INTO HIGH GEAR!

Others who took up missionary work here in 1946 were Brother and Sister Roper and their daughter, Mary Lea, as well as Emily Dzurak (now Mrs. Archie Raper), Ethel Coffman and Hope Laier. About this same time, the first Spanish congregation was established in Panama City. The 1945-46 service year ended with 109 publishers, on the average, and a peak of 131. These figures included 23 missionaries and a handful of pioneers. In round figures they had spent 12,000 hours in the Kingdom-preaching work, placing 38,000 books and booklets and 28,000 magazines. Return visits came to 15,000 and, on the average, 214 studies were conducted. Yes, by then the Kingdom work in Panama was shifting into high gear.

During the 1946-47 service year, Panama’s very first circuit assembly was held in Spanish. The five missionaries from David were present and were sufficiently advanced in Spanish to take part on the program. By the end of the year there were nine congregations, six of which were in the interior. By then, there were 175 Kingdom publishers. From early 1945 until the end of the 1947 service year, there had been about a 289-percent increase in their numbers!

In the ensuing years, some missionaries left their assignments for various reasons. There was always a struggle to find adequate meeting places for the congregations. The branch home was moved several times in order to accommodate more missionaries and to have room for the storage of literature. From 1948, when two native special pioneers were appointed, the number of these began to rise steadily. In fact, there has been steady growth in Christian activity through the years.

These and other assemblies, as well as the ever-increasing work of special pioneers, accomplished much in spreading the Kingdom message. The branch office planned to extend the preaching work progressively until it penetrated all the territory. As quickly as publishers who qualified for the special pioneer work became available, these would be sent out, generally to the larger towns first, then to those towns of the next size, and so forth. If any particular town gave promise of producing disciples, more pioneers would be sent in.

In Panama, the 1950 service year saw a peak of 496 publishers in 14 congregations and various isolated groups. There had been a publisher increase of about 1,000 percent in the first five years of missionary service in Panama!