Keen Interest in the Bible

On November 16, an enthusiastic crowd of 15,443 overflowed the facilities of the Honolulu International Center to hear the stirring Bible discourse “The Road Back to Peace in Paradise.” This was the high point of the twenty-fourth in a series of international assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses during 1969, which have now recorded a total attendance of 986,926.

Many Filipinos came to the “Peace on Earth” assembly at Manila, October 22-26, at great personal sacrifice. A program of Bible dramas and lectures was the attraction. Several sold tracts of land, one sold his house, another his jeep, so as to pay for the trip. Some even sold their water buffaloes, a real necessity among poor farmers. Bible understanding was more precious to them.

At Tokyo, Japan, delegates to the assembly there heard that many are grasping and appreciating the Bible’s message of peace, and as a result there have been remarkable increases in the number of active witnesses of Jehovah in that land.