International News

From the German Office: The month of October was filled with much Feast activity. To start with, brethren in the German-speaking area gathered together at Bonn, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Hamburg and Hannover, West Germany, Salzburg, Austria and Zurich, Switzerland for the Day of Atonement. A few days later, brethren from the German-speaking area traveled either to Brno, Czechoslovakia or Bonndorf, West Germany for the Feast of Tabernacles.

Feastgoers who attended in Bonndorf (in the Black Forest) were welcomed by sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. Interestingly, it rained the entire four weeks prior to the Feast, but throughout the Feast there was sunshine. Many shopkeepers and hotel owners asked us to stay longer so that the good weather would stay. Two days after the Feast, the rain returned.

Approximately 1,050 people — the highest attendance ever — attended in Bonndorf, 360 of whom were overseas guests. This was an increase of 200 people over last year, mostly due to the large number of overseas guests. Regional Director Frank Schnee commented that these overseas guests add a very welcome dimension to the Feast.

One of the highlights during the Feast was the film "The Hearts of the Children." Another highlight was a concert evening with the Bodensee Symphony Orchestra, featuring guest pianist Mrs. Ruth Walter, Professor of Music from the Big Sandy, Texas campus of Ambassador College. This was without doubt the cultural highlight of the Feast, and for Bonndorf residents who attended, the biggest cultural event of the year!

Approximately 360 miles northeast of Bonndorf were 285 feastgoers attending in Brno, Czechoslovakia. This was also Brno's highest attendance figure. Brno was host to 200 overseas guests, 100 of whom had the opportunity to participate in the deluxe sightseeing bus tour just before and after the Feast. The bus tour took feastgoers from Frankfurt through Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and on to Brno. After the Feast, the tour went through Prague, Schonsee, Nuremberg, and then returned to Frankfurt.

There were many different activities in Brno, one of the highlights being a special dinner in the Hunting Lodge of the Communist party. For the 14 brethren from East Germany, the Feast was a fantastic opportunity to fellowship with other Church members. Regional Director Frank Schnee, who with his wife Esther spent three days in Brno (the rest of the time was spent in Bonndorf) said, "Brno is a fantastic family Feast. Not only is the spiritual side of the Feast of high quality, but the physical Feast is as well.”

From Australia: Members of God's Church and their families gathered this year at six festival sites throughout Australia and profited from a most educational and uplifting Feast of Tabernacles. The final registration figure for the six Australian sites — Caloundra, Gold Coast, Gosford, Hobart, Warrnambool and Perth — totalled 5,702 — a 5.2% increase over last year.

The four fall holy day offerings showed very fine increases over last year — the Feast of Trumpets was up 18.6%; Atonement was up 20.9%; the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles was up 21.0%; and the Last Great Day was up 19.5%.

Mr. Armstrong's sermon on the first day of the Feast was received via satellite and then transferred to video tapes, which were rushed by air to each of the festival sites. Mr. Armstrong's message was then projected onto large screens in each auditorium.

We appreciated the visit to our country by evangelist Ron Kelly and his family. Mr. Kelly traveled to five festival sites to deliver powerful and encouraging messages. After the feast, Mr. Kelly and his family visited our regional office at Burleigh Heads.

Mr. Guy Ames, Regional Director in the Philippines, was guest speaker at three sites and many of the brethren were delighted to renew their acquaintance with Mr. Ames and his family after an absence of some years.

We were also privileged to receive a visit from Dr. and Mrs. Lynn Torrance. Dr. Torrance is the Registrar and Director of Admissions at Ambassador College, Big Sandy. Dr. Torrance, who was a World War II prisoner, spoke at three sites and showed God's obvious intervention in saving Australia from Japanese invasion at a critical point of the war in the Pacific. In the coming "time of Jacob 's trouble," unless our people repent, God will not protect this part of modern-day Israel, and foreign invasion will become reality.

In Asia, the brethren met at festival locations in four countries — Sri Lanka, Burma, West Malaysia and the Solomon Islands. Guest speaker at the Sri Lankan site was preaching elder Abner Washington, visiting from the United States, while the visiting speaker at the West Malaysian site was Mr. Richard Wilding, a pastor-rank minister from Canada.

Reports and comments about the Feast have been extremely positive. Unity, harmony, and cooperation were very evident throughout the Feast. Everyone agreed that Mr. Armstrong's timely messages, the sermons from the ministers, the festival films and the other activities were indeed a real foretaste of "the Wonderful World Tomorrow."

The film "Behind the Work, 1984" was a superb presentation and drew many favorable comments from the brethren. The "Young Ambassadors" entertainment film was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and the beautiful music set many a foot tapping.

At the end of October we mailed out Mr. Armstrong's letter offering The GOOD NEWS magazine to 27,175 Australian PLAIN TRUTH subscribers who have been on file two years or more. By the end of the month we had received 4,066 replies — a 15% response — with requests continuing to come in. Our GOOD NEWS circulation in Australia is now approaching the 15,000 mark.

Mail from our readers continued to come in strong over the past two months. In September we received 24,800 letters — 112.6% over the same month in 1983. In October the letter count rose to 26,102 — 41.6% over October last year. Our year-to-date increase in mail stands at 43.8%.

By the end of October, over 772,000 envelopes containing literature and letters had been mailed out to interested readers. This represents a 21.2% increase over the same period last year. Income for October increased by 14.6%, bringing our year-to-date increase to 16.0%.

— Joe Tkach, Ministerial Services