Amazingly, although war had raged for months, in Yugoslavia it was possible to release the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Serbian.

There was special reason for joy in Yugoslavia. Through the month of March, the country had prepared for a war. Bombardment of Belgrade would mean that telephone connections would become unreliable, and there would be difficulties in forwarding material from the translators in Belgrade to the printery in Germany. On Tuesday, March 23, it became so certain that air attacks would begin that the brothers who were preparing for this convention release in Belgrade determined to work all night. By the next morning, the necessary electronic files were on their way. A few hours later, the bombing began. Despite being forced into bomb shelters, the translation team was happy!

Their joy was made complete when the printed Bible was released amid great enthusiasm four months later at the Belgrade convention. When everyone had obtained his personal copy, the convention site quickly emptied. The brothers were going to their accommodations to read the Bible! Surrounded as they are by a world in which ethnic and religious divisions have resulted in murder and seething hatred, they were convinced that they could have received no finer gift.