Then, in the winter of 1957-1958, an Armenian sister, Sona Haidostian, began serving among the Armenians there. Progress was good, and in February 1959 the first Armenian congregation was formed in Beirut. Later, Sona was joined by her parents, and the work continued to move ahead. By 1971 there were two Armenian congregations.

ON TO ALEPPO IN SYRIA

In 1962 Sona Haidostian was assigned to another Armenian territory in Aleppo, Syria. At that time there were about 100 Kingdom publishers in all Syria. Sona had some fleshly relatives who were not Witnesses living in Aleppo, and within a short time several of them accepted the Kingdom message. Sister Haidostian’s father and mother joined her in Aleppo, and in 1966 a congregation of 25 Kingdom proclaimers was formed. By then the number of Witnesses in Syria had increased to about 120.

The Haidostians remained in Aleppo as a missionary unit for another two years, doing excellent work. However, Sona began to experience ill health, and after quite some time it was determined that she had multiple sclerosis. Hence, the family decided that they would return to the United States.

However, just a few days before the family was about to leave Syria, another Arab-Israeli war broke out in June 1967. The police in Aleppo had been watching the brothers for some time, at the instigation of the clergy, who had made false charges against them. So, the authorities came to the house of the Haidostian family, and they, along with two local brothers, were arrested. Brother Haidostian was over 70 years of age and his wife was in her late 60’s, while Sona was in very poor health. Despite this, they were put in prison.

For the first few nights they had to sleep on the bare floor. Later, they were given a couple of blankets, one to sleep on and the other for covering. They were kept in prison for about five months, but they were not unhappy about their experience. Sona said that the doctor had told her that she must rest in order to make progress in overcoming her illness. In prison she could do nothing else. Brother Haidostian commented that the stone floors were hard at first but got softer after a few weeks of sleeping on them. The family set a fine example of faithfulness for the new congregation in Aleppo.

After about six months the Haidostians were taken to Damascus. There they experienced more questioning. After a while, they were told they were being released immediately. They were taken to the Lebanese border, without having their passports returned and without being allowed to return to their home in Aleppo to get their belongings. But it was a happy occasion when they were met at the border by Christian brothers.