After her visit to the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye, Siberia, a reporter for the Soviet newspaper Leninskiy Put’ wrote: “It was amazing to see the courtesy, as well as the ability to discern and react to the needs of others, that the servants of Jehovah showed toward one another. I will never forget the words uttered at the convention: ‘You must not steal! You must not lie! You must not drink [excessively]! Be industrious! Help your neighbor!’ After all, these are principles toward which people in general should strive. But we often forget them.

“Impressive, too, was the brotherly attitude shown toward others, the willingness to help. One woman offered us a newspaper so that we would not have to sit down on a dusty bench. When it started to rain, the young woman sitting next to me handed me her umbrella with a smile, and nearby a man literally pulled a soaked young boy under his umbrella. . . .

“The very atmosphere at the convention somehow made a person a little better, a bit more cultured, more noble. It was impossible not to respond with a smile to the kindness displayed by strangers. . . . We left the stadium feeling cleansed, feeling that we had come in touch with something beautiful.”

During the baptism at the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye, a newsman was impressed when he saw a number of Russians hugging and congratulating a newly baptized person who was from the Buryat people. Although Siberia is generally free of national prejudices, real friendships between Russians and such peoples are rare. “How were you able to overcome these national barriers?” the newsman asked.

“By applying the Bible principle ‘you must love your neighbor as yourself,’” he was told.

Similarly, at Khimik Stadium in Usolye-Sibirskoye, 52 extra toilets were constructed for use during the convention.

In the Soviet Union, 11 buses on their way to the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye from nearby Angarsk were kindly escorted by two cars of the traffic police, one in front and one behind!

Efforts to Attend

Particularly did delegates to certain Soviet conventions travel long distances at great personal expense. Some saved an entire year to pay for their trip. A delegation came all the way from the Pacific Ocean port of Vladivostok, traveling over 2,000 miles [3,200 km] to Usolye-Sibirskoye. Twelve other delegates were from the island of Sakhalin in the Pacific Ocean north of Japan. One was a 20-year-old youth who was accompanied by three other youths with whom he conducts Bible studies.

A bus driver from Sayanogorsk, who intended to be baptized at Usolye, persistently asked his employer for a few days off to attend the convention, but his boss was unwilling to let him go. So the man drove to the city of Abakan and obtained a copy of the Soviet document of this past March 27 that officially recognizes Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religious organization. Despite seeing the document, his boss still would not grant him permission to leave. Early on the day of his departure, after fervent prayer, the man appealed again and finally received permission to go.

[Pictures on page 15]

Above: Some of the toilets built for use at Usolye-Sibirskoye, Siberia, convention