So when the Siebenlists arrived in San José, signs of austerity were seen everywhere. They searched for a month before they found suitable living quarters in a second-floor apartment with an adjoining room that could serve as the Kingdom Hall. It was conveniently located half a block off the main street and thus became a familiar address. The room continued to be used as a Kingdom Hall until 1956, when a branch office was built with an adjoining Kingdom Hall.

BRANCH ESTABLISHED

About three months after the arrival of the missionaries, Nathan H. Knorr, the third president of the Watch Tower Society, and his aide Milton Henschel visited. This was the first time that a president of the Society had set foot in Costa Rica. The literature depot had already been transferred from Siquirres to San José in January 1944, and now in March, Brother Knorr set up a branch office. This was a turning point for supervised direction of the witnessing work. During his visit, Brother Knorr arranged for a search to be made for a larger missionary home, as more help was to arrive. A home was found in the northwestern section of San José.

UNITY IN SAN JOSÉ

Besides the former divided group in Puerto Limón, another one existed in San José. What happened to that group in San José? Brother Siebenlist encouraged unity. His motto was, “Do it right, or don’t do it at all.”

Brother Siebenlist’s 1944 annual report to the Society glowed with progress. He wrote: “The Spanish brethren in Costa Rica, now numbering about 75, were divided when we arrived here in December and up until the preceding month had maintained two Kingdom Halls in San José. Immediately upon our arrival, the two groups were invited to unite and meet regularly in the same hall. At the first meeting both groups were present, numbering about 30 in all. Now, by the Lord’s grace, the local organization is working quite smoothly, and the group has grown to about 60.”

By the following April, there was a new peak in publishers​—223! What growth, considering that when the Siebenlists had arrived less than two years earlier, about 120 publishers made up the four English-speaking and the two Spanish-speaking congregations!