One day Franz Ganster received a postcard from Vienna. He was to rent the largest hall he could find in Klagenfurt for a lecture to be given by Brother Emil Wetzel, who had been sent from Dresden, Germany, to oversee the work in Austria. ‘Well, that might be the hall at the Sandwirt Hotel,’ Ganster thought to himself, promptly setting out to find the owner of the hotel.

“I would suggest,” the hotel manager said, “having tables and chairs put in the hall to make it look fuller, as surely only a few people will turn up.”

Ganster replied resolutely, “I have the order to rent the hall with seats only.”

Now, who was going to distribute the many invitations for the talk? Ganster, a workingman himself, had an idea. He hired a couple of men, and these distributed 3,000 handbills in the city. As the attendance showed later, they evidently did a good job. The hotel manager estimated that 2,000 people attended the talk. And not only was the main floor overcrowded but the balcony was as well.

To care for such requests, Franz Ganster ordered an ample supply of Studies in the Scriptures. He received so many that his landlady wondered where he would put all the parcels. His room was stacked with literature from floor to ceiling, leaving hardly any space for Franz himself.

It was not until July 5, 1922, that an immersion took place in Vienna; then the following week a baptism was held in the province of Carinthia where the firstfruits of this territory were immersed in the waters of the beautiful Wörther See. These included Franz Ganster,