And I remember too that when we arrived in Seoul there were about twenty meeting each week for a study of The Watchtower. One of the Witnesses would translate the study material from the English, and then make extra copies on thin sheets of paper. This painstaking handwork would produce only eight copies, and at the study four or five persons would crowd around one copy.”

“That’s right. Little literature was available then. In fact, we had brought with us twenty copies of the Korean edition of the booklet Where Are the Dead? And in the ministry we loaned these twenty booklets out, then went back and picked them up again. Eight of the local Witnesses joined us in the field ministry that month. What other recollections of those early days do you have, Earlene?”

“I remember when six new missionaries arrived in March 1950. By May we had reached a peak of sixty-one publishers, including eight missionaries. The original Witnesses we found here when we came had endured prison from five to seven years each under the Japanese occupation. Almost all of them held on faithfully until their deaths, and those surviving are still preaching the good news.”

THE KOREAN WAR

“Then war came. I know that you recall the public meeting we had in a school auditorium on June 25, 1950. As the meeting was dismissed, police told us that Communist North Korea had attacked and that a curfew was in force; everyone was to hurry home.

“So we watched the war from the roof of our home the first night. On the third day, when the Communist forces had entered the city’s outskirts, all American and European citizens were ordered to report to their respective embassies for immediate evacuation. As we obeyed the order, we had no idea that the hostilities were to develop into a major conflict. You’ll never forget those days, will you, Earlene?”

“Never! One of our Christian sisters and I were ill at the time, and we had about thirty minutes to pack one suitcase. I still remember how upset the American consul was when he found out that there were six American women still in the city because we had not recognized the warnings broadcast in code earlier over the radio. But it worked out well for us because we got to go on the last group of planes from Kimpo airport, while the other women and children who had been evacuated on a fertilizer boat the previous day were a long time in getting reunited with their menfolk.

“I’ll never forget the strafing of our buses by Communist planes as we were going to the airport. And out there on the airstrip they strafed us again, so we were herded into a cramped basement. Finally we women were put on the first plane out. Then two Communist planes tried to shoot down our plane; however, they were shot down by the planes escorting us. We learned later that these two planes were reportedly the first to be downed in the Korean War. Instead of taking the evacuees to some other place in Korea, they took us to Itazuke in Kyushu, southern Japan. How glad we were to find out that you men had been taken to the same place!”

“Yes, Earlene, and it was only later that it became apparent there would be no early end to the Korean conflict, and Seoul twice fell into the hands of the Communists. The Society then assigned us eight missionaries from Korea to Nagoya, Japan. There were no local Witnesses then in Nagoya, but within a year’s time there were more than sixty publishers of the good news!

RETURN TO KOREA

“During the next year the Tokyo branch office of the Society tried repeatedly to arrange for at least one of us to return to Korea. Finally the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers permitted one of us to return to Korea. The Society’s president wrote me to go back and stay at least a month. It turned out that I could remain in Korea, but no other Witness missionaries could come in; so I stayed. I got back there in November 1951, but you were not allowed to come until October of 1952, Earlene.”

“How well I remember! And how happy you were, when I did get back, to have me cook you a meal for a change. I suspect you had many more cold meals from those GI rations that were on the market then than you’d admit, Don.”

“That year was difficult in view of our being separated again, Earlene, but what a wonderful year of progress for the Kingdom work. Our Christian brothers had been scattered to the south as refugees during the heavy fighting. In November 1951, only thirty-five reported serving in the field ministry, but more were preaching than that. In December and January I traveled around to visit them, and six congregations were organized. From then on, the work grew so fast there was almost no keeping up with it. By the end of the 1952 service year, there were 192 publishers reporting. By the end of the 1954 service year, 1,065 were reporting! So, while the Korean War was a disastrous thing for the Korean people, the fact that Jehovah’s witnesses were scattered to different parts of the country served to get the Kingdom message to people in those areas that much sooner. It is certainly a credit to our dear Korean brothers that they ‘exerted themselves vigorously’ to make use of that circumstance.”

“Don, I must say that those days had their difficulties for us, but it brings me joy when I think about the excellent qualities of our Korean brothers and Jehovah’s direction that resulted in all that increase. It is true that at times things seemed difficult. For example, when we first moved back to Seoul after two years in Pusan, into the portion of the present Bethel home known as the ‘old building,’ it had been all shot up from the war​—no windows, the plaster down, no electricity, no water, and so forth. Then for ten years in that building we had no water come through the pipes. It all had to be carried up in buckets on an A-frame on someone’s shoulders. Now, just look at the fine modern Bethel home we enjoy today. It’s hard to realize what happened during those other days.”

“Yes, all of Korea has changed much from those days, Earlene. Eight more missionaries arrived in 1955 after the war. And local Witnesses had made fine progress in spiritual growth. One of my first Bible students, baptized in 1950, is now an overseer in one of Seoul’s fifty-two units. At that time he was not yet married; now his second son is assisting us here at Bethel. It makes us seem old, doesn’t it?”

“Well, Don, we are considered the grandfather and grandmother of our Christian brothers here. They use those same endearing terms when speaking to us. Even though we have passed the age of fifty years, we still have years ahead of us to use for the work remaining before Armageddon. Jehovah has certainly blessed us.”

“Through the years our Christian brothers have been very kind and hospitable to us, Earlene, and have shown their love in so many ways. They have been our constant delight. And now as we write this story, our Korean brothers are still growing in numbers. The service year of 1970 has seen more than 3,000 baptized. And for the service year, we had a publisher peak of 12,267. There is no letup in sight.