregation for the deaf and the hard of hearing was formed in Rio de Janeiro in 1982. Now there are six of such congregations and 50 smaller groups in various cities. In 1994, there were 18 conventions with sign-language groups. In some of these, the interpreters represented the participants in the dramas. In 1996 it was with broad smiles mixed with tears of joy that Brazilian Witnesses who are deaf received a video produced by the Society that presents in sign language the entire brochure What Does God Require of Us? How beneficial, because many who are deaf do not read but do understand sign language!

Praiseworthy is the willing disposition of the brothers who serve as elders, ministerial servants, and pioneers in these congregations. It requires time, effort, and perseverance to learn sign language, but the results have been rewarding.

“She encouraged me without seeing, hearing, or talking to me.” This is the expression commonly used by those who know Rosemary Varella, a blind and deaf sister who has been serving as an auxiliary pioneer for the past three years. She was born deaf and as a result did not learn to speak. She gradually lost her sight and now is practically blind. She expresses herself by means of sign language and perceives the signs made by others by touching their hands.

Rosemary had lost her vision before she learned the truth, and this greatly affected communication with her husband. She was so depressed that she contemplated suicide. At that time, she was contacted by Nilza Carvalho, a young pioneer who knew sign language. When she learned of God’s promise to cure people with all sorts of disabilities, she accepted a Bible study. (Isa. 35:5) She soon began to attend the meetings of the congregation for deaf people in São Paulo. Arrangements were made to have an interpreter sit beside her during the meetings to transmit to her what was expressed on the platform, using tactile interpreting. Later, her husband also accepted a Bible study; he stopped smoking, and both were baptized in February 1992. Soon after their baptism, they became regular auxiliary pioneers. Rosemary has conducted as many as 20 Bible studies with other deaf persons, at the same time caring for her duties in her home.

To help the visually impaired, the Society began to produce publications in Portuguese Braille (Grade one) in 1980. Today, many of the Society’s publications, including the Bible and The Watchtower, are available in Braille. The complete Bible in Portuguese Braille requires 84 volumes—not exactly a pocket edition! A manual has also been produced as an aid to those who would like to learn Braille. Statistics show that there are more than one million persons in Brazil with impaired vision.

Drought in the Northeast

Although drought is a chronic problem in the northeastern part of Brazil, the situation was especially serious in 1993. In some areas it had not rained for two years. The ones most seriously affected were people who live in rural areas and who depend on their harvests. In Mumbaba, Ceará, people stood in line day and night to get water from the only spring that was left. As a result of the drought, markets and supermarkets were looted in several towns. To help the brothers in that region, the congregations in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Curitiba, displaying a generosity like that of their first-century Christian brothers in Philippi, sent four large trucks with 80 tons of food, clothing, and shoes. All together, brothers in 65 towns throughout five states received aid.—Phil. 4:14-17.

At one checkpoint the guard asked the truck driver how much he earned for making such a dangerous trip. It was dangerous because of looting. When he found out that the driver was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the guard said: “Only one of Jehovah’s Witnesses would do this for nothing!” At another highway checkpoint, when the driver said he was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the guard asked him to show his Advance Medical Directive/Release card as well as that of his companion. After checking the cards, he said to the other guard: “They are Jehovah’s Witnesses all right. You can let them pass.”

In the state of Paraíba, on seeing the assistance provided, one man commented: “Other religions just talk, while you really do something for your neighbor.” Although the situation was difficult, the brothers were not driven to despair, since they trusted that Jehovah would provide for their basic needs. A sister wrote: “You cannot satisfy our longing for rain, nor can you solve our problem of lack of water, but by the aid you sent us, you did strengthen our faith and confidence that we are not alone in this world and that there are those who think of us.”—Jas. 2:14-17.

“Cheers for Jehovah’s Witnesses!”

Conventions are especially happy times for Jehovah’s Witnesses. But unexpected problems can arise when conventions are held in facilities used for sporting events. A difficult situation arose in 1992 at the time of the “Light Bearers” District Convention in Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo. We had contracted for the use of the stadium for three days, but in some places sports events are viewed as being more important than anything else. Thus, on Thursday afternoon—the day before the opening of our convention—the brothers were advised that at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, there would be a soccer game between the two best teams in the country. We would therefore have to clear the stadium by 4:00 p.m.

João Fernandes, the convention overseer, recalled: “We had no choice, even though a contract had been signed. We had a meeting on Friday night with three brothers from each department—110 brothers in all—to make plans for a lightning-fast dismantling of the convention. It would require the close cooperation of all concerned not only to dismantle the equipment but also to transport it without interfering with the departure of 30,000 persons from the stadium. The platform and sound system were dismantled in a few minutes. Other equipment was taken to the old Bethel building in São Paulo, where it was cleaned and stored. At 3:45 p.m.—a little more than an hour after the end of the program—everything was done.”

During the week of the convention, some TV commentators had said that Jehovah’s Witnesses would not be able to hand over the stadium in time for the arrival of the soccer fans. In a sports review on Sunday, one commentator in another stadium asked the one in Pacaembu Stadium: “How is the stadium? Did those religious people fulfill their promise and clear the stadium in time?” The answer was: “Yes, they did! Not only did they return the stadium on time but everything was clean. It was a pleasure to see not only the bathrooms cleaned but the stands swept also. Cheers for Jehovah’s Witnesses!”

Miniconventions in Isolated Places

In the Amazon region, there are some isolated groups and individual families for whom the distance to convention cities is enormous. The only means of travel for them is by plane, which is very expensive, or by boat, which is very slow. So these publishers, in general, have been unable to get to district conventions or to assemblies. This has been true of the brothers in Tabatinga, Amazonas, about 1,000 miles [1,600 km] from the nearest convention city, Manaus.

In view of this problem, arrangements were made in 1990 for abbreviated portions of the convention program to be presented during the circuit overseer’s visit. This arrangement continues for the brothers in five towns in three different circuits. Groups of perhaps 50 or possibly as many as 180 assemble in the Kingdom Hall, if the group has one, or in an auditorium.

“Now I Can Be a Pioneer, Can I Not?”

The appreciation for spiritual things shown by some who present themselves for baptism is truly heartwarming. In 1993 at a small assembly in Tefé, in the Amazon region, Públio Cavalcante, a circuit overseer, noted that one of those seated in the area reserved for baptismal candidates was a young man whom he had never seen before. Since there are so few brothers in that area, the circuit overseer generally knows all of them personally. He asked the elders if the young man had sat there by mistake. They explained: ‘No. He lives about 35 to 40 hours from here by boat. He learned the truth by correspondence. Every six months, a special pioneer visited him—in Juruá—and stayed there for about a month.’

The circuit overseer later went to talk with the youth and during the conversation asked him if he had ever conducted any Bible studies. ‘Yes, I have 11 studies. There is one of my Bible students,’ he replied, pointing to another young man seated in the audience. As they continued talking, he pointed to two other youths with whom he was studying. The students had paid their own fare and traveled over 35 hours to attend the convention and to be present for the baptism of their friend. After his baptism that day, the youth asked the special pioneer: “Now I can be a pioneer, can I not?” As yet, no meetings are held in that area, but now that this publisher is baptized, the special pioneer plans to train him to conduct meetings.

Preaching in Seldom-Worked Areas

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not feel that as long as they have some share in the field service, that is all that is needed. They realize that everyone needs an opportunity to hear the good news. There are many towns in Brazil that are not assigned to any congregation and others that are rarely worked. Generally, these are small, isolated towns or ones difficult to reach. An investigation made in 1990 indicated that there were 4,000,000 people living in unassigned territory and 9,000,000 living in other territory that was seldom worked. A special campaign got under way that year to contact some of these people. More than 2,000 publishers participated, working in 177 previously unassigned towns. Later, about 30 families moved to some of these towns in order to provide the nucleus for new congregations.

Limited financial resources are not an insurmountable obstacle for the Witnesses when it comes to sharing in such activity. The elders of the four congregations in Sobral, Ceará, in one of the driest and poorest regions of Brazil, met together in September 1993 to decide how to work certain towns on a regular basis. There were ten towns assigned to them that, up until then, had been worked only sporadically. The bus schedules to these places made travel almost impossible for the publishers.

The towns were within a radius of about 80 miles [130 km] of Sobral, so the elders decided to purchase a used van to allow publishers to travel to the territory every day. They could leave in the morning and return at night. When informed of the decision, the congregations sent voluntary contributions for the van. “The purchase of the vehicle was not the result of a big local donation, but it was through the efforts of all,” wrote Wilson P. Dias, one of the elders involved. Another brother wrote: “The congregations donated $2,000, a brother from England donated the same amount, and the balance was paid off in installments.”

More than 50 publishers and pioneers share in the arrangement, each one traveling on a certain day of the week. In this way they reach a population of about 110,000. They have been able to help a number of individuals to become Kingdom proclaimers and have reactivated others. Meetings are now being held regularly in four of the towns.

Early in 1995 another arrangement, coordinated by the Brazil branch office, was suggested as a means of reaching and caring for people living in unassigned or distant territories. Certain congregations arranged to pay the expenses of regular pioneers who would be willing to serve for six months in such areas. More congregations have followed their lead, and the results have been very encouraging. To date, more than 340 regular pioneers have been assigned to serve in 350 towns, where they have already helped more than 300 persons to become publishers.

At the same time, much good work is being done by the 1,400 permanent and temporary special pioneers. Many of these are assigned to work with congregations where there is a lack of experienced brothers. For example, in Rio Branco, Acre, one of the congregations has just one local elder, besides the special pioneer, to care for the needs of 90 publishers. The majority of the special pioneers, however, are serving in small towns where there are no congregations, and it is gratifying to see the fine work being done.

The brothers from the larger cities have also been doing their share in working distant and seldom-worked territory. For nine consecutive years, those in Rio de Janeiro have organized groups to work in such territory for a few weeks. Recently a group of 68 brothers and sisters worked in 20 cities in Paraná, traveling more than 1,600 miles [2,500 km] during the 17-day effort. Their only regret, says Georges Ghazi, one of the organizers of the group, is that these witnessing excursions were not begun earlier.

Exclusive Condominiums

People living in unassigned territory are not the only ones who are difficult to reach. There are many people in larger cities who prefer to live in exclusive areas, in condominiums, and in apartment buildings that provide security against crime. Access to these people is difficult but not impossible. A married couple who had been in the full-time service for a time during the 1980’s moved into one of these buildings near São Paulo. They viewed it as their personal territory. “When I went shopping or to the bank or when I went to pick up the children at school,” the mother recalls, “I always went prepared to contact our neighbors.” Later she cautiously made systematic calls on them.

At a meeting of the parents of schoolchildren, one mother told our sister that her son had difficulty in concentrating. The sister took her a copy of an article in the Awake! magazine dealing with that problem, and this led to a Bible study. Eventually, the lady and her two daughters were baptized. Another neighbor asked our sister if she would like to cooperate with her in gathering food for needy persons. The sister told her that she was already involved in helping people in her neighborhood, and she explained the arrangement for home Bible studies. The lady, her husband, and their 18-year-old son began to study and eventually got baptized.

Another lady and her three adolescent daughters accepted a Bible study. The husband objected, although he considered himself to be a religious person. One of the daughters suggested that he attend a meeting to investigate the matter for himself, and he agreed. A few days later, our sister invited the family for lunch in her home, and they came. To everyone’s surprise, the husband commented on the meeting he had attended. Later, he agreed to have a Bible study. Today, all in that family are serving Jehovah.

Others too have studied. As a result, in November 1991 a congregation was formed that was composed entirely of people living in that one condominium. There are 46 publishers, and 80 people attended the Memorial in 1995. So the truth of God’s Word can penetrate even into areas that are more difficult to reach.

400,000 Publishers and More to Come!

Almost a century ago, the seeds of Bible truth first reached Brazil by mail. After about 25 years, arrangements were made to translate Watch Tower publications into Portuguese on a regular basis in Brazil and to print them in Rio de Janeiro. During the next 25 years, about 1,000 people in Brazil became Jehovah’s Witnesses and began to have a regular share in spreading the good news of God’s Kingdom to others. But by April 1995, that number had increased to more than 400,000 Kingdom publishers! Was there still more to be done?

Jesus Christ foretold that the Kingdom message would be preached “in all the inhabited earth” before the end comes. (Matt. 24:14) To what extent has that been accomplished in Brazil? Early meetings held in Brazil by Jehovah’s Witnesses (then known as Bible Students) included those in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In those areas today, there are many congregations overflowing with people who love and serve Jehovah. In metropolitan São Paulo, there are now 837 congregations; in Rio de Janeiro, 539; and Salvador has 276. Throughout the country, there are upwards of 6,650 congregations, made up of zealous Witnesses of Jehovah. People in many of these cities have the opportunity to hear the message of the Kingdom frequently—in some areas, every week.

In small towns and rural areas, not everyone is visited so often. There are about 350 small towns (with a total estimated population of 1,500,000) as well as extensive rural areas that are not assigned to any congregation. No regular witnessing is done in these areas, though efforts are made to reach them about once every six months.

Could more people—whether in the larger cities or in remote areas—be helped to appreciate the value of the Bible’s message? In an effort to reach their hearts, during April and May 1995, a special effort was put forth to make personal contact with as many as possible and to give them the tract Why Is Life So Full of Problems? Upwards of 34,000,000 copies had been printed and sent out to the congregations for distribution. On receiving a copy, one man said: ‘I asked myself that same question this morning and talked with others about it.’ A lady said: ‘I’ve asked myself that question for many years, but I never imagined there would be an answer to it.’ Another wrote to the Society, saying: “I liked the tract so much that I’m asking you for a Bible study. Many thanks.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil do not feel that their work is finished and that nothing more can be done in obedience to Jesus’ prophetic command to give a witness concerning the Kingdom. Even in areas where the Witnesses call often, they realize that many people are not at home. The people may be working, shopping, or visiting, or they may be sleeping late to renew their energy for the week ahead. The Witnesses care about these people. To deal with this situation, a traveling overseer in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, adopted this strategy: He realized that on cold winter days, many people liked to sleep late because the bed was the warmest place to be. The overseer and his companion would go around a block and knock only on those doors where the houses showed signs of life. They circled one block nine times, and each time they found more people who were up. They were able to place literature in every home, thus opening the way for return visits.

There are many people in Brazil who show interest in God’s Word, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are eager to help them to understand it and to learn how to apply it in everyday life. At present, the Witnesses regularly conduct upwards of 500,000 home Bible studies with individuals and family groups. And starting in 1995, using the book Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, Jehovah’s Witnesses launched a program that is designed to help righteously disposed people learn basic Bible teachings even more quickly than in the past. In addition to those who accept such help, millions of others throughout the country gladly accept the Bible literature distributed by the Witnesses, as shown by the fact that 2,334,630 books, 21,168,979 magazines, and 2,787,032 brochures were placed during the 1996 service year.

The field of theocratic interest of our Brazilian brothers and sisters extends far beyond the borders of Brazil. Many pioneers from here have moved to serve where the need is greater in lands where the witness has not yet been so extensive. From the branch in Cesário Lange, Bible literature is being supplied for use in preaching the good news not only in Brazil but also in Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Germany, Mozambique, Paraguay, Portugal, and Uruguay. Regardless of the work done in the past, it seems that the pace continues to speed up year after year.

It Has Been a Joy!

Indeed, much work has been involved in giving a witness throughout Brazil. But it has been joyful work! Oh, yes, besides the good times, there have also been difficult times. But our hearts have been warmed as we have seen with our own eyes the evidence of Jehovah’s blessing on the activity of his loyal servants.

Erich Kattner still remembers that back in 1939 and 1940, as he witnessed in the rural areas of Brazil he would often sleep in the open, using his literature bag as a pillow. There were just a few hundred Witnesses throughout the country then. Very few of those at whose homes he called had a Bible. To obtain Bibles to distribute to interested people, he would go to the local Bible Society’s bookstore, but after a while they would not sell Bibles to him anymore. However, he states: “I had the thrill and privilege of attending the ‘Everlasting Good News’ Assembly in New York City in 1963, when the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was released in six languages, including Portuguese. I was especially grateful to Jehovah to receive it in Portuguese, since I would be able to use it in my assignment in Brazil.” Since 1967 the complete New World Translation, from Genesis through Revelation, has been available in Portuguese. What a boon this has been to the work of Bible education in Brazil! The number of active praisers of Jehovah in Brazil has increased from 30,118 in 1963 to more than 436,000 in 1996.

Augusto Machado is grateful for the help given him by one of the early missionaries sent to Brazil. He also recalls the first convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses that he attended. It was in Rio de Janeiro. N. H. Knorr and M. G. Henschel were present from New York. Attendance was just 1,064. One of the talks was entitled “The More Excellent Way of Love.” “Then in 1958,” Brother Machado states, “I was privileged to be among the throng of 253,922 who attended the eight-day international convention in New York. The same spirit of love permeated both conventions. . . . I returned from New York more convinced than ever that Jehovah’s people, being free from tribal and racial division, are doing a worldwide Bible educational work that has no parallel in history.”

In 1985 he saw striking evidence of what that work of Bible education is accomplishing in Brazil. He had the privilege of speaking at an international convention that was being held simultaneously in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The total attendance reached nearly 250,000, most of them from Brazil. And a decade later, when congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout Brazil met to observe the Memorial of Christ’s death, more than 1,144,000 people were in attendance.

All of Jehovah’s dedicated servants today have many reasons to be joyful in spite of the difficult times in which we live. Our hearts are deeply moved as we meditate on what God has already done and on what he has promised for the future. Out of all the nations, including Brazil, “the desirable things” are being gathered into his spiritual house of worship. (Hag. 2:7) As Psalm 144:15 truthfully states: “Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah!”

[Map/Pictures on page 167]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Amazon River

Manaus

AMAZONAS

MATO GROSSO

Cesário Lange

RIO GRANDE DO SUL

Belém

Fortaleza

Recife

Salvador

Rio de Janeiro

São Paulo

[Pictures]

1. Beach at Recife

2. Rio de Janeiro

3. Amazon rain forest

4. Witnessing on the Amazon

5. Branch office, Cesário Lange

[Full-page picture on page 124]

[Picture on page 126]

Alston and Maude Yuille took up service in Brazil in 1936

[Picture on page 126]

Charles Leathco, of Gilead’s first class, still serves at Bethel in Brazil

[Pictures on page 133]

Rotary letterpress put into operation in São Paulo in 1973

[Pictures on page 134]

At “Divine Victory” Convention in São Paulo, delegates saw heartwarming fruitage of their united witnessing

[Picture on page 142]

A partially covered “Assembly Park” in Salvador

[Picture on page 145]

Branch Committee (left to right): Massasue Kikuta, Karl Rietz, Amaro Santos, Östen Gustavsson, Augusto Machado, Fred Wilson

[Pictures on page 150]

At branch dedication in 1981, Lloyd Barry urged: ‘Give preaching of the good news your undivided attention’

[Picture on page 156]

Over 39,000 have been trained at the Pioneer Service School. Class in Sorocaba, São Paulo, is shown

[Picture on page 158]

Missionaries and other Gilead graduates in full-time service, with their spouses, during visit of zone overseer in 1996

[Pictures on page 162]

Rotary offset presses and MEPS were important tools in achieving simultaneous publication

[Picture on page 170]

Boat used at the mouth of the Amazon River for preaching the good news

[Pictures on page 175]

Volunteers from other lands helped local Witnesses to construct branch facilities; shown here are the Harleys (top) and the Colwells

[Pictures on page 176, 177]

Branch facilities now being used to coordinate the activity of over 430,000 Witnesses in Brazil

[Pictures on page 192]

Sixteen Assembly Halls now serve the needs of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil

[Pictures on page 193]

More Kingdom Halls are needed. Methods of rapid construction are helping to meet the need

[Picture on page 194]

Some congregations provide special help for the deaf and blind

[Pictures on page 205]

Erich Kattner rejoiced to see the “New World Translation” made available in Portuguese

[Picture on page 207]

Augusto Machado has seen striking evidence of the results of Bible education in Brazil

Micronesia

Paradise. That word may make you think of a lush tropical island, bright blue skies, palm trees swaying in a soft breeze, white sandy beaches, clear ocean waters and colorful fish, a spectacular sunset. Micronesia fits that image of paradise. Its beauty is breathtaking.

But there are also things here that you would never associate with paradise. These islands were badly scarred by brutal battles during World War II, and today people of Micronesia battle economic problems, crime, and disease. An ever-growing number are realizing that the deep-seated problems of humankind must be solved before this can ever really be paradise.

Variety, the Spice of Micronesian Life

There are various island groups within Micronesia, each different in its appeal and culture. Surprisingly, each has its own distinct language, unintelligible even to people of nearby island groups.

There is no such thing as a typical Micronesian island. Some are rich, others poor. Rugged volcanic islands such as Pohnpei ascend to over 3,000 feet [900 m], while some slender atolls are so flat that they rise no more than a few feet [a meter] above sea level. Majuro of the Marshall Islands is such an atoll. During stormy weather, waves sometimes wash across entire sections of the atoll.

Micronesians are friendly and attractive people. Many of them live off the land and the sea. They harvest food staples from their family property, perhaps raise a few chickens or pigs, and catch fish from the ocean.

It is believed that these isolated islands were originally settled by people sailing east from Asia and west from Melanesia, but Spanish explorers of the 1500’s were the first Westerners to reach Micronesia. They brought their religion with them. Today the Roman Catholic Church is deeply entrenched on most of the islands, along with a generic form of the Protestant faith that was established by Christendom’s missionaries of the late 1800’s.

GUAM: Hub of Island Activity

Micronesia, which means “little islands,” includes some 2,000 scattered islands, about 125 of which are inhabited. These are spread out over a portion of the globe that is roughly the size of the continental United States. Yet the islands are so tiny that their combined landmass is only about 1,200 square miles [3,100 sq km]—not much larger than that of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the United States.

The gateway to Micronesia is Guam, where airline flights to many of the other islands originate. Of the 470,000 inhabitants of Micronesia, 150,000 are found on Guam. With a length of 32 miles, [51 km] Guam is the largest of the Micronesian islands. It is also the most developed. Congested highways and a hectic life-style set this island apart from the other islands, with their more leisurely pace.

Long prized by military powers for its strategic position in the Pacific, Guam is at present an American stronghold. More than a third of the land is controlled by the U.S. military. However, Guam is also a strategic location for spreading the good news of God’s Kingdom. At the Watch Tower Society’s branch office, material used for Bible education is printed in 11 languages for distribution throughout Micronesia.

Kingdom Truth Reaches a ‘Last Frontier’

During his dedication talk for the Guam branch facility in April 1980, Milton Henschel, of the Governing Body, described Micronesia as “one of the last frontiers” in the work of Kingdom preaching. Because Micronesia is made up of many secluded islands and such a wide array of native languages are spoken here, this tropical ‘last frontier’ has proved to be most challenging.

For 40 years faithful missionaries have met that challenge with hard work and ingenuity. During those years, at least 175 missionaries have served in Micronesia, and this has been an important factor in developing the 26 congregations and about 1,300 Witnesses now active on the islands.

Only a handful of the 63 missionaries currently serving in Micronesia attended the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. Most are pioneers from the Philippines and Hawaii who were invited to undertake missionary service. For many this meant exchanging the comforts of home for a more primitive life-style. On some islands, there are few decent roads, no electricity, and no running water. The missionaries are exposed to much sickness and disease; they must withstand weather that is hot, humid, and sometimes violent. Destructive typhoons are a threat almost year-round. But the missionaries have seen satisfying fruitage for their labors.

Bible truth has found a firm foothold on each of the major islands. Among those who embraced the Kingdom message first were influential islanders. In Pohnpei, for instance, there was Carl Dannis, a member of the Pohnpei legislature. In Kosrae one of the first Witnesses was Fredy Edwin, who spoke seven languages and was related to the king. Augustine Castro, who had once studied for the priesthood, helped start a congregation in Saipan. And on Guam, former boxer Tony Salcedo used his popularity to give people a message that could help them enjoy a peace that lovely island surroundings had never given them.

How the Good News Reached Guam

Tony Salcedo was not the first Witness to come to Micronesia. In fact, he was not a Witness when he arrived. He came to Guam from the Philippines in 1948 as a contract worker on postwar reconstruction. Several of his fellow workers were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they began to teach Tony the Bible.

These zealous brothers organized the first congregation in Micronesia in December 1951, but in 1954 all of them except Tony were forced to leave Guam when their company folded. Tony, who had given up boxing, was permitted to stay because he had married a Guamanian girl.

In the mid-1950’s, meetings were held in the Salcedo home, and the congregation grew to 12. Their preaching territory was the entire island. “Every Saturday, we would go in field service all day long, and soon people in all the villages knew who we were,” Tony said.

Rugged Conditions Awaited Them

Back then Guam did not even remotely resemble the bustling island resort it is today. Sam and Virginia Wiger, the first missionaries assigned to Guam, well remember their arrival in 1954.

“At that time Guam was strictly a military base,” Sam said. “The island was devastated from the war; live bombs and ammunition were everywhere, war equipment was rusting away, and Japanese snipers were still being found and apprehended. My wife and I rented a Quonset hut that had no refrigerator, air conditioner, bed, or other furniture. We slept on cloth army cots covered by mosquito nets.”

The Wigers’ preaching efforts were so successful that soon a larger meeting place was needed, so the congregation rented a vacant military mess hall and gave it a thorough cleaning. The building was located across the road from a Catholic church. When our brothers erected a Kingdom Hall sign, the Catholic priest protested.

Then lightning struck. During a rare electrical storm, a bolt of lightning toppled the church steeple and shattered several idols. “The priest told his parishioners that God had meant to strike the Kingdom Hall but missed,” Wiger said. “When the people did not believe that explanation, the priest made up another story. He said that God destroyed the church because they needed a bigger and better one.”

Getting Into the Trust Territory

When the Wigers were assigned to Japan as missionaries, added responsibility went to Merle Lowmaster, a tall brother who was often smiling but was always serious about the truth. The Watch Tower Society asked Merle to make an exploratory trip through Micronesia in 1960. Because the islands were a U.S. trust territory, he needed a travel permit from the high commissioner, a surly and uncooperative man who told Lowmaster: “Over my dead body will you get into the trust territory.”

His death proved unnecessary, however. Just three months later, a new high commissioner was appointed, and Merle received his travel permit. Thus he came to be the first person to speak the Kingdom message on the islands of Saipan, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Belau, and Yap.

Personal Help From the Society’s President

Tragedy struck Guam in November 1962, when Typhoon Karen roared across the island with winds of nearly 200 miles per hour [320 km/hr], killing nine people and causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage. Happily, none of the brothers lost their lives, but they did lose their Kingdom Hall. When prospects for a new building looked bleak, a recently baptized sister came to the rescue with a generous donation of land. There, a larger Kingdom Hall was constructed, which was completed in time for a 1964 zone visit by N. H. Knorr, then president of the Watch Tower Society.

With a view to having a thorough witness given in this part of the inhabited earth, Brother Knorr assigned six newly arrived missionaries to work in various parts of Micronesia. He told them: “While these areas may seem foreign, remember that you are always at home on planet Earth. The only really foreign missionary was Christ, because he left the heavens to serve here. Stick to your assignment until the work is done!”

During the few years prior to this, traveling overseers had been making a journey through the islands once a year by cargo boat. They visited the very few Witnesses who were on the islands, did witnessing themselves wherever the boat stopped, and gave further encouragement to any who had shown interest on earlier visits. Brother Knorr suggested that the circuit trip be made twice each year by airplane.

Traveling Overseers Contribute to Growth

Beginning in 1968, this aerial tour of Micronesia was made by Nathaniel Miller, a traveling overseer from Hawaii. Since many older Micronesians spoke Japanese and Miller had been a missionary in Japan, he was a logical choice for the strenuous assignment. Why strenuous? “Travel from Honolulu round trip through these islands by air was more than 9,000 miles [14,000 km],” Miller recalls.

Upon arrival in Guam, he found a discouraged congregation. There was a lack of growth, and territory was not being covered regularly. Miller recommended that four more missionaries be sent to Guam, with a second missionary home on the south end of the island.

In 1969, Guam and the territories of Micronesia were assigned to the Hawaii branch. Starting with 1970, Robert K. Kawasaki, Sr., Hawaii Branch Committee coordinator, also made visits to Micronesia, serving circuit assemblies, district conventions, and missionary homes once a year.

Results of this personal attention by spiritual shepherds were soon evident. Guam’s “Men of Goodwill” District Assembly in 1970 drew a peak attendance of 291, with newspapers, radio, and television all providing daily publicity. Yet, there was certainly room for more workers in this part of the field. From where would they come?

Robert and Mildred Fujiwara were regular pioneers who operated a grocery in Hawaii, but they longed to serve where the need was greater. They fulfilled that dream in 1970 by moving to Guam with three children ranging in age from 8 to 16. Was such a move good for them and their children? All their children are now grown and married, and they are all zealous servants of Jehovah. Two of the children are serving at the Guam branch, and another is a pioneer. There was just one congregation on Guam when the Fujiwaras arrived. They have had the joy of sharing in the work as the number of congregations has grown to nine, with one other group. These are organized to care for people who speak six languages. Several other families also came to help in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Branch Address Easy to Remember

In 1976 the Guam Kingdom Hall, built in 1964 and expanded in 1969, was demolished by Typhoon Pamela. “Guam looked as if a steamroller had flattened the island,” a brother said.

Instead of rebuilding the modest-sized meeting place, a new L-shaped branch facility was constructed, consisting of an office, a printery, six bedrooms, and a spacious 400-seat Kingdom Hall that could also accommodate assemblies. To withstand typhoons, it was built with steel-reinforced, 8-inch [20 cm]-thick concrete walls. A brother who had moved over from Hawaii commented: “It was so big, we thought we would never fill it. There were only 120 Witnesses on the entire island, and we bounced around in that place like marbles in a shoe box.” Just a few years later, that enormous Kingdom Hall was straining to contain assembly audiences.

Brother Miller, noted for his vigorous handshake and distinctive laugh, became the first Guam Branch Committee coordinator. Two experienced brothers joined him on the committee—Robert Savage, who had been branch overseer in Vietnam, and Hideo Sumida, who had served on the Hawaii Branch Committee.

When the branch was first built, mail was picked up at a post office box. A government worker came by one day, however, and explained that he was assigning street addresses so that mail could be delivered. As he was spraying number “143” on the building, Miller asked him what their street would be named. The man said: “I don’t know. Why don’t we look on the map and find out.” To Miller’s surprise the government had named it Jehovah Street.

Do-It-Yourself Building Projects

Other building work also needed to be done. Early in the 1980’s, Jim Persinger, in the United States, decided that his cement plant was taking up too much of his time, so he and his wife, Jene, chose to simplify their lives. They built a 50-foot [15 m] concrete sailboat, named it Petra, and set sail for Guam. The Persingers’ boat proved invaluable on construction projects.

Between 1982 and 1991, missionary homes and Kingdom Halls were built on six of the Micronesian islands. Lack of materials made construction a challenge. On some building projects, the brothers had to make their own concrete blocks by hand. They would pour cement into a small mold and let it set. They made their own gravel by smashing coral, and they had to provide their own sand. To transport supplies and workers from one island to another, the Petra was often used. “When we were building the Kingdom Hall in Chuuk, you couldn’t buy sand on the island,” Jim Persinger explains, “so we would sail out to a small island where nobody lived, and we would shovel sand from the beach into bags. Then we would load it onto the boat and sail back to the construction site.”

Ray Scholze, who had military engineering experience, was overseer for most of the Micronesian construction projects. At the core of his work crew were Calvin Arii, Avery Teeple, and Miles Inouye, who had come from Hawaii to help build the new branch and then made Guam their home. Together, they often improvised to get a job done.

More Growth Under New Oversight

Brother Miller left Guam in 1987 when he learned that his wife was terminally ill. Replacing him as coordinator was tall, energetic Arthur White, who had served on the Hawaii and the Guam Branch Committees and had also been traveling through Micronesia as a district overseer since 1981. Under his oversight the Guam branch has undergone many changes. Two Kingdom Halls have been added at the branch complex, and a construction project completed in 1995 provided badly needed office and factory space plus new residence rooms.

Serving with him on the Branch Committee are Julian Aki and Salvador Soriano, longtime missionaries in Micronesia. Sadly, Hideo Sumida, one of the original committee members, died after contributing several years to establishing the branch in Guam.

Speaking in Foreign Tongues

As the island of Guam has developed, its foreign population has increased. Missionaries have been added to cultivate the Tagalog, Iloko, Korean, and Chinese fields.

For 14 years Ernesto and Gloria Gabriel have been witnessing to the Filipino community, which accounts for one fourth of Guam’s population. Together, the Tagalog and Iloko congregations are larger than any of the island’s five English congregations.

Korean missionary Jung-Sung Chung arrived in 1985. “The climate was so hot and humid,” he recalls, “that my wife and I would take several showers a day to rinse off our perspiration.” They preached long hours in the heat, however, and their example of determination helped to establish a small, but strong, congregation.

An intensive witness is being given to the inhabitants of Guam. There is, on an average, one Witness for every 262 of the population.

KIRIBATI: They Know Us as Te Koaua

Though Kingdom truth had first reached Guam from the Philippines, it was taken to Kiribati (then known as the Gilbert Islands) from New Zealand. The islands were a British colony, and our preaching was restricted, but Huia Paxton gained entry in 1959 as a pharmacist and remained until 1967. He found a group of beautiful atolls—often quite narrow, always hot and humid—straddling the equator.

Huia’s work took him to all the Gilbert Islands where he, his wife Beryl, and their two young sons looked for opportunities to speak about the Bible. At a picnic a woman asked their five-year-old boy, Stephen, if his God had a name. “Yes. His name is Jehovah,” Stephen replied. His answer led others to ask questions. Before long, the Paxtons were conducting a large group Bible study every Sunday.

Before they returned to New Zealand, the Paxtons arranged for a special meeting on an uninhabited atoll. A baptism talk was given that day, and five Gilbertese symbolized their dedication to Jehovah by water immersion in the lagoon. Unfortunately, the zeal that those islanders displayed at first slowly diminished.

Later, a Gilbertese man named Nariki Kautu went to Australia to attend school to learn accounting. While there, he also studied the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses and was baptized. “When I returned in 1978 with my family, we began to ask if there were any others of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kiribati,” Brother Kautu recalls. He soon realized that Jehovah’s Witnesses were practically unknown in his home islands. “We found one older couple and another man and his children, but there were no organized meetings, and none of the Society’s literature was available in the Gilbertese language,” he says. “We began to meet each Sunday. We would pray, read from the Bible, and since I was the only one who could read English, I would explain something from the Society’s publications.”

Kingdom Hall—More Than a Building

In 1982 the little group in Kiribati was reinforced with the arrival of Paul and Marina Tabunigao, missionaries who had been assigned there. Meetings were held at the missionary home and later were moved to a schoolroom, but Jehovah’s Witnesses were not regarded as a “proper religion” until their Kingdom Hall was built in 1991. International volunteers did most of the work, and local people marveled that “strangers” would offer their time and money to help with the construction. Thus the Kingdom Hall became tangible evidence of the loving unity among Jehovah’s people.

Many were attracted to the truth as a result. One sister who was baptized shortly after the construction project said: “I was deeply impressed by the fact that this small congregation was being assisted by visitors from overseas.” That “small” congregation has swelled from 28 publishers in 1990 to about 70 today, making it one of the fastest-growing congregations in Micronesia.

Society’s Books Highly Esteemed

Although some tracts and brochures were available, not until You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth arrived in 1994 could local people read one of the Society’s books in their own language. “There are only a few publications of any kind available in the Gilbertese language,” says Edi Possamai, a missionary serving faithfully with his wife, “and certainly nothing approaching the quality of this book.”

The Live Forever book has now been published in six Micronesian languages, and the Gilbertese edition has had a great impact. That book has moved many islanders to study the Bible. Some have even been seen taking their Live Forever book to church.

The people in Kiribati have affectionately coined nicknames to describe the religions represented on their islands. Because Protestants close their eyes while praying, they are known as Kamatu, which means “To Make Sleep.” Seventh-Day Adventists are called Itibongs, or “Seven Days.” What do they call Jehovah’s Witnesses? Te Koaua, which simply means “The Truth.”

MARSHALL ISLANDS: An Opening for Service

There had been Witnesses on Guam for a dozen years before an adventurous American couple took the good news to the Marshall Islands, some 2,000 miles [3,200 km] to the southeast of Guam. Powell Mikkelsen and his wife, Nyoma, had intended to go to the Bahamas to serve where there was a greater need, and with that in view, they purchased a 34-foot [10 m] yawl, which they named Integrity. Before they could set sail, however, Powell was offered a job overseeing the construction of a large electric power plant in the Marshall Islands. The Watch Tower Society urged him to take the position. At the time, because of legal restrictions on the entry of foreigners, there were no Witnesses in the Marshall Islands.

While Brother Mikkelsen cared for his responsibilities in connection with construction of the power plant, he and his wife made the most of their opportunity to help the islanders spiritually. They arrived at Kwajalein Atoll in 1960 and later dropped anchor at Majuro Atoll, where they taught themselves to speak Marshallese. When they witnessed, the amiable islanders seldom refused to listen, and by 1964 Powell and Nyoma were conducting 12 Bible studies, including one with the Iroij Lap Lap (High King) of Majuro.

Julian Aki and Melvin Ah You, both of them missionaries, joined the Mikkelsens there in 1965, and in just a few months, these enthusiastic brothers had learned enough Marshallese to present a simple sermon and had also constructed an A-frame missionary home.

To provide a place for meetings, a makeshift Kingdom Hall was erected by stretching the mainsail from Integrity over several pandanus poles that were set in the ground. “As our crowds got larger, we just added more sail,” Brother Mikkelsen said. “Next came the mizzen sail; a little later, on went the jib sail. When we had no more sails left, the time had come to build a ‘proper’ Kingdom Hall.”

Islanders Impressed by New Missionaries

To begin the 1966 service year, Aki and Ah You decided it was time to become better acquainted with their territory, so they booked passage on an iron-hulled cargo ship that stopped at the outer atolls of the Marshall Islands. Also aboard for this 24-day field trip was a newly married Protestant minister who had been in the islands for three years. Radio announcements alerted each atoll that “the reverend” and his bride would soon be arriving. How disappointed the islanders were when this minister spoke through an interpreter! He had never bothered to learn Marshallese.

When this minister warned his listeners to avoid the “two false shepherds” on board, people became even more curious to see the missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were speaking their Marshallese language and relating marvelous things from the Bible. Time and again they would beg: “Stay here and teach us the Bible. We will care for your needs. Just stay with us until the next ship!”

Culture Shock for the Circuit Overseer

When Nathaniel Miller flew out of Hawaii on his first circuit trip through Micronesia in 1968, the initial leg of his journey landed him in Majuro. “I remember my first sight of the tiny atolls of the Marshall Islands,” he recalls. “The DC-9 descended to make a landing but, instead, went up again and circled the airport. Looking down, I could see men running pigs off the airstrip to clear it for landing. Another obstacle was a car parked on the runway. A group of men picked the car up and walked it off!”

For someone coming from Honolulu, this was culture shock. The Majuro airport had an open-air “terminal” constructed of coconut fronds and a runway made of coral. “I was not used to the idea of coral stones hitting the fuselage of planes when landing,” Miller said. Once on the ground, he and his luggage were deposited in the back of a pickup truck and driven to the missionary home over a bumpy, unpaved road.

The Kingdom Hall at that time had a tin roof, no walls, and only the hard ground for a floor. “I spoke, through a translator, to a small group of 20 on my first visit,” Miller recounts. “The talk was interrupted by a large hog wandering into the Kingdom Hall!”

Where Are the Dead—Really?

Marshallese churches foster some very unusual beliefs. One day William Maddison, a Protestant deacon, tested Julian Aki: “In Philippians, Paul wrote that ‘every knee would bend to Christ, those in heaven, on the earth, and under the ground.’ My question is, ‘Who are those under the ground?’” (Phil. 2:10) When Brother Aki explained that they were the dead who would be resurrected, William was elated. He had been bothered by his church’s teaching that those “under the ground” were the ri menanui, “little people” who, according to Marshallese legend, came above ground only in the dead of night.

William immediately arranged for his family to study the Bible with Brother Aki, and he and his wife, Almina, were baptized together in 1966. He has served as an elder since 1983, and she has been a regular pioneer for 28 years, longer than anyone else in Micronesia.

Marshallese churches also teach that hell is a large iron pot in heaven where sinners are scalded in boiling water. Sailass Andrike, like many, believed this “death in heaven” doctrine. When he was shown from the Bible, however, that the dead return to dust, Sailass accepted the truth and was baptized in 1969. (Gen. 3:19) He was instrumental in obtaining land for a new Kingdom Hall, and he also became the first Marshallese translator. A congregation was formed in Majuro in 1967. With such local brothers as William and Sailass assuming responsibility, Julian Aki and Donald Burgess, a newly arrived missionary, were able to move on to Ebeye, a tiny atoll in the western Marshall Islands.

About the size of four city blocks, Ebeye was home to just a few hundred Marshall Islanders until lucrative U.S. military jobs on nearby Kwajalein Atoll pushed the population to more than 8,000. Each day, the islanders commute by ferryboat to work at the large Kwajalein military base.

Radio Broadcasts to the Marshallese

The radio has been used as a preaching tool throughout Micronesia, but most effectively in the Marshall Islands. Radio station WSZO, known as The Golden Voice of the Marshalls, offers listeners something even more valuable than gold. Since 1970, elders in the Majuro Congregation have produced a weekly 15-minute radio talk in the Marshallese language, designed especially to reach people on the outer atolls. Missionaries cannot help smiling when they hear people of other denominations whistle the radio show’s opening theme song, “We Are Jehovah’s Witnesses!”

The Few Have Become Many

The Marshallese brothers are an outstanding example of love and zeal. Robert Savage, who visited the Marshalls as a traveling overseer in the late 1970’s, remembers the greeting he and his wife would receive at the Kingdom Hall. He says: “More than a hundred brothers and sisters would be lined up in a circle and each one would shake hands and welcome us. And their singing of Kingdom songs was absolutely beautiful! Without any musical accompaniment, brothers and sisters would harmonize, resulting in a wonderful melody.”

Clemente and Eunice Areniego, missionaries for 28 years, have served in the Marshall Islands since 1977 and have seen amazing growth during that time. When Julian and Lorraine Kanamu arrived in Majuro as missionaries in 1982, attendance at public meetings averaged 85. Now there are two congregations, and average attendance is about 320. Why has the work blossomed? “These islands are far from being a paradise,” Brother Kanamu explains. “Heart problems, syphilis, and diabetes are common, and infant mortality has plagued the islands. AIDS has already affected some too. People are dissatisfied, and they are turning to the truth.”

SAIPAN: Meeting the Challenge

The truth is flourishing in Saipan too, but that was not always the case. Early missionaries dodged rocks by day and occupied a “haunted” house by night. In the end it took a typhoon to blow the Kingdom message into this tough territory.

When Ernest and Kay Manion went to Saipan in 1962, they found an island controlled by the Catholic Church. This was the only religion the local people had ever known, and to keep it that way, the head priest reportedly destroyed the few Bibles that his church members owned. As a result, people in general did not believe the Bible, and sadly, few had ever seen one.

The territory was so difficult that when the Manions found it necessary to leave Saipan in 1966, they had only one promising call. But Robert and Sharon Livingstone took up where the Manions left off.

“Frequently as we approached a street, all the doors and shutters would close, so we might work a whole morning with no one answering the door,” Brother Livingstone recalls. “Young boys threw rocks at us from a distance, and Sharon was often the object of their lewd expressions and gestures. Some people sicced their dogs on us, and older women made the sign of the cross when we passed by, evidently to protect themselves from evil.”

Should Missionaries Abandon the Island?

Spiritism is prevalent throughout Micronesia, and in Saipan the missionary home, a rented house, was situated in a secluded spot where unexplained things would happen at night. The missionaries moved, and today the missionary home is ideally situated near the ocean, close to a main road.

After the good news had been preached in Saipan for five years, there was a public showing of one of the Society’s films. Only one person attended—a woman who had studied off and on for four years yet would still occasionally hide from the missionaries. They had spent two years in their assignment and had seldom even talked with anyone. Should they ‘shake the dust off their feet’ and leave Saipan?—Matt. 10:14.

Typhoon Persuades Public to Listen

Just when it appeared to the missionaries that no one would ever listen, a hard-hitting typhoon in 1968 convinced people to take notice of what Jehovah’s Witnesses were saying. Typhoon Jean smashed into Saipan with winds up to 200 miles per hour [320 km/hr] and destroyed 90 percent of the buildings on the island. “I thought it was Armageddon,” the off-and-on Bible student said.

“I vividly remember being huddled under the kitchen table,” Brother Livingstone said. “We watched amazed as the ceiling and walls bulged out and bent in under the stress of the wind. The sound was like a jet plane powered for takeoff combined with the rumbling of a freight train. I prayed that Jehovah would place his tent of protection over us. In order for Sharon to hear my prayer, however, I had to shout at the top of my voice, my mouth right next to her ear.”

Was the prayer answered? Though a nearby Catholic school and convent were completely destroyed, the Witnesses’ old wooden missionary home was left standing. The typhoon passed in the morning, and the annual commemoration of the Lord’s Evening Meal, the Memorial, was held that evening. The whole island was in turmoil, but in the missionary home, four persons met by kerosene light in peace. Many people on Saipan began to wonder whether God had brought the storm to punish them.

Persistence Is Rewarded

The woman who had studied for four years finally took her stand for the truth and was baptized on July 4, 1970. Also baptized that day were Augustine (Gus) and Taeko Castro. At one time Gus had studied to become a Catholic priest, but Taeko was the one who searched for the truth. When she found it, she immediately began to attend meetings.

Gus, a quiet and distinguished-looking Chamorro, was not so readily convinced. “Every Sunday, I was invited to the meeting, but I refused because of fear of man,” he said. “I did not want to be seen at the meetings. I was very close to the priests, and my parents were devout Catholics. They would think I had lost my senses.”

Gus’ predicament was solved, he thought, when he was sent to Hawaii for six months of job training. One day, however, he found a note under his door asking him to call a local pioneer brother. The Saipan missionaries had written friends in Hawaii, requesting that someone contact him. Gus rejected several offers to study the Bible, but the pioneer brother was persistent. He said that if one hour a week was too much, they could study for 30 minutes.

“I finally agreed to study for 15 minutes a week,” Gus recalls. “But not because I wanted to learn the Bible. My purpose was to find just one mistake and call it the end.” His plan backfired. The study proved so interesting that soon Gus requested hour-long sessions twice a week.

Brother Castro has served as an elder in the Saipan Congregation for many years. His first son spent three years at Brooklyn Bethel and his eldest daughter graduated from Gilead School in 1990 to become a missionary. Another son is an elder today, and another daughter is a pioneer.

Church Hypocrisy Turns Some Toward Truth

Several factors have caused the Saipan territory to soften. For one thing the tenacity of Jehovah’s Witnesses has come to be admired. Years ago a trust territory official remarked that the Witnesses’ preaching work was causing quite an uproar in the community, and he asked a brother how many were in the congregation. When the brother told him there were 12, the official responded: “Twelve! The way the people on Saipan talked, I thought there must have been a hundred of you!”

Hypocrisy in the Catholic Church has also caused people to pay attention to the Kingdom message. At one time the priests taught people that “Protestants are as bad as the Devil.” Later the priests told their parishioners that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “worse than Protestants,” prompting honesthearted people to ask, “How could anything be worse than the Devil?”

People’s attitude toward the truth has changed so drastically that today Saipan has one of the best ratios of publishers to population in Micronesia—1 to 276. A 350-seat concrete Kingdom Hall was completed in 1991, and now there are two large congregations meeting there, one English and one Tagalog.

Good News Exploding on Tinian

From Saipan, the good news reached Tinian, a small island less than five miles [8 km] away. Those familiar with World War II history know that it was from Tinian, in 1945, that the Enola Gay, a U.S. B-29 bomber, took off to drop an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Starting in 1970, Witnesses from Saipan periodically spent their weekends distributing Watchtower and Awake! magazines on Tinian. These showed that, according to Jehovah’s determination, the time had come for lovers of righteousness out of all nations to beat their swords into plowshares and to learn war no more.—Isa. 2:4.

However, up until the time when Robert and Lee Moreaux, who had previously served in Ireland, arrived in April 1992, there were no Witnesses living on Tinian. But seeds had been sown.

The mayor’s son, Joseph Manglona, whose politically powerful family included several other lawmakers on Tinian, appreciated the value of what he was reading in The Watchtower and Awake!, decided he had found the truth, and was telling others about it. To discourage him from getting baptized, his relatives offered him a high-paying political position that would comfortably support his wife and two children. But Joseph replied: “Your government is soon to be destroyed by Jehovah God. Why would I want any part of it?” His bold stand has since caused several of his relatives to join him in serving Jehovah.

After consistent personal help was given to interested ones, it took only two years to establish a flourishing congregation of 24 publishers. Today there is a missionary home and a Kingdom Hall on Tinian.

CHUUK: Starting in a Quonset Hut

After Saipan, the next to benefit from regular service by Watch Tower missionaries were the Chuuk (formerly Truk) Islands. Merle Lowmaster had visited here briefly in 1961, but in 1965 Paul and Lillian Williams took up residence in Chuuk—the first of more than 30 missionaries who have adapted to the primitive conditions here.

When they arrived on the main island of Moen in 1965, religious intolerance made securing missionary quarters difficult. A store manager finally offered to rent half of his Quonset hut to them. This angered Catholic priests so much that they went straight to the village chief and demanded that Jehovah’s Witnesses be expelled from the islands. The chief replied: “You came here years ago telling us to love one another, so why are you now telling us to hate?” The priests had no answer. The missionaries stayed.

Interest was quickly found, and soon 30 Bible studies were being conducted in these islands, which once served as Japan’s major World War II naval base. American bombers destroyed a large portion of the Japanese fleet here, and today snorkelers and scuba divers from all over the world travel to Chuuk Lagoon to explore an underwater graveyard of sunken ships and airplanes. Those who take the time to get to know the people find fascination of another sort. They may be amused by the colorful names. They might meet someone called Beer, Whisper, Padlock, or Snow White. One man named his three sons Sardine, Tuna, and Spam.

One of the first Chuuk Islanders to study with the Williamses was the store manager’s wife, Kiyomi Shirai, a devout Protestant and an officer of the YWCA. Her husband did not want her to change her religion, and he separated from her when she was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Kiyomi’s baptism was the talk of the island, partly because she was baptized in the ocean where everyone could see. To this day, baptisms on some of the Micronesian islands are still performed in the ocean.

With her husband gone, Kiyomi moved to Dublon, a nearby island in the Chuuk group. She witnessed zealously and soon had covered the entire island except for one house located high on a hill. She skipped that one because its occupant, an old woman, was known to be a spirit medium. One day, however, something impelled Kiyomi to make that steep climb. To her surprise the old woman, Amiko Kata, welcomed the Bible’s message, and in time she too became a zealous pioneer.

Plenty of Sisters but Few Brothers

There is a special challenge that confronts Witnesses in Chuuk. Brothers, especially single ones, are extremely scarce! There are only two baptized Trukese brothers—both of them married. These islands have a matriarchal society, and most men have a reputation for drinking, fighting, and immorality. That explains why today five missionary brothers serve as the only elders in small congregations on three separate islands—Moen, Dublon, and Tol. In fact, before missionary help arrived, the Moen Congregation temporarily consisted of 23 women.

“This can be a real test for our sisters,” says David Pfister, one of the missionaries. “Young girls grow up with the idea of raising many children, but at this time there are no young men in our congregations whom they can marry. Some of our sisters have a deep love for Jehovah, and they respect the Bible counsel to ‘marry only in the Lord.’ (1 Cor. 7:39) For others, this prevents them from serving Jehovah.”

Salvador Soriano, now a member of the Guam Branch Committee, spent 14 years as a missionary in Dublon, where he was the only brother. He says: “It reminded me of Psalm 68:11, which says that the women telling the good news are a large army.”

Unusual Ride to the Kingdom Hall

Missionaries throughout Micronesia routinely use their cars or pickup trucks to help people get to meetings, but there is a form of transportation that perhaps only Barak Bowman has tried. When the failing health of a heavyset 70-year-old sister prevented her from walking the two miles [3 km] to the Kingdom Hall, Barak tried to figure out a way to help her. “I would like to pick you up for the meeting,” he said, “but I only have a wheelbarrow that I can use.” To his surprise, she replied, “OK, I don’t mind.”

You can imagine the sight as they rolled along the trail en route to the meeting—also the effort that was required on Barak’s part. He would leave home at 7:00 a.m. with an empty wheelbarrow and arrive back at the hall with our sister aboard just in time for the 9:30 a.m. program.

The zeal of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the ministry and their appreciation for the meetings have yielded good results. In fact, the 1995 Memorial attendance was more than ten times as great as the number of Witnesses in Chuuk!

POHNPEI: Cultivating Spiritual Fruitage

William and Adela Yap were not the first Witnesses to set foot on Ponape (now Pohnpei), one of the largest islands in the central Pacific. Merle Lowmaster had done a little witnessing here in 1961, and early in 1965 he had visited long enough to rent an abandoned store that could be used as a missionary home. However, when the Yaps arrived, they found that they had to use machetes to get inside the building. “It took us several days to cut away six years’ worth of overgrowth,” William says. “No one had kept up the place, so this building had become the haunt of every sort of vermin and creeping thing imaginable.”

The Yaps were an energetic couple who quickly won respect as bold and tireless preachers. Among those to whom they witnessed was the island’s governor. They supplied him with a copy of the New World Translation. He liked the clarity of the translation, but he was somewhat inclined to judge the Good Book by its cover. As he put it, the green cover was not “Bible-looking”; so the Yaps exchanged his green Bible for a deluxe edition, complete with black cover and gilt edges. This so pleased the governor that he used his new Bible when administering oaths and performing marriages.

From “Kitchen Church” to Kingdom Hall

In 1966, Carl Dannis, a former legislator of Pohnpei, donated half of his land to provide a site for the first Kingdom Hall on Pohnpei. Carl was an intelligent and admired leader, a short man with a light-brown complexion and friendly deep-blue eyes. His wife, Rihka, was the daughter of the last king of Mokil Island. This Ponapean couple studied the Bible several evenings a week by the light of kerosene lanterns and progressed quickly to baptism.

Until the Kingdom Hall could be built, all five congregation meetings, conducted in English, were held in the Dannis’ cook house, prompting some members of the community to refer to this small group of Witnesses as the “Kitchen Church.” Fewer than ten would attend the meetings. When they would sing the song “From House to House,” which they had translated into Ponapean, neighbors would mockingly say, “We hear the sound of ants singing, do we not?”

The missionaries got a fresh view of their territory’s potential when the mayor permitted them to use the village baseball park to show a film about the 1958 international assembly in New York City. For several weeks radio announcements publicized the movie, and when the time arrived, people crowded into the small stadium. A starched sheet stretched between poles served as a screen, and people were able to view the film from both sides of the sheet. How many attended? About 2,000—one sixth of the island’s population!

Since then the “sound of ants” has increased, and now more than 130 meet every Sunday in a comfortable Kingdom Hall.

BELAU: Its Many Islands

Yet another of the island groups visited by Merle Lowmaster on the exploratory trip that he began in 1961 was Palau (now the Republic of Belau). In 1967, Amos and Jeri Daniels, graduates of Gilead School, were sent there as missionaries. They felt as if they had been sent to the most distant part of the earth. “When the plane reached Palau,” Amos recalled, “it had to turn around and go back to Guam. It didn’t go beyond Palau to points more distant.”

Belau, they found, consists of some 300 eye-pleasing islands, including one unique group called the Rock Islands, a favorite tourist attraction. Top-heavy with thick tropical foliage, these islets look like green mushrooms sprouting from the sea.

Villagers Go From Door to Door

While struggling to learn Palauan, Brother and Sister Daniels began preaching from house to house. To their surprise, inquisitive villagers followed them and listened to the conversations they were having with the neighbors.

One of their first studies was with the son of a chief, who lived in the distant outer-island village of Ngiwal. Whenever he could, he would travel to Koror, the island on which the missionaries lived. But he kept urging them to visit his village and talk to people there. Brother and Sister Daniels were reluctant to make the trip. “The only way to get there was through crocodile-infested waters,” Amos relates. “But when the circuit overseer visited, we were finally able to make the trip because another person with whom we studied agreed to navigate the boat.” They went from house to house to witness to the villagers, and when they held a public talk, 114 were in attendance.

Deaconess Boldly Declares Jehovah’s Name

Obasang Mad, a devout deaconess with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Belau, was contacted by Witness missionaries in 1968. Despite opposition from her husband and from church leaders, Obasang quickly grasped the truth about God’s name, the Trinity, and the resurrection.

“One day I was called on in church to lead the congregation in prayer,” Obasang said. “Knowing I would be greatly criticized by fellow Adventists, I nonetheless prayed to Jehovah. Soon I left the church and joined the missionaries in the preaching work.”

Now nearly 70 years old, Obasang has pioneered for 21 years despite suffering physical ailments and the loss of her husband and two children in death. Kind, and quick with a smile, she has been a pillar of spiritual strength.

Preaching by Boat Can Be an Adventure

Amos and Jeri Daniels wanted to witness on the nearby island of Babelthuap (locally known as Babeldaop), but there were no roads connecting the island’s oceanfront villages, which are accessible only by water. A local brother kindly built them a boat, but they had no motor. About that time Amos and Jeri attended an assembly in Guam. There they met a brother from the United States who was acquainted with the chairman of the board of a manufacturer of boat motors. Soon they had a brand-new outboard motor. “Jehovah always provides,” Amos observed.

Throughout Micronesia, witnessing by boat in the outer islands is a day-long excursion. Careful preparation is required. Tides must be calculated. “We always depart two hours before high tide and return two hours after the next high tide (about 14 hours later) to avoid damaging the propeller or getting stuck,” one missionary says. Food, along with sufficient literature and a change of clothing, is packed in advance, and everything is protected in plastic bags. On islands where there are no docks, missionaries must wade into the ocean to board their boat. And if they are not wet already, they will likely be sprinkled by ocean spray or splashed by a wave during the trip. A prayer is always said before they push off, and when the ocean is rough, sometimes many silent prayers are said on the boat.

Over the years, missionaries serving in Micronesia have learned to navigate lagoon waters in all sorts of weather conditions and have become proficient at building boats and repairing outboard motors.

Plenty of Walking—Warm Hospitality

Since some villages are not accessible by car or boat, missionaries may spend hours walking along beautiful coconut-lined jungle paths to reach the humble people. Because the weather is hot and humid, brothers here do not wear ties in field service, and rubber slippers (called zori) often serve as footwear.

Harry Denny, who has been a missionary on Belau for 21 years, said: “We always find ears receptive to the truth. Oftentimes, to show their hospitality, these isolated people will climb a coconut tree, pick a fresh coconut, cut its top off with a machete, and offer you a drink right out of the original ‘carton.’”

Harry and his wife, Rene, share their missionary home with Janet Senas and Roger Konno, single missionaries who have been in their assignment for 24 years each. Together these four faithful missionaries have helped the Belau Congregation grow to 60 publishers, and congregation book studies are now being conducted in three languages—Palauan, Tagalog, and English.

YAP: Jehovah’s Eyes Are Upon It

The year after Gilead-trained missionaries began to serve on Belau, Jack and Aurelia Watson arrived at Yap. Two more missionaries came the following year. Though Yap is small—unknown to most of mankind—Jehovah knows these islands and shows loving concern for their inhabitants. These are four tightly clustered islands connected by bridges, and the islands are linked just as surely by ancient tradition. Yap has a language spoken nowhere else in the world, money that is cut out of stone, and people who are largely unimpressed by Western culture. Even today among Yap’s 10,500 residents, one can see men wearing brightly colored loincloths and women wearing grass skirts, at times with no clothing on their upper bodies.

Merle Lowmaster had done some witnessing here in 1964, but Jack and Aurelia Watson hoped to be able to stay. However, it was not easy for them to learn the Yapese language. The only written material to be found consisted of a few government-regulation booklets and a Catholic catechism. The Watsons would listen to the people and try to imitate what they heard. By the following year, a young Yapese man who was showing interest in the truth also proved willing to give language lessons. The missionaries spent the first month trying to help him understand the English that they spoke so that he could tell them how to speak Yapese.

Meetings at the “Bank”

The local Catholic priest and the Lutheran minister, former enemies, joined forces to circulate a brochure condemning the Witnesses. The priest also used his influence to get the missionaries evicted from their home, and finding a new home seemed impossible. The priest had already warned landowners not to rent to the missionaries, so the brothers moved their wives into the hotel temporarily while they stayed in a shack that was 12 by 14 feet [3.5 x 4 m] and that had a collapsed floor.

Yap is best known for its centuries-old stone money, massive wheels of limestone called rai, which range in size from 2 to 12 feet [0.6 to 3.5 m] in diameter. Though no longer used to purchase land or settle debts, stone money is highly valued for its historical significance. And the brothers found that it was valuable in other ways as well. When they lost their missionary home, meetings were held for a while under a large tree where stone money was displayed. Since pieces of stone money at this village “bank” stood in an upright position, these made convenient backrests for the people in the audience, while a nearby 50-gallon [190 L] drum served as lectern.

Still, they had not found a place to live. “It looked as if the work would come to an end,” Watson notes. “But Jehovah came to our rescue.” The night before the missionaries were to leave to attend an assembly in Guam, a man asked if they would like to rent a house. It was perhaps the most ideal structure on Yap—a typhoon-proof concrete building with sufficient space both for meetings and for living accommodations.

Giving Evidence of Their Faith

Two more missionaries from Hawaii, Placido and Marsha Ballesteros, arrived in 1970. Progress was slow. “There were many times when just the four of us missionaries attended the meetings, held in our living room,” Placido recalled.

Eventually growth did come as local brothers made spiritual progress. One of them, John Ralad, faced a difficult situation. When John began to study the Bible, his construction company was in the process of building a church. Despite pressure from all sides, John determined that his conscience would not allow him to complete the church. He serves the congregation as an elder today.

Yow Nifmed also had a serious choice to make. When first contacted by the Witnesses in 1970, he had two wives. In order to conform to Jehovah’s requirements, he had to rearrange his entire life. Today Brother Nifmed and his one wife are both happily serving Jehovah. He is an elder. When he goes to the meetings, he drives his pickup truck, loaded with 15 relatives.

Jehovah’s People Are Truly Everywhere

“From a human standpoint, Yap is just a speck of land on the globe, and the few thousand people who live here are insignificant compared with the billions of mankind,” Placido Ballesteros once said. “And yet Jehovah has these people in mind. When I first arrived, I did not dream that there would be a day when a monthly issue of The Watchtower would be published in Yapese and that we would be distributing books from door to door in the Yapese language.”

An amusing experience illustrates how thoroughly Jehovah’s name is being made known. One day, Placido met a tourist sitting by a river, miles from the nearest tourist spots and even a long walk from where the road ended. Asked if he was lost, the man replied: “No, I just wanted to get as far away as I could to find a peaceful place to think.” When the tourist asked why he was there, Placido explained that he was a missionary, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Oh, no!” the tourist cried. “I’m from Brooklyn, not too far from your headquarters. I can’t get away from you people!”

KOSRAE: Here Too Jehovah’s Name Is Known

After attending the 1969 “Peace on Earth” International Assembly in Hawaii, one zealous family from Pohnpei realized that they could be the first to proclaim on the beautiful island of Kosrae the peace that only God’s Kingdom can bring. Inspired by the assembly, Fredy Edwin moved his family 360 miles [580 km] to this isolated dot in the ocean that was a well-known whaling port during the 19th century. It was a natural move for the Edwins, since Fredy’s wife, Lillian, was the daughter of the king of Kosrae, and Kosraean was one of seven languages that Fredy was able to speak.

Before becoming one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Fredy Edwin was a member of the Protestant committee that translated the Bible into the Ponapean language. After he moved to Kosrae, his translating skills helped to make Watch Tower publications available in the Kosraean language. Others of his family have also been busy proclaiming the Kingdom message. His daughter Desina declined a college scholarship in order to become a special pioneer, the first in Micronesia. Another daughter, Mildred, served as a regular pioneer, and Fredy’s wife has often served as an auxiliary pioneer.

Help Arrives to Construct Kingdom Hall

Zecharias Polly, originally from Chuuk, was the first Micronesian to become a missionary. He had a part in forming the congregation on Kosrae, and in 1977 he also helped with the building of the Kingdom Hall and missionary home there.

The Kingdom Hall was not built over a weekend. The fact is that every Sunday this Protestant-dominated island becomes deathly quiet because a “Sabbath” law prohibits buying, selling, drinking, fishing, working, and even playing. Nonetheless, the Kingdom Hall was put up fast enough to amaze the local people. Brothers used whatever was on hand locally to prefabricate as much as possible. Other materials were purchased in Pohnpei and sent by ship. When the final shipments reached Kosrae, accompanied by volunteer workers from Pohnpei, the building rapidly took shape. That Kingdom Hall continues to be used today—not only for weekly meetings but for assemblies as well.

Remote Congregation Praises Jehovah

When the congregation was established on Kosrae in 1976, it was so far away from the branch that monthly field service reports were relayed to Pohnpei by ham radio. Commercial airline service to Kosrae did not begin until 1979. While ships carried mail between the islands, delivery would sometimes take up to six months.

Today all the airports in Micronesia have asphalt runways that can handle jetliners, but during the early 1980’s, flying to Kosrae meant an adventurous ride in a seven-seat airplane. “On one flight that my wife and I made to Kosrae, we ran into a bad storm, and it appeared as if we were lost,” recalls Arthur White. “The pilot was flying the plane about 100 feet [30 m] above the ocean and was searching for the island. The woman in the seat behind us was praying out loud. We knew that if the pilot could not find Kosrae, we would probably be lost at sea; but the island finally came into sight, and we were able to land—on a narrow gravel road they used as a runway.”

James Tamura spent 17 years as a missionary in Pohnpei and Kosrae. He summed up the feelings of many when he said: “I find joy in seeing the work grow and in seeing Jehovah’s name being made known in these remote islands of the Pacific.”

ROTA: A Record of Endurance

On the small island of Rota, which is barely visible from Guam, announcements are sometimes made over a public-address system. One day in 1970, the mayor’s voice came through those loudspeakers informing Rota’s residents that Jehovah’s Witnesses were on the island and would be coming to their homes. “Please open your doors to them,” the mayor declared, “and welcome their visit.”

Augustine Castro was one of the three brothers who preached on Rota that day. He placed several books with the mayor of Rota, whom he knew through his government job on Saipan. That is what prompted the mayor to make his announcement to the public. Within two hours the visiting brothers had placed all the literature they had in their book bags. But at the same time, clergy opposition was taking shape.

Clergy Interfere With Preaching Work

“Someone must have informed the Catholic priest about us,” Gus relates. “We were at a service station. A young man was about to accept the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life when he looked up and saw the priest. He hesitated and nervously told us, ‘I would like to show the book to the priest to see whether it is all right.’ We were watching the priest as he was flipping the pages. He knew me very well, for I had once studied to become a priest. He finally told the young man, ‘It is all right to accept the book . . . as long as you do not change your religion.’”

Opposition intensified after Juan and Mary Taitano were assigned as special pioneers to this Catholic-dominated island in 1981. “The local priest would follow us from door to door and would tell people that Jehovah is another name for Satan,” Juan recalls. “He posted a sign on almost all the homes, which read: ‘This is a Catholic house. Please respect our religion.’ He would also send boys to confiscate and burn any literature we left with people.”

Hatred and Fear Grip Householders

The Taitanos were of the same Chamorro background as the people of Rota and both were able to speak the Chamorro language, but still they were subjected to much hatred.

“One time, a householder threatened me, saying he would ‘get a baseball bat and break every bone in my body,’” Juan said. “The next day, that man was in an automobile accident, and he broke his legs and an arm. The villagers said God was punishing the man for what he had said, and it made them afraid of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Positive Attitude Despite Negative Results

During the past quarter of a century, missionaries have spent untold hours preaching to the people of Rota. After all this effort, there are just eight Kingdom proclaimers among a population of 2,500, and that number includes a special pioneer couple. Despite this, faithful Witnesses continue to build a fine record of endurance, refusing to become discouraged.

“Rota is difficult, no question about it,” said missionary Gary Anderson. “But even a situation at its worst will not last forever. Rota will change. Nothing is impossible with Jehovah’s backing.”

NAURU: Finding True Riches

The Republic of Nauru, with a population of about 7,000, was once considered one of the richest countries in the world, but people there too need the Kingdom message. Much of their wealth came as a result of ravaging a large portion of their small island by strip-mining for phosphate. It is far from being a real paradise. And now this island too has serious financial problems.

Yet, the first efforts to take the Kingdom message to Nauru were repulsed. When a visiting missionary from the Marshall Islands scattered seeds of truth in Nauru in 1979, he was deported, three police officers escorting him to the airplane.

Before he was deported, however, he studied the Bible with Humphrey Tatum. Humphrey continued to study on his own, and when Nat Miller, as a traveling overseer, stopped on Nauru, Humphrey asked to be baptized. “Since our work was considered illegal, we waited till dark,” Miller recalls. “We walked together about 100 feet [30 m] into the Pacific Ocean, and he was immersed unobserved by the local people.”

Prior to 1995, door-to-door preaching activity was prohibited in Nauru. Outsiders are still not permitted to engage in the house-to-house ministry, but the government now allows native Nauruans the freedom to preach, making it possible for the small group of baptized Witnesses there to speak openly about the Bible.

Until his death in 1995, Brother Tatum served as an elder in Nauru’s tiny congregation. He also served as Nauruan translator, making tracts and Memorial invitations available to his fellow Witnesses. Though they are few in number, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nauru are endeavoring to direct the attention of their neighbors to the value of spiritual riches, the kind that lead to eternal life.—Prov. 3:1, 2, 13-18.

The islands of the Pacific have a reputation of being an earthly paradise, but beneath that romantic image lies the harsh reality—many Micronesians are struggling to survive. Their once simple life-style has been corrupted by the perils of civilization—television, crime, drugs, and contagious disease, to name a few. More and more, people are realizing that the Kingdom message being preached by Jehovah’s Witnesses is the only solution to their mounting problems.

The Guam branch, which directs the preaching effort in Micronesia, oversees fewer publishers than do most of the Society’s 103 other branches, yet its territory is one of the largest in the world. Even though our brothers and sisters on these remote islands are separated by vast stretches of ocean, they still experience the closeness of Jehovah’s organization. Bible literature regularly provided in their own languages, periodic assemblies, and regular spiritual visits from traveling overseers make them keenly aware that they are part of an international brotherhood.

The missionaries who serve in such isolated assignments also receive reminders of the love that exists among Jehovah’s people. Each summer, arrangements are made for them to travel to Guam to attend a district convention, which has often been held in conjunction with the zone overseer’s visit. Rodney Ajimine, a missionary for more than 20 years who also served as a traveling overseer in Micronesia, once explained the importance of that yearly trip to Guam. “It draws all the missionaries in the different islands together,” he said. “It helps all of us to endure.”

There are other provisions that help our brothers on these far-flung islands. Under the direction of the Governing Body, Hospital Information Services was established at the Guam branch in 1993 and has since organized Hospital Liaison Committees for each of the island groups in Micronesia. Each year, a Pioneer Service School is conducted for those in the full-time ministry, and Kingdom Ministry Schools are held periodically to train congregation overseers. Also, in 1994 the Guam branch formed a Construction Department to coordinate the planning and building of Kingdom Halls and missionary homes in Micronesia.

The unceasing efforts of missionaries and publishers during the past four decades have helped many islanders to know and love Jehovah. Now some of those islanders are taking the lead in the local congregations and are working hard to proclaim God’s purpose that all the earth be made a paradise.

There is still much work to be done in Micronesia, but thanks to the loving protection and guidance from Jehovah’s organization, the prophecy at Isaiah 51:5 is coming true: “In me [Jehovah] the islands themselves will hope, and for my arm they will wait.”

[Map on page 210]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

JAPAN

MICRONESIA

SAIPAN

ROTA

GUAM

YAP

BELAU

POHNPEI

CHUUK

KOSRAE

NAURU

MARSHALL ISLANDS

KIRIBATI

HAWAII

[Full-page picture on page 208]

[Picture on page 213]

Sam and Virginia Wiger in front of Guam’s first Kingdom Hall

[Pictures on page 215]

Top: Merle and Fern Lowmaster, missionaries

Nathaniel Miller (with his wife Allene, now deceased), first Guam Branch Committee coordinator

[Pictures on page 216]

Guam branch office, with Branch Committee (left to right: Julian Aki, Salvador Soriano, Arthur White)

[Picture on page 218]

Missionaries who gathered for meeting during visit of zone overseer in 1994

[Pictures on page 223]

1, 2. Kingdom Hall/missionary home in Kiribati, built with international cooperation

3. Nariki Kautu and wife, Teniti

4. Bible study in session in Kiribati

[Picture on page 227]

Publishers at Ebeye Kingdom Hall

[Picture on page 228]

Augustine Castro, a zealous local elder

[Picture on page 229]

Robert and Sharon Livingstone

[Picture on page 234]

Warm welcome for new missionaries

[Picture on page 236]

When witnessing by boat, be ready to get wet

[Picture on page 237]

Kingdom Hall instead of the cook house for meetings

[Picture on page 237]

Carl and Rihka Dannis, first local Witnesses on Pohnpei

[Picture on page 238]

Missionary Neal Maki is also a translator

[Pictures on page 241]

Obasang Mad, a longtime pioneer, ready for service

Left: Group field service in a pickup truck

[Pictures on page 243]

Witnessing in Yap

Right: Merle Lowmaster and Yapese coins at the village “bank”

[Picture on page 246]

Crossing bridges in Kosrae requires surefootedness

[Picture on page 246]

Fredy Edwin, left, with his wife, children, and grandchildren

[Picture on page 251]

Witnesses who meet the challenge on Rota

A Letter from the Governing Body

WHEN the 70 “returned with joy” to report to Jesus on the success of their preaching campaign, he himself “became overjoyed in the holy spirit.” Thanking Jehovah, he said: “I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have carefully hidden these things from wise and intellectual ones, and have revealed them to babes.”—Luke 10:17, 21.

Like Jesus, are we not overjoyed at the annual report for 1996? We too are like babes nurtured by Jehovah’s spirit, but the wise and intellectual ones of this world cannot begin to approach what Jehovah has accomplished through his people. Throughout the past service year, we exerted ourselves to “become doers of the word.” (Jas. 1:22) As a result, Jehovah ‘opened the floodgates of the heavens’ and added an overflowing blessing.—Mal. 3:10.

A further reason for this blessing is that we have ‘clothed ourselves with love, the perfect bond of union.’ (Col. 3:14) This is reflected in the remarkable unity of activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses the world over. Like the locust horde of Joel’s prophecy, the mighty army of Jehovah’s Witnesses, now 5,413,769 strong, continues to fill the earth with its witnessing.—Joel 1:1-4; 2:7, 9-11.

Yes, 1996 has brought forth an outstanding crop of Kingdom fruitage—well over a billion hours in field service, a new peak of 366,579 new brothers and sisters baptized, and the astounding figure of 543,667,923 magazines distributed. However, these figures are merely a reflection of what is happening in the hearts and lives of millions who are flocking to Jehovah’s worldwide organization. (Isa. 2:2-4; 60:8-11) Never have Jesus’ words had greater application: “Look! I say to you: Lift up your eyes and view the fields, that they are white for harvesting.”—John 4:35.

In harvesting this Kingdom fruitage today, the Lord Jesus is interested in assembling a clean people who will follow the pattern provided by his anointed brothers in pursuing true holiness on earth. (Isa. 35:8-10; Rom. 6:19, 22, 23) All such not only dedicate their lives to Jehovah but also cultivate “the fruitage of the spirit,” developing “the new personality.” They ‘wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.’—Gal. 5:22, 23; Eph. 4:23, 24; Rev. 7:9, 14; 14:15, 16.

Thus, in harvesting Kingdom fruitage, Jesus is interested not only in quantity—the number of those gathered—but also in quality. He is looking for loyal servants who will measure up to Jehovah’s standards of righteousness, making Kingdom interests their number-one priority in life. Does a personal examination of your field service and your meeting attendance show that Kingdom interests come first in your life? As David emphasized in prayer to Jehovah: “With someone loyal you will act in loyalty.”—Ps. 18:25; Matt. 6:31-33.

Jesus made it plain that “narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.” (Matt. 7:13, 14) We must heed that warning! If we wish to qualify for eternal life, we must be wholehearted in applying God’s Word in our lives. (John 17:3) This will include paying close attention to our yeartext for 1997, which reads: “Teach me to do your will.” (Ps. 143:10) Yes, regularly, on a daily and weekly basis, we must avail ourselves of all the provisions and instruments Jehovah has made available for teaching us. They are for our protection.—Isa. 50:4, 5; 54:13, 14.

Satan’s world is sinking farther and farther into the bog of filth, demon-inspired lawlessness and violence, as well as hatred of authority and of one another. It is trying to drag all mankind down with it. Therein lies great danger for God’s people. The world’s entertainment is filled with lewdness, immorality, raucous “melodies,” and corrupting lyrics. We must avoid this Satanic propaganda, these “unclean . . . expressions inspired by demons,” which will lead not only rulers but also all others who make themselves “part of the world” to ruin at Armageddon.—Rev. 16:13-16; John 15:19; 17:14, 16; 18:36.

Yes, the distractions of the world—its associations, its peer pressure, its pride, its materialistic desires—are all due for extinction in the near future. (1 Cor. 15:33; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10) The aged apostle John wisely stated: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”—1 John 2:15-17.

As we rejoice in having “become doers of the word” during 1996, may our prayers and deeds be in harmony with our yeartext for 1997: “Teach me to do your will.”—Ps. 143:10.

With the warmest Christian love to our international coworkers,

Your brothers,

Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses