In February 1963, Fred Lukuc and Max Danyleyko arrived from Haiti. After Fred married, he served as a circuit overseer. Initially, as he visited the congregations, he had difficulty in discerning who were the members of each family. He recalls: “I did not know who the elders’ wives were, and I could not figure out who their children were. The brothers had kept to the custom in central Africa that wives keep their own names upon marrying and that children be named after a relative or a friend of the family.

“The first night of the visit, at the Kingdom Hall, we found the brothers to be quiet and shy toward us. Once the meeting started, we observed something unusual. The brothers and older boys sat on one side of the hall; the smaller children and sisters sat on the other side. The brothers’ side was quite full when the meeting began, but there were few sitting on the sisters’ side. As the meeting progressed, more sisters arrived with little ones in tow and with Bibles and books gracefully balanced on their heads.

“I got up to greet the congregation and to introduce my wife and myself. After giving a warm welcome, I paused, fixed my eyes on the men’s side of the hall, and then said: ‘Brothers, please take ten minutes to find your wife and children. From now on, please sit together as families as all of Jehovah’s people do worldwide.’ They were happy to comply.”

Public transportation also had its challenges. Brother Lukuc’s wife, Leah, recalls: “We would pack up small camp cots, a mosquito net, a water bucket, portable water filters, clothes, books, magazines, and Bible-based films. To show the films meant bringing along electric cords, light bulbs, film reels, the scripts, a small generator, and a jerrican of gasoline. All of this we took with us on local trucks. To get a seat in the cab, we had to be at the truck by 2:00 a.m. Otherwise, we had to sit in the back, in the sun, with animals, baggage, and many other passengers.

“Once, after hours of walking in the heat, we arrived home to find that army ants had invaded the small mud hut where we lodged. They had climbed up a water bucket, made a bridge with their bodies to reach a tiny can of margarine, and cleaned it out. That night for supper, we had dry toast and half a can each of sardines. Though we felt tired and a little sorry for ourselves, we went to bed, leaving the brothers outside softly singing Kingdom songs beside the fire. What a gentle and beautiful way to fall asleep!”

After Larry and his wife, Audrey, left missionary service in 1965, Brother Lukuc became branch servant.