After the Seoul Congregation was enrolled by the Society, arrangements were made to send trained missionaries into the country from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. Although initially assigned to Japan, eight graduates of the 11th class of Gilead had their assignments changed to Korea. Don and Earlene Steelec were selected to go first. After reams of paperwork, visas were granted by the Republic of Korea and on August 9, 1949, they arrived in Korea.

Because of security measures at Kimpo Airport, only two brothers waited to greet the Steeles. On a fence near the runway, they strung up a banner that read, “Welcome, Watch Tower Envoy of Hope.” Neither of these brothers knew any English, but their warm smiles and friendly handshakes were everything the Steeles needed.

After the Steeles were put up in a small hotel, about ten brothers gathered with the congregation servant, Choi Young-won, who spoke English. This was the first contact in ten years with anyone representing the organization. Now the brothers could get their burning questions answered about the remaining work. So a meeting was arranged for the following evening. In his first letter to the Society, dated August 12, 1949, Brother Steele reported:

“To our amazement, forty brethren and people of good will attended. We conveyed the greetings of the brethren in the United States, talked of God’s organization at this time and then answered many of their questions. The brethren in many respects have a deep understanding and are certainly anxious to do what is to be done. Only two or three have wrong ideas, being bitter because the ‘few years’ till Armageddon mentioned in the Face the Facts booklet has stretched out this long.”