NEW PIONEERS ARRIVE

The 1938 service year ended with 25 congregation publishers reporting in Burma’s three congregations. Meanwhile, Hector Oates and Fred Paton from Australia arrived in Rangoon to look after the work.

In preparation for the arrival of Fred and Hector, Frank Dewar had rented an upstairs flat facing the Secretariat on Dalhousie Street in Rangoon. The new pioneers had brought a transcription machine, a set of some musical records, and recorded speeches by J. F. Rutherford, then the president of the Watch Tower Society. As soon as the pioneers had moved in, they set up the machine on the little front balcony, with the speaker directed toward the Secretariat. They put on an orchestral air, and in a few seconds, heads began to pop out of the many windows on every floor. Then Fred Paton put on one of the short recorded speeches by Brother Rutherford. It presented some plain, hard facts about this old system and the new one that God has promised. Quite a few clerks in the Secretariat were Baptists. Many others were Roman Catholics, and the big Catholic St. Mary’s Cathedral lay at the other end of the Secretariat. So, you can imagine how startling that message was.

Eventually, Frank Dewar left Burma for Singapore. He recalls: “On July 14, 1938, I had my passport renewed at Rangoon, and shortly after that I said au revoir to Fred and Hector and went by rail and road down the coast of Burma, riding seven ferries between Tavoy and Mergui. I covered those towns, as well as smaller places, with the Kingdom message. From Mergui I got an overnight deck passage on a steamer to Victoria Point (now called Kawthaung), the small British official post at the extreme southern tip of Burma. After a night in the dak bungalow (a nice little cottage kept in most towns throughout the old Indian Empire for the convenience of traveling officials), I gave a sampan man a rupee to ferry me and my luggage over the mouth of the Pakchan River to the harbor entrance of Pinang.”

SPREADING THE “GOOD NEWS”

Meanwhile, the Kingdom message was penetrating not only into many towns in Burma, but also into the hearts of sheeplike people. For instance, at this time Ruby Goff and her children accepted the truth. To Sister Goff minimum service was not satisfactory. So, she and her son, Desmond, joined the pioneer ranks. They were the first local publishers to take up pioneer service.

With the Society’s car and big sound-car van, the pioneers witnessed in Pegu, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Letpadan, Tharrawaddy, Prome and other places. They would park their car in the market area and start playing music for a short while and then play one of Brother Rutherford’s talks. Hundreds of people at the market would hear the message and, of course, the majority would ignore it. However, almost in every case some people would come for literature.

As her territory, Sister Goff worked Insein, a town 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Rangoon. Insein has a strong settlement of Karen Baptists (who have a theological seminary there till this day), and these did not welcome the message that Sister Goff had for them. It was late one evening, after receiving a very bad reception all day, that she silently prayed, “Jehovah, please let me find just one sheep before I have to go home.” At the very next house Sister Goff met a humble lady, Daw Hmwe Kyaing, a Karen Baptist. She took a Bible from Sister Goff and told her to come back on Saturday afternoon when her children would be home. That evening the woman told her two daughters that she thought Sister Ruby Goff was a little mad because she kept condemning all the other religions.

Sister Goff made the return visit and a Bible study was started with Daw Hmwe Kyaing and her daughters, Ma Chu May (now Daisy Ba Aye) and Ma Hnin May (now Lily Dewar). In no time, all three saw that this message was the truth. Later, the daughters became great assets in our translation work. Ma Hnin May joined Sister Goff in door-to-door activity and thus became the first Karen Witness.

One day, when Sister Goff was witnessing at the Thamaing railway station, she stopped a young man. He had been living most of his life as a hobo, illegally entering countries, stealing jewelry, joining circuses, participating in boxing matches, and so forth, without getting any satisfaction out of life. Since he was unable to contribute for literature, the sister kindly gave him a booklet and provided the local Kingdom Hall address. That was the turning point in his life. During a train ride, he read the booklet, and by the time he reached Rangoon station, he had concluded that this was the truth.

The very next day this young man, Cyril Gay, called on the Witnesses and asked them many questions. Witness Hector Oates played recorded sermons as answers to his questions. From that time onward, this former vagabond became a changed man and soon joined the pioneer ranks.

The pioneers continued to spread the “good news” into the districts. Once they rushed to Henzada in their sound car to witness to the delegates at a Baptist convention being held there. But the Baptists did not want to hear the message. With the help of a police officer, they managed to drive the brothers away. But the pioneers went to the marketplace and continued playing the records of J. F. Rutherford’s lectures.