Greetings everyone,
Mr. and Mrs. Meredith returned to San Diego Sunday evening. Mr. Meredith has suffered some from a sinus infection this week, no doubt resulting from the recent trip.
My wife and I returned from a very enjoyable visit with Mr. and Mrs. Lambert Greer last week. The weather was quite cool—just the way we like it—with a smidgen of snow. This was my first visit with the Louisville brethren, and my first official visit to Louisville since 1961 when my wife and I were on a visiting tour in that region. What a pleasant surprise to meet Mrs. Blackerby, one of the folks we met forty-two years ago! We were very pleased with the spirit and enthusiasm of the Louisville brethren.
Mr. and Mrs. Greer drove us to Cincinnati, Ohio for afternoon service. It was very good to meet faithful brethren in Cincinnati. It has been about six years since I was last in Cincinnati. The brethren there were very kind and hospitable to us. They fed us a fine meal—with wonderful homemade desserts!
We thank Mr. and Mrs. Greer and all of the brethren in the Louisville and Cincinnati congregations for a very special weekend.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Mr. Don Davis, Facilities Manager, submitted the following report on the current status of the modifications to the Charlotte property:
"The remodeling of the Headquarters building is now underway. Workmen are coming and going, building materials are delivered almost daily, and this will continue until the job is completed.
Because of all the activity and dangers in a construction environment, the building will not be available for tours until further notice. The interest many have expressed in touring the new facility in Charlotte is encouraging, but we request that you plan your visit after the remodeling has been completed and the staff occupies the property. Thank you for your patience."
MEDIA
Since he is recovering from the sinus infection, Mr. Meredith decided not to tape today (Thursday). We will substitute a "rerun" in the place of his planned subject.
| Program # | Presenter | Topic | Airing date |
| 173 | John Ogwyn | "A Biblical Tale of Two Cities" | May 4 |
| 176 | RF Ames | "What Ever Happened to 'Sin'?" | June 8 |
| 177 | John Ogwyn | "James, the Brother of Jesus" | June 15 |
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
Attention Area Pastors: (repeat)
Please check your Passover equipment and supplies in your area. If you have need of anything (trays and/or glasses) for the churches and video groups you oversee, please send your request by memo to: Deborah Lincoln-Strange at right away.
Also, canvass your members to determine who cannot attend the Passover service and must take it at home. If you can duplicate the Passover service audiotape you received in the past, do so for them. If you do not have a Passover service audiotape, or if you cannot duplicate it, request it right away.
Ministerial Assignment
We are very pleased to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Larry Solomon will move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the last week of February. Mr. Solomon, who will complete six months of ministerial training, will assume pastoral responsibility for Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas.
Our congratulations to the Solomons and to the brethren in those cities!
International:
Sydney, NSW Australia report from Mr. Bruce Tyler
Hello Mr. McNair, Mr. Apartian,
You have probably heard about the fire that swept through Canberra yesterday. Mr. & Mrs. Gill live in Canberra as well as a couple of other members. All are safe, but Canberra is in a bit of a mess. Below is the latest story from the Melbourne AGE newspaper. However, some TV reports have added that if the sewage treatment plant is not repaired by tomorrow, raw sewage will flow into the Molongo River. The sewage plant was destroyed by the fire. The temperatures have been over 100 degrees and in parts of Sydney yesterday, reached 110º. Michael was in Adelaide for the Sabbath and will be back home in Canberra Sunday night and may want to add his comments as well.
The cost is expected to go into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Bethany just spoke to a friend of hers in Canberra who reported that they have been told by the authorities, that no air conditioners are to be used; people have been asked not to wash clothes; try not to shower; and not use the toilets if at all possible. They've also been told they could be with out power for up to a month.
Even the wind generated from the fire storm was so powerful, that some homes that were luckily enough not to be burnt, just simply had their roofs sucked right off them. Some authorities say that what happened is one of those "it only happens once in every 200 to 300 years". Canberra's fire service is equipped to fight 6 house fires simultaneously. Four hundred (400) was a bit overwhelming for them.
Canberra is the nation's capital with a population of 300,000. How easy a people can be brought to their knees, but will they really?
Also, in southern New South Wales, about 300,000 acres is presently burning and the state of Victoria is suffering a very similar crisis.
On Site Report from Canberra, Australia: by Mr. Michael Gill
Just to bring you up to date on our situation in Canberra, following on from Mr Tyler's message.
I returned last Sunday from Adelaide, having spent the Sabbath with our brethren there and after the fiery inferno that destroyed much of the western suburbs of Canberra. My wife Heather, who had remained in Canberra with our local brethren, told me that the afternoon of the Sabbath became very dark at about 3pm (sunset is after 8pm) with black skies blanketing out the sun, accompanied by high winds and temperatures, just prior to the fireball that hit the western areas of the city that afternoon. She told me that the following Sunday morning was remarkable for the total absence of birds singing in the trees and a strange and eerie silence.
Yesterday, Tuesday, with fires ringing the Australian Capital Territory, the people in the northern suburbs, where we and a couple of other members live, faced what was forecast to be a replay of last weekend's disaster in the western suburbs of Canberra. Many offices and shops emptied as people who live in the northern suburbs hurried to protect their homes and those of their families. Thankfully, a wind change offered Canberra some respite from another impending disaster - but the ordeal is not over, the fires are still burning and searing temperatures, forecast to be around 102F and high winds are set to plague the city this weekend.
Today, Wednesday, we are experiencing very thick smoke from the fires and the University of Canberra, reportedly, had to close due to the smoke, coming through the air-conditioning, and setting off internal fire alarms. Even Sydney, 180 miles to the east, found itself feeling the after-effects of the fires yesterday when smoke from Canberra and the Central Coast covered the city and produced pollution levels 10 times higher than normal. Much of southern Australia is reeling from bushfires, even the high country of the Snowy Mountains, which rarely experiences fire is being devastated; serious outbreaks in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia will leave areas of fire ravaged country and loss of animal life and habitat that will take decades to recover.
The latest casualty figures for Canberra are four people dead and over 500 homes destroyed, many more damaged and at least 2,500 people estimated to have been left homeless by Saturday's fires. For those people who plan to rebuild, it's likely to be at least 12 to 18 months before they can move back to their old addresses, due to the limited resources of the building industry in a city of only 320,000 people.
Local graziers have lost over 5, 000 sheep and up to 20 per cent of the remaining flocks may die from injuries. Cattle are likewise affected by the inferno and are being drafted to other areas because of the lack of grass. Dozens of rare captive native animals in the local Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve have perished in the Canberra inferno, including all 20 koalas in the public viewing sanctuary, as have 99 of 110 red and grey kangaroos and an unknown number of emus and other birds. The manager of the sanctuary said the toll on wildlife outside of the sanctuary must have been considerable. "Birds were just falling out of the sky, it was so hot."
Sadly, the body politic and media is now rife with finger-pointing and apportioning blame: be it the State and Territory Governments', the fire-fighters or forest management; but people have been heartened by the comments of Prime Minister Howard in his plea to support the fire-fighters, most of whom are volunteers, and leave the issues of blame to a future inquiry. It is sad to see this side of human nature, under Satan's influence, undermining peoples morale.
The American architect Walter Burley Griffin designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, as a veritable garden city, the "bush capital". Having lived and visited many cities in the world, I have always believed that Canberra was the most beautiful and pleasant city I have ever been privileged to live in. It is sad to see it today, ridden with a drought-affected landscape and the western suburbs destroyed by fire. Like the United States, we are experiencing the worst drought in 100 years and no early signs of its ending. The dams providing our water supply are low and in a strange twist, should we have rain, the runoff from the fire affected land will likely pollute our remaining water supply!
I'm reminded of the words in Jeremiah 14, and in paraphrasing verses 1 through 11 "Her gates languish and they mourn for the land; they went to the cisterns and found no water and returned with their vessels empty; the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights and their eyes failed because there was no grass; He will remember their iniquity now; and, do not pray for this people for their good". We pray that God will open the door to warn and to give hope to the many who are, and will be, affected by these prophesied disasters in Canberra and other areas where the Tomorrow's World program is not yet available. We are negotiating for a major TV opportunity to reach 5 million people in this drought and fire affected areas and await a suitable (and affordable!) timeslot to be made available on WIN TV. Please pray for this door to open soon.
Our families have been very fortunate that we have not suffered the problems of our neighbours to the west. Electricity, water and air-conditioning are now available. The water treatment plant is also now working and life is quite normal other than the smoke polluted air, and keeping an ear to the radio for future fire alerts.
Despite this weekend's forecast bushfire emergency, our brethren and we will be leaving the city to keep this Sabbath in the town of Forbes, with fourteen brethren from Forbes and the northwest. Our properties will be in God's hands. What a delight it is to keep God's law and to experience great peace in times of difficulty.
COMMENTS
On the light side, I will conclude with a story sent to me by a member from the Deep South, Montgomery, Alabama.
A certain elementary school got a new teacher. This new teacher was an atheist and proud of it. In fact, he was always talking about it, and since the kids were fairly young, he intimidated them.
One day he boldly announced, "My mother was an atheist, my father was an atheist and I'm an atheist. How many in this room are atheist?"
The kids, being a little scared of him, all raised their hands; all except for one little girl. So then he asked her, "Well, what are you then?" She said, "I'm a Christian. My mother was a Christian, my father was a Christian and I'm a Christian, too."
He then sarcastically snarled, "If your mother was a moron and your father was a moron, what would that make you?" She thought for a moment and meekly replied, "I guess that would make me an atheist."
I hope that all of you in the warm Deep South (USA) enjoy the nice, invigorating Canadian air that you are receiving! Keep warm, y'all!
Carl E. McNair