Europe, but all active and full of joy, and the numbers are increasing.

December 25 was a day of great celebration for forms of religion in Buenos Aires and other parts of the world. Buenos Aires had been lavishly decorated for the holiday, with many signs, plaster figures and decorated trees. But since the day is not a real Christian time of celebration, Jehovah’s witnesses went about their business as usual. It rained hard all day and, since no meetings had been scheduled, the time was devoted by Brother Knorr, who had now rejoined Brother Henschel, to activities in the branch office. It was a pleasure to be with brothers who had served in Argentina from the very time that the work began there. And in the evening all the graduates of Gilead in Buenos Aires met at the missionary home to have dinner and a discussion.

Although the weather in Buenos Aires is usually stiflingly hot in the summer, it was unusually cool for this week of meetings, and that was especially fine in the city, for most of the meetings during this visit of the Watch Tower representatives were held in apartments or small rooms or garages next to the homes of brothers, and practically every place was quite comfortable, enabling the listeners to pay good attention.

Saturday, December 26, was the start of three big days of touring through Buenos Aires and talking to the brothers. A look at the Yearbook showed the day’s text to be Ezekiel 9:4, and one could not help but think it appropriate for the day in Argentina. The first meeting was scheduled for nine o’clock in the morning. Brother Knorr spoke first for about forty minutes. As soon as he concluded his talk he introduced Brother Henschel, who read a forty-minute talk in Spanish, and he was followed by Brother Hughes, who gave a discourse in Spanish on the theocratic organization and how it leads to life, a talk that had been given by the president in a number of other countries. This gave all of the brothers a full two-hour program and it ran as smoothly as clockwork. A very accurate schedule had been made out, and when the speakers walked into an apartment or patio everyone was seated waiting. Each meeting was opened with prayer. So throughout the whole day this continued until nine congregations had been served. Sometimes they met in a patio or in a third-floor apartment or in someone’s kitchen or out in a little house on the edge of the city. Wherever one went there were smiling faces and eyes filled with anticipation, and a great desire to applaud was seen everywhere, but the brothers dared not attract attention to their place of meeting. At the close of every talk that Brother Knorr gave every group asked to have their love and greetings sent on to the others in the city and to other parts of the world. Surely here was the spirit of unity.

The speakers got home at midnight, tired, but filled with joy at seeing so many radiant faces and knowing they belonged to brothers who wanted to push on in this grand witness work. The speakers had given something to the audience, but the audience had helped the speakers to avoid thinking about being tired, by the appreciation and enthusiasm for the work which they displayed. Audience, car drivers and speakers all co-operated together completely to produce a memorable day for the Kingdom service in Argentina.

Sunday’s program was even heavier. All the car drivers and speakers were up at 6 a.m. and left for the first stop at 7:30. Eleven groups were visited on Sunday, so each speaker delivered eleven talks, but somehow the speakers had as much strength on the eleventh talk as on the first. Certainly the spirit of Jehovah furnished the strength to keep up this pace. There was not much time to eat, and even this was scheduled. The brothers would get into a home, sit down and eat, and as soon as the work time arrived they began to talk to a group assembled nearby. Every meeting began punctually. Amazing as it may seem, very rarely was there a latecomer. This was a special event! A big assembly was on and all wanted to hear what the Society, through its representatives, had to tell them.

Monday, December 28, brought the close of the tour, with four more groups to visit in the afternoon. When the last lecture was given, Brother Knorr had talked to 43 groups in Argentina and the persons addressed totaled 2,053. Brother Henschel had talked to all those in Buenos Aires too, and to 13 other congregations outside to the south and west of Buenos Aires, an additional 452 persons, bringing the grand total spoken to during this trip in Argentina to 2,505. It was a source of great satisfaction and joy, this accomplishment, and all gave thanks to Jehovah for the way he used his people and organized them and brought them together in such a splendid way—no difficulties, no mishaps, and everyone extremely grateful to Jehovah.

There were many things to do at the branch office on Tuesday the 29th, and then in the afternoon it was a pleasure for Brothers Knorr and Henschel to spend a few minutes with the missionary graduates of Gilead and some of the other brothers at the airport. They were all satisfied that a visit so profitable had had a successful conclusion and that a few difficulties concerning holding meetings had not been sufficient to prevent the servants of Jehovah God in Argentina from having their own form of New World Society Assembly, with up into the hundreds together in the country and groups of 19 to 49 in the capital. By the end of December a new peak in number of publishers of the Kingdom was reached. Now 2,794 ministers are blessing Jehovah every day.

Relic Finds Uphold Bible’s Authenticity

● In the New York Times of December 22, 1953, appeared this arresting item: “The Smithsonian Institution is about to open to public view a collection of rare archaeological finds tracing the history of mankind through 500 centuries. The exhibit provides material support for disputed stories in the Bible. The ancient treasures—weapons, manuscripts, statuary, mosaics and religious relics—will be on display at the museum Jan. 10 through Jan. 27. Most of the items have been unearthed in the last two decades—a period that has revolutionized archaeological understanding of the Biblical era. Included in the exhibit will be a bit of copper from King Solomon’s mines, a slingshot from the time of David’s battle with Goliath, and the jawbone of an ass similar to the one Samson reputedly used to slay the Philistines.

●“At a preview today, William F. Albright, Johns Hopkins University archaeologist, said the relics ‘revolutionize our understanding of the Bible.’ Mr. Albright said he suspected that the newly discovered treasures, as their mysteries were unraveled, would add fresh conflict to the old controversy of science vs. religion. The new data, he suggested, will give strong support to so-called fundamentalist interpretations of Biblical stories. For example, he said, some of the latest finds prove Solomon was even more fabulously wealthy than he was depicted in Biblical history. On exhibit, too, will be the oldest known Biblical manuscript, the ‘Dead Sea’ scrolls of Isaiah discovered in a forgotten cave by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947. The exhibition of 1,500 items was assembled by the American Fund for Israel Institutions from museums and private collections all over the world.”