Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

Yearbook 233
expressions reflected the sincere thirst for the waters of
life. And now other families In this same tl'lbe know that
that great spirit is Jehovah the Creator, because this Indian
IlIan who sought truth is now preaching to others what he
learned.
Another company was formed by five German publishers
who left the Asunci6n company with a desire to spread
the Kingdom message into one of the German Mennonite
colonies in the "Chaco" wilderness, and to preach to their
parents and acquaintances. Traveling by river boat, train,
bus, and then oxcart they reached their destination in three
weeks. They have now reached a peak of nine publishers.
During the service year five new companies were organized,
five new peaks in the number of publishers were
reached, and an increase of 55 pel' cent in the number of
publishers was realized over the preceding year. Truly It
is the Lord who is gathering His other sheep, for this increase
came dm'ing the past year while here in Paraguay
we have been under martial law and the majority of the
people live In fear of the government. The Catholic Church
with Its "Holy Year", many saints and "Virgins" and Its
Catholic Action Is doing all she can to hinder the Ingathering
of the Lord's other sheep. The people are taught that
there are but two powers, Catholicism and communism and
that anything not Catholic Is naturally communistic. Hence
they teach that Protestantism is united with communism.
The result of this Is that many people fear to have Bihle
studies because they fear that their nelghhors will call
the police and report them as having secret meetings.
During the past year all fOl'elgners living in the country
had to reregister with the govprnment and much diffipulty
was experienced hy the Gilead missionaries. At first they
refused to register us, telling us that our case was to be
handled separately. Later we were informed that we were
in the country illegally and subject to arrest. With the aid
of a good-will person much was accolllplished. This ordeal
of registering lasted over a period of seven months but at
this date all Gilead graduates living in the home have been
registered, but much is stilI pending. Efforts to oust the
missionaries have failed.
PERU
Peru has been a hard country to get opened up for
missionary service, but during the year 21 additional
Gilead graduates entered that work, joining the ones
already faithfully serving the Kingdom interests in
Peru. Peru, of course, is another Catholic country in