Branch Letter

Dear Kingdom Publishers:

It is most encouraging for us to see so many brothers and sisters now sharing in the auxiliary pioneer service. This past April there were 26,021 auxiliary pioneers in the United States as compared to 13,829 in April 1976. The South Sacramento, California, congregation, with a total of 133 publishers, reported 70 auxiliary pioneers during March.

Recently some members of the Bethel family have been able to do auxiliary pioneer service while still caring for their Bethel assignments. So the new schedule for auxiliary pioneers certainly helps more brothers and sisters to get more time in the field service. This opens the way to many encouraging experiences and blessings in the field.

Good news has come from Portugal. During the visit of the zone overseer, Lisbon’s Restelo Stadium was jammed with 43,804 people, about 19,000 of whom were publishers and the remainder, interested persons. What a thrill it was to our Portuguese brothers to see Jehovah giving the increase! Fine reports appeared in the newspapers. And how did the Lisbon police react? One officer said: “Everything here is so well organized, we’re not needed.” The brothers are looking forward to using the stadium for their district assembly in Lisbon this summer. In Spain, during the visit of the zone overseer, the brothers rented a bullring in Madrid and packed it out with 16,612 persons. The next day, at a bullring in Barcelona, 27,215 were in attendance.

We hope that all of you will enjoy a good month in the service in August to close out the 1977 service year. May Jehovah’s rich blessing be with you as you continue serving faithfully.

Your brothers,

BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE