Branch Letter

Dear Kingdom Publishers:

There have been a lot of goodbyes said around Bethel in the past few weeks. On September 13 the 49th class of Gilead School graduated, and it was a wonderful day. Since then many of these good friends of ours have been leaving us. So every once in a while the lobby of the Bethel home has been crowded with people and someone in the center of all of them is getting ready to leave. And there have been some tears shed. But then the graduates leaving for their missionary assignments are taken to the airport and they fly away. Our love and prayers go with every one of them.

No sooner are the graduates on their way than we begin to see a lot of new faces because another class is to begin on October 19. This is the 50th class of Gilead School. The students are from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and other places.

We wish you could see the happy faces of these students. Some from foreign countries have remarked that they thought they would be homesick, but they have made new friends so rapidly here that they feel right at home. It is evident that coming to Gilead is a big experience in their lives.

It is always a pleasure for us to hear experiences from these students. A married couple from the Netherlands told us how different it is witnessing now in southern Holland, where there are many Catholics. Whereas many used to say, “I have my church,” many now say in effect, “The church doesn’t interest me any more.” A number of the foreign students were able to witness to passengers on the airplane to New York. For example, two German students witnessed to a Jewish woman who had never talked with the Witnesses before. She told them: “You know so much about the Bible, but I do not even know much about the Old Testament, which I should know.” She said she would consider taking the six-month Bible study course.

We will have a Gilead class of only fifty this time because Bethel is so crowded. Rooms that we were using for Gilead students are now housing new members of the Bethel family. And they have come in here in great numbers in the last few weeks. Over a hundred new members of the Bethel family have recently arrived. So we must say that the home is filled with new faces and we are busy.

We send you our warm greetings and love, as we all work together, not forgetting Jehovah.

Your brothers,

BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE