“That Is Where I Want to Start!”

Alexander MacGillivray, the branch servant in Australia, paced about his office deep in thought. For several days he had been wrestling with a problem, and he had finally come up with a solution. Now he needed to talk to Frank Rice.

Frank, a hardy 28-year-old colporteur (pioneer), had arrived at the branch office a few weeks earlier. He had learned the truth as a teenager and started in the colporteur work soon afterward. He then spent over ten years preaching throughout much of Australia, traveling by horseback, bicycle, motorcycle, and motorized caravan. After stopping briefly at Bethel, Frank was now ready to tackle his next territory assignment.

Calling Frank into his office, Brother MacGillivray pointed to a map of the islands north of Australia. “Frank, how would you like to open up the preaching work here?” he asked. “There is not one brother in all these islands!”

Frank’s eyes were drawn to a string of islands that gleamed like pearls in the Indian Ocean​—the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia).a On those islands lived millions of people who had not yet heard the good news of God’s Kingdom. Pointing to the capital, Batavia (now Jakarta), Frank said, “That is where I want to start!”

Preaching in Java

In 1931, Frank Rice arrived in Jakarta, a large, bustling city on the island of Java. He rented a room near the center of the city and filled it with cartons of Bible literature, astonishing his landlady.

“At first I felt rather lost and homesick,” recalled Frank. “People strolled around in white drill suits and pith helmets, while I sweltered in my heavy Australian clothes. I spoke not a word of Dutch or Indonesian. After praying to Jehovah for guidance, I decided that there must be people in the business district who spoke English. That is where I started preaching​—and what a fruitful field it proved to be!”

Since most Jakarta residents spoke Dutch, Frank studied hard to get a working knowledge of the language and soon began preaching from house to house. He also tackled Indonesian and gradually learned that language too. “The problem was that I had no Indonesian literature,” said Frank. “Then Jehovah guided me to an Indonesian schoolteacher who became interested in the truth and agreed to translate the booklet Where Are the Dead? More booklets followed, and soon many Indonesian-speaking people became interested in the truth.”