On Sunday, April 1, 1945, Gilead graduates Lennart and Virginia Johnson arrived in Ciudad Trujillo (now Santo Domingo), the capital of the Dominican Republic. As the first Witnesses in the country, they were entering a land whose history was riddled with conflict and struggle.a “This is a real pioneering territory,” reported the 1946 Yearbook, “and these Gileadites had to start from scratch.” Just imagine: There was no branch office, there were no Kingdom Halls, and there were no congregations. The missionaries knew no one in the country, they knew very little Spanish, and they had neither a home nor any furniture. What would they do?

“We went to the Victoria Hotel and acquired accommodations​—five dollars a day for the two of us, including meals,” recalled Lennart. “That very afternoon we started our first home Bible study. It happened this way: Two Dominican women with whom we had studied the Bible in Brooklyn had given us the names of relatives and acquaintances, one of whom was a Dr. Green. When we visited him, we also met his neighbor Moses Rollins. After they learned how we got their names and addresses, they listened intently to the Kingdom message and agreed to a Bible study. Soon Moses became the first local Kingdom publisher.”

Four more missionaries arrived early in June 1945, and soon they had placed a considerable amount of literature and had started many Bible studies. By October it became apparent that a meeting place was needed. So, the missionaries modified the living and dining rooms of their missionary home to make an improvised Kingdom Hall. As many as 40 people were attending the meetings.

One of the first people to respond to the truth was Pablo Bruzaud, known to everyone as Palé. He operated a bus line between Santiago and Ciudad Trujillo, so he made frequent trips to the capital. One day while in Ciudad Trujillo, Palé spoke with some Witnesses and accepted the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free.” He began studying the Bible daily with them. Palé soon began preaching with the missionaries and providing transportation for them. Later, he met Lennart Johnson and traveled with him from Ciudad Trujillo to Santiago and over the mountains to the coastal town of Puerto Plata to visit a group of interested people who had written to the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, for information.