GILEAD GRADUATES ADD STRENGTH

When making his report to the Society about the condition of the congregation in San José, Brother Pile recommended that a brother firm in theocratic manner be sent to Costa Rica to supervise the work. The brothers did not have to wait long because on December 23, 1943, Theodore Siebenlist and his wife, Hermena, from the first class of Gilead, arrived. Costa Rica was one of the first four countries in the world to receive Gilead graduates.

Brother Siebenlist had a solid background with the organization. His father was baptized in 1913, two days after Theodore was born. His parents’ home was used for meetings, and he participated with them in tract distribution. He was baptized at the Washington, D.C., convention in 1935. At a convention in 1937, he met Hermena Deines and they married the following year.

The effects of World War II, which was still raging in Europe, were felt in Costa Rica. 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.

During the following two years, Charles and Lora Lea Palmer, Woodrow (“Woody”) Blackburn, Donald H. Burt, William Eugene Call, and Franklin and Emily Hardin, all graduates of the Gilead School, joined the missionary family. What a heap of fine help! Donald Burt stayed only a short time, since he was reassigned to Honduras and later to Peru, where he now serves as coordinator of the Branch Committee.

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!

SERVANT TO THE BRETHREN

During his first year in Costa Rica, Brother Siebenlist served as a servant to the brethren (circuit overseer). He visited the six congregations and the isolated interested persons, even though the distances were far and travel was difficult. With the arrival of additional missionaries, more visits to congregations could be made.

One missionary, Brother Blackburn, after a three-week trip to the seven English-speaking congregations as a servant to the brethren, reported: “The zeal and the love for the Theocracy shown by these brethren is to be admired. The brethren are financially poor, yet they are very liberal in taking the Society’s servants into their homes and giving them the best they have to offer. They are meek and desire instructions. They are not complainers because of having to walk miles through the heat and mud to make backcalls [return visits] and Bible studies.”

Brother Blackburn still continues in the full-time service​—almost 40 years after he filed that report. He has served in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico with his family.

The visits of the servant to the brethren were appreciated not only by the congregations but also by the local population. Franklin Hardin (better known as “Doc” because he was a chiropractor) and his wife, Emily, visited Puerto Limón in 1946. The local newspaper commented: “The distinguished visitor was accompanied by his very pleasant wife. They are two whom we have never seen before, but the brief moments in their presence readily furnishes charming and memorable impressions, and the essence of their speech enriches and delights us as if we had had their acquaintance for many years. We followed penetratingly the many scriptures he quoted in proof of his message.”

Picture on page 213]

First group of missionaries. Front row, left to right: Charles Palmer; Lora Lea Palmer; Hermena Siebenlist; Theodore Siebenlist, branch servant from 1944 to 1952. Back row, left to right: William Eugene Call, Donald Burt, and “Woody” Blackburn