After a brief stay, Billie and I, along with two other missionaries, were off to Bauru, São Paulo, to open up a new missionary home. The city had a population of over 50,000, and we were the first Witnesses there.

We started calling on people at their homes, but at once the local Catholic priest began to oppose our activity. He followed us and warned householders not to listen. Within a few weeks, though, a large family we studied with accepted Bible truth and later got baptized. Soon others also began to study.

The baptized family had a relative who was the president of a prominent club. I made arrangements to use the club facilities to hold an assembly. When the local priest insisted that the contract be canceled, the president met with club members and told them: “If you cancel, I resign!” The assembly was approved.

One of the first cities we visited was Jaú, São Paulo. There the priest challenged us.

“You cannot preach to ‘my sheep!’” he demanded.

“They are not yours,” we replied. “They belong to God.”

We arranged to show a film about our worldwide preaching work, entitled The New World Society in Action, but the priest formed a mob to attack us. We immediately informed the police. When the priest and his mob of parishioners arrived at the theater, they were met by a solid wall of policemen with guns pointed at them. The large audience enjoyed the film immensely.