International News at a Glance

• Members Spared From Cyclone Larry in Australia
• Canada Sees Growth
• First GN Mailing From Philippine National Office
• British Leadership Workshop Planned
• German Google Ads

Members Spared From Cyclone Larry in Australia

Two UCG members were affected March 20 when Cyclone (hurricane) Larry went over their town in North Queensland. Because they were about 50 miles inland, the force of the cyclone had diminished from a category 5 to a category 4 (winds about 140 miles or 230 kilometers an hour).

Neither of them were hurt, and they suffered no damage to their homes, though most trees of any size were blown down around them. Both had small generators to keep refrigerators, freezers and small appliances running as needed until power was restored.

Along the coast is where the worst damage occurred. The Australian prime minister, after viewing the damage said, "It is amazing that no one was killed. We need to thank the Almighty for that."

Some of our Church members have family members living in the worst hit areas, but none of them had any damage either. This could have been so much worse than it was. We do need to thank the Almighty.

—Bill Bradford

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Canada Sees Growth

March 23 the Canadian office reached a milestone. From Jan. 1 to March 23, a total of 1,534 Internet and e-mail subscription and literature requests were received. That number surpasses the total number received in all of 2003.

The recent Canadian subscriber development efforts are continuing to bear fruit. We have added almost 400 Good News subscribers from the letters we sent to those who have received literature in the past but who were not listed as subscribers. The letters that were sent to those who did not renew the Bible Study Course after Lesson 3 have resulted in about 100 people requesting the remaining lessons.

The subscriber development letter that was mailed in February has resulted in over 300 responses—a 14.8 percent response rate. About one third of those who responded have requested the Bible Study Course.

—Edwin van Pelt

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First GN Mailing From Philippine National Office

The Philippine National Office staff and volunteers mailed the March/April Good News to 8,013 subscribers across the Philippines in March. The mailing was completed just before the 10th anniversary of the founding of UCG in the Philippines (March 27).

With only four extra volunteers (Meryl Macaraeg, Cheryl Macaraeg, Iyarmoon Dulay and Krisitian Antiojo), the staff was able to process an average of 2,000 magazines a day and finish the processing in four days.

—Daniel Roy Macaraeg

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British Leadership Workshop Planned

The Ministerial Services team at the home office has offered to provide a Leadership Workshop in the British Isles from Aug. 24 to 28. A number of members, deacons and deaconesses and ministers and wives will be participating. Thirty rooms have been provisionally booked. Richard Pinelli and Lyle Welty will coordinate the weekend.

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German Google Ads

By March 10, after four months of advertising using Google "Adwords," 500 new subscribers had been added to the German Good News mailing list at a cost of 1.70 euros per response. During this time, impressions (ads) for Gute Nachrichten were shown 1,321,998 times, bringing 21,686 extra visitors to the Gute Nachrichten Web site.

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