Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

Yearbook 75
number of publishers went up from 35 to 43 in the course
of a year. A peak of 52 company publishers was reached In
August. This increase of 22.9 per cent is excellent.
Perhaps it will yet be possible for more assistance to be
sent to these brethren, but in the meantime they will continue
to hold high Jehovah's name and advertise his kingdom.
ICELAND
An event of outstanding interest for the publishers in
Iceland this past service year was receipt of 5,000 copies of
"Let God Be True" in Icelandic. Long had they looked
forward to having a suitable textbook for use in holding
Bible studies in the predominant language of the people.
The new book was readily placed In the field even though
the people are quite indifferent to studying the Kingdom
message. Oftentimes a person will listen for a few minutes
and then give as his only reply, "Yes, that Is your opinion,
and it is interesting to listen to what other people have to
say." It had been hoped that with this new textbook it
would be pOSsible to start many studies, but indifference
continued to be a major hindrance. Even so, an average of
ten studies were conducted monthly dUl'ing the year.
One young man who began to study the truth last winter
made such progress that he decided to attend the international
assembly in New York. While there he was baptized
and he has now taken a firm stand for the truth. He is eager
to advance theocratic interests and has assisted some with
translation work In Iceland. A peak of ninE' publishers was
reached in August. Three of these were pioneers and two
are special pioneers serving as missionaries.
Public meetings were bE'gun this year, first in the hom€'
with only interested persons and then in the town of Reykjavik,
where as many as 89 attended. QUite a few representatives
of various sects and denominations were present but
they quickly and quietly disappeared after the meeting. 111
all, seven public meetings were held, including the Memorial
celebration with an attendance of eight, one of whom partook
of the emblems.
This summer other parts of Iceland besides Reykjavik
have been worked. One couple went to some small islands
to the south of the main island. They took about 300 books
along and in a week all of them were placed. Next thes€'
two pioneers went north to the second-largest town, Akureyri,
a place of 7,000 inhabitants. They pitched their tent on a hill
next to a high school. When a heavy rain came that evening
the caretaker of the school invited them to use a classroom.
They accepted and had the use of it for their entire stay