• Brazil
    1997 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • “Divine Victory” International Convention

      The year 1973 closed with the largest convention ever held in Brazil by Jehovah’s people, in Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo, December 26-30. A huge balloon announcing the theme “Divine Victory” floated over the stadium. The program strengthened the conviction of those in attendance that divine victory by God’s Kingdom will indeed bring the greatest blessings for humankind. During the assembly itself, they saw evidence that education regarding God’s will as recorded in the Bible had already transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people in Brazil. Twenty-eight years earlier, Brother Knorr had spoken to an audience of 765 in a nearby gymnasium. On that occasion, when looking over toward the mammoth stadium, he had wondered aloud whether Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil would ever fill that facility. That idea became a reality in 1973, when Brother Knorr spoke to an overflow audience of 94,586 in that very stadium! The previous day, 3,187 new ministers had been baptized. That five-day convention was in itself an evidence of divine victory!

      Delegates were on hand from all parts of the country. From the city of Manaus, capital of Amazonas State—about 2,500 miles [some 4,000 km] away—came three buses and four cars with delegates, the first group ever to travel the precarious Trans-Amazon Highway. Another group traveled some 1,800 miles [more than 3,000 km] from Belém, on the northern coast, and a special train and more than 180 buses brought joyful delegates from Rio de Janeiro. So great was the publicity that the governor of the state of São Paulo and the mayor of the city visited the convention grounds.

      Obtaining rooms for these thousands of delegates was a challenge, since many of them did not have the means to pay for hotel accommodations. Some 21,000 room requests were handled by the Rooming Department. In harmony with the Bible’s counsel to “follow the course of hospitality,” Witnesses and others made rooms available in their homes. (Rom. 12:13) More than 6,000 delegates were accommodated in Kingdom Halls. The delegates from Amazonia were all housed in a factory offered by a sister’s husband. Mattresses were lent by Witnesses and interested persons.

      Two months later the same convention program was repeated in Salvador, Bahia, with an attendance of 32,348 persons.