Next, the city of Cali, founded in 1536, the year that Bible translator William Tyndale was burned at the stake.

Southward to Cali

Traveling 280 miles [450 km] southward along the Pan-American Highway to Cali is a scenic all-day motor trip, up and down mountains, as well as through green coffee-producing country and a valley of sugarcane plantations. Today you will find Jehovah’s Witnesses in all the major towns and cities throughout this region.

Cali lies against foothills and ranges that rise, each one higher than the next, up to 13,000 feet [4,000 m]. Then, on the other side of the peaks, the ranges drop to Pacific shores, which are less than three hours from the city by car. Pleasant breezes off the slopes of the cordillera bring relief from the heat of the day. Three crosses on one hilltop and a large statue of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) on another overlook the city.

Friendly People, Receptive to the Truth

When Kathe Palm preached here during 1936, Cali was a small town. Then, early in 1949, the branch overseer, Robert Tracy, after a brief visit, wrote to the Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn: “Cali is one of the most progressive cities in Colombia.”

Tracy had tucked into his field service bag 15 books and the names of several interested persons. He found the people friendly and receptive, and within just two hours, his supply of literature ran out. “As soon as possible, missionaries should be sent there,” he wrote when concluding his report.

During the second world war, industrialization began in Cali, and soon foreign, multinational, and locally owned factories and businesses sprang up throughout the area. Now there are 3,657 Witnesses, making up 37 congregations in this city with a population of some two million.

A Work Contract in Just Half a Day

In 1954 the Tracys and the Fountains left Bogotá to establish the Cali missionary home. A few months later, in December, two new missionaries arrived, Jesse and Lynn Cantwell. Jesse, the youngest in a family of eight pioneers in the United States, had begun his preaching career as a 12-year-old schoolboy, in 1934, during the years of the Great Depression.

The Cantwells entered Colombia as tourists, since dictatorial decrees were still in force in 1954. With limited schooling and an elementary knowledge of Spanish, Jesse set out looking for work that would qualify him and his wife for a resident visa. In just half a day, he had a contract with the University of the Valley, as an English teacher in the Medical Department. “This could only have been accomplished with Jehovah’s help,” Jesse confessed. With six missionaries now in town, the Kingdom work in Cali took root and began to grow.

When the political situation changed and religious restrictions ended, Cantwell resigned from the university to travel on one of the two circuits then in Colombia. Next came district work, then a stint in the branch office in Barranquilla. In 1970 the Cantwells were transferred to the Dominican Republic, where Brother Cantwell served as branch overseer. Presently, Jesse and Lynn Cantwell are enjoying the circuit work in the United States.

Arrogant Priest​—Sympathetic Police

In a middle-class neighborhood of Cali, a priest named Arango waged a relentless battle against Jehovah’s Witnesses. One day Sister Fountain and a new publisher, Ana Valencia, were making a return visit when priest Arango burst into the house and barked to the housewife: “Get those Indians out of here!” Furious, he phoned the police himself. Meanwhile, the sisters asked the woman to call them a taxi. The patrol wagon and the taxi arrived at the same time. Quickly Sister Valencia stepped up to the patrol wagon and convincingly said to the driver: “Look, Sir, the priest called for the paddy wagon for himself. We phoned for the taxi, so we’ll go in it.” The officer agreed, and the sisters jumped into the cab to ride to the police station, leaving the paddy wagon for the priest.

At the police station, the irate priest charged: “These women were going around my parish causing a disturbance, corrupting the people and teaching customs that are different.”

“Since you have offended the padre,” the judge said to the sisters, “I will have to detain you.” The sisters were held incommunicado for some six hours, until Brothers Fountain and Cantwell finally found them and obtained their release. The judge apologized: “I know that your religion is good, but if I hadn’t kept you here, I’d lose my job tomorrow.”

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Harold and Anne Zimmerman, who raised four children in Cali, are now assigned to the new branch project in Facatativá

After a year on the coast in Barranquilla, the Moores packed their belongings into an old Studebaker pickup and bounced 780 dusty miles [1,300 km] through scenic highlands and lowlands, including areas harboring guerrillas and bandits, to take up an assignment where the need was even greater​—Cali. Moore was put right to work in the Cali Congregation, as well as right to work in the Language Department of the University of the Valley, where he continued till retirement 20 years later.