One of those baptized on November 17, 1926, was Albert Ezra Pile. He had first heard about the truth on the day he arrived from Barbados in 1918 at the age of 29, but little did he realize at the time that he was to have a major part in the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the years to come. On retiring for the night, Ezra asked his host for something to read and was given the first volume of Studies in the Scriptures. That night the spark of Bible truth ignited his love for Jehovah. He soon became a pioneer and now at the age of 99 associates with the Siquirres Congregation. But how did he influence the witnessing work?

In 1927 Brother Pile moved to the small town of Siquirres, where he met Frank Hudson, the colporteur who had come to this country in 1906 to get the work started. But by this time Brother Hudson’s zeal in the service had cooled off from discouragement. So Brothers Pile and Hudson decided to band together and fire up the work again in a more organized manner.

As war clouds hung over Europe in 1937, Brother Pile feared that the threat of war would cut off the supply of literature from headquarters to Costa Rica. So he wrote to Brooklyn and offered to take care of the Society’s stock of literature at his home. The Society agreed, and the literature was transferred from Puerto Limón to Siquirres. Brother Pile became the depot servant and would dispatch the literature to all parts of the country where Witnesses lived.

[Picture on page 209]

Albert Ezra Pile, baptized in 1926, helped fire up the work