Government-approved credentials proved helpful.a “We always carried an identification card signed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs,” remembers María. “When the authorities stopped us and inquired about what we were doing,” says Samuel, “we would present our card to them.”

Our identification card helped us to overcome opposition. For example, Jesús, who served in Jalisco State, says: “In 1974 a mob led by a priest took a Witness couple and me to the authorities of the local municipality in an attempt to stop our work. We showed our identification cards to the authorities, and that calmed everyone down.