Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

Yearbook 215
The Catholic Hoja Dominical of the following week called
attention to these lectures and threatened excommunication
to any Catholic who would rent a building to us for any
purpose. The owners of one chain of theaters were cowed
by this bluff, but another courageous man now offers us
his theater free for public meetings. Another result has been
greater use of the parks, with greater public notice of Jehovah's
witnesses. The two lectures were also given in the
principal cities of the departments, with good attendance.
Catholic pressure also fom!'nted resentment to the Alcalce!
article on "Managua, Nicaragua, A Heavenly Spot?" and
a regular landslide of newspaper articles were written condemning
the article and Jehovah's witnesses. Some of the
local publishers answered, and two excellent letters were
printed. A few persons hold resentment yet against A-wake!
but a great many have had their interest awakened by the
newspaper publicity, and the campaign for Awal.e! subscriptions
that month, October, brought the best results of
any Awake! campaign to date. Distributors' copies placed
also went up.
The meetings which the Nicaraguan brethren remember
most keenly, however, were held during the visit of Brothers
Morgan and Knorr in December. The speech "Liberty
to the Captives", with its thrilling expose of the Inquisition,
caused much comment. The most intensive advertising to
date, using six large banners hung over the streets, and
50,000 handbills, as well as information and store cards,
brought the largest attendance ever to hear a lecture In
Managua. Brother Knorr's visit Is remembered especially
for his counsel to the brethren on "Preach the Word", and
his arrangement for the opening of another missionary
home in Jlnotepe, a small city in the highlands. Four missionaries
were sent to this home, opened in February. The
great blessings these brethren have had in their work show
that the Lord uS!'d Brother Knorr to open up the work in
this section which has many hungry sheep.
Diligent work in this new area did not long escape notice.
A persoll of good will reports that shortly after the work
was begun there plans were being made in a local meeting
to run Jehovah's witnesses out of Carazo. One courageous
man protested. "There is freedom of worship in Nicaragua;
there should be no discrimination. If we rnn out .Tehovah's
witnesses we must run out the Baptists and Catholics also."
(Several times during the year efforts have been made to
have this provision of freedom of worship strick!'n from the
Nicaraguan Constitution.) The spiritual famine has been
broken in Carazo Department for men of good will such
as he; before five months had passed over 100 Bible studies