When they arrived on the main island of Moen in 1965, religious intolerance made securing missionary quarters difficult. A store manager finally offered to rent half of his Quonset hut to them. This angered Catholic priests so much that they went straight to the village chief and demanded that Jehovah’s Witnesses be expelled from the islands. The chief replied: “You came here years ago telling us to love one another, so why are you now telling us to hate?” The priests had no answer. The missionaries stayed.

Interest was quickly found, and soon 30 Bible studies were being conducted in these islands, which once served as Japan’s major World War II naval base.

In fact, before missionary help arrived, the Moen Congregation temporarily consisted of 23 women.