Missionary Donald Bolinger was the first to make the arduous overland journey to Kaieteur Falls. While witnessing to Amerindians, he met a government officer who worked with them. Eventually, this man dedicated his life to Jehovah and took care of the group that was later formed there.

Missionaries John and Daisy Hemmaway served in Guyana from 1946 to 1961. They would sometimes spend two weeks of their vacation time in the northwestern district, near Venezuela, where there were Carib, Arawak, and other indigenous tribes. On one occasion they placed a large amount of literature with Arawak people. This did not impress the Catholic nuns who ran the local school. In fact, the nuns asked the children if their parents had obtained any literature. When the parents heard about this questioning, they became indignant and informed the priest that they would choose their own reading material. Undeterred, the priest, during a Sunday service, berated the booklet Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth? which many had accepted. But this tactic also backfired, for on the day that the Hemmaways departed, many villagers approached them for a copy of that very booklet.