New World Society Advances in Peru
ON November 14, 1953, N. H. Knorr, president of the Watch Tower Society, and M. G. Henschel, his secretary and one of the Society’s board of directors, left New York for a tour of South America in the interests of the New World society. In a previous issue of this journal we accompanied these two travelers as they visited Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, particularly sharing with them their experiences at the various assemblies held in those lands.
It was a smooth night flight above the clouds that took Brothers Knorr and Henschel southward from Ecuador to Lima, Peru. Above Lima the clouds were so thick and low that the pilot had to bring the plane in on instruments. A good-sized crowd of Peruvian witnesses of Jehovah and missionaries was at the airport to welcome our travelers who arrived just before midnight, December 1. All were full of excitement because of the four-day assembly of the New World society about to begin in Lima. Incidentally, this was the third time the president of the Society visited Peru.
The first day was spent at the branch office going over local problems relative to the Kingdom witness. That evening all the missionaries, 39 in number, assembled and were given good counsel on the problems peculiar to the missionary work. The greater part of two hours was devoted to the question of how to deal with the persons who are living together improperly. It was pointed out that only those who come in line with Jehovah’s principles of proper living can be accepted for baptism in symbol of their having dedicated their lives to serve Jehovah God. If people do not want to clean up and follow the principles of the Bible after having studied the Bible with the missionaries for a reasonable length of time, more time should not be wasted on them. At the convention itself, it was pointed out that we must add to our faith virtue, and virtue means conformity of life and conduct with moral law.—2 Pet. 1:5.
The Catholic people here in South America and elsewhere hear a little of the talk of the clergy on morals, but it seems that every once in a while their church makes a big talk about morals and tries to fool the world through propaganda, so that they may appear to be “so holy.” For example, recently the pope warned the Italian people of television’s dangers. The newspapers reported that the priests in Italy were warned against letting “the wicked and devastating power of motion pictures” enter the homes through television. One wonders why the pope does not take an interest in the millions of people who live in Central and South America and get his priests there to straighten out the lives of those indulging in immoral living, for in Latin America one finds the height of adultery and fornication, plus lying and stealing. There is no publicity given to these matters in the newspapers in South America, because it is all accepted as a common practice and it does not seem to be looked upon as wrong by the majority of the people. It is evident that they have not received proper education concerning the principles of life set down by the Creator of man, who knows best what is good for the body and mind and what is bad. This makes the work of the missionaries of Jehovah’s witnesses all the more important to the people, but also more difficult.
PERUVIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS
Thursday morning the convention opened at the fine Salón Majestic, which lent itself well to convention purposes. The platform featured the 1954 yeartext, “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever” (Ps. 145:2, CB), and had a backdrop depicting the various national types common to Peru as coming to the highway leading to the new world, even as is the case there right now.
The Christian witnesses of Jehovah came to the assembly from all parts of Peru. Five arrived from Arequipa, far to the south, a special full-time minister came from Iquitos on the Amazon River to the east and twenty-eight came from Trujillo in the north.
Many interesting experiences were related at the assembly. One minister told how he was advised not to go to a certain home because no one lived there, but upon reflection felt it was better to make sure for himself, and so he called anyhow. He found a man, over eighty years old, reading a Bible, who, though physically deaf, showed good spiritual understanding and that he had hearing ears. Another told of giving an incidental witness to a Japanese storekeeper that resulted not only in placing literature with him but also in starting a Bible study in his store, for which, for the first time in his life, he closed his store during business hours. He belonged to the Reformed Adventist Church but is now a regular attendant at the Kingdom Hall.
In Trujillo three missionaries have been so effective that now thirty-five witnesses are active there, including four local pioneers, or 100-hour-a-month ministers. The newest full-time minister in Trujillo had the joy of seeing six of the people with whom he was studying become ministers within a short time, five of whom were immersed last October and were present at the assembly, busy helping all they could about the assembly and in field witnessing.
On a program in which a number of these pioneers were questioned regarding their ministry one of them was asked if he was married and had a family. He replied, “¡Cómo No!” (”Of course!”) And why should a married man with a family not be engaged in the hundred-hour-a-month pioneer ministry? There are married men with families that are doing this in other countries; why not in Peru?
Many of the discourses that had been presented at the Yankee Stadium assembly in the summer of 1953 were given at this assembly and brought the Peruvian audience much joy and satisfaction. Brothers Knorr and Henschel gave a number of discourses that were greatly appreciated for the strong points they contained regarding practical living in connection with the service of God. A surprise feature of the assembly program was the presentation of a tape recording by Brother Franz, vice-president of the Society, of his talk in Spanish on “New World Society Attacked from the Far North,” which he had given to the Spanish-speaking group at Yankee Stadium last summer. While the brothers would have liked to have Brother Franz with them in person, they were certainly delighted to hear his voice in the recording of this excellent speech.
At this assembly the Peruvian brothers received the Spanish Songbook for the first time and, with the help of musical accompaniment, they were doing well with the new songs. They were also delighted to receive for distribution two other Spanish publications, God’s Way Is Love and Evolution versus The New World.
The assembly’s service meeting, dealing with the practical aspects of the field ministry, was not one whit behind those conducted by Jehovah’s witnesses in other lands. They put all they had into it and gave an excellent pantomime contrasting Brother Untidy with Brother Tidy. Ministers of the good news cannot bring their old slovenly ways into their preaching activity. Demonstrations showing what changes had to be made were very effective.
Because the president of the Society had to leave late Saturday night he addressed the assembly twice that day. A point he stressed was the matter of paying constant attention to ourselves so that we follow the good counsel of the Scriptures and make sure we get into the new world, his remarks being based on 1 Timothy 4:15, 16 (NW): “Ponder over these things, be absorbed in them, that your advancement may be manifest to all persons. Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.” In order to pay constant attention to oneself it is very necessary for each one to study privately in the home and in the congregation, and then put to use that which has been learned in the house-to-house preaching and in the conducting of Bible studies with the people.
In the evening Brother Knorr discussed the expansion work in Peru and showed that it was doing very well. During the evening the Resolution, first presented and adopted at the Yankee Stadium assembly last summer, was also presented and the 375 Peruvian witnesses present enthusiastically and unanimously adopted it. Right after the close of the evening’s program Brother Knorr left to catch the midnight plane for Antofagasta, Chile.
The convention, however, still had one more day to run, and on Sunday morning thirty-three brothers and sisters were baptized in the municipal swimming pool, which had been given free for this purpose. Sunday afternoon Brother Henschel gave the public discourse “After Armageddon—God’s New World” in Spanish to an audience of 602. This attendance eclipsed all previous records as far as Jehovah’s witnesses in Peru were concerned. Sunday evening the convention learned that their 1954 twenty per cent increase quota was 340 and that they had already passed their ten per cent quota for December by having 317 ministers in Peru reporting activity in October. The Peruvian witnesses were confident that they would realize their quota of 340 ministers before the end of the 1954 service year. A discourse by Brother Henschel on the prophetic significance of Daniel in the lions’ den concluded the assembly.
This assembly made important history for the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses in Peru. It seemed to be another starting point for greater advancement in preaching the good news. Hopes of all were high for greater expansion in the near future. All seemed eager to aid in gathering in the “other sheep” so that they might enjoy the blessings of life in the new world with them.