Just across the Tagus River, in Almada, Delmira Mariana dos Santos Figueiredo had been greatly shocked by the death of her 16-year-old son. She recalls: “I spent every day in the cemetery thinking about my son, where he was and why God had permitted his death. I began remembering things my father had told me from the Bible. He had known Virgílio Ferguson back in 1927 and had attended meetings.”

On returning home from the cemetery one day, Delmira began looking for the old books that her father had kept. In a short time she knew she had found the truth of God’s Word, and in 1945 she wrote to Brooklyn. When a reply came, tears of joy ran down her cheeks. Finally, she had established contact with God’s people.

The letter was written by a brother born in the Azores, John Perry, a member of the Brooklyn Bethel family. He suggested that if she did not possess a Bible she should buy one and read the references he cited, dealing with the resurrection hope and God’s promise of a righteous New Order. Through John Perry, the Society began mailing small packages of books and booklets to Delmira, encouraging her to distribute them free of charge. She began doing so right away. Her main territory was the cemetery, since that was where she herself began thinking about God. Her friends and neighbors thought that she had lost her mind because of the death of her son. All alone, several times a week, she would go to the cemetery endeavoring to talk to bereaved ones about the hope of the resurrection. Her newly acquired reputation as “the crazy woman” did not dampen her zeal for preaching the good news, and the more she preached the stronger her faith grew.

“One day at the cemetery,” recalls Delmira, “I noticed a lady who had been kneeling at a grave for several days in succession. I started to speak with her and learned she was mourning the death of her 22-year-old daughter. Upon hearing about the resurrection and God’s purpose for a Paradise, this woman, Deolinda Pinto Costa, was so eager to learn more that she invited me to her home for a weekly Bible study. In a short time we were both going to the cemetery, not to mourn, but to share our wonderful hope.”

Love for the truth motivated these zealous women to organize a Bible study for the several interested persons. Every Wednesday afternoon, at the home of Deolinda Pinto Costa, a group of six or more women gathered to study the Bible with the aid of the Society’s publications. Through correspondence with John Perry in Brooklyn, this group of interested women learned there was a nucleus of brothers in Lisbon.

At the same time the brothers in Lisbon had been advised there were interested persons in Almada. They made arrangements to meet. When they did, the brothers were amazed to find a group of eight persons, all women, holding a weekly Bible study. Right away regular meetings were organized at Deolinda’s home with the Lisbon brothers present. What a joy to observe the first sisters of this Almada group still maintaining their integrity and active in Kingdom service down to this day!

[Picture on page 146]

Delmira M. S. Figueiredo and Deolinda P. Costa, zealous sisters who organized the Almada Bible study group