From Mr. Frank Schnee: At the beginning of June, the Jerusalem Dig students, accompanied by Mr. Larry Salyer and his family, Mr. & Mrs. Dick Thompson and group leader Richard Paige, arrived in Bonn. The group spent three days here, where they were able to tour the city and the Parliament. They also had a tour of the Bonn office, and on the Sabbath went to services in Dusseldorf, where Mr. Paige gave the sermonette and Mr. Salyer the sermon.
Also at the beginning of June, Office Manager John Karlson and his assistant Wade Franssen traveled to Czechoslovakia and Poland to work out final arrangements for the Feast sites in Brno and Krakow. Accompanying them to Brno were festival elder Winfried Fritz and church member Heinz Wilsberg. Mr. Karlson mentioned that the Cedok officials really appreciated Mr. Armstrong's trip to Prague in April and that they were very impressed with his visit. From Brno Mr. Karlson and Mr. Franssen traveled to Poland for meetings in Warsaw and Krakow. Mr. Franssen noted that they were received very warmly by the officials of the government tourist agency Orbis, and that it is obvious God has put us in contact with the right people to work with in organizing the Feast in Krakow.
On Friday, June 14, Mr. Ralph Helge of our Legal Department in Pasadena arrived in Bonn with his wife and two children while on their tour of the European offices. On the Sabbath Mr. Helge brought us a very inspiring sermon detailing the 1979 attempt of the State of California to take over the Church. The members were very happy to hear a thorough explanation of what went on at that time and were reminded that it is God who allows trials to happen and that we must remain loyal when even greater trials come in the future.
On Sunday, June 16, Mr. Don Patrick and Miss Peggy Warkentin from Publishing Services in Pasadena came to Bonn to begin the installation of our new Bedford Meteor 3000 Pagination Station. With this specialized typesetting computer, we will eventually be able to prepare translated PLAIN TRUTH, GOOD NEWS or booklet manuscripts in genuine typeset form and fit the material into a preset layout. This will then be sent to Pasadena via telephone line where the material will be run through the typesetter and films made for printing. The purpose in installing the typesetting computers in the foreign offices is to be able to reduce the time it takes to prepare the magazine and therefore allow us to be even more up to date. Miss Warkentin has been sent by Pasadena to train personnel on our staff to operate the Bedford system. We will start out by first doing galleys and then full-page layouts.
At the end of the month the final meeting of the East German Spokesman Club was held in Dresden, East Germany. Members from the West also attended as guests, as well as four Ambassador College students participating in the German summer program.
In June the German PLAIN TRUTH subscription list stood at 85,707. The German GOOD NEWS list has been gaining subscribers rapidly due to offers in the PLAIN TRUTH for The GOOD NEWS magazine. The German GOOD NEWS circulation now stands at 21,177, 71% over June of 1984.
We budgeted for a 12% increase in income, but have unfortunately had a minus percentage since December of last year. A turnaround began during Mr. Armstrong's visit to Munich in the middle of May. The month of June has now brought us a healthy 21.2% increase in income, putting us at a minus 1.8% for the year to date. Before this we had been as low as minus 8% for the year to date, which was 20% below budget. We hope this present upward trend continues and would appreciate everyone's prayers that it will.
From Mr. Frank Brown Because of the combined July-August issue of The PLAIN TRUTH, we have no new circulation figures to report for June, but we have good news on income. Our mail income for this month was up 23% compared to June, 1984, bringing the year-to-date increase to 12.5%. This is a very encouraging trend, especially since June has traditionally been one of the lower months for income.
A total of 16,355 booklet requests have been received from U.K. readers in response to Mr. Armstrong's semiannual letter. This is a 17.1% response less than three weeks after the mailing date. We expect this response to go even higher. The total requests received to date from all areas administered from here is just under 20,000.
This was the busiest month for the Mail Processing Centre in several years. Almost 51,000 pieces of mail were processed during June. U.K. mail amounted to just under 30,000, a 91% increase over June, 1984, bringing the year-to-date increase to 12.6%.
Responses to our two million Scandinavian leaflets are now coming in. These four-colour leaflets offering The PLAIN TRUTH in either the English or Norwegian language, were inserted into six of Scandinavia's most respected journals. Nearly 8 ,000 replies have been received and they are still coming in.
A special conference was held at Elstree House from the 1st through 4th of July to discuss the work of the Church in Africa. Messrs. Lateef Edalere, Owen Willis, Josef Forson, Elijah Chukwudi, Steve Le Blanc, Ben Kaswaga, Greg Albrecht and Melvin Rhodes attended, as well as Mr. Stirk and myself. The conference was very successful in establishing mutual understanding and building strong working relationships between relevant offices in the United Kingdom and Africa.
A presentation was made by each of the three African offices describing their work over the last three years, and their plans for the future. There was also a presentation on Mail Processing and Postal Services in the U.K., followed by a question-and-answer period during which procedures were clarified.
Plans for the Feast of Tabernacles were discussed, not only for this year, but also long-term plans. Mr. Meakin gave a presentation on SEP and YOU activities and Mr. Greg Albrecht gave a talk on Ambassador College, discussing how African students can best be helped.
For relaxation, a trip to the theatre in London was arranged, and on the evening of the 4th of July all the visitors and some staff members from Elstree House enjoyed a barbecue at my home, basking in warm English sunshine!
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