ON TO GBARNGA

Brother and Sister Watkins took up a new assignment early in 1956. They went to Gbarnga, a provincial center about 125 miles (201 kilometers) from Monrovia. The native population of Gbarnga spoke Kpelle, but a good many persons also knew English. By April of 1956 two new publishers already were reporting field service in Gbarnga.

In 1955 the government had started improving the poor interior road, making it into a good highway. This road passed through Gbarnga and eventually was to link up with Cape Palmas, clear at the other end of Liberia.

When the highway was completed to Gbarnga, Brother Watkins would come down to Monrovia every month or so, visiting interested persons on the way. Thus it was that along the country’s main highway the name and purpose of Jehovah God became well known to many, clear to Putu almost 400 miles (644 kilometers) from Monrovia, where the road-building stopped for a time.

Brother and Sister Watkins found many hearing ears in Gbarnga. But to reach outlying areas better, Brother Watkins obtained a motorcycle. He soon became a familiar figure in all the surrounding towns and villages. One of the places where fine interest was found was Sayngbey Town. A “bishop” had been the spiritual adviser of these humble people, but he had recently left with all the money, never to be seen again. “Come and teach us, for we love God too much.” (That is the Liberian way of saying “very much.”) With such expressions the missionaries were warmly welcomed. Since none of the populace could read, talks were given every week on various subjects and then reviews were held. In time, a good many of these folks accepted the truth and began to preach the good news.

One day Brother Watkins presented a young man with a booklet explaining the hope for the dead. Accepting the booklet eagerly, he begged the missionary to sit down and read at least half of it with him. A Bible study was started with this young man and his joy knew no bounds as his great thirst for truth began to be satisfied. He was so thrilled with the information about Christ’s invisible presence that he actually memorized the entire textbook chapter dealing with that subject!

The logic of the truth was so overpowering that he decided to study hard and devote himself to the Kingdom-preaching work. This, however, did not please his father who was financing the son’s way through school so that he would become someone prominent and prosperous to the benefit of the family. So the father sought to dampen his zeal for preaching by cutting off all financial support. The father’s action only made the son more determined than ever to serve Jehovah.

After this the son became very ill and weak from fever. But he rejected his father’s intention to send him to a native fortune-teller to learn the cause of the sickness. The son knew that his sickness was not caused by some ancestor or by witchcraft. The father abandoned the son, but somehow the young man managed to get to a hospital in a distant town. After some days the father sent instructions to bring back the corpse, thinking that by now his son must be dead. When the father learned, however, that the son was recovering without resorting to demonism, the old man acknowledged that the God his son served had power. From that time on the oldster began keeping God’s law on blood. This young man was Joseph Lablah, who was baptized in April 1957. The following year he entered the pioneer service.

One day in a small town out of Gbarnga, Brother Watkins returned to visit a young man with whom he had placed a booklet. Upon hearing the sound of the brother’s motorcycle, the young man’s wife fled into the cassava bush, thinking “Why should a strange man come and visit people like us, except to catch us for sacrifice?” On another occasion the missionary arrived on foot and came upon the wife unawares. His friendly greeting prevented her from fleeing.

Through an interpreter Brother Watkins told about a ‘Great Chief’ who had handed over much good farmland to people he loved. They could keep the land as long as they respected the ‘Chief’ and his laws. Failing miserably, they had defied the ‘Chief’ and filled the place with trouble. Now the kindly ‘Chief’ was soon to throw out the troublemakers and give his possession to appreciative ones.

With that illustration this country girl came to understand the Creator’s purpose for the first time. She also learned that his name is Jehovah. The hope of a grand future for those who pleased this great heavenly ‘Chief’ began to warm her heart.

Soon this married couple were studying the Bible and attending Christian meetings, and the woman became happier and happier with the truth. But this did not last, for the husband decided to move elsewhere in pursuit of “mammon.” He became interested in another woman, mistreated the wife, and forbade her to have anything to do with Jehovah’s Witnesses. But she refused, declaring before her parents and the village elders: “The thing that Jehovah has taught me, none of you have taught me in my life. So I cannot quit. I have a new hope now!”

The girl’s parents returned the dowry money to the young man and he wrote out a free paper: “This woman is free to marry anybody. My name is not on her again.”

This rejected wife now made haste to resume association with Jehovah’s people and on one unforgettable day she accompanied the aging missionary himself in the preaching work​—the one from whom she used to run away. Soon she was baptized and afterward married a brother with whom, in time, she served as a special pioneer. She had not been able to bear children. Now, however, this Christian woman, Gbangu Woah, was reaping great satisfaction in bringing forth “children” in a spiritual sense.

Brother and Sister Watkins had great joy in their assignment at Gbarnga. By April 1957, seventeen Kingdom publishers shared in the field service there. Early in the following year a congregation was organized, Liberia’s eighth.