Burma

Burma is a lush and picturesque land. It runs some 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from north to south, from the lofty mountains of Tibet to the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean. From west to east, it extends 575 miles (925 kilometers) from the Bangladesh border to the Mekong River that separates Burma from Laos.

A horseshoe of mountains forms strong natural frontiers with Bangladesh and India in the northwest, with Tibet in the north, with China in the northeast, and with Laos and Thailand in the east and southeast. In total area, Burma covers 261,789 square miles (678,030 square kilometers). Hence, it is almost as large as England and France combined.

The exclamation of the psalmist seems so appropriate here in Burma: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions.” (Ps. 104:24) In the extreme north, snowcapped Hkakabo Razi, Burma’s highest peak, towers 19,315 feet (5,887 meters) above sea level. Three mountain systems​—the Western (or Arakan) Yoma, the Pegu Yoma and the Shan Plateau divide three parallel river valleys, the Irrawaddy, the Sittang and the Salween.

HISTORY AND RELIGIONS

The Burmese chronicles begin with the foundation of Tagaung, in the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy, in 850 B.C.E., but the early history of Burma is obscure. The indigenous races of the country are of Mongolian stock, from which have come three main branches, the Tibeto-Burman, the Mon-Khmer and the Tai-Chinese. The migration of Burmese to this sunny southern land followed an earlier group, the Mons, who first blazed the trail, settled near the sea and achieved a high degree of culture. The Tai provided the last of the great migrations, coming from Yunnan in the thirteenth century. In the ninth century C.E., the Burmese proper settled in the dry zone of central Burma, and there one finds the sites of their ancient capitals​—Pagan, Ava, Amarapura and Mandalay.

The hill areas of Burma, with their difficult terrain and poor communications, split the main races into numerous tribes having distinctive languages. Consequently, over 100 different hill peoples who are all Burmese nationals live in the Kachin, Kayah, Kawthule, Shan and Chin States. This leaves high concentrations of population in the delta and the dry zone.

 By religion the Burmese proper, the Mons and the Shans, are predominantly Buddhist. But most of the Chins, Kachins and Karens are nominal Christians. And there are some animists among them too.

Burma is not well provided with surface land connections. The Burma Road in the east, connecting Burma and China, is very difficult and dangerous to travel. The Tamu Road in the west, joining India and Burma, is another difficult route. These roads now are used only by smugglers of commercial goods. Thus Burma is dependent on sea traffic and airlines.

THE “GOOD NEWS” REACHES BURMA

However, the message of God’s kingdom has come into Burma in various ways. Now it has spread into all nooks and corners of the country.

It was in 1914 that the spark of Bible truth began to kindle Burmese interest in God’s kingdom. In that year, two colporteurs, Hendry Carmichael and another brother, came to Burma from Madras, India. In the capital city, Rangoon, they placed some of the books and tracts written by C. T. Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Society. Among those who took the literature, two persons showed unusual interest. In no time, they found themselves engrossed in reading the Watch Tower publications. They could easily see the truth explained in plain language, and it did not take them very long to sever their connections with Christendom.

In those days, no training was given to newly interested persons, as far as witnessing was concerned. So the new brothers, Bertram Oscar Marcelline and Vernon French, were left on their own. They witnessed only informally whenever their friends called on them.

ENDEAVORING TO MAINTAIN NEUTRALITY

At the beginning of 1918, the British government in Burma ordered all persons to register for military service. In obedience to the law, Brother Marcelline registered his name but made it clear that he was a conscientious objector and could not take part in any fighting. The result? Brother Marcelline recalls: “I was taken to the army headquarters and later allowed to go back to work. But I was told to come before a military tribunal for orders. I did that, but the tribunal said that I was not an ‘ordained minister’ and so could not be exempted from military service. They sent my case to the court for judgment. . . . Before the magistrate, I tried to prove that as a Christian I was neutral and could not join any side. It was all in vain. They  upheld the decision of the tribunal but added that I should be given some noncombatant work. I was sent back to my secular work and told to await further orders.”​—John 17:16.

In March 1918, while Brother Marcelline was at Maymyo, a summer resort of the government, the military authorities requested that he participate in military training, drilling with arms. He drilled, but without arms. His persistent refusal to drill with arms led to arrest and hard labor, such as breaking stones and building roads along with other prisoners. Every day two armed guards escorted Brother Marcelline for court-martial, but each time he was returned to his cell. At last, after a month, he was released.

EXPANDING THE WITNESS

From 1914 to 1927 very little preaching work was done here, except for incidental witnessing. However, Brothers French, Clay, Wooten and F. Trutwein and some interested persons would meet at Brother Marcelline’s house. He tells us: “We used to open with prayer and then read The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, ask questions and give comments. Then we would sing a hymn or so and close with a prayer. We had about 18 to 20 persons attending.”

In 1926 the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania opened a new branch office at Bombay, India. It had supervision over the Kingdom work in India, Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon and Persia. At first, only correspondence was exchanged between the branch office and the small band of God’s people in Rangoon, Burma.

In 1928, however, the Bombay branch sent George A. Wright to Burma. Till then, our work had been confined to only the city of Rangoon. But when Brother Wright came to Burma, he made an extensive tour of the country for some five months, distributing the Society’s books The Harp of God and Deliverance, and volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. Undoubtedly by this means the seed of truth was sown. Also, contact was made with those who had shown interest earlier. So, it was not until 1928 that it was possible to make a serious attempt to expand the Kingdom work in Burma.

ZEALOUS COLPORTEURS LEND A HAND

In 1930 the Bombay branch sent to Burma two zealous colporteurs, Claude Goodman and Ronald Tippin, after completion of their assignment in Ceylon.  Brother Goodman says of their trip from Ceylon and efforts in Burma:

“Around these waters it is common for natives to travel ‘deck’ passage. This means taking your bedding roll and spreading it out on an assigned portion of deck, and that becomes your cabin for the duration of the journey. Ron and I secured a deck passage on one of the more exclusive lines running between England and Burma. . . . I well recall lying on a half-inch thick mattress, sliding up and down on it with the roll of the ship until points of contact felt like raw flesh. I remember, too, the English officer who scornfully accused us of ‘lowering British prestige’ by traveling deck passage along with the natives. But we were not moved in any way, and thus Rangoon was reached.

“We had been given the address of a Brother Marcelline, who, along with Brothers French, Clay, Trutwein and Wooten, were the only interested persons then in Burma. It was now June of 1930. Here, as in Ceylon, no organized witnessing was being done. We set about encouraging these brothers to accompany us on Sunday mornings, and gradually they responded. I recall one of these brothers asking if he could do the witnessing work by proxy, by aiding us pioneers financially, and I remember Ron’s reply, ‘By all means, if you want to get into the new world by proxy also.’

“Ron and I repeated the practice developed in Ceylon of going to places outside Rangoon. Places visited were Pegu, Toungoo, Pyinmana, Mandalay, Maymyo, Hsipaw, Lashio, Shwebo, Mogok, Bhamo, Myitkyina, Magwe, Bassein, Moulmein, Akyab and others.

THEY FOUND THE TRUTH

An incident is of interest here. In his door-to-door witnessing Brother Tippin met a railway stationmaster, Mr. Sydney Coote, at Kemmendine, Rangoon, and placed with him a set of 10 books. Mr. Coote’s eldest daughter recalls:

“That very night my dad read parts of The Harp God and that same night he told my mother that this was the truth. Within a few days he realized that this was just the thing he had been searching for all his life. As a lad of 14 years he remembers asking his pastor to explain the Trinity to him. His reply to my dad was: ‘Run away, Sonny. You are too young to bother about such things.’ My dad ran away all right, but the Trinity doctrine still kept bothering him. When he read the Watch Tower publications, his problem  was eventually solved. In a short time he had severed all connections with his church and did not have any trouble either, as they must have been glad to get rid of someone who was always asking them Bible questions that they could not and would not answer. It did not take my mother long to recognize the ring of truth. So, today I am very thankful to Jehovah God that both my father and mother became Jehovah’s Witnesses and brought their four children up to love and serve God.”

At that time there was no book like “Make Sure of All Things; Hold Fast to What Is Fine.” But Brother Coote made one of his own along similar lines. He called it “Where Is It?” All the doctrines were listed, and whenever he came across a scripture he thought could be used, he would enter it under the appropriate heading in his book.

Brother Coote next wrote to the Society’s India branch, asking if there were other Witnesses in Burma. He was sent a list with a few names and addresses. Upon receipt of this, he wrote to each one, inviting them to come and spend a day with him, as he was very anxious to find out how the preaching work was being carried on. About five or six brothers visited him and they had a small gathering. Although no door-to-door witnessing was being done in Burma, Brother Coote wrote to all his relatives and sent them our literature.

When Brother Coote’s Roman Catholic sister, Mrs. Daisy D’Souza, received from him the booklet The Kingdom, the Hope of the World, she “devoured” its contents hungrily. She wrote to her brother for more books and a Bible. In no time, a big package of literature arrived. She went through the publications from cover to cover, one book after another, staying awake till the early hours of the morning to read them. This was it! She had found the truth! Mrs. D’Souza set off alone from house to house. She also sent her children to all her neighbors with booklets. This did not go unnoticed by her husband. Though terribly opposed at first, he started thinking: “What makes her read those books till 2 a.m.? There must be something in them.” He was a railway refreshment-room manager and used to finish his work at about 11:30 p.m. One night, he remarked to his wife: “What you are reading must be very interesting to keep you up so late. Why don’t you read to me?” Sister D’Souza did not need a second invitation. After that, she kept reading to him nightly. Soon they separated themselves from the Catholic Church.

 After some time the parish priest called, trying to get them to return to the Church. But by this time, Sister D’Souza was well armed with the “sword of the spirit.” (Eph. 6:17) So, using the Roman Catholic Bible, she proved to him how wrong the doctrines of the Catholic Church were. The priest said: “I know there is no such place as hell or purgatory. But if I don’t teach people these doctrines, how am I going to make them come to church?”

“If you are an honest man and a Christian, you will teach the people the truth about God, and not represent him as a fiend,” replied Sister D’Souza. At that, the cleric rose in a flurry and stumped out of the room. As he was leaving, he said: “After telling people these things for years, how do you expect me to tell them something different now?”

“If you were a true Christian you surely would,” retorted Sister D’Souza. Finally, he warned her to leave his flock alone.

One Sunday morning this priest collected all the Watch Tower publications he could get from his flock, along with some books he had borrowed from Brother D’Souza, and made a bonfire outside his church. But this did not discourage the D’Souza family; they continued spreading the Word of God.

TOURING BURMA WITH THE KINGDOM MESSAGE

Meanwhile, Brothers Goodman and Tippin kept on touring Burma, placing literature and spreading the good news of God’s kingdom. Listen as Brother Goodman relates one of his tour experiences:

“We were informed that a Watch Tower subscriber had moved into the area of the Namtu silver and lead mines (Northern Shan States). The only way to get there was by company railway from a nearby town. I wrote asking for permission to use this line and was turned down, being told that we were not wanted there. But in those days we did not easily take No for an answer. So when I got to Lashio, I made inquiries and found that there was a jungle track from Lashio to Namtu, and that a taxi driver was willing to make the trip. So, on the next day I loaded many cartons of books in his auto and we set off.

“Namtu was a smelting town tucked away in the mountains, with the ore brought from the pithead several miles away. I took refuge in the government rest house and from there worked the town. Placements were many. At last, the town was finished, but I had not yet contacted the subscriber who lived in Bawdwin, the pithead. Nor was there any way to get  there but by the company railway. So, I decided to place my case before the managing director himself after witnessing to him.

“He obviously knew nothing of my having been denied entry. The man was a burly Australian and, when I openly related my story (I still see the twinkle in his eyes as I told him of coming in by jungle track), he promptly left the guests he was entertaining and took me in his car to the mines office. There he introduced me to his private secretary, a Roman Catholic and the one responsible for previously preventing my entry. I can still see his jaw drop when hearing my name. He was instructed: ‘I want you to make Mr. Goodman the guest of the company. He may go anywhere he wishes and you are to put a special train at his disposal and provide accommodations and meals so long as he is on the company lands.’ So I was called ‘Sir’ and was asked when I wanted my special train and how long I wished to stay in each place​—all that by the man who had tried to prevent the message from reaching the people.”

By about January 1931, the brothers had covered Burma to a certain extent and were ready to move on to Singapore. Ronald Tippin went ahead, but Claude Goodman went by a coastal steamer so that he could work Tavoy and Mergui on his way south.

OTHERS CARRY ON

The preliminary work by Witnesses George Wright, Claude Goodman and Ronald Tippin was continued by Ewart Francis, who came from India in 1933. By then our work was getting well organized in Rangoon, Martaban and Mandalay. However, Brother Francis was called back to India and was replaced in 1934 by Randall Hopley and Clarence Taylor. Brother Hopley then had Brother J. F. Rutherford’s recorded lectures, which were even broadcast for a few weeks over the local radio station. To meet the need for Burmese literature, in 1934 the booklets The Kingdom, the Hope of the World and Escape to the Kingdom were translated and sent to press. Other publications were to follow in Burmese and Karen.

Witness Hopley concentrated first on the city of Rangoon. While witnessing on a street there, he placed some literature with a young Greek working in a restaurant. This man quickly grasped Bible truth and wanted to know more. Hence, he wrote to the Bombay branch office and ordered some books. At the same time, he remarked in his letter: “Why don’t you send someone to preach this good message to the people  here? As far as I know, I am the only one here who knows anything about it.” Immediately, the branch wrote to the Rangoon Congregation, asking that someone call on him. Association with the brothers made this young Greek, Basil Tsatos, a stalwart Christian. After some time, he served as a congregation servant (presiding overseer) in the Rangoon Congregation.

In the years 1935 and 1936, the brothers concentrated on the Karens, Anglo-Burmese and Anglo-Indians, for they seemed more responsive to the message of God’s kingdom. It should be noted that most of the Karens are members of the sects of Christendom. While Clarence Taylor worked in Pyinmana, Randall Hopley concentrated on Mandalay and other northern towns. By this time the message was penetrating toward northern Burma.

Incidentally, Burma then was a province under the Indian government; it was not treated as a separate country. So, all field service figures were included with India’s report till 1937, and no record is available to indicate how many Burmese Witnesses were reporting in those years.

A CHANGE IN BRANCH SUPERVISION

In 1938 a change took place in the supervision of the Kingdom-preaching activity in Burma. Till the beginning of that year, the Watch Tower Society’s branch office in India was supervising the work in Burma. Then the Australian branch was given this responsibility. So, in 1938 the pioneers from India returned to that country, and pioneers from Australia took care of ‘watering’ the seeds that had been sown here. As those brothers and the Kingdom publishers in Burma faithfully did their part, God gave the increase.​—1 Cor. 3:6.

For a short time, Brother S. Keltie cared for Kingdom activity in Burma. But he had to return to Australia. So, Frank Dewar looked after the work here from March to July 1938.

NEW PIONEERS ARRIVE

The 1938 service year ended with 25 congregation publishers reporting in Burma’s three congregations. Meanwhile, Hector Oates and Fred Paton from Australia arrived in Rangoon to look after the work.

Downtown Rangoon is neatly laid out in parallel streets and rectangular blocks, with main and minor streets and even back alleys all systematically named and numbered. Toward the eastern edge of the city  lies the large block of government buildings called the Secretariat. Around these are neatly paved streets lined with well-kept trees. In Rangoon there are long rows of uniform, four-storied flats side by side, running from street to street with no spaces between them. In the 1930’s, Rangoon’s transportation system included trams, buses, rickshaws and one-horse coaches.

In preparation for the arrival of Fred and Hector, Frank Dewar had rented an upstairs flat facing the Secretariat on Dalhousie Street in Rangoon. The new pioneers had brought a transcription machine, a set of some musical records, and recorded speeches by J. F. Rutherford, then the president of the Watch Tower Society. As soon as the pioneers had moved in, they set up the machine on the little front balcony, with the speaker directed toward the Secretariat. They put on an orchestral air, and in a few seconds, heads began to pop out of the many windows on every floor. Then Fred Paton put on one of the short recorded speeches by Brother Rutherford. It presented some plain, hard facts about this old system and the new one that God has promised. Quite a few clerks in the Secretariat were Baptists. Many others were Roman Catholics, and the big Catholic St. Mary’s Cathedral lay at the other end of the Secretariat. So, you can imagine how startling that message was.

Eventually, Frank Dewar left Burma for Singapore. He recalls: “On July 14, 1938, I had my passport renewed at Rangoon, and shortly after that I said au revoir to Fred and Hector and went by rail and road down the coast of Burma, riding seven ferries between Tavoy and Mergui. I covered those towns, as well as smaller places, with the Kingdom message. From Mergui I got an overnight deck passage on a steamer to Victoria Point (now called Kawthaung), the small British official post at the extreme southern tip of Burma. After a night in the dak bungalow (a nice little cottage kept in most towns throughout the old Indian Empire for the convenience of traveling officials), I gave a sampan man a rupee to ferry me and my luggage over the mouth of the Pakchan River to the harbor entrance of Pinang.”

SPREADING THE “GOOD NEWS”

Meanwhile, the Kingdom message was penetrating not only into many towns in Burma, but also into the hearts of sheeplike people. For instance, at this time Ruby Goff and her children accepted the truth. To Sister Goff minimum service was not satisfactory. So, she and her son, Desmond, joined the pioneer ranks.  They were the first local publishers to take up pioneer service.

With the Society’s car and big sound-car van, the pioneers witnessed in Pegu, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Letpadan, Tharrawaddy, Prome and other places. They would park their car in the market area and start playing music for a short while and then play one of Brother Rutherford’s talks. Hundreds of people at the market would hear the message and, of course, the majority would ignore it. However, almost in every case some people would come for literature.

As her territory, Sister Goff worked Insein, a town 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Rangoon. Insein has a strong settlement of Karen Baptists (who have a theological seminary there till this day), and these did not welcome the message that Sister Goff had for them. It was late one evening, after receiving a very bad reception all day, that she silently prayed, “Jehovah, please let me find just one sheep before I have to go home.” At the very next house Sister Goff met a humble lady, Daw Hmwe Kyaing, a Karen Baptist. She took a Bible from Sister Goff and told her to come back on Saturday afternoon when her children would be home. That evening the woman told her two daughters that she thought Sister Ruby Goff was a little mad because she kept condemning all the other religions.

Sister Goff made the return visit and a Bible study was started with Daw Hmwe Kyaing and her daughters, Ma Chu May (now Daisy Ba Aye) and Ma Hnin May (now Lily Dewar). In no time, all three saw that this message was the truth. Later, the daughters became great assets in our translation work. Ma Hnin May joined Sister Goff in door-to-door activity and thus became the first Karen Witness.

One day, when Sister Goff was witnessing at the Thamaing railway station, she stopped a young man. He had been living most of his life as a hobo, illegally entering countries, stealing jewelry, joining circuses, participating in boxing matches, and so forth, without getting any satisfaction out of life. Since he was unable to contribute for literature, the sister kindly gave him a booklet and provided the local Kingdom Hall address. That was the turning point in his life. During a train ride, he read the booklet, and by the time he reached Rangoon station, he had concluded that this was the truth.

The very next day this young man, Cyril Gay, called on the Witnesses and asked them many questions. Witness Hector Oates played recorded sermons as answers  to his questions. From that time onward, this former vagabond became a changed man and soon joined the pioneer ranks.

The pioneers continued to spread the “good news” into the districts. Once they rushed to Henzada in their sound car to witness to the delegates at a Baptist convention being held there. But the Baptists did not want to hear the message. With the help of a police officer, they managed to drive the brothers away. But the pioneers went to the marketplace and continued playing the records of J. F. Rutherford’s lectures. Moreover, they placed much literature. But would this do any good?

Some time later, a group of Witnesses went to that area. While witnessing there, they called on a Karen man who rejected the literature, saying he did not need it, as he had his own handbook on the Bible that he and his family used in their prayers. When the brothers asked to see it, he brought out one of the Watch Tower Society’s books.

In another instance, a man from Henzada went to Rangoon to search for the Witnesses. He found them doing magazine street work, offering our journals to passersby. How had he come to know about the Witnesses, and why was he looking for them?

During the earlier trip of the pioneers to Henzada, a Karen Catholic had taken some books from the brothers and returned to his village, Thinganain, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Henzada. He started reading the books there and quickly accepted their message as the truth. So he began to spread the “good news” in his village. But before he could contact the brothers, World War II started, and so he held meetings with whatever literature he had, conducting them in his own style. He used to gather his relatives together on Sundays, reading and translating the Society’s publications for them into Karen. Soon, 12 of his relatives accepted the truth and cut themselves off from the Catholic Church. The local priest tried to get these persons back into his “fold,” but they were firm in their stand for the truth. After the war, this man heard that there were some Witnesses in Rangoon. So he sent a man to contact them with a letter from him, although he did not know their address. But while personally inquiring about the Witnesses in Rangoon, the man accidentally met them on the street.

Thus the witnessing work done with the sound car and the playing of Brother Rutherford’s recorded talks at market squares proved successful. This led to placing  literature with interested persons, and certain ones embraced true Christianity.

THE FIRST BURMESE ASSEMBLY

In 1938, Burmese Witnesses were thrilled with the news that an assembly would be held in Rangoon from November 26 to 28, and that the branch overseer of Australia, Brother Alex MacGillivray, would be present. The pioneers in Singapore, Malaya and Siam (now Thailand) were invited to attend, and the assembly location was the City Hall, a palatial building with huge bronze doors.

It was like a small international assembly. Other delegates also came from Australia and Thailand. Among those present were Brothers J. E. Sewell and F. Dewar, from Thailand. Their journey to Rangoon was not an easy one. Starting at Bangkok, they traveled by train and bus to the village of Rahaeng. Regarding the rest of the trip, Brother Sewell says:

“We stayed [at Rahaeng] that night and crossed the Meping River in a large dugout canoe the next morning at daybreak. Then we began our long adventure of walking 50 miles [80 kilometers] across the mountain in virgin tropical jungle. A telephone line ran across the area and we followed that. (It linked Siam and Burma.) It was a dangerous trip to take​—one we couldn’t recommend to anyone.

“We were afraid of the wild animals in the jungle. For instance, tigers were reported in that region. We saw many monkeys, but no tigers, elephants or black bears. Some beautiful bantams live wild in that area and they would fly across our paths at times. After walking the first day, we felt very tired, and met up with two carriers. These men really were smugglers taking goods from one country to another. We could see that we would have difficulties ahead trying to get through this long walk and would not know where to sleep at night or how to protect ourselves anywhere. So we asked these two smugglers who were coming back from Burma with empty baskets (one on each end of a pole) if they would help us. For a small price each, they decided to do this. We put our things in their baskets and followed them. After sleeping one night on a platform in a tree and in a little village the next night, we finally reached Mae Sot, the border town of Siam. Crossing a river there, we were able to continue the journey on a little bus for a stretch of over 50 miles [80 kilometers]. This was over a very mountainous and craggy path. That night we stayed in a Karen village, where a gentleman took us in and gave  us a place to sleep. Finally, we went on by bus for another 18 miles [29 kilometers] and caught a little river steamer that took us another 40 miles or so [about 65 kilometers] from Pa-an to Moulmein. There we crossed the estuary of the Salween River to Martaban, the terminus of the railway line. We then traveled by train to Rangoon. It took us a week to make this trip, but then we had a fine assembly in the City Hall of Rangoon.”

Many brothers and interested persons from Mandalay, Martaban, Insein and other places also attended the assembly. The public talk was well advertised, and the hall was filled beyond its capacity, with 1,000 present in the 850-seat hall. The attendants tried to close the huge gates to keep out the further surging crowds and succeeded only after a third attempt. However, some enterprising young men came in through the smaller side doors. There were perhaps 1,000 outside that could not get in. The title of the talk and the extensive advertising could have been the reason the record crowds. Brother MacGillivray, the branch overseer from Strathfield, Australia, delivered the discourse entitled “Universal War Near.” Whatever may have been the reason for the success of the assembly, it certainly was a highlight in the history of Jehovah’s people in Burma.

INTERFERENCE ENCOUNTERED

Toward the end of 1939 the Society’s Strathfield branch office sent another pioneer, Mick Engel, to care for the Burma literature depot. By then the number of pioneers had increased in Burma, and Ma Hnin May (Lily) was one of them. Four local pioneers were declaring the Word of God shoulder to shoulder with the Australian pioneers. When the 1939 service year ended, there were 28 Witnesses reporting field service in three congregations in Burma.

With Kingdom proclamation gaining momentum, persecution reared its ugly head. Toward the end of 1940, the Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic and American Baptist clergymen in Burma pressured the British-raj to put a ban on our literature. But even before the order was received by the government authorities in Rangoon, the brothers had learned about It. How?

Two of our brothers who were working in the cable office had seen a telegram come through ordering all our literature in Burma to be banned and confiscated. Immediately, they informed Brother Mick Engel, and he saw to it that most of our literature was hidden  in different places, including the homes of friendly Karens in Thamaing and other suburban areas.

In those days, a tremendous amount of war material was being sent from the United States to the Nationalist Chinese government under Chiang Kai-shek, for use in his war against the Japanese. These supplies were sent to Lashio, in northern Burma, then were transshipped over the winding, dangerous Burma Road to Chungking. Thousands of military trucks moved in unbroken lines from Rangoon on their way northward, laden with tires, fuel, ammunition and other war supplies. The brothers thought that they could get our literature on one of these trucks headed for Chungking, where it would be safe from confiscation. But this effort did not succeed.

Brother George Powell then decided to go to Singapore, obtain a vehicle there, return to Burma, load our literature on it and convey the publications to Chungking. Unfortunately, however, just before his arrival in Singapore an order had been issued there forbidding the taking out of any vehicles. Now what would happen to our publications? Would they be confiscated and destroyed?

Meanwhile, Brother Engel had approached a high U.S. official and had managed to get a letter of authority allowing us to transport our literature on the army trucks. Equipped with that letter, Mick Engel, Fred Paton and Hector Oates went to Lashio. When they called on the official controlling the huge convoy to China and asked him for space on those trucks, he nearly had a fit! “What?” he shouted. “How can I give you precious space in my trucks for your miserable tracts when I have absolutely no room for urgently needed military and medical supplies rotting here in the open, with the monsoon rains due to begin soon?”

Fred looked at him, paused, and reached into his briefcase and took out the letter from the high official in Rangoon. Handing it to the road controller, Fred remarked that it would be a very serious matter if the controller ignored the authorities in Rangoon and refused to help. Fred’s argument proved overpowering. The road controller not only arranged for two tons of books to be transported, but placed a light truck, complete with driver and supplies, at the disposal of the brothers. Thus the two intrepid pioneers, Fred Paton and Hector Oates, went by truck to Chungking, where they distributed their consignment. In Chungking, they met Chiang Kai-shek and witnessed to him.

When the Japanese started to invade Burma, almost  all the Witnesses left the country. Mick Engel left for Australia and most of the Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burman brothers went to India. Brother Coote and his two daughters trekked to India, but he died before reaching that country.

From August to October 1941, only 18 publishers were reporting field service in Burma, and there were no pioneers here by then. By November, all the Witnesses had left Burma except for three, Brother Cyril Gay and Sisters Ma Chu May and Ma Hnin May. They did only informal witnessing.

On March 8, 1942, Rangoon, the capital of Burma, fell to the Japanese forces. The fall of other towns took place rapidly thereafter. As for the British, it was a grim record of continued withdrawal. The Japanese could hardly have been more successful. In five months they overran a country larger than France and nearly as populous as Australia and Canada combined (at that time). By the end of May 1942, all Burma was in Japanese hands.

During the Japanese occupation, from 1942 to 1945, the work of declaring the “good news” practically came to a dead stop in Burma. Due to lack of publications, the three Witnesses here studied the same issues of The Watchtower over and over again. They used the 1942 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses for studying the daily Bible texts for more than four years.

Burma, however, was part of the Japanese empire only for a short period. Again bombing raids started, but this time by the British. Their planes dropped tons of bombs, destroying thousands of buildings and killing thousands upon thousands of people. By 1945 the war was over, and the British reoccupied Burma.

OUR WORK REESTABLISHED

Immediately after the war, the brothers and sisters who had fled to India started coming back to Burma. So, the witnessing work began afresh, and on April 20, 1946, a congregation was established once more in Rangoon, with eight publishers reporting field service. The Society’s branch office in India directed the Kingdom-preaching work in Burma for some time after the war.

Brother R. W. Kirk, the first Gilead School graduate sent here, arrived early in 1947. That same year saw the first visit of the Society’s third president, N. H. Knorr, and his secretary, M. G. Henschel. To coincide with that visit, a convention was arranged for the 19 Witnesses in the country.

 Brothers Knorr and Henschel came from Siam by seaplane. It touched down on the other side of the Rangoon River on April 12, 1947, and by a motor launch they were then transported across the river to a pier where a bus was waiting to take them to the center of Rangoon. As they rode into the main part of the city, they could see how much devastation has been caused by the war. Temporary bamboo homes had been constructed along the roads and thousands of people were living in these improvised structures. As the visitors got to the center of the city, they found that the buildings were made of brick and were quite modern. But many were merely shells, as the interiors had been burned out.

Brother Knorr was to give his public address on Sunday morning at ten o’clock. The talk was well advertised by the 18 congregation publishers and one missionary then living in Rangoon. A motion-picture house, the New Excelsior Theatre, was the place chosen for the public talk. About an hour before the lecture, however, the theater manager suffered a heart attack and died. So his assistants quickly hung up a sign stating that, due to his death, the theater would be closed for the day. Nevertheless, the brothers prevailed upon those left in charge to permit the meeting to go on; so access was gained to the theater. It was a pleasant surprise to see 287 present.

Rangoon is a warm and humid city, and even at ten o’clock in the morning it does not take much exercise for one to perspire. Brother Knorr did not have tropical clothing and soon became soaked with perspiration while he delivered the public discourse. There was no ventilation on the platform, and the doors had been closed to keep out the heat. So he sweltered and found it quite novel to give a discourse and feel water running down his back and into his shoes. Why, at the end of the talk he had wet feet!

But that was just one way to get wet in Rangoon. Before going to an afternoon meeting at the newly built Kingdom Hall, the travelers reported to the airways office to check on their departure for Calcutta. It was the first day of Thingyan (the water festival), a religious celebration when the Buddhists throw water on one another. Brothers Knorr, Henschel, Kirk and Tsatos climbed into a jeep and got on their way downtown. The young people were out in full force on this first day of the festival, lining up on both sides of the streets where water hydrants were located. Every pedestrian and vehicle passing by was showered with  water. Tin cans, buckets, pots, water guns and hoses were used to throw water on people. The report in The Watchtower says:

“The four of us were soaked before we got very far, but we would laugh and try to enjoy our plight every time we got drenched. We might as well have fallen into the Irrawaddy river, for that is how we looked by the time we got down to the airways office. And we were only getting a good start, for after our tickets were fixed up we had to return to the same part of the city whence we had come, to the Kingdom Hall.

“When we stepped from the jeep in front of the Kingdom Hall and let some of the water drip off our frames we found some of the brethren were already assembled at the Kingdom Hall, but they too had had similar experiences. However, they were familiar with the customs of the people and had brought with them in waterproof containers some changes of clothing. They changed their clothes and looked presentable. But as for the three speakers of the afternoon, Brothers Kirk, Knorr and Henschel, they looked as if they had just come in out of the rain. It was good that the brethren understood the position. The speakers went ahead giving the Scriptural advice and admonition. The only interruption was that about halfway through the meeting some bold young men ventured to the door of the hall and threw in a bucketful of water, hitting no one. The 37 brethren who attended the meeting enjoyed it very much.”

During this trip, arrangements were made for the establishment of a branch office of the Society in Rangoon, beginning September 1, 1947. Also, plans were made to send more missionaries to Burma.

MORE AID FROM GILEAD

On July 4, 1947, the brothers assembled at the jetty to welcome Norman H. Barber, the second missionary to arrive in Burma. What a delightful surprise to see two brothers disembark instead of one! The unexpected arrival was an old associate. At Singapore, Brother Barber had met Frank Dewar, who had decided to accompany him to Burma.

At that time, Burma was seeking independence from Britain. After much negotiation, she became independent on January 4, 1948, at 4 a.m. Would this particularly affect our work? It did not, for the Burmese government promised freedom of worship.

 Two more Gilead graduates, Brothers R. W. Richards and H. A. Smedstad, arrived on January 15, 1948, just 11 days after Burma had attained independence. As they landed, the immigration officers asked: “Where are your visas?” “We have no visas,” was the answer. The brothers explained that they had left Canada (a self-governing dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations) in November 1947, when Burma was part of the British Empire, and they had expected to arrive in this country before it became independent; so no visas were called for. However, the officers were unimpressed. Their country now was independent. “How can you enter Burma without a visa?” they insisted. After long deliberation, one of the officers relented. How relieved the new missionaries were! With that problem resolved, they were taken to the recently rented missionary home at 39 Signal Pagoda Road, Rangoon.

The missionaries were pleasantly surprised to find that the Burmese generally were approachable, friendly and hospitable. Even when a stranger called at their homes, often he was served tea and cake and made to feel welcome.

Speaking of food, the Burmese dread the odor from frying food, particularly when there is a sick person in the house. They claim that this odor can cause the death of an individual having any kind of sore and also that of a newborn baby and its mother. Fearing this, they close doors and windows, then cover the “odor allergic” person with a thick blanket, even in the hot summertime, till the odor has passed away. This is the reason why a Burmese housewife, when about to fry something in her own home, will loudly warn her neighbors.

The missionaries were unaware of this Burmese viewpoint. So, one day when they were frying something for their lunch, the Burmese lady who lived upstairs came down and angrily exclaimed: “Now look here! If you want to fry anything, tell us first and do it on the pavement. Do you hear?” The confused missionaries could not understand this until the local brothers explained the matter to them. Well, Brother Barber was frying fish out on the pavement one day, when, to his surprise, a number of children gathered around him with money in their hands. They were waiting patiently to buy the fish. It is common to see men frying and selling eatables on the pavements here in Burma.

 A PERIOD OF UNREST

Not very long after Burma gained independence, various dissident groups and tribes rose up in armed rebellion against the newly established government. They went underground and played havoc with the government, as well as with the people. The dissidents blew up bridges and railway lines and caused much damage. Most of the insurgents were Karens and Kachins, converts to the American Baptist Mission. Every now and then, one would hear reports that passenger trains had been wrecked, towns looted and water pipelines blown up by the insurgents.

It was under such conditions that the Witnesses traveled from Maymyo to attend the district assembly held at Rangoon. On January 19, 1949, after the assembly, Frank Dewar went to Maymyo to help the small group there.

On February 4, 1949, the Burmese police arrested all suspected Karen nationals in Maymyo, sending them to the Mandalay jail, and later to the Shwebo jail. On February 6, the Burmese intelligence officers had the police arrest Brother Dewar who was staying in the home of a Karen Witness. They had suspected him of spying for the rebel Karens. After one night, however, the authorities released him.

In March, the Karen rebel forces attacked Maymyo and Mandalay. Bitter fighting ensued between the rebels and the Burmese government forces. For several nights people had to sleep in trenches while bullets whistled overhead. By March 7 the battle was over, with the Karen insurgents occupying both towns. The rebels captured many other towns and even came as far as Insein, 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Rangoon, the capital city. But their powerful thrust did not last long. The government forces regrouped and, being well equipped with modern arms, forced the insurgents back to the jungles. While this fighting was going on, our witnessing work was confined solely to Rangoon, Insein, Maymyo and Thinganain, with communications between the brothers completely cut off.

“THIS IS THE TRUTH”

In 1948, a Kingdom publisher obtained employment with the Burma Oil Company and was transferred to the oil field in Chauk. As soon as he and his family settled down there, they started witnessing on Sundays and holidays. While declaring the “good news” from house to house, they met a sheeplike Tamilian. The  very same week that this man, M. C. Nathan, met the Witnesses he cut off all ties with the Catholic Church and, without delay, became a witness of Jehovah.

At the time, Brother Nathan’s nephew was spending his school vacation with him and could not avoid hearing the Kingdom message as his uncle witnessed to his own family. Although the youth had considered becoming a Catholic priest, in time he admitted, “What uncle says is true.” Whenever his uncle was not at home, he would pick up the Society’s publications and read them. The message was so convincing that he said, “This is the truth.” Accordingly, this young man, Maurice A. Raj, was baptized in the Irrawaddy River on December 24, 1949. In time, he began pioneering, and in 1963 he became a circuit overseer. Then, in 1966, Brother Raj was appointed both as the district and branch overseer.

ANOTHER HELPFUL VISIT

After the Karen insurrection, the village of Thinganain was wiped out by a ruthless gang of robbers. Not only did our brothers lose all their possessions, Bible literature and homes, but one of them was murdered. The rest were scattered and practically all contact with them was lost. Afterward, it was found that, because of the many hardships, all but four had died.

In 1951, after the government had restored order in the major areas of the country, we were able to reorganize our witnessing activities and good progress resulted. When the Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, and his secretary, M. G. Henschel, had visited Burma in 1947, there were only 18 publishers and one Gilead School graduate in the country. Now, with this second visit scheduled to take place on April 10, 1951, Burma had a new peak of 94 publishers.

An assembly was arranged to coincide with the around-the-world trip of Brothers Knorr and Henschel. After a rousing welcome at the airport, our visitors were rushed off to the convention, which was already in session at the Kingdom Hall. A round of applause greeted them. Brother Henschel gave his talk first and was followed by Brother Knorr. Their discourses were translated into Burmese.

On Wednesday Brother Knorr spoke to 256 persons gathered at Rangoon’s City Hall to hear the public lecture “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land.” Then, while Brother Henschel was speaking, Brother Knorr was taken to the government radio station in  Rangoon to give a 15-minute talk over the air. This program also was heard at the assembly hall. The convention itself continued the next day and ended with 90 persons attending the closing meeting.

During this visit Brother Knorr made arrangements for the newly appointed branch overseer, Robert W. Richards, to visit the brothers in the north where there were problems due to the insurgents. His visits proved very upbuilding and fruitful.

There had previously been a change in branch overseers when Robert W. Kirk (Burma’s first branch overseer) had left this assignment to marry a pioneer sister, Claire D’Souza. In 1954 Sister Kirk was sent to Gilead’s 22nd class, and that year Brother Kirk was reappointed as branch overseer. From 1955 to 1959, the Burma branch sent six more local pioneers to Gilead. Brother D. J. O’Neill and Sister Norma Barber graduated in 1956; a local Lushai special pioneer, Joyce Ralte, graduated in 1958; and Dorinda Smedstad, Georgianna Redmond and Doris Ba Aye (now Mrs. Maurice Raj) graduated in 1959.

In 1956, Burma was again on Brother Knorr’s itinerary when he visited countries in the East. This time there were 268 persons present to hear him speak on the subject “Making All Mankind One Under Their Creator.” After the public talk Brothers Knorr and Kirk rushed off by car to the Burma Broadcasting Station, where Brother Knorr was interviewed. Significantly, it was during this convention that he released the new Burmese Watchtower.

In speaking to the missionaries, Brother Knorr particularly emphasized the importance of learning the Burmese language. The missionaries admitted that they still were not fluent in Burmese. Impressed with his remarks, however, they set out in earnest to learn the language.

Naturally, the first thing the missionaries tried to learn was what to say at the doors in their house-to-house witnessing work. So they learned short Bible presentations and a conclusion, Ta-ouk tamma, meaning, “Each booklet four annas.” When one missionary tried this out in the field, a householder looked confused and asked the woman standing next to her, “What is he saying?” “He says that he has eggs to sell,” was the prompt reply. “How much is he charging for them?” asked the first woman. The other replied, “Twenty-five annas for an egg.” Instead of saying Ta-ouk, the missionary had said Ta-ook, as though eggs were being sold.

 It is really very difficult for foreigners to pronounce Burmese words correctly. If one is unable to pronounce each syllable accurately, the meaning may be just the opposite of what was intended. For example, “a new world” (kaba-a’thit) can become “a dead world” kaba-a’theyt), if not pronounced correctly. So quite often after witnessing in the Burmese language the missionaries would be told by the householder: “Please speak in Burmese. I don’t understand English.”

ENCOURAGED BY ANOTHER VISITOR

Now let us turn our attention to the visit of another representative of the Watch Tower Society. It was at 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 30, 1956, that a plane carrying Brother F. W. Franz, then the Society’s vice-president, landed at Mingaladon airport. What a joyous occasion it was as we traveled toward Rangoon by bus, singing Kingdom songs accompanied by Brother Franz playing his mouth organ! On our arrival at the Kingdom Hall, the Watchtower study was just ending. Promptly, Brother Franz was put on the program to give us a travelogue for more than an hour. A five-day assembly was to begin three days from then, but the 55 persons gathered at the Kingdom Hall felt as if it had already begun.

During his eight-day stay in Burma, Brother Franz had the pleasure of lodging at the missionary home with the five graduates of Gilead. He was surprised to learn that the New Year celebration was held even in Buddhist Burma. Yes, at midnight of Monday, December 31, with the twelfth and last stroke of the night watchman’s iron, there was a chain reaction of firecrackers, the sounding of sirens and the blowing of whistles of vessels in the Rangoon River.

Delegates to the assembly came from an unusually wide area. Whole families traveled hundreds of miles on trains with hard wooden seats, not knowing when they would be delayed in view of the unsettled conditions then prevailing in the country. They arrived safely, however, and were glad to be in time for the convention. One delegate, who was due to deliver her baby about assembly time, came to Rangoon early and gave birth to her child. A few days later she was listening to the assembly talks with her baby in her arms.

On Saturday, 11 persons (a record number up to that time) symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God by submitting to water baptism at the Royal Lakes, where one can see the reflection of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda,  its gold sheath gleaming in the sunshine. The baptism candidates were composed of four racial groups​—six Tamilians, three Karens, one Anglo-Indian and one Gurkha.

Nearly all the discourses were translated from English into Burmese, and the baptism talk was partly translated into Tamil. A Tamil meeting on Saturday summarized the main talks of the assembly.

Until Thursday it appeared that F. W. Franz would be prevented from delivering the widely announced public talk “New World Peace in Our Time​—Why?” But by the skillful maneuvering of the Almighty God, Jehovah, the way was cleared for the public event to go on as advertised. At 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 6, 1957, the public meeting was held at the Railway Institute Hall, with 237 persons present. After the talk, the film “The Happiness of the New World Society” was shown for the first time in Burma, and the hall was filled to overflowing. On Monday, at 10:30 p.m., Brother Franz said au revoir to us and flew to Bangkok.

The visit of F. W. Franz encouraged us very much. After the assembly the brothers returned to their homes well fed spiritually. Immediately after the convention, certain pioneers were sent to new territories to spread the Kingdom message. By then our work was going ahead well in Insein, Bassein, Maymyo, Taunggyi and other places.

PROGRESS IN THE “GOLDEN CITY”

Missionary Robert W. Richards and his wife, who was appointed as a special pioneer, were assigned to work in Mandalay, the second-largest city in Burma, with a population of 180,000. It was founded in 1857 C.E. by King Mindon. The Burmese often call it Shweman, meaning “Golden City.” Why? Well, near Mandalay Hill King Mindon built a magnificent gold-gilded wooden palace surrounded by high, thick walls. Unfortunately, during World War II the palace was destroyed, but the square brick walls that guarded the palace still stand.

Another place of interest to the visitor to Burma is the nearly 1,000-foot- (300-meter-) high pagoda-crowned Mandalay Hill. Three covered stairways, marked at intervals by giant statues of Buddha, lead up to the top of the hill. From there a magnificent view of Mandalay and its environs can be enjoyed. Everything around the hill seems to speak of King Mindon, who built several pagodas here.

By far the most famous of these is the Kuthodaw Pagoda, lying just southeast of the hill. There one can  see truly remarkable religious work. Inside the pagoda compound stand rows of small white pagodas. Each little pagoda covers an upright marble slab on which has been inscribed in Pali a portion of the Buddhist scriptures. The slabs are four or five feet high and three or four feet wide (about 1.5 by 1.2 meters). To inscribe one slab alone would require a great deal of painstaking work; yet there they stand by the hundreds. The grand total of these slabs is given as no fewer than 729. This remarkable work was performed at the order of King Mindon in 1857 C.E. He summoned 2,400 monks to the palace. They discussed and examined the Buddhist scriptures for five months and then had them inscribed on the 729 marble slabs.

In 1957, the first circuit assembly to be held outside Rangoon was scheduled in Mandalay. During that assembly only one person was baptized. He was the first Kachin to embrace true Christianity. Nobody knew at that time that through him many more Kachins would see the truth and would constitute six congregations and many isolated groups by 1978. This brother later became the presiding overseer of one of these Kachin congregations.

Incidentally, Mandalay has extremes of climate. During winter it gets very cold, but in summer it is unbearably hot and dry. In fact, some of the brothers who came to this assembly from other parts of the country were not able to bear the heat. So they would dampen their bed sheets with water before retiring and some would even sleep on wet mats. In the daytime the brothers’ shirts would simply be soaked with perspiration. But in this city Brother Robert W. Richards, a Canadian, witnessed without any complaints, along with his wife and other local pioneers.

PERSEVERING ELSEWHERE

Meanwhile, Frank Dewar and his wife, Lily, worked very hard in Bassein and managed to establish a congregation there. Bassein is a coastal town in the south where many Karen Baptists live. There, as in Mandalay, the Baptist clergymen have firm control of their people. And, as in other places, their cry is: “Why don’t you go and preach to the Buddhists? Why do you come taking away our sheep?” Frank Dewar was referred to in Bassein as “that white-faced sheep thief.”

Whatever we might be called, however, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Burma have kept on helping the people  to flee from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. But it is not very easy to go from house to house and village to village in the rurals of Burma. During the summer the brothers have to walk on hot and dusty pathways. They come home tired and covered with dust. During the monsoons, they return muddy after crossing flooded fields.

In the villages most of the houses are built with bamboo poles, the sides of these homes being covered with bamboo mats and the roofs with thatched grass. These houses are always built four to six feet (about 1 to 2 meters) above the ground. The floor is a sort of woven bamboo mat stretched tightly across bamboo “beams.”’ Usually, the steps are made of bamboos or logs. At the steps one finds a water jar, with a can. Rainwater from the roof fills such vessels. The jar is kept there for people to wash their feet before entering the house. So when doing door-to-door witnessing work, a person washes his feet before entering the house. When leaving, he gets back into the dust or mud (depending on the season) and trudges on to the next house. Again he washes his feet before entering that home. And so it goes till the end of the day’s witnessing.

Of course, in Rangoon a Witness would take a bus to his territory, where he would start climbing the stairs in four-story apartment buildings. In these there are from six to eight flats. When you ring the doorbell, someone looks through a peephole in the door. We cannot blame them for not readily opening the door, because very often impostors come to the door as friends, then enter the house and rob the occupants at gunpoint. So, many times we finish a whole block of flats and never get a chance to get into one home or present the Kingdom message.

Imagine yourself carrying on your shoulder a bag full of books and booklets in different languages (Rangoon is a cosmopolitan city), and two Bibles (one in English and the other in Burmese). Perspiring from head to foot, you can become quite exhausted. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses are happy in Burma, as elsewhere, for the “sheep” are hearing the voice of the Great Shepherd, Jehovah.

In 1958 Brother Robert W. Richards and his wife were assigned to Kachin State. Their base of activities was the town of Bhamo, Northern Burma. Brother Richards tells us:

“The population of Bhamo consisted of Kachins, Karens, Chinese and a few Shans and Burmese. Scattered  villages round about were populated mostly by Shans and Kachins. Of the latter, about half were of the Catholic and Baptist religions. The remainder were animists. Since my wife and I both had bicycles, we spent most of the first week visiting the villages near town. On Sunday we worked in town. Everywhere we were received with kindness. Many of the villagers kept chickens and, before we left their houses, they would bring us welcome gifts of chicken eggs.

“We arranged to call back the following week on those who showed interest, and we were totally unprepared for the reception we received. The villagers still were friendly, but told us firmly: ‘Unless you bring a letter signed by the Ministerial Alliance, giving you permission to preach in this locality, we cannot discuss religion with you.’ What a surprise! Already the clergy of Christendom were busy warning their flock not to listen to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What should we do? Well, what would Jesus Christ have done in our place? . . . We kept on preaching.

“The Kachin Bible, which was widely circulated among at least the Kachin Baptists, contained the name Jehovah hundreds of times in the Hebrew Scriptures. What was the attitude of the clergy of Christendom toward this glorious name? Soon we had an opportunity to find out. I had established a Bible study with a retired army captain who spoke English well. Some of his family were churchgoers. One day the Kachin Baptist pastor visited their home and someone mustered up enough courage to ask him what he thought of Jehovah’s Witnesses. His reply was shocking. He said, ‘I would just as soon smell the smell of human dung as hear this name Jehovah!’”

Regarding a trip to the capital of Kachin State, Brother Richards writes:

“My wife and I arranged to make what was to be our last visit to Myitkyina, 115 miles [185 kilometers] northwest of Bhamo over a rough mountain road. It was a tiresome trip by overloaded jeep and took six hours. So we tried to get an early start.

“This particular morning everything seemed to go wrong. Instead of catching the first passenger jeep going out of town, we were able to go only on the third and were irritated at the loss of time. Little did we dream that the delay would save us from capture and kidnapping, if not worse. Unknown to travelers, insurgents were entrenched alongside a particularly wild section of the road some 60 miles [100 kilometers] from Bhamo. They seized the two cars that went  ahead of us. Ours was next. Suddenly, though, the rebels themselves were taken by surprise when, entirely by chance, an army officer with a strong escort happened to pass by from the opposite direction. The insurgents fired on the leading truck, and several soldiers were killed and wounded. The following troops, however, drove back the rebels. A jeep carrying the wounded soldiers halted us and told us to wait some time until the road was cleared. This we did, and we finally arrived in Myitkyina late but safe. With grateful hearts, we thanked Jehovah God for that deliverance.”

FRUITFULNESS IN THE CHIN HILLS AND VICINITY

Till 1959, the work of declaring the “good news” was concentrated among the Karens, Kachins and Mons. But in November 1960 we began witnessing in virgin territory​—the Chin Hills, in the west, near the Indian border. How fruitful this territory proved to be! Now we have 20 congregations there. Maurice Raj, one of the special pioneers who went to this area, tells us:

“Tahan is located on a dusty plain at the foot of the Chin Hills. . . . At that time, it had a population of about 5,000 and was really a great sprawling village, inhabited mostly by Lushais who had come over from India and a few Chins from the hills. The Lushais belonged to various denominations of Christendom, and the Chins were Catholics and Baptists, while the remainder of the residents were animists.

“The Lushais and Chins are great readers of the Bible and they love to discuss religion. The very night we arrived in Tahan, about 40 persons gathered to discuss the Bible. How they learned about our arrival I do not know. But they were there, each one with his own Lushai Bible. They simply barraged us with questions, and we had to use interpreters, for they could not speak Burmese or English. These people would sit there and ask us questions till 11 p.m. or midnight. This went on for many days. . . .

“After some time the attendance at the nightly gathering decreased in number, leaving only a few genuine ones. I quickly turned the gatherings into regular meetings, five of them. They were held with the help of interpreters.

“In a month’s time five persons were going out in the field service. The Society sent another special pioneer brother to work with me in Tahan. . . . As we walked to our territory, we would practice speaking  to each other in the Lushai language. At the same time, we used to look for someone who could translate our presentations at the doors. One day we found a young boy herding cows and asked if he could speak in Burmese and would be our interpreter. He agreed to do this at once, and after a few houses, he started to witness by himself. (Two years later when I visited the Tahan Congregation as a circuit overseer, the presiding overseer, Brother James Xavier, my former pioneer partner, directed my attention to a young and lively publisher who looked familiar. He was the same boy who had been our interpreter.)

“After seven months, two special pioneer sisters were sent to Tahan and I was called back to Rangoon. Within a year the pioneers were speaking fluently in the Lushai language . . . The work went ahead very fast, a congregation was formed and a Kingdom Hall was built. It was the first Kingdom Hall to be constructed by the Witnesses in Burma. This congregation produced 13 Lushai special pioneers.”

In 1960, Burma reached a peak of 201 Kingdom publishers, as a result of the growth in the Chin State. A record of 38 were immersed that year. The peak rose to 216 publishers in 1962.

In that same year, while the brothers were attending a circuit assembly at Moulmein, it was announced by radio that on March 2, 1962, a coup d’etat had taken place. Of course, we maintain Christian neutrality. But we wondered if the change of government would affect our work. Would this new government permit the bringing in of more missionaries? And would it allow our special pioneers to attend Gilead School? In 1961, the previous government had refused to allow two of our pioneers to go to Gilead. A second attempt to obtain passports also had failed. But what would now take place?

The new military government guaranteed freedom of worship. Their policy is that if religion does not interfere with political affairs, they will not interfere with religion. As they have requested, we have provided full information about our work.

“EVERLASTING GOOD NEWS” ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

What a thrill it was for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Burma, a country then with little more than 200 Kingdom publishers, to host one of the Around-the-World conventions of God’s people! We certainly looked forward  to this “Everlasting Good News” Assembly, to be held at Rangoon in August 1963. Due to strict regulations governing the holding of meetings and the use of sound equipment, special police permits had to be obtained. Although these had been requested long in advance, the necessary permission had not been forthcoming. All angles of approach to the authorities had been exhausted. Then the branch overseer happened to mention the problem in a conversation with a friendly Buddhist who was printing the assembly programs. He offered his help, made the necessary contact and placed the required permits in our hands in time.

The assembly was held at the Rangoon City Hall. In arranging for the cafeteria, we encountered a problem peculiar to Burma, the one commonly referred to as “frying smell.” As explained earlier, Burmese people strongly believe that the smell of food frying is injurious to health, particularly to that of sick people. Since many offices are located in adjoining sections of the City Hall, the brothers, while given permission to cook in the room reserved for that purpose, were earnestly requested by the staff not to make any “frying smell.” This meant that some of our cooks had to start on the job before 4 a.m. in order to avoid any semblance of “frying smell” after 8 a.m. Otherwise, objections likely would have led to a closing down of the cafeteria. It is to the credit of the brothers that no difficulty of any kind arose with the City Hall neighbors. Incidentally, one City Hall employee said that ours was the first group ever permitted to cook on the premises.

That assembly was unforgettable. Never had we seen so many of our foreign brothers and sisters all at one time. Among our visitors were Brothers N. H. Knorr, F. W. Franz and Grant Suiter.

The assembly opened, on August 8, with an attendance of 310. At the conclusion of a moving talk that evening, Brother Suiter released the long-awaited Burmese edition of the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained.

On Saturday, at 6 p.m., Brother Knorr delivered the public talk “When God Is King over All the Earth.” To the joy of all the brothers, by then the attendance figures had climbed to a peak of 603. Since an estimated 100 of those present were foreign brothers, and about 200 were local publishers, some 300 of the public attended the lecture. That was excellent, indeed!

 That evening a group of 10 missionaries serving in Burma enjoyed a meal with Brothers Knorr and Franz. After exchanging interesting experiences, the group listened intently as Brother Knorr gave pointed instructions to “keep working faithfully and keep building up your brothers.” Clearly, he showed that whether the local organization could stand up under the fiery test of persecution would depend chiefly on how mature it would be at that time.

A notable discourse on the assembly’s final day was “The World​—God’s Field of Work,” given by F. W. Franz. After a short intermission, he brought the memorable assembly to a close with a two-hour talk and a final prayer.

FOREIGN MISSIONARIES DEPORTED

We reached a peak of 270 Kingdom proclaimers in 1965, and our work was making steady progress. But the month of May 1966 brought shocking news. The government informed the branch office that all our foreign missionaries were to leave the country by June 30, 1966. Of course, not only our missionaries, but also those of Christendom were ordered to depart by June 30. Later, it appeared that the reason for this action was that Christendom’s missionaries were interfering in the political affairs of the country. Nothing could be done but to arrange for Brother Kirk to leave for England, to join his sick wife there, and for Brothers Barber and Richards, with their wives, to depart for India. Frank Dewar and his family left for Thailand.

Now what would happen to our work in Burma? All the foreign brothers had left. Would the local Witnesses be able to carry on the work?

Though the brothers were shocked, they were not discouraged. They knew that Jehovah God was with them. (1 Chron. 28:20) Quickly, the Society appointed Brother Maurice Raj as the branch overseer, and Brother Dunstan O’Neill took care of the circuit work. Yes, God’s people in Burma functioned as usual. In fact, our work continued to move ahead, showing that Jehovah’s hand is not short.​—Isa. 59:1.

THE WORK EXPANDS

Toward the end of 1966 the branch office opened up the witnessing work in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in Northern Burma. Most of the Kachin people belong to some denomination of Christendom, but her religions there, as elsewhere, had led the people into  darkness. Most of her young people had joined the insurgents and were wreaking havoc in the jungle areas, blowing up bridges, wrecking passenger trams, and so forth. But some Kachin people, particularly the elderly ones, were looking for guidance elsewhere. It was the right time for us to declare to such people the message of God’s kingdom.

Labang Gam, the Kachin special pioneer who went to Myitkyina, worked very hard. For the first few months, he witnessed from door to door from morning till evening. Before the clergy realized it, the town was flooded with our magazines, and everyone was talking about the Witnesses. Then waves of attack came. Every Sunday, in all the churches, sermons were given against Jehovah’s Witnesses. People were told not to talk to the pioneer and not to accept literature from him. Nevertheless, the interest increased. In fact, it was too great for one pioneer; so another was sent to help him. When they could not care for all the increase, more pioneers were sent. In six months a congregation was formed. And in 1968 the Myitkyina Congregation built a Kingdom Hall.

Many publishers from the Myitkyina Congregation were appointed as special pioneers and were sent to Monhyin, Bhamo, Katha and Putao. The pioneers who went to Lashio had such success that a congregation was established there within a year’s time. Witnesses there have also built a Kingdom Hall, one with bamboo mats and a grass roof. Now in Kachin State our work is carried on in nine different places. Though the interest is very great among the Kachin people in the interior, it has been impossible for us to send pioneers into those areas because of the rebels.

In December 1966, the branch overseer made an extensive tour, visiting all the congregations and isolated groups, as well as some new places. Many new special pioneers were appointed and were sent to virgin territories. As a result, our work continued to expand.

AIDED BY HARDWORKING ZONE OVERSEERS

Here it seems fitting to mention the zone overseers and how hard they have worked when visiting this branch. At one time the Burmese government did not allow tourists to come into the country. So one of the zone overseers, Ronald Jacka, had to come in with a transit visa that allowed him to stay here only 24 hours. He arrived at the Mingaladon airport at 7 p.m. and, after the usual formalities at the customs office, he got  to the branch at 9 p.m. That night Brother Jacka started the work at 10 p.m. He and the branch overseer, Brother Raj, worked the whole night, neither of them getting a wink of sleep. At 5 o’clock in the morning, they left for the airport. The same thing happened when Brother T. H. Sanderson of India visited Burma as a zone overseer. Even though these visits were short, they were very much appreciated.

AN ASSEMBLY THAT WAS DIFFERENT

The 1969 “Peace on Earth” District Assembly was something different in that it was held, not in Rangoon as usual, but in Myitkyina. In Burma the majority of the people travel by train or steamer, and usually all these are crowded, passengers often sitting on the roof. The Society arranged for special railway coaches for the journey to Myitkyina. The Burma Railway authorities were very cooperative, providing two coaches from Rangoon to Mandalay, where two more were added. Had it not been for this arrangement, it would have been almost impossible to travel the 722 miles (1,162 kilometers) from Rangoon to Myitkyina in the congested train for those two days and two nights.

Delegates from Lower Burma left Rangoon on Saturday and were met at the Mandalay station on Sunday morning by conventioners from Chin and Shan States. Since they were not to leave Mandalay until the late evening, house-to-house preaching work was scheduled.

At Mandalay and Mohnyin the Society arranged for the delegates to have food. Usually, when a train stops at a station near mealtime, passengers rush to the food stalls to buy something to eat. Often, though, many miss their meals because the food has been sold out. But the Witnesses received their food right in the coaches. How grateful they were to know that the food cost them only 80 pyas (12 cents, U.S.) per meal, whereas food packets sold at the stations cost at least kyat 2.00 (29 cents, U.S.)! In appreciation, one brother said: “How thankful I am to the Society for being considerate! If it were not for this arrangement, I would have spent about K20.00 [$2.86, U.S.] for my family of eight just for one meal. But now I have spent only K6.40 [$0.91, U.S.] and yet the food was good.”

These traveling Christians were cared for, not only with physical food, but also with spiritual food. Eighty pioneers were assigned to give Bible talks on the train.

A huge bamboo dome was constructed for the assembly.  The main auditorium, which had no supporting center posts, was constructed with bamboos, except for the roof. Bamboo poles were first spiked into the ground at equal intervals opposite each other, and then the lighter and more agile men started climbing the poles in order to bend them. This climbing work had to be done very carefully and slowly. The bamboos bent toward each other and, as the tops met in the center, they were tied together. Bamboos also were used for tying. How? By slicing them very thin and soaking them in water they became useful ropes. The skill and speed of experienced hands in slicing bamboos really is astounding. Finally, the bamboo dome was roofed with grass thatches.

The cafeteria tables also were made with bamboo poles and mats. For that matter, bamboo poles split in half, with the partitions removed, served as troughs conveying water from a nearby well. During the assembly bamboos also were used as receptacles for water and soup.

The delegates were well rewarded, for never before had three new Burmese publications been released during an assembly. How glad the audience was to receive the books “Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie” and “Your Word Is a Lamp to My Foot,” as well as the new songbook “Singing and Accompanying Yourselves with Music in Your Hearts”! Besides these Burmese releases, the delegates were blessed with five new English publications.

Three Bible dramas were presented. But how did we manage with the needed costumes? Well, it is really amazing how well local clothing can be converted into the ancient Israelite style of dress. The Lushai sarongs became very useful on this occasion. Each participant in the dramas brought his own costume. But the brother who was to portray the prophet Daniel forgot to bring his costume, including his gray beard! Something had to be done quickly!

The curtain was raised. The drama started. And there was aged Daniel. Those in the ‘Dressing Department’ had taken some cotton and two pieces of adhesive from the First-Aid Department. The pieces of tape were sewed together with the adhesive sides out. One side was placed on the face and the cotton was stuck onto the other side. To get the required color, powdered charcoal and ashes were mixed with cooking oil and this was rubbed onto the cotton. So, there was “Daniel”!

 PROMOTING GREATER EXPANSION

During 1970 we tried to expand the work even more. The message of God’s kingdom was not then being proclaimed in the Naga Hills, in the northwestern part of the country. So two special pioneers were sent to Hkamti in the month of April. They found many interested persons there. Why, in just one week five individuals were attending meetings!

But the rapid progress was short-lived. The government issued an order saying that the brothers must leave Hkamti Province (the Naga Hills) in 24 hours or be imprisoned. No reason was given for the order. The pioneers appealed, but to no avail; the officer concerned with the matter was determined that they should leave Hkamti. Traveling to and from Hkamti was done only by air, and there was no daily flight. So the brothers told the officer that they could not leave within 24 hours, for they had to wait for the next plane, which was not due within the time limit.

Still, the officer was determined that they should leave within 24 hours. “But how?” asked the brothers. “Make a bamboo raft and float on the river and go,” was the firm reply. To travel on a raft for hundreds of miles on a rough river would be absolutely impossible. Yet, no amount of reasoning did any good. The special pioneers, Brothers Win Pe and Aung Naing, were in a great predicament, but Jehovah did not abandon them. Unexpectedly, an air force plane landed at the Hkamti airfield. So, the authorities put the brothers on that plane, giving them a free trip back to Myitkyina. Thereafter, the interested persons were helped through correspondence.

At that time, an unexpected problem flared up in Tiddim, Chin State. The Mizo rebels in India had crossed the border, had set fire to some places in Tiddim, and had then returned to their own country. Mizos are known as Lushais in Burma. So, many Lushais were suspected of being supporters of those foreign rebels. Lal Chhana and Chal Liana, two Lushai special pioneers in that town, were falsely accused of being agents for the rebels and were put in custody. They were released only after six months of detention. At the same time and for the same reason, B. T. Ruala and Vai Chunnunga, special pioneers in Khampat, were put in Tamu jail. They were released after six months without any charges filed against them.

FURTHER PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

Not long thereafter, the brothers in Vanna, Chin State, encountered opposition because of their stand  as Christian neutrals. At election time, voting was mandatory. When the brothers refused to take part in politics because of their religious convictions and determination to keep free from the world, they were not allowed to do any house-to-house witnessing. (Jas. 1:27) Also, Witness children were expelled from school. At that, the branch overseer, accompanied by his wife, went to see and encourage the brothers in that area. From Rangoon to Kalemyo the trip was by plane, then by truck from there to Haka. Though this “bus” was meant for only 22 passengers, more than 50 were jammed inside, with another 10 persons or so on the roof. The journey took two days, even though it was only 112 miles (180 kilometers). Because of the weather, the roads were very muddy and slippery. The dangerous winding road takes one as high as 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 meters) above sea level. From Haka the trip was completed on horseback and on foot to Vanna and Hmaika, where the trouble was taking place. Opportunity was afforded to speak to various local authorities and explain our neutral stand based on our religious faith. The brothers and sisters were encouraged by this visit and appreciated it very much. They are strong in faith and are determined to remain loyal to God.

When things “cooled off” somewhat and changes in local authority took place at Hkamti, we sent four other special pioneers there to help the interested persons. Within a few months, three groups had been formed, with 16 persons reporting field service.

The pioneers penetrated deep into the jungle, calling on all the villagers with the Kingdom message. This certainly irritated the clergymen of Christendom. With their cunning lips and lying ways, they poisoned the minds of the local authorities by falsely accusing the brothers of being agents of the insurgents. After much interrogation, the pioneers were ordered to leave the province within seven days. No amount of explanation helped. When the final day came, the pioneers went to the office of the Council of State to explain that there was no transportation available on that day and that they would have to stay for a day or two longer. But the authorities were determined that they should leave that very day, before sunset. So, Brothers S. Dewar, B. Mawia and Ba Yee, as well as Sister Z. Liani, had to take their belongings and depart from Hkamti immediately. They kept walking until they got to a village that night. However, the brothers and interested  persons that they left behind still are strong in the truth and are regularly declaring the “good news.”

COPING WITH PRINTING PROBLEMS

Our production of Kinhmyozin (the Burmese Watchtower) rapidly increased, until it reached 8,500 copies in the month of January 1967. Then the government put an end to the increase by allowing us to print only 5,000 copies monthly beginning with the May 1967 issue. To make matters worse, in April 1972 the authorities informed us that they would be able to give us only enough paper to print, not 5,000 copies, but a mere 3,000. That number of magazines would be too few for us. What could we do? Well, all that could be done was to take the matter to Jehovah God in prayer.

Maurice Raj, the branch overseer, asked for a special interview with the manager of Trade Corporation No. 9, and it was granted immediately. Brother Raj explained to the manager that the Watch Tower Society would be able to buy paper with foreign money, that is, with United States dollars. This was very appealing to him. “But,” said Brother Raj, “we would be able to do this only if we could buy paper for 10,000 copies.” The result? During the very next month we were able to print 10,000 copies. Why, since January 1975 we have had the privilege of printing two issues monthly​—20,000 copies every month!

It seems appropriate to explain how we do the printing here. Four copies of each issue to be printed must be typed and submitted to the Printers and Publishers Board for approval. It may take a week, or sometimes even a month, to get the permit. After receiving the printing permit, we apply for the permit to buy the paper. This takes another week or so. With that permission from the paper controllers’ office, we go to the godown (a warehouse where paper is stocked) to buy paper. There we must line up for our turn to make a purchase.

After the issue is printed and before the magazines are brought to the branch office from the printing press, we have to send 17 copies to the Printers and Publishers Board, which checks to see whether the magazine agrees with the manuscript originally submitted. No deletion or addition is permitted. After receiving an “OK” certificate, we submit it, along with five copies of The Watchtower, to the paper controllers’ office for them to check at the press to see whether the paper issued was, in fact, utilized for the purpose stated in our application. This procedure goes on for every issue, month after month.

 ON THE ROAD WITH TRAVELING OVERSEERS

Especially after 1967 did our work begin progressing rapidly. Because of Jehovah’s blessing upon Burmese Christians, including the special pioneers and the two traveling overseers, D. J. O’Neill and J. T. Xavier, within four years the number of Witnesses in Burma nearly doubled. In 1968, there was a 24-percent rise in publishers, during 1969, a 26-percent increase, in 1970 the number was up 18 percent, and for 1971 it rose 12 percent. Within those four years, 276 individuals symbolized their dedication to God by being immersed in water. Thus, in 1971 nearly half of the Witnesses in Burma had been baptized within the previous four years. We had arranged for three circuits by 1971, the third circuit overseer being Donald Dewar, the son of special pioneer Frank Dewar who had been deported in 1966.

It seems appropriate here to mention some of the difficulties experienced by circuit overseers. To visit fellow believers, they often travel in crowded trains, buses or boats. Sometimes they even ride on the roofs of the trains, buses or launches. In some places, rebels blow up bridges, or the roads are mined. In the Chin Hills, most of the traveling is done on foot. But this is not easy, for one must climb as high as 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) above sea level. To visit all the congregations in the mountains, the traveling overseers have to walk some 500 miles (800 kilometers). Also, they have to carry their own food, as well as utensils for cooking it along the way. Moreover, there are dangers from wild animals. To illustrate: While traveling alone from Tonzang to Tiddim, James Xavier encountered a group of baboons. When the biggest one stared at him, Brother Xavier was nearly scared to death. “I picked up a stick and shouted as loud as I could,” he recalls. “When they moved a bit, I walked as fast as I could. Then it started raining very heavily. I was terribly cold and almost exhausted when I reached a village on the way. I found shelter from the rain in a very friendly Baptist pastor’s house. While warming myself, I had a nice Bible discussion with him.”

Donald Dewar had thought it best to walk the 42 miles (68 kilometers) from Haka to Leitak, Chin State, in a single day. Arising before dawn, he packed his food in a banana leaf and set out on the journey. Without resting very much along the way, he and the brother accompanying him kept walking fast, climbing  up and down the mountains. The last three miles (5 kilometers) required a continual climb up a very steep, rocky mountain. With great difficulty and the help of his companion, Brother Dewar managed to finish the trip as planned, but he could hardly get up the next day.

Even bus travel is not easy in some places here. One day tragedy struck as a fully loaded bus was coming down the winding road from Mogok, where Burma’s famous rubies are mined. Donald Dewar and many other passengers were sitting on the roof when the driver suddenly lost control of the vehicle and it met with an accident that proved fatal to some persons. On that occasion, Brother Dewar ended up in Mandalay with a broken leg.

But there can be other perils, too. James Xavier recalls: “As I was traveling in a truck [or bus] from Loikaw (Kayah State) to Taunggyi (Shan State), the vehicle suddenly was caught in cross fire between the government forces and the insurgents. We had to jump from the truck and take shelter under it till the fighting was over. Afterward, we transported the dead and wounded soldiers to a nearby hospital in Sisaing Village.”

AIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY

Visits by members of the Governing Body have been very helpful and encouraging. Especially have we been impressed by the way these brothers display humility and loving concern for God’s people. For instance, when M. G. Henschel visited Burma from January 24 to 27, 1973, he mixed freely with the local brothers, and everyone admired his humility.

Brothers N. H. Knorr and F. W. Franz visited us in January 1975. Shortly before they were scheduled to speak at Gandhi Memorial Hall in Rangoon, it was learned that the authorities would not permit the holding of gatherings in public halls. Why? Because of trouble caused by radical students and some bad elements in connection with the funeral of the late United Nations Secretary-General, U Thant. So, the nearly 500 brothers and interested persons already gathered at the Gandhi Memorial Hall were asked to proceed to a nearby Kingdom Hall. Although the hall could accommodate only about 150 persons, 270 squeezed themselves inside to hear Brothers Knorr and Franz speak that evening. Over 200 individuals had to return home without hearing the visitors. However, during the next two days, more than 600 persons gathered in Eric Marcelline’s yard, sitting under the trees in picnic  style, but enjoying spiritual food. The local Witnesses put on a fine variety show for the visitors, and, in response, F. W. Franz played the mouth organ, while his traveling associates sang songs.

In March 1977, John Booth of the Governing Body visited Burma along with Brother and Sister Don Adams of the Brooklyn Bethel family. This also was a happy occasion for Jehovah’s people in this country, and many came from Upper Burma to attend the assembly that coincided with the visit. That gathering was held on Zion Hill, Insein, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Rangoon. Once again, Burmese Witnesses arranged a very interesting show for the visitors.

The most recent zone visit by a member of the Governing Body was made by L. A. Swingle in January 1978. At an assembly in Okkalapa, 302 persons heard him give an encouraging talk that urged them to endure, as did God’s prophet Jeremiah. During this visit, Brother Swingle also spoke at the dedication of our new Bethel home. His audience then numbered 248 persons. But suppose we tell you about the acquisition of this property.

ACQUIRING OUR NEW BETHEL HOME

One Sunday, after engaging in the field service, the branch coordinator visited a certain brother. In the course of conversation, it was mentioned that since his visit in 1962 N. H. Knorr had wanted us to find new branch and Bethel home facilities. Eager to be of help, the brother remarked that he knew of a very nice place quite near. So Brother Raj, the branch coordinator, followed him to the place and found it to be most suitable. It was a two-story building on a half acre of land. The structure had sufficient bedroom and office space, as well as an area that could be used as a Kingdom Hall. Also, the building was large enough for future expansion.

The next day the branch coordinator took other branch members to the building. His wife, Doris, was surprised to find the owner’s wife to be a former school friend. Sister Raj soon was able to start a Bible study with the children. When Brother Raj offered to study with the parents, the mother said, “I will study but will never change my religion.” The father did not care either way, as he was quite disappointed with the Catholic Church. So Brother Raj started a Bible study with them. After three months of study, they knew that this was the truth. They cleared their house  of religious idols and stopped going to church. At the next district assembly they and their eldest son symbolized their dedication to Jehovah by undergoing water baptism. Thereafter, the deed to the house was officially registered in the name of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses. Hence, in January 1978 Brother Swingle was able to give the dedication talk for our branch office and Bethel home.

THE WORK KEEPS MOVING AHEAD

Despite setbacks, our work has kept moving ahead. The 1972 service year ended with 644 Kingdom publishers, representing a 7-percent increase. In 1974 we saw a 5-percent increase, with 762 reporting field service and 111 symbolizing their dedication to God by being baptized. During 1975 the Burmese brothers worked very hard and were blessed with a 14-percent increase. In that year, 108 were baptized and the peak of Kingdom publishers was 822. The 1976 service year ended with a publisher peak of 845. In October of that year, Brother and Sister Maurice Raj had the privilege of spending time at the Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, during the branch coordinators’ meetings held there.

During the 1977 service year there was a one-percent decrease in the number of this country’s Kingdom proclaimers. That was the first time in the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Burma that we had a decrease. Why did this occur?

Inflation seems to have been one reason. Prices of commodities have kept spiraling upward. For example, a pound of coffee was K7.00 ($1.00, U.S.) just a few years ago, but by early 1978 its cost had risen to K85.00 ($12.14). That is a 1,114-percent increase! Thus many Witnesses and interested persons have been very busy working ‘to make ends meet,’ and this seems to have caused some to lose appreciation of spiritual things.

Others, who had stopped smoking or chewing betel nut, have returned to their former unclean habits. From 1975 to 1977, 32 persons were disfellowshiped for these practices alone.

Some stopped associating with us because events did not develop as they expected in the year 1975. When their interest in God’s promises cooled off, they succumbed to worldly interests. So, when the 1977 service year ended, we noted a one-percent decrease in the number of Burma’s Kingdom publishers.

 However, the majority of the brothers have not allowed themselves to fall into spiritual decline. They have kept themselves busy in sacred service and have received many blessings. The beginning of the 1978 service year again saw an increase in our witnessing activity throughout the field​—a new peak of Kingdom publishers every month. In September 1977 there was a 4.3-percent increase. October saw a 5-percent rise; November, an 8-percent increase and December, an 11-percent growth, with 903 persons reporting field service that month. For the first time, we then passed the 900 mark. This required that we arrange for a fourth circuit in this country.

All kinds of people have been associating with Jehovah’s servants here in Burma. For instance, T. Tamang, a staunch Yoga-practicing Hindu, became a Christian witness of Jehovah and has been an overseer for the last 20 years. Through his efforts, many Hindus have been helped to leave Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and to become praisers of the true God, Jehovah.​—Rev. 18:1-5.

LOOKING AHEAD

It was in 1914 that the spark of Bible truth penetrated into Burma. But it was not till 1926 that the Kingdom work was properly organized here. During the second world war, it came to a dead stop. But after that conflict our activity started all over again, with eight Kingdom publishers in 1946. Foreign missionaries first came to this country in 1947 and 1948, but they were deported in 1966. In the 32 years since 1946, we have progressed from 8 publishers to 903 in December 1977. During March 1978, a peak of 905 Kingdom proclaimers was reached here, and we were delighted that 2,174 persons gathered throughout Burma on March 23, 1978, to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.

We know that God will certainly bring all sheeplike people into association with the Christian congregation before the final end comes for this wicked system of things. Jesus said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached . . . and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) So, until God says that this work has been done, we will continue without wavering to advertise the King and Kingdom. And eagerly we wait to see what blessings the future will bring true Christians in Burma.

 [Map on page 36]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

INDIA

CHINA

BANGLADESH

LAOS

THAILAND

BURMA

Putao

Hkamti

Myitkyina

Kalemyo

Lashio

Maymyo

Mandalay

Henzada

Rangoon

Bassein

Moulmein

Tavoy

Mergui

Bay of Bengal

Andaman Sea

Gulf of Siam