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Branch Letter
Dear Kingdom Publishers:
During recent months we here at Bethel have experienced in many ways the reality of our international brotherhood. It has really been heartwarming. Not only did we have many visitors from other lands, but some of us were able to attend assemblies in other lands and thus enjoy delightful companionship with the brothers there.
A number of us were at assemblies in Europe, where the combined attendance for all conventions was 502,494. It was thrilling to see tens of thousands there who have embraced the truth in the past few years and to feel their zeal and enthusiasm for pure worship. It was also a pleasure to meet brothers who had endured faithfully for many years, some during the Hitler era. Years of deprivation and imprisonment had not dampened their determination to spread the “good news.” Their faces beamed with inward joy and appreciation.
Encouraging, too, was the hospitality of the brothers. Hosts went out of their way to make things comfortable, giving of themselves as would loving parents and children to members of their own families.
Those of us who got to the conventions in the Orient saw evidence of the same spirit of Christian brotherhood among the 77,331 at the various assemblies there. The saying goes that “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” But not so among God’s people. Missionaries from Western lands enjoy a splendid relationship with their Oriental brothers. Deep love for Jehovah has indeed caused East and West to meet.
Some of us were among those who toured the Bible lands, and we too had delightful experiences. Visiting sites from Mount Hermon in the north to Beer-sheba in the south made the Biblical events associated with them come to life in our minds. And we could appreciate more fully the great effort that Jesus, Paul and others put forth in accomplishing their ministry—most of it on foot. What a fine example they set for us!
Though the assemblies are now past, their effect should stimulate all of us to appreciate the gift of Kingdom work that is ours. To all of you we send our warm Christian love.
Your fellow servants,
BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE
