The ban placed on our work in 1976 apparently caused the decrease in the number of Jehovah’s praisers from 33,503 that year to 31,846 in 1977. But once the brothers became accustomed to the new conditions, the Kingdom-preaching work again gained impetus.

At that time newspapers listed thousands of people who had vanished, but not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses disappeared. Despite all the obstacles encountered, from 1977 to 1984 God’s people saw an increase of 57 percent as more than 18,000 new Kingdom publishers joined their ranks.

The 1985 service year started off with a new peak of Kingdom proclaimers, reaching 51,962 in December. The number of congregations rose to 730. How happy we were when 135,379 gathered in 1985 to commemorate the Memorial of Christ’s death! And in January 1985 we finished our series of nine “Kingdom Increase” District Conventions, with a total attendance of 97,167 people​—17,000 more than the preceding year.