And on Guam, former boxer Tony Salcedo used his popularity to give people a message that could help them enjoy a peace that lovely island surroundings had never given them.

Tony Salcedo was not the first Witness to come to Micronesia. In fact, he was not a Witness when he arrived. He came to Guam from the Philippines in 1948 as a contract worker on postwar reconstruction. Several of his fellow workers were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they began to teach Tony the Bible.

These zealous brothers organized the first congregation in Micronesia in December 1951, but in 1954 all of them except Tony were forced to leave Guam when their company folded. Tony, who had given up boxing, was permitted to stay because he had married a Guamanian girl.

In the mid-1950’s, meetings were held in the Salcedo home, and the congregation grew to 12. Their preaching territory was the entire island. “Every Saturday, we would go in field service all day long, and soon people in all the villages knew who we were,” Tony said.