• Brazil
    1997 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • In harmony with the Bible’s command not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together, more Kingdom Halls are also needed to care for the great influx of sheeplike ones. (Heb. 10:23-25) Only one third of the congregations in Brazil have their own meeting place, and the rate at which new congregations are being formed is much higher than the construction rate. Besides this, it was taking an average of three years to complete a new Kingdom Hall. So in 1987 we began to form Regional Building Committees, composed of elders who had experience in construction and who could provide help for the bodies of elders in the congregations. The Bethel Engineering Department also provided practical suggestions.

      Another significant step was taken in 1992 when a program of rapid Kingdom Hall construction was initiated. The first construction was in Agudos, São Paulo, with 200 volunteers and a team of 25 from Bethel. The project took three weeks, but since then the time needed for such a building has been reduced to 16 days. During the 1995 service year, a total of 129 new Kingdom Halls were completed and dedicated to Jehovah’s service.

      Observers are always surprised at the speed with which the construction is done. At the end of the first week of construction on one Kingdom Hall, a worker from the firm that was contracted to provide panes for the windows was surprised when the brothers insisted that he return the following Wednesday to install them. “You must be mistaken,” he said. “Next week you won’t have the walls up, much less be ready for the windowpanes.” He returned Wednesday but without the panes. On seeing the walls up and plastered, the window frames in, and the roof on—all in less than a week—he took about five minutes to get down from his truck. He admitted, “You really are fast!” Then he left to get the windowpanes.

      A man who lived near the place where a Kingdom Hall was being built, amazed at the rate of the construction, asked: “What do I have to do to help you?” “First you have to study the Bible with us,” was the answer. A Bible study was started with him the very next day.