them to their foreign assignments, pay for local, national and international conventions of gospel ministers, publish Bibles and study aids, and ship and distribute these. And the work is increasing.

Yearly we discuss this matter in The Watchtower for the information of all, thus answering the questions relative thereto for our many new readers, outlining the “Good Hopes” donation arrangement. Soliciting money? Absolutely not! To consider the Lord’s work and plan in advance to further it is a blessed and wonderful privilege in this day. The Society plans in advance, and so do many individuals. Planning in advance what we can arrange to give is in harmony with the advice regarding donations at 1 Corinthians 16:2. So it is suggested that, upon receiving this issue of The Watchtower, you address a postcard or letter to the Society and keep a copy as a reminder to yourself concerning the amount you hope to contribute. All you need to write is, in substance:

“By God’s grace I hope to be able to contribute to the work of announcing the kingdom of Jehovah during the ensuing year the amount of $ ____, which I will remit in such amounts and at such time as I can find it convenient, as I am prospered.

[Signed] ______.

Address your card or letter to

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

Treasurer’s Office

124 Columbia Heights

Brooklyn 2, New York

Those residing outside of the United States, and who desire to contribute in the above way to the coming year’s expense, please address letters or cards to the Society’s office in the respective country in which you live. (See page 130 for a list.)

Some persons may not care to undertake any such voluntary arrangement as that above, feeling they are obligating themselves. They prefer to send in their contributions to the Society at any time, according to their prosperity or ability to do so. In such cases they should send all these contributions to the Society at the above Brooklyn address, even if they have not notified the Brooklyn office in advance.

Your desire and ours is that God’s will may be accomplished through his organization. And so, in prayer, present to Him our need for His guidance, that all money contributions we receive may be used to the best advantage to announce the Kingdom, until the end comes and the new world enters.—Matt. 24:14.

From Netherlands West Indies to Bethel

ON Wednesday morning, January 18, N. H. Knorr, president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, and his traveling companion, R. E. Morgan, left Caracas, Venezuela, bound for the island of Aruba in the Netherlands West Indies. In a little more than an hour’s time the Royal Dutch Airlines DC-4 was over the island, which could be seen in its entirety from the air; and it was not long until immigration and customs formalities had been completed and the visitors and brethren who came to greet them were traveling by car to the missionary home in San Nicolas. Aruba is an interesting little island, neat, clean, windy and warm. Its 69 square miles are quite well populated with Dutch- and English-speaking people. Of peculiar interest were the growing characteristics of the divi-divi tree, whose foliage extends out horizontally from the trunk all in one direction. This is due to the constant winds from the same direction. There is no natural water supply on the island, all fresh water being distilled from the ocean. Oil refining is the basis of the economic life, and the same is true in the nearby sister island of Curaçao. Venezuela is a large producer of oil, and much of its ‘black gold’ is carried by boat to the Netherlands West Indies and refined there. In fact, Aruba and Curaçao have two refineries that are among the largest in the world.

Jehovah’s witnesses are active in Aruba, there now being approximately fifty publishers in the San Nicolas company, as compared with the fifteen of a year ago. Two graduates of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead are assigned to this territory, and they are doing commendable work. There is more territory than two persons can handle. On Wednesday evening Brothers Knorr and Morgan gave service talks to an assemblage of sixty persons in the Suriname Club hall, and again on Thursday afternoon they spoke to the brethren in the local congregation at their Kingdom Hall. A great deal of advertising of the talk “Liberty to the Captives” had been carried out by the brethren, with posters, sound-car announcements and handbills. The Club Suriname had been leased for the public talk too, it being required that Jehovah’s witnesses pay only the janitor fees and electric bill. Extra chairs were rented, and on Thursday evening it was gratifying to see 332 persons in the Club Suriname, all listening attentively, having packed out the place, with “standing room only” when the speaker began. The fact that a Catholic priest strode back and forth outside the club, peering through the open door in an endeavor to ascertain whether any of his parishioners were in attendance, did not lessen enthusiasm of the audience for the message they heard. Nor did this priest’s calling at the homes of some who had attended the meeting frighten them, either, for many new faces are finding their way into the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses since the lecture was given. The members of the Club Suriname were so pleased with the public meeting that they subsequently voted to refuse any payment whatsoever for the use of the hall. And they are interested in having further lectures given by Jehovah’s witnesses. Undoubtedly new impetus was given the work on this island, and the two travelers were glad to have a share in the expansion program for Aruba.

Friday afternoon the two travelers from New York, along with the two missionaries assigned to Aruba, said good-bye to the brethren and flew over to the larger island of Curaçao to attend the assembly arranged for that weekend. The capital city of Willemstad was in a gala mood, for the prince of the Netherlands had just arrived for a visit. Buildings and thoroughfares were brightly lighted at night with colored lights; and the Dutch ensign was everywhere