International News at a Glance

• Youth Corps Project for Ghana Camp Announced
• Canadian Income Strong, Internet Requests Surging
• Canada Digs Into Its Database
• Feast Biblical Tour of Turkey Announced
• Chichewa-Speaker Baptized
• British Isles Ministers Meet

Youth Corps Project for Ghana Camp Announced

United Youth Corps volunteers are again needed to serve on the youth camp staff in Ghana from Aug. 3 to 17. Youth Corps volunteers, ideally two men and two women, will serve as activity coordinators and assist as counselors.

Participants must be 18 years of age and high school graduates with a valid passport. The estimated cost to North American Youth Corps participants, including airfare, is $2,000 to $2,400. The application deadline is Feb. 25.

For more details, visit the United Youth Corps Web page at www.ucg.org/youthcorps.

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Canadian Income Strong, Internet Requests Surging

For the Canadian office, 2005 ended on a positive note in many respects. Canadian income for the month of December—as well as for the fiscal year—was very strong. The year 2005 concluded with an income of 109.3 percent of the projected budget. The month of December saw the income at 133.3 percent of the projected amount.

One of the interesting aspects of the incoming mail for 2005 was the number of Internet requests received.

In 2003, the Canadian office received 1,533 Internet/e-mail literature and subscription requests. That represented 15.7 percent of our total mail received that year. In 2004, we received 3,268 Internet/e-mail literature and subscription requests, representing 23.7 percent of the total mail.

Last year, we received 5,116 requests, representing 45.8 percent of the total mail received. This year is off to another fine start, with a record 601 Internet/e-mail requests received in the first month, out of the record 1,755 total requests.

—Edwin van Pelt

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Canada Digs Into Its Database

In December the Canadian office staff began sending letters to those on the database who are not currently receiving The Good News magazine. There were 5,223 people in that category. At the end of January, 283 had responded.

They are being sent a letter along with one of the four brochures offering different booklets and a subscription to The Good News. Your prayers for the success of this effort are appreciated. It is one way of contacting those who have been sent literature in the past, and it is basically a free way to develop our subscriber list.

We also sent letters in January to those who have not renewed the Bible Study Course, and also plan to write to those who did not respond to the two GN renewal letters sent in mid and late 2004.

—Edwin van Pelt

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Feast Biblical Tour of Turkey Announced

Details of the custom-designed 2006 Feast of Tabernacles tour in Turkey were announced in UCG services Jan. 14 and 21. From Istanbul, Feastgoers will fly to Izmir (formerly known as Smyrna), where a tour of six of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 will begin.

"This tour will be highly educational, focusing on biblical geography, the travels of Paul, early Christian congregations and the life and culture of the early Church," said Charles Melear, Festival planner.

A package price of $2,975 includes round-trip airfare from New York. More details can be found on the Web at www.ucg.org/feast.

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Chichewa-Speaker Baptized

Bill Jahns reported that Gladstone Chonde, an elder in Malawi, baptized the first member in UCG who speaks only the Chichewa language. United started translating the sermons into Chichewa about a year ago (since many of the women speak only Chichewa).

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British Isles Ministers Meet

The ministry of United Church of God–British Isles met in Polesworth on Sunday, Dec. 4, for what proved to be a very profitable and productive meeting. A key item on the agenda was to discuss the most effective way to help prospective members who live too far away from regular services.

There was also an assessment of this year's Feast of Tabernacles in Winchester and discussion on next year's site, York.

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