International News at a Glance

• Peace Returns to Kenya; Members Face Drought
• Public Bible Lectures Set for Brisbane and Melbourne
• New Group in Far North of South Africa
• Llandudno Picked for 2009 British Isles Site

Peace Returns to Kenya; Members Face Drought

The violence that troubled Kenya at the beginning of this year (leaving 1,500 dead and 600,000 homeless and/or displaced) has long since faded away. However, the rift among tribes continues below the surface. Only by allowing both rival parties to win (through a power-sharing agreement) was the bloodbath halted.

Meanwhile, many of our members there have been impacted by a seasonal drought. Their crops failed and they have been unable to grow food or purchase it without assistance. World prices of food, seed, fertilizer and petrol have all skyrocketed, and Kenya's 20 percent inflation rate further compounds the situation.

A Good Works project to assist the members there with supplemental food is listed on the UCG Web site at www.ucg.org/goodworks.

During July Tim Waddle and his wife, Valerie, will visit the region. Some of the items on his agenda include leadership training, Festival logistics assessment and congregational visits.

A meeting with leaders of a group that left WCG years ago and attended with another affiliation is also scheduled. They have formally requested to be part of United. Their additional numbers could potentially swell Feast attendance this year and may dictate a change of venue. Thankfully, a suitable site has become available at a price that would be considerably less per person than in previous years.

—John Elliott

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Public Bible Lectures Set for Brisbane and Melbourne

The congregations in Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, are busy with meetings to organize the public Bible lectures scheduled for Brisbane on July 12 and Melbourne on July 19.

Melvin Rhodes and Gary Petty from the United States will be delivering sessions on "What the Bible Says About Australia in the 21st Century" and "The Day Christ's Message Was Changed." Bill Bradford will follow with an address titled "The Biblical Message of Salvation—Do We Have the Whole Story?"

The lectures have already been advertised on the address sheets of World News and Prophecy and The Good News, as well as on a reply-paid postcard in Reader's Digest. An announcement was also posted on the Australian Web site.

As the April-June 2008 United News Australia went to print, reservations for over 150 seats for Melbourne and over 130 for Brisbane had been received, and the expectation is that more people will register their interest after the mailing of the July/August Good News, which will advertise the lectures one more time. An announcement will also be sent via e-mail to all those who have signed up to be notified of Web site updates.

Please join us in praying for God's blessing.

—Ruth Root

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New Group in Far North of South Africa

A dedicated and faithful group of men and women from around the Polokwane, South Africa, area contacted the United Church of God in October 2007, desiring to become part of our fellowship.

Morgen Kriedemann went to visit them on Dec. 8, 2007, and found that they were already having weekly Bible studies and Sabbath services with around 12 to 15 in attendance. After counseling, they were delighted to find the Church after losing contact with God's Church the last few years. Most of them were baptized in the 1970s.

They welcomed all the Church literature and especially the DVD messages from the home office. After regular counseling and several visits to conduct services at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Petrus Sabati in a small village in the mountains, we had the privilege of sharing the Passover with a group of 10 baptized members there.

The evening was very sobering and at the same time encouraging for our brethren there and for us as well.

Please remember our group in the far north of South Africa in your prayers, that God may bless them and add to their small number.

—Joleen Kreidemann (previously published in the June 2008 United News South Africa)

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Llandudno Picked for 2009 British Isles Site

The UCG–British Isles Council confirmed the selection of Llandudno as the Feast of Tabernacles site for 2009. Llandudno is a seaside resort on the north Wales coast.

—UCG–British Isles National Announcements, May 31, 2008

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