That same year saw also the first visit of Brothers Knorr and Henschel to Portugal, on December 13​—another milestone. Also with them was John Cooke, assigned from the eighth class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead to serve in Spain and Portugal. Because of bad weather the plane was delayed considerably, so the two-day visit was reduced to a few hours. They arrived at midnight and left at eight-fifteen the next morning, spending all night answering questions and discussing the progress of the Kingdom work.

It became quite clear that this little group was not completely at unity. Some of those present showed themselves to be stubborn individuals who criticized the organization and the truth itself. Because of this poor spirit there was little progress. The one bright hope was the group of sisters in Almada.

However, the brothers received needed discipline, and the work advanced. Increased numbers of the Informant from Brazil, as well as the booklet Organization Instructions, were of great help. Before the arrival of Brother Cooke the Lisbon group sent their first service report of four publishers to Brooklyn. Instructions had been left to start the door-to-door work systematically. On the very first street where they began witnessing, they placed 400 booklets, resulting in many Bible studies!

MISSIONARY ACTIVITY BEGINS

On arriving in Lisbon from Spain for the second time, in August 1948, Brother Cooke was greeted by a group desirous of learning theocratic methods of preaching. One or two old-timers, however, showed reluctance to line up with organization instructions. The first meeting for the missionary was quite an occasion. Relates Brother Cooke: “I gave my first talk to the Almada group in Spanish, and it was translated into Portuguese by Eliseu Garrido. At the end of the meeting, which was closed by Brother Carvalho, who acted as chairman, he stood up before the group and, in sanctimonious fashion, stretched out his arms before the audience and blessed the congregation. Over the years Carvalho retained many of the customs and ideas of Babylon the Great and so was quite difficult to handle.”

On September 27, 1948, the first baptism was held after the arrival of Brother Cooke, with a total of eight baptized, including Eliseu Garrido. Six of this number were sisters, all from Almada. The group in Lisbon, however, was characterized by “men only.” Sisters were not given a warm welcome. Now with the introduction of organizational methods some of the older brothers in Lisbon did not enthusiastically support the new missionary. Meeting attendance dropped. The sisters in Almada, however, were eager and willing to go in the house-to-house ministry. Brother Cooke reports:

“I shall never forget one of my very first outings in the ministry with the sisters in Almada. Yes, six of them went to the same house together. You can just imagine a group of six women standing around a door while one of them gave a sermon! But bit by bit things began to take shape and started to move.”

The arrival of a missionary was a real blessing. The brothers were helped to put aside their personal opinions and line up with organization instructions. The Theocratic Ministry School and Service Meeting were organized. Delmira Mariana dos Santos Figueiredo reports: “After Brother Cooke arrived we began to study The Watchtower by questions and answers. Until that time one brother read and we listened.”

The time had come to put aside the printed testimony cards and prepare short sermons for use in the door-to-door work. Brother Cooke prepared the brothers to present The Watchtower as well as tracts at the doors.

FIRST KINGDOM HALL

With the arrival of the missionary, a small room had been rented at Praça Ilha do Faial for holding meetings.

GETTING IN TOUCH

About this time the isolated persons in Lousa, Trás-os-Montes, had obtained from their cousin in the United States the address of the brothers in Lisbon. Maria Cordeiro, who on several occasions had been beaten by her violently opposed family, wrote: “Could you please send someone to help us and encourage us?” John Cooke set out on a two-hundred-and-fifty-mile (400-km) journey. It turned out to be quite an exciting experience, as he relates:

“From the nearest railway station I had a three-hour climb into the mountains to reach the village of Lousa. This area is called Trás-os-Montes, which means ‘beyond the mountains.’ I found out that it lived up to its name. It had no roads leading to it, only rough tracks, no buses, no cars, no doctor or drugstore, no police and not a single telephone. The houses were made of stone and covered with rough tiled roofs having no chimneys. The people would light a fire on the floor to cook and the smoke just found its way out through cracks in the roof or the door. They were very superstitious, completely dominated by the Catholic Church.

“Due to opposition from the family it was very difficult to visit Maria Cordeiro or her brother António. I managed to arrange lodging with the mother of the Witness who had brought the truth to this area from the United States. On a few occasions, though, we were able to get together for an encouraging discussion. Meanwhile, I started doing house-to-house work. The priest lost no time in warning the people about me. I was making a return visit when neighbors warned that there was talk of attacking and burning down the house where I was lodging. The family I was visiting confirmed the rumors and convinced me to stay overnight in their home, since it was too dangerous to go home in the dark. The following morning the town was alive with rumors and tension.

“While still at the home of the interested person, the local regedor (town administrator) came to visit me and check for himself what I was doing. After hearing a brief explanation he went away satisfied. Then the priest came. Since he did not come into the house, we stood in the street outside and talked. Before I knew it a large crowd had gathered to hear the conversation. Although the priest was young, he was not fanatical, so I managed to keep the discussion on a calm, friendly basis. To get out of awkward situations regarding doctrines he quoted frequently in Latin, to impress the townsfolk with his ‘superior knowledge.’ He admitted that he did not possess a Bible and wondered if I could arrange for him to get one; then he left. This incident broke the tension. I gave an impromptu talk and handed out many tracts, thus ending my visit on a peaceful note.”

PROGRESS DESPITE SPIRITISM

A Bible study was started with a widow who wrote poetry in French under demonic influence, believing she was directed by the spirit of the famous French author Victor Hugo. A detailed discussion of the resurrection helped her to understand the truth; she abandoned spiritism and was baptized. Another study was conducted with a spiritist who was a well-known medium in Lisbon. This woman had a great mental battle to throw off demon influence, but eventually she also was baptized.

No doubt due to these events, several leading spiritists came to the Kingdom Hall, seeking a debate. The missionary pointed out that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not interested in public debates. The directors of these groups insisted that the discussion would be private, since their main objective was to hear our view about religious subjects. They agreed to meet at the Kingdom Hall and to base their discussion on the Bible.

On the meeting night about fifty members of the spiritistic group appeared. On the platform there were two representatives to serve as spokesmen for each side. The first question propounded by the spiritistic leader was based on Matthew 10:28, and he asked: “How can Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the soul dies when the Bible says that it does not die?” Brother Cooke, in a matter-of-fact manner, said that was easy. If he would just read the last part of the same text, it says to “rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” This demolished the argument of the group of intellectuals. Seeing that a discussion based solely on the Bible was too difficult for them, they asked Brother Cooke to give a Bible talk outlining our beliefs. A fine witness resulted.

[Picture on page 151]

John Cooke was the first Witness missionary in Portugal and he played a key role in organizing the work. He is here seen with his wife, Kathleen