A NOTABLE GATHERING

In 1948 a district assembly was held on Bocas del Toro, a small island of northwestern Panama. A boat was chartered to carry about a hundred Christian brothers and sisters from Colón and Panama City. On the day for the trip, however, the chartered vessel was conspicuous by its absence. But Jehovah provided another boat and, only an hour or two late, the happy group of 103 Witnesses sailed past the breakwater in Colón harbor into the choppy, azure waters of the Caribbean. As night came, the greater number bedded down on the deck under calm tropical skies, rather than occupying the somewhat dubious-looking bunks below deck. These, in any case, were entirely too few. Many voyagers became seasick and spent the night near the rail. But all survived and were thankful to arrive safely at 2:30 p.m. the following day, after a journey of some 250 miles (402 kilometers).

Circuit overseer Archie Raper came aboard with the news that both our hotel accommodations and assembly place had been canceled. Nevertheless, again Jehovah provided and the boat served as a hotel. Residents of that little island flecked to the wharf. They got to know that Jehovah had an organization in Panama and that his people were different. On that little vessel, there were white Americans, black West Indians, native Spanish-speaking Panamanians, at least one Chinese and people of other races and nationalities, all living and eating together in the close confines of a motor launch. This Christian harmony was something new to the islanders. The whites they had known were the exclusive “reverends” or the Fruit Company bosses, who kept strictly segregated from the polyglot of races that make up Panama’s population.

The assembly hall was just a platform with a roof over it that jutted right out over the waters of the lagoon and was cooled by the trade winds that had free sweep across the assembly location. This gathering started with 99 present and ended with 178 at the public lecture. It was such a success that another was scheduled for the following year.

Early in 1950 Brothers Knorr and Robert E. Morgan had visited Panama. In February, almost immediately after the visit of the brothers from the Society’s headquarters, a national assembly was held in the city of David, Chiriquí. Recalling the trip from Colón and Panama City, Hazel Burford wrote:

‘Several buses went up from Panama City containing brothers from both terminal cities. The trip took some twenty hours over dirt roads full of ruts and chuckholes. Since this was toward the end of the dry season, the powdery dust was inches deep. Those of us who sat over or behind the wheel boxes were sitting in clouds of dust, as the floor of the bus had pulled away from the wheel box a couple of inches. So the dust picked up or stirred up by the wheels poured into the bus. At times, we could not see the front of the bus. We tied handkerchiefs over our noses and mouths in an attempt to strain out some of it, but we breathed and swallowed a goodly portion. When we arrived in David about noon, we were all exactly the same gray dustcolor​—skin, hair and clothes. Obviously, our first need was a shower, which was hospitably provided. Soon we all emerged with our true identity.

‘The assembly was fine, as always. It resulted in a tremendous witness to the people of David and vicinity and was a real stimulus to our brothers there. Knowing the condition of our bus, on the return trip we packed wet gunnysacks around the wheel boxes and so prevented much of the dust from entering the bus.’