Ten years ago there were fewer than one thousand publishers in the entire country, but in May of 1970 there were one thousand praisers of Jehovah in the capital alone. Some of the brothers who came here to work where the need is great have willingly moved to the hot coastal sections and to other isolated places and they have been blessed by finding many hearing ears. To some of these brothers, having electricity only a few hours a day and no potable water is not their accustomed way of life, but they balance these inconveniences with the appreciation that their newly found Bible students show for their weekly visits and they thank Jehovah for the invitation to “cast their nets” in other waters.

Contrary to the pretenses of the principal religion of Christendom, the “sheep” have not been fed by them as Jesus instructed Peter at John 21:17. In one special pioneer assignment where the need is very great due to the ignorance of the people under the Catholic religion a Paradise book was traded for eight pounds of Guatemalan black beans. The special pioneer tells the result: “When I made the back-call I found a young boy reading the book, so I started a Bible study with him, but when I called the third time he said that he was Catholic and that he did not want to be under any obligation. I explained that he was not under any obligation and the study continued. When he learned that image worship does not please Jehovah nor is it correct to venerate images, he explained it to his father, who was the sexton of the Catholic church. The boy helped his father to burn their own images in November, and in March the father gave up his position at the church. In June the lad symbolized his dedication to Jehovah and began to conduct a Bible study with his family, who have been made happy and are now attending the meetings. He also held a study with another family, which resulted in some of them dedicating their life to Jehovah. The “seed” of God’s word exchanged for literal seed fell “upon the good soil” and brought forth manyfold.