Nevertheless, the Society soon sent other missionaries to Lebanon. In the spring of 1949 Gilead graduates Don Tuttle and John Chimiklis arrived. They were assigned to Beirut, where they rented a home for use as a missionary home in the Ras Beirut section of the city.

In September of 1949 a branch office of the Watch Tower Society was opened up in Beirut, with Don Tuttle serving as the branch servant. This office looked after the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lebanon, as well as in Syria and Jordan.

In January of 1951 four more Gilead graduates arrived to do missionary work in Beirut, and in October more arrived. They were Keith and Joyce Chew, Olive Turner and Doreen Warburton, and Edna Stackhouse, along with Anne and Gwen Beavor. All were assigned to Tripoli temporarily.

The congregation in Tripoli still met in Brother Shammas’ clinic, with 30 to 50 people present regularly. Since Eastern customs still prevailed in that congregation, few brother’s brought their wives and daughters to the meetings. The women who did attend always sat in the back row, never in among the men. Of course, the missionaries were unaware of this custom. So, the brother and his wife sat up toward the front and the single missionary girls sat wherever they could find a seat. This created no little stir among the brothers.

During a discussion after the meeting the missionary brother kindly explained that they were all brothers and sisters. So he did not see why it would be necessary to have segregation. Surely a brother could sit next to his wife any place he liked. Well, in a short time wives and daughters no longer stayed at home and questioned their family heads about the meetings after they had returned. Rather, they were attending the meetings personally.

The same Eastern custom extended to field service. Rarely if ever did sisters go from house to house before the missionaries arrived. But those missionary girls were out there knocking on doors every day and soon they were taking local sisters along with them. What joy they all had! Soon the brothers were very happy to see the progress of their wives and daughters, and noticed the wonderful difference it made in their spirit and attitude around the home.

ON TO SIDON AND TYRE

Eventually it was possible to locate a suitable missionary home in Tripoli with a Kingdom Hall attached. Meeting attendance grew and soon the Hall was full. In time that one congregation became four. By the summer of 1953 such progress had been made that it seemed advisable to move the missionaries to other territory. Two of them were assigned to ancient Sidon.

Sidon’s rolling hills and many orange and lemon orchards made it a delightful assignment for Sisters Olive Turner and Doreen Warburton. Much of their work was done in the old part of the city, with its covered streets and small entranceways. In the rainy season this was a good section to work because they could keep dry when walking along the streets. Too, the people were surprised to see two English girls moving about through those small streets, knocking on doors and talking to people about God’s Word. The populace treated them with respect and the girls felt safer there than most people do walking down the streets of Western cities today.

Twenty-five miles (40 km) south of Sidon is the little town of Tyre. Here is where King Hiram once ruled. Tyre was the maritime mistress of the ancient world, building such distant trade cities as Carthage. Alexander the Great conquered Tyre by building a land bridge out to it, since the city of his time was on an island just off the coast. Today the little town of Tyre is built on the ruins of those ancient cities, part of it right on the causeway constructed by Alexander. It was to this town that Sisters Turner and Warburton were sent, to witness among its predominantly Moslem population. Bible studies were conducted, Moslems were helped to learn the truth, and they progressed well. Later, some became Kingdom proclaimers with the congregation at Sidon.

On the road between Tyre and Sidon there were large camps where Palestinian refugees had been living since the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Their lot in life was a difficult one, but they were humble and the missionary sisters were able to move among them freely. Some of them accepted Bible studies and two families became especially interested in the truth. Later, they moved to the vicinity of Beirut and could associate with Christian congregations there.

The missionary sisters were pleased indeed to note the open hospitality to strangers that was displayed by people in the southern part of Lebanon. No matter how long a visitor stays, even though he be a stranger, the householder will offer him refreshments. In their conversations these people are willing to tell you who they are, what their work is, how many children they have, how much rent they pay for their house, and the like. And never do they ask the visitor what his business is. They just make him welcome, with the thought in mind that when he is ready to state his business he will do so. Till then he is a welcome guest. In fact, some desert Arabs carry this so far that if a person spends two days and nights without stating his business that is soon enough to ask him politely to state his reason for coming. Of course, our missionary sisters never stayed that long at any of the houses. And they were glad to give the important reason for their presence.