The First Car​—A Sensation

In 1927 Brother Rutherford permitted the branch to buy its first motor vehicle, a brand-new Model A Ford. It was not, however, to be used by branch personnel as a limousine on city streets. It was to be used by two pioneer brothers on almost impassable roads to faraway villages, deep in the forests in the Far North, in Lapland. From April to September 1930, they reported traveling 7,000 miles [11,000 km] and placing over 2,000 books and 4,000 booklets.

The Ford attracted people in those isolated places, where cars were seldom seen or had never been seen at all. Many local people approached the brothers and asked for literature just to get a closer look at this mechanical wonder and sniff at the gasoline exhaust, which seemed like perfume to them. They willingly pushed when asked to help get it out of the mud or had their horses pull it out of a ditch.

One day, the two brothers offered some books to a group of road workers. Since they had no money with them, one of them said: ‘Follow this road until you find a house. That’s where we lodge. Give the books to the housekeeper and tell her to get my purse out from under my pillow and pay you.’ When the brothers got there and knocked on the door, nobody opened. The door was locked. However, after inspecting the outside of the house, they found a small window open high up on the wall, and the prophecy of Joel 2:9 came to mind, which says: “Through the windows they go in like the thief.” One of them climbed up and crawled in the window, found the purse, and took the correct amount. Then he put the purse back under the pillow, put the books on the bed, and gingerly crept out the same way as he went in. They never did find out if that road worker came into the truth. However, he did get his books!

[Picture on page 141]

The good news traveled deep into the forests of northern Sweden