Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

Yearbook 265
Thai language, and they have been making good progress
in overcoming this barrier. Two of the brethren
who spent many years in Thailand were called to
Gilead, and they finished their studies with the 15th
graduating class. These brethren are now en route back
home to aid in Theocracy's increase in Thailand. The
work is going along well, and the branch servant sends
us some reports of interesting happenings in the land.
There is still a lot of room for improvement so far as
expansion is concerned, but the brethren are determined,
by the Lord's grace, to push ahead diligently
during the coming year.
Early in December our greatest weapon yet, "Let God
Be True" in the Thai language, arrived from America. It
has been an immense aid in the Bible·study feature of the
work and also in our door-to-door witnessing. The book
was translated at the Bangkok branch, and matrices were
pressed by a local firm, after which they were sent to the
Brooklyn factory for printing.
The Nan assembly was very successful. The brethren
contacted the governor and, after hearing about our work,
he arranged for us to use the open·air meeting grounds in
the center of the town for the public lecture. A record number
of 58 publishers for North Thailand attemled the Nan
assembly, five companies being represented, which is notE'worthy
in view of the long distances and difficulty of
travel. The publishers co-operated well in advertising the
public lecture, and even the governor aided the advertising
by instructing the village chief to beat a drum to inform
all of the family heads that the lecture would be held.
The results were gratifying, for more than 360 persons
attended and gave rapt attention to the lecture "Liberty
to the CaptiYes" which was delivered over the sound equipment
in English and translated into Thai. A baptismal service
was held at the Nan assembly and six persons symbolized
their consecration to serve Jehovah.
The following week the Chiengmai assembly was hel(l,
attended by 42 brethren. The place arranged for the public
lecture was the Buddha Nikome Pavilion, an open-air
assembly place with benches and thatched roof, owned by
a Buddhist association. Sound equipment and five thousand
handbills were used to advertise the public lecture. The
attendance at the lecture was the highest ever obtained in
Thailand; more than six hundred adult persons crowded
into the pavilion to listen to the speech being delivered.