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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 14, 1982
PAGE 2
International News
German-speaking Area In the month of April the KLAR & WAHR subscription
list totaled 105,000 for the first time in the 21-year history of the
German-language edition of The PLAIN TRUTH. As a result we are beginning to
feel the impact of increasing mail response. One hundred percent more mail
arrived this month as compared to April last year when our subscription
list totaled 55,500.
Regular mail (letters and postcards) for the month was up 85%. Among these
cards and letters was a noticeable trend in requests for visits and infor
mation about God's Church. It's very encouraging to see how the magazine,
along with the 61% more booklets sent out thus far this year, are bringing
about such a positive response.
The PLAIN TRUTH ad in Germany's largest TV magazine, HORZU, has resulted in
15,580 responses to date (May 6th). Although not as high
a
response as
hoped for, we still have reached our goal of less than DM 10 per subscriber.
Our cost per response is presently DM 8.07 or $3.36. The ad in DER SPIEGEL
is still the most successful with 21,933 responses to date, which is a OM
4.13 or $1.72 cost per subscriber.
For the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 662 German-speaking brethren met in five
locations on the first day, including one in East Germany. The attendance
was up 11% over 1981 and the offering up 12.4%.
New Zealand The brethren in this part of the world were blessed by a visit
from Dr. and Mrs. Herman L. Hoeh during the Passover-Unleavened Bread
season. Dr. Hoeh gave sermons in Auckland, Wellington, Fiji and Tonga dur
ing his visit, and about 85% of the members and families in the region were
able to travel to one of these locations to hear him.
A total of 626 brethren took the Passover this year in 12 locations, and
1,074 attended Unleavened Bread holy day services. The holy day offerings
showed an increase of 10% over last year's figures, and a 65% increase over
the 1980 figures.
God is continuing to bless us with fine increases in income. This month's
income topped last April's by 24.7%, bringing the year-to-date increase to
26.9%. Over 8,000 items of mail were received during April, and the year
to-date mail increase now stands at 41.5% over the first four months of
1981. White mail for April was 500% higher than last April, reflecting our
current series of newspaper ads and our stepped-up PLAIN TRUTH newsstand
distribution. At present we're receiving about 500 newsstand responses per
month, and almost exactly 50% of these people are requesting THE UNITED
STATES AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY along with a regular subscription to The
PLAIN TRUTH.
The newsstands in Wellington, the capital, are being noticed by members of
Parliament. During April one MP wrote to request a subscription, plus a
number of booklets, and another, New Zealand's Minister of Maori Affairs
and Police, the Hon. Ben Couch, quoted The PLAIN TRUTH to
a
newspaper
reporter who later published the quote in an article. Dr. Hoeh and Regional
Director Peter Nathan were invited to spend sometime at Mr. Couch's home
while Dr. Hoeh was in the Wellington area.