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Flying by commercial plane has become a rather unpleasant
burden. We avoid nearly all that with our own plane, since we
seldom have to go through a public passenger terminal. At most
airports, private planes taxi over to a special private airport
terminal, usually on the opposite side of the field. There we
have no such restrictions.
This again served to emphasize how impossible it would be
for me to accomplish the job God has now opened before me without
my own plane, with its approximately 7 1/2 hour range before we
have to refuel. At 550-600 mph we can fly across oceans anywhere
in the world, and we can go when we need to go. I have my own
office on the plane, with electric typewriter, special bookcase,
all the facilities I need for work while we fly.
But it is no holiday joy ride! On the present trip, we
had two very long flights -- one, Los Angeles to Hong Kong via
Alaska, kept us up and awake for more than 24 hours, except for
a few short catnaps in our seats; another, Tokyo to Geneva,
Switzerland, in Europe by the North Pole kept us awake again more
than 24 hours. Then we were up most of the night after our engine
went out.
Since I wrote you August 29, governments continue toppling
-- events leading to the end of this age accelerating. Last
Thursday, Emperor Haile Selassie was taken by force from his palace
in Addis Ababa and taken to military headquarters outside Addis
Ababa. I may never see him again. He has now entered on a hunger
strike. My public appearance campaign in Ethiopia now, of course,
must be delayed or called off until I hear from our friend,
Ethiopian Ambassador Mikasha at New Delhi, I cannot know what our
status will be in Ethiopia.
I am writing from Tel Aviv in Israel. On this present trip
we flew first from Los Angeles to Hong Kong because we could not
get permission to land in Tokyo until two days later. That trip
kept us up and awake more than 24 hours.
Earlier, in Tokyo, we had important dinners two nights in
a row with high-ranking friends there. That was Thursday and
Friday night. Saturday I held the most important Bible study so
far, attended by some 200 Japanese, all who were more or less
upper-class people and virtually all subscribers to the PLAIN
TRUTH. They all understood English, so no interpreter was needed.
This was the first study attended by so large a group -- the next
one, scheduled for October l9th, 300-400 are expected to attend.
Sunday morning we flew from Tokyo via Anchorage, Alaska,
the North Pole route, all the way to Geneva, Switzerland, on the
other side of the earth. However, adverse winds forced us to avoid
much of the short route over the North Pole, taking the longer
course to the south via Frobisher Bay. With our jet, we were
required to make only two stops to refuel -- Anchorage and
Frobisher Bay. But, once again, it kept us awake over 24 hours.
On this flight we took with us five Japanese, three of whom were
high-ranking members of the Japanese Diet going on an official trip
for the government -- a special peace mission to Middle East