than doubled in number of publishers, bringing the total up to 246. This means they have had an increase of more than 100 percent in each of the last four years. So Honduras has proved to be an excellent field for the advancement of Kingdom interests.

On Saturday evening at the Kingdom Hall, which is situated in the missionary home, 66 brethren attended the talk delivered by Brother Knorr. The brethren here, as in other countries, must be preachers of the Word, every individual being on his own as a minister of the gospel. Jehovah’s witnesses are not in this work because someone else is doing it; they are in it because they have accepted the responsibility of preaching the Word in the presence of Jehovah God and in the presence of his Son, and at the time of Christ’s second appearing and the setting up of his kingdom. While most of these brethren have been in the truth for only a year or so, they are beginning to appreciate the responsibility the Lord has placed upon them and how they must always remain faithful in order to gain eternal life.

Uppermost in the missionaries’ minds was how they might expand during 1950. After considering the conditions in the country and the prospects of the future, it was believed best to add more missionaries to the present homes and open a new home as soon as possible in another city. There are a lot of small villages of from two to five thousand persons that will also have to be reached by aggressive, young missionaries who will be able to “rough it”. It is hoped that by the time the year is over penetration will have been made into other parts of the country with the Kingdom message.

While the missionary home in Tegucigalpa is a beautiful place and very comfortable, it is believed to be in the wrong part of the city to bring about much more advancement in that territory. Instructions were given to the Branch servant to move the missionary home into the heart of Tegucigalpa. It is now on the outskirts of the city. A small Kingdom Hall situated in that district will take care of whatever good interest has been developed around the home. The public meeting of a week previous demonstrated that there is a lot of interest in the city, and better attention can be given this interest if the home and Kingdom Hall are more convenient to the people.

After attending the English Watchtower study and the Spanish La Atalaya study on Sunday, and talking over problems with the missionaries, Brother Knorr’s very pleasant stay with this group came to a close. Monday morning he was on his way to San Pedro Sula to visit four other graduates of Gilead and discuss their work with them. Getting away at 8:30 in the morning of the 26th, the plane landed at Progreso, a few miles away from San Pedro Sula. In a few minutes it was taking off again, skimming the treetops of the banana plantations and the clean little city of La Lima on the way to San Pedro Sula, where it landed five minutes later. The day was spent with the missionaries in their home, and at 3:30 in the afternoon many of the company publishers of San Pedro Sula and La Lima came to the airport to see Brother Knorr off to British Honduras. More than thirty brethren had come to say hello, regretting very much that he had been unable to be at their convention in Tegucigalpa.

BELIZE, BRITISH HONDURAS

The same reception was given Brother Knorr as Brother Morgan received when he arrived in Belize, British Honduras. Two truckloads of brethren had come out to greet the visitors from the Society’s headquarters. In Brother Morgan’s case his plane arrived two hours late and his landing was in the dark; while Brother Knorr’s plane was on time and, in fact, arrived there before one truckload of brethren got to the airport. It was indeed a pleasure for both to see these 65 zealous brethren of Belize welcoming the visitors to their seaside city.

Brother Morgan, after clearing Customs, climbed into one of the trucks with the rest of the brethren and headed back into the city of Belize. That evening he gave them a report on what had occurred on his trip up to that time. Thursday morning was devoted to checking the Branch records and missionary home reports. In the afternoon the brethren were addressed on the subject of “Love”, and at 7 o’clock that evening 100 persons came to hear the public lecture. The majority of them remained to hear an hour’s talk following the public lecture, on the responsibility of Jehovah’s witnesses in praising Jehovah’s name.

His schedule called for him to leave early Friday morning, and the missionaries saw him off at the airport. The weather was bad and visibility poor. Flying away over the Gulf of Honduras the plane struck some very rough weather and heavy rains. It was necessary to keep the seat belts fastened all the time, and it seemed as though the plane were bouncing and sliding around in the air and could not do much to overcome the force of the elements now raging. The destination was San Pedro Sula in Honduras, but the storm and fog were too intense for a landing there, although a try was made. After circling the field for some time, trying to get in, the pilot changed his course and eventually landed at a small field in Puerto Cortez. This meant that Brother Morgan missed seeing the missionaries again at San Pedro Sula, who were waiting at that field. After the plane had refueled it got away to Tegucigalpa. It was indeed good to get out of that drenching rain and off the muddy field and see the sunshine when arriving in Tegucigalpa. It was here that Brother Morgan stayed overnight and then met Brother Knorr the next morning at the airport on his way to Nicaragua.

The elapsed time between Brother Morgan’s visits and Brother Knorr’s was growing shorter. It was only a matter of days, and it seemed to the brethren as though it were a continuous convention with a little rest period in between. At Belize Brother Knorr was driven into the city by truck, enjoying the company of the brethren and the beautiful scenery along the Belize river, which is really jungle country. Some of the missionaries have gone away back into the country of British Honduras where the mahogany trees are cut and lumber floated down the river. Six small companies have been organized in various parts of British Honduras and there has been a steady growth in the number of publishers in this country. In 1946 when the first graduates of Gilead arrived there were only thirteen publishers and the one company at Belize. Now there are fifty-five publishers and six companies in different parts of the country. When the two truckloads of brethren arrived in Belize they drove right to the Kingdom Hall. Brother Knorr did not have opportunity to speak to them at the airport, so they assembled in the Kingdom Hall for a few minutes and Brother Knorr talked to them in the late afternoon. It was a great pleasure to greet some who had been there on his former visits, and also to see many new faces, and wish them well.

The evening was spent in the missionary home talking over the problems, of which there were many. One of the great problems is that of impressing on the minds of the publishers their responsibilities. Many new publishers want to serve the Lord but they do not appreciate consecration and the necessity of symbolizing it. It takes great patience on the part of missionaries to keep after the new interest. But then the Lord is patient with all of his people in these last days of this old world. And we must be patient, too. In some lands individuals appreciate their privilege of service more quickly than in other places. Then, too, many people are steeped in the habits of this old world and its religious ideas and it is hard for them to change in so short a time. The brethren are not discouraged but they needed counsel and were wondering how missionaries handled the same situation in other lands. Patience and love for the people of the land in which you work is the answer to the problem. We must always recognize that people have their own way of life and have formed habits over centuries of time, and some of the things they do and the way they think are inbred in them. British Hondurans are slow to take on new ideas, and it takes real patience to convince them. However, the brethren have had good results and there are now more people proclaiming the message of the Kingdom than ever before in British Honduras.

In addition to the missionary problems there are other things to contend with. Belize has no running water furnished to the homes by a city water supply. Every home must have its own wooden or concrete tank, and during the rainy season drain water off the roof and store it for later use. But these problems are met, along with the marketing problem and the mode of travel, which are different from what the missionaries were used to in the United States. Accustoming oneself to conditions, as all missionaries must do in their country, is important to successful service and enjoyable living. It was indeed good to see the splendid attendance at the evening meeting. The missionaries invited their people of good-will and, to their surprise, 111 persons came to hear Brother Knorr talk on “Preach the Word”. The responsibility of being a minister here was put squarely up to the congregation assembled. God’s laws apply to all people regardless of land, education or customs. God’s laws never change. All individuals must accommodate themselves to these laws and adjust their lives to be in harmony with Jehovah’s purposes.

It is believed that the visit of the brothers to Belize has helped the publishers and the new interest, as did the visits to other countries. It was a pleasure to be associated with these brethren and it was too bad the visit could not have been longer, but the plane schedule called for leaving early the next morning. By taxi all the missionaries and Brother Knorr went to the airport. He anticipated seeing the Gilead graduates again at San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa on the way to Managua. After saying good-bye to the little group the president of the Society did not experience the same kind of trip as his secretary in the way of rough weather on his way to San Pedro Sula, but like his secretary he missed landing at San Pedro Sula because there were no passengers to get off and none to get on. He was told this by the stewardess on the plane about fifteen minutes after leaving Belize. He was sorry he did not get to see these missionaries again, but he consoled himself in the fact that the group in Tegucigalpa would be at the airport to greet him. But thirty minutes later the stewardess said the plane would not land in Tegucigalpa either because no one would be getting on or off, and that instead it would go on to San Salvador.

The brethren in San Salvador had been told that Brother Knorr would not land there on his way to Managua, but would land at Tegucigalpa; so both the San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa groups and Brother Knorr were disappointed in not seeing each other. Now he was landing at San Salvador at 10 a.m., and so he talked to the El Salvadorean Customs officers, requesting permission to go into town during the three-hour stay. However, he was informed that transit passengers were not allowed to leave the airport. With the aid of a kind Pan American employee, he phoned a taxi company in San Salvador and told them to go to the address of the missionary home and tell the people living there that Mr. Knorr was at the airport and that they should take the selfsame taxi and come out immediately. Six brethren happened to be at home, doing their washing and cleaning. So they hurriedly changed, and a very enjoyable visit was had for two hours, including a dinner together at the airport. The time was well spent. Air travel is a little uncertain. You are not always sure where you are going to land. But you eventually get where you are going.

Shortly before 1 p.m. the plane came in and, after saying good-bye, Brother Knorr was on his way to Tegucigalpa, where all the missionaries were coming out to meet him, believing he would be on that plane. And so the president of the Society had the pleasure of talking to them for fifteen minutes before going on to Managua.

Letters

ABSENCE OF PRAYER AT PUBLIC MEETINGS!

November 17, 1949

Dear Brother:

Answering your query of the 9th instant regarding the absence of prayer in opening and closing our public meetings:

It is certain that the public does not come to our public lectures in our Kingdom Hall or elsewhere to hear us pray, but do come to hear the advertised subject spoken upon by the speaker announced as competent to handle it. Our Exemplar Jesus held many public lectures, but there is no record that he opened or closed any of them with prayer. There is no Bible record that he opened up the sermon on