Presidential Visit to Burma, the Philippines and Hong Kong
ARRIVING in Burma, Brother Knorr was greeted at the Rangoon airport by fifty of the brothers. It was enjoyable to see the missionaries there and to join with them in their assembly. They had arranged the convention in their own Kingdom Hall. On Saturday, April 7, five were baptized. By Sunday evening the number in attendance had increased to 115. Missionaries and others were in Rangoon from Mandalay, having come down by train. It was a dangerous trip and they had to have a troop train traveling right ahead of the passenger train to protect the passengers from bandits and revolutionists. It is not uncommon for the bandits to blow up bridges or put bombs on the tracks. Sometimes trains are delayed a whole day while bridges are being repaired. The government is trying to bring peace to the country, but there have been many years of violence in the northern part of Burma. In the big cities there is peace and general prosperity and business goes on as usual. It is amid these conditions that the missionaries and publishers of Jehovah’s kingdom are preaching good news.
The public meeting was held in the Town Hall. There were seven Buddhist priests who sat in the front row, attired in their yellow robes, while others were scattered throughout the audience, which numbered 268 in all. The audience was very much interested in what was being said about “Making All Mankind One Under Their Creator”; and 165 stayed to hear the closing remarks by the president and the concluding discourses of the convention that continued there at the Town Hall.
As soon as the meeting closed Brother Knorr was rushed off by car to Radio Burma, where he gave a fifteen-minute discourse over the only radio station to serve Rangoon. It was a real pleasure to talk with the men at the radio station and to present to them publications of the Society. Monday (April 9) was spent in the branch office and there were discussions with the missionaries about the work. It was emphasized that it is absolutely essential for the missionaries to take greater interest in the language. Where missionaries learn the language of a country greater progress is made. However, for the last two years Burma has been standing still as far as an increase in publishers is concerned; and it is believed that one of the principal reasons is that the missionaries have not put forth sufficient effort to speak the tongue of the country. While they may argue that the majority of the people speak English, still if that were true, why publish the Burmese Watchtower? Its first issue was released at the convention, and if we need magazines in Burmese it certainly indicates that those working in the country need the language. The very fact that one speaking at a convention must speak through an interpreter shows that Burmese is necessary to communicate with the people, and therefore those representing the Society should speak that tongue fluently. The missionaries were impressed with these points, and it is believed they now will study diligently. Maybe with greater effort on their part to reach the people in their own tongue progress will be made in that country. We can only pray and hope that Jehovah’s blessing will be upon the instructions given and that if there are other people of good will in that land they will be found and gathered into the New World society. Burma is a big field and there is much more work to be done, but to accomplish it greater effort must be put forth by the missionaries and congregation publishers. This good news of the established kingdom must be preached. It is their responsibility to do it.
Brother Knorr left at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 10. His plane went by way of Bangkok, Thailand, where at four o’clock that morning he was greeted by some of the publishers. Here Brother Adams rejoined him for the trip on to Manila. The plane made a stop at Hong Kong for a few hours, but by seven o’clock that evening Brothers Knorr and Adams were met at the Manila airport by a happy throng.
TRIUMPHANT KINGDOM ASSEMBLY AT MANILA
For months the brothers in the Philippines had been preparing for a national assembly. Many of the witnesses of Jehovah had to arrange to travel long distances to Manila. In order for them to make the trip some had to make special arrangements—raising pigs and other farm commodities, which had to be sold to provide transportation expenses. At Manila 1,800 brothers had attended a special meeting to handle the housing problem. It was estimated that 12,000 brothers would be traveling to Manila; so ample space had to be obtained. For six weeks the brothers covered the territory around the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, and 8,338 accommodations were listed. The majority of these were for free rooms, which shows the warm hospitality of the Filipino people toward Jehovah’s witnesses coming to this assembly. Weeks of work were necessary to prepare for a cafeteria and refreshment stands, but all of these were in readiness for the big gathering.
At the beginning of the assembly week the usual dry season for the Philippine Islands was rudely interrupted by a freak typhoon, which caused continual rain in Manila, but this did not dampen the zeal of the brothers in making preparations for the three-day assembly, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Two hundred brothers came by boat from far-off Davao, a city on the island of Mindanao. For six days they traveled, braving the stormy weather, and now were met in Manila by a crowd of happy brothers. As the delegates from Davao landed each one was given a neatly printed map of Manila and vicinity that showed the assembly place, convention headquarters, branch office of the Society, and addresses of the 26 Kingdom Halls in the Manila area.
On Wednesday morning many witnessed a spectacular sight: Lined up on both sides of the road that passes the Stadium were forty-five chartered buses, some carrying 200 brothers each, from faraway Cagayan, Northern Luzon. Brothers were pouring into the assembly city in small and large groups. By this time, too, the storm had passed and the usual hot, sunny weather returned to make the preassembly work easier. By Friday morning all was in readiness, even though a crew of 200 brothers had to work all night to get the football field fixed up with sound equipment and to arrange the platform. The speaker’s stand, covered by a colorful plastic canopy, was erected in the center of the playing field, and beautiful flowers and other decorations were arranged in a tasteful display.
The convention was opened by Brother Stewart, the branch servant and convention chairman. His talk and all that followed were given in English and simultaneously translated into Tagalog and Ilocano. The audience that sat to the north of the speaker’s stand heard the talk in Ilocano, while the center section directly in front of the platform heard it in English, and those to the south heard it in Tagalog. Each interpreter wore earphones so he would not be confused by hearing another dialect. In these islands eighty-six dialects are used, but the two main dialects were used during the assembly so the majority of the brothers in attendance could understand.
Many interesting experiences were given at the convention. One special pioneer who had been in her assignment for only four months reported that although there was no interest in the town when she arrived, twelve persons of good will had accompanied her to the assembly and two of them would be baptized. Many special pioneers going into isolated territory find good-will persons quickly and soon build up congregations.
The first day’s sessions concluded with a talk by the president, heard by 11,460. Immediately after conclusion of the evening session the brothers were invited to stay a little longer to hear an 8:30 broadcast over the radio. Brother Knorr was being interviewed by two noted radio personalities on a program called “News Scoop.” Normally this program is thirty minutes in length, but the interviewers became so interested in the subject matter that it ran for forty-five minutes. The brothers said that this interview in the Philippines gave a tremendous witness because it was over one of the most widely-listened-to programs. In the forty-five minutes the doctrines and the work of Jehovah’s witnesses were discussed, and Brother Knorr was able to tell of the expansion of the work of Jehovah’s witnesses.
The baptism was arranged for Saturday morning at eight o’clock, and at that time 10,000 of the brothers were in the Stadium. The witnesses were divided into nine groups, according to their dialects; and upon request they came forward to the running track in front of the platform to hear and respond to the two questions that were propounded at the end of the discourse. Although these candidates spoke many different languages, each one heard and answered these questions in his own dialect, because the questions were translated from English to Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebu-Visayan, Hiligaynon-Visayan, Benguet, Pampango, Ibanag and Pangasinan by competent brothers. It was a real thrill to see these 434 brothers of many tongues who had dedicated themselves to Jehovah, all speaking one pure language—the truth of God’s Word.
The visiting brothers gave the same talks at this convention in the Philippine Islands that they had given at other places. By Saturday night the attendance reached a peak of 11,567. The brothers who heard the stirring narrative by the president on the work in Russia were shocked by the story of brutality and persecution, but thrilled by the integrity of their fellow servants behind the iron curtain. The wonderful endurance, the unity and strength of the harassed brothers in Russia are stimulating to Jehovah’s witnesses everywhere.
Sunday’s program was a full one. Along with Brother Adams, Brother Barry, the Japanese branch servant, spoke in the morning. The day’s program was brought to a climax at five o’clock in the evening when the public lecture was delivered. As Brother Knorr began his talk the sun was low in the sky and there was plenty of cool shade for the crowd that packed the stadium and overflowed into the bleachers to the left and the right of the platform. There were 17,259 in attendance, which meant at least 5,000 persons of good will had been gathered to hear this message on “Making All Mankind One Under Their Creator.” As the tropical sun set on the final day of the Triumphant Kingdom assembly all who had gathered together felt strengthened and comforted and determined anew to carry on in the great work assigned to them by Jehovah to preach the good news of his kingdom everywhere.
In recent years tremendous strides have been made in the ingathering work in the Philippines. In 1945 there were 2,000 preaching the good news, but in only ten years this number increased to over 24,000. The brothers there are enthusiastic and they like to talk. Of course, when they do talk it is the truth that first comes to their mind, and so it has spread rapidly throughout the country. Many of the brothers are sincerely trying to put Kingdom interests first in their lives. In checking the pioneer records it was found that of the 500 pioneers and thirty-five circuit servants almost all these brothers and sisters were unmarried, so they could spend the good years of their youth in the full-time work before settling down to the obligations and responsibilities of married life. They were a very happy group, and it is clearly seen that Jehovah is blessing their efforts richly. Many of these brothers are enjoying great increases in their assignments as those of good will hear the truth and join with them in the service work.
ONWARD TO CHINA
Early the next morning Brothers Knorr, Adams and Barry boarded a plane for Hong Kong. They left behind them memories of the largest and happiest assembly ever held in the Philippines, and a strong determination on the part of the Filipino brothers to apply the counsel given and to do their share in bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse of Jehovah’s temple.—Mal. 3:10, AS.
Within a few hours the plane the three brothers were in was skimming low through the hills that very closely surround the Hong Kong airport. (This is one airport that travelers hope the pilot knows his way around in in order to land safely.) The missionaries and local brothers who were waiting for their arrival were happy to greet them. In Hong Kong there is much activity. Many big changes are under way. Even as the group left the airport they observed a crew of workmen busily cutting away at rock and dirt of a large hill, leveling it off to provide more space for this crowded city. This was being done in numerous places. Approximately 2,250,000 people are jammed into the small area of the free port of Hong Kong and adjacent Kowloon. Many of these are refugees from the mainland of China, who have come to Hong Kong in the past five years. Pouring into an already overcrowded city, and with no place to go, they were forced to get along the best they could in little wooden or corrugated-tin shacks. This situation has now been much improved, however. After the big fire in December had destroyed large sections of the squatter areas, the government quickly moved in and erected concrete apartments for the people. While these buildings provide just the bare essentials, still they have greatly improved the situation and the people now have a roof over their heads and do not have to live in the streets.
Because of Hong Kong’s political connection with the mainland of China it has been possible to keep in touch with the brothers in Shanghai. There they continue to do well in gathering together the “other sheep,” even though it is almost impossible to do house-to-house work without interference. Brother Knorr was very happy to receive a letter from the brothers in Shanghai while visiting Hong Kong, and excerpts follow:
“Greetings in the name of Jehovah to yourself and the brothers traveling with you from your brothers up here in Shanghai. The Shanghai congregation rejoice in the opportunity you now have to meet with their brothers in Hong Kong. How sorry we are that it will not be possible for you to come to us up here, or for any of us to come down and meet you there. This is because of circumstances entirely beyond our control, but we shall be thinking of you all the time and offering prayers to Jehovah for his blessing and spirit to be upon your visit to Hong Kong and other congregations here in Asia. We can but hope that the day is not too far away when we ourselves can enjoy the pleasure of your visit.
“We want to take this opportunity of sending you our heartfelt love, and to ask you to convey our love to all our brothers you will meet on the rest of the trip to the East and carry it back home with you to the Bethel family at Brooklyn.
“Be assured at all times of our sincere desire to press on in Jehovah’s kingdom service, spreading the Kingdom good news by any way we can find, sticking close to the New World society, living and acting the way it does, this by Jehovah’s undeserved kindness through Christ Jesus our reigning King. We are so very grateful for all the help we are getting through such mediums as the latest Bible literature released at last year’s summer gatherings, and the steady flow of truth that comes regularly to us through Jehovah’s present channel of communication. We pray we shall be allowed the continued freedom to put such spiritual food to good use in gathering yet more in this large city to the only place of safety, the New World society under the triumphant kingdom of our God Jehovah.”
All of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world appreciate the love and zeal of their brothers in Shanghai, China, and will delight to remember them in their prayers.
In Hong Kong the convention had gotten off to a good start on Sunday at the Social Club on Nathan Road in the heart of Kowloon and it gathered momentum now with arrival on Monday of the three brothers from Manila. Brother Barry gave a fine talk to the brothers in the afternoon while Brother Knorr spent the time at the branch, considering problems of the brothers in that territory with the branch servant. Every minute was put to use as the schedule called for only two full days in Hong Kong. In the evening Brothers Knorr and Adams spoke to the brothers. It was good to see their rapt attention and how they quickly made notes or looked up the scriptures mentioned, in their Chinese Bibles. There is a very fine congregation in Kowloon and also at Hong Kong. A large number of young people are associated with these congregations and many of them do well in the service as they enjoy studying and learning new things.
However, at the missionary meeting the next morning it was learned that in recent years many have associated with the organization for a time, learned the fundamental truths, only to drop by the wayside as victims either of the heat of opposition from their families or of apathy. What could be done? It was explained that just because a person begins to associate with the congregation and goes out in the service does not mean he is mature and able to stand up against opposition and continue in the faith. Accurate knowledge is needed and continued association, so the brothers were encouraged to show patience and love with the newer ones by continuing to study with them until they are thoroughly grounded in the truth and have achieved a measure of maturity.
In this connection it was observed that language was still a barrier for the missionaries, preventing them from best serving their Chinese-speaking brothers. Due to the fact that there are several dialects of Chinese spoken in this area and since many of the people speak English fluently, the brothers had not felt it necessary to work hard on learning the language. Yet at the meetings all the talks were being interpreted. The Watchtower was being translated into Chinese. So obviously there was a need to communicate with the people in the tongue they know the best. Arrangements have been made for the missionaries to concentrate on mastering the language now, and it is believed that this will greatly help them in serving the common people. Even the aid of the congregation was enlisted by Brother Knorr, as he advised the brothers never to speak to the missionaries in English, but only in Chinese until they learned to speak it fluently. After this talk one little Chinese girl came up to Brother Knorr and told him that she wanted him to learn Chinese too, so she was only going to talk to him in Chinese. It is hoped all the Chinese brothers and sisters will now become teachers and the missionaries their pupils in the Chinese language.
For most of the sessions there were between 80 and 100 in attendance, which made it possible to meet many of the brothers and hear of their experiences. Tuesday evening was the climax of the assembly. The public talk was scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Boy Scouts Hall in Kowloon. The publishers and missionaries were busy bringing their friends and gathering up those of good will to hear this important message and all were delighted to have 294 in attendance. Still this is just scratching the surface in this populous territory and much work is yet to be done. The brothers were encouraged to get in the pioneer work if at all possible, to help fill the need for mature workers in this territory. And as those of the New World society in Hong Kong continue to plant and water the seeds of truth, all will look to Jehovah to give the increase manyfold.