Early one Sunday morning in 1941, Zachaeus set off to attend his first Witness meeting, which was five miles (8 km) away and down a steep mountain. Not knowing when the meeting would begin, he arrived several hours early. Zachaeus sat and waited for the brothers to arrive. After attending three Sunday meetings at the Kingdom Hall, he told the local Anglican Church to take his name off the membership roll.

Public Meeting Campaign

On August 29, 1945, at the weekly Service Meeting, the Freetown Congregation discussed a new campaign announced in the December 1944 Informant (now called Our Kingdom Ministry). Each congregation was to advertise and hold a series of four public meetings in “every city, town, and hamlet” in its territory. Each meeting would feature a one-hour talk by a brother (aged 18 or older) who had done well in the Theocratic Ministry School. After the four meetings, the brothers would arrange Bible study groups to assist interested people in each area.

How did the publishers react to this new direction? The minutes of the Freetown Congregation’s Service Meeting record the following comments:

Chairman: “How do you think we could go about this new campaign?”

Brother One: “We should not expect the same success as in America. People here are different.”

Brother Two: “I agree.”

Brother Three: “Why not give it a try?”

Brother Four: “But there will be difficulties.”

Brother Five: “Yet, we must follow the direction given by Jehovah’s organization.”

Brother Six: “But the odds in this country are against us.”

Sister One: “Nevertheless, the Informant’s direction is clear. Let’s try it!”

So they did. From the coast of Freetown to Bo in the southeast to Kabala on the northern plateau, the brothers held meetings in schoolrooms, marketplaces, and private homes. This activity energized the congregation, and “the word of Jehovah went on growing and spreading.”​—Acts 12:24.