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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 27, 1982
PAGE 3
Australia November proved to be a most profitable and rewarding month of
activities in God's Work throughout Australia and Asia. Mr. Gerald Water
house arrived in Australia November 23rd and immediately began his tour of
the Australian Churches. By the time his tour is over Mr. Waterhouse will
have conducted a Sabbath service or Bible study in every Church area in
Australia, traveling many thousands of miles across the Australian conti
nent--from Cairns at the northern tip of Queensland to Bunbury in Western
Australia. Mr. Waterhouse's untiring efforts in bringing a special and
unique message to the brethren everywhere is greatly appreciated.
Though Australia is at present in the grips of the worst drought in living
memory and unemployment is continuing to rise rapidly (over eight percent
of the work force is now without jobs), income for the month rose by an
excellent 30.2%, bringing our year-to-date increase to 15.9%. Our grati
tude must go to the Living Head of God's Work, Jesus Christ, for making
these funds available.
Mail for the month was one of the highest on record--23,155 letters were
processed; a 48% increase over the same month last year. In response to
these letters, over 24,000 booklets and articles were mailed out.
Of all the publications produced by the Work, Mr. Armstrong's book, THE
UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY, is the one most often requested.
Over the past two and one-half years, over 76,000 copies of this book have
been distributed throughout Australia and Asia, its popularity being three
times higher than any of our other publications.
A recent public Bible lecture for PLAIN TRUTH subscribers in Adelaide
proved to be most successful. To our great encouragement one hundred PLAIN
TRUTH subscribers came--2.3% of the mailing list. Interest in the Work was
quite high and our local minister, Mr. Kerry Gubb, was kept busy answering
questions for some time afterwards. Over half of The PLAIN TRUTH readers
who attended requested a copy each of Mr. Armstrong's book, THE INCREDIBLE
HUMAN POTENTIAL, and a number have requested visits from the minister.
Spanish Department A total of 16,795 subscribers were added to the sub
scription list in November, more than in any other month in the history of
the Spanish Department. This brought the total of new subscriptions for
1982 to 102,696, or 30.2% more than all of 1981! Of the 16,795 new sub
scriptions, nearly 5,000 each come from Mexico and the U.S., and 2,400 from
Argentina. This large increase is due to two factors: 1) Huge amounts of
mail which accumulated during the Feast of Tabernacles period were pro
cessed in November and, 2) Responses from many promotional efforts launched
in July, August and early September cascaded into Pasadena in October and
November. Since early September, virtually all advertising efforts have
been curtailed or drastically reduced because of budget constraints.
In spite of massive devaluations of several currencies, including the
Mexican and Argentine pesos, as of the end of October the income from the
Spanish and Portuguese language areas showed a 16% increase over the same
period in 1981!
As in January, 1981, the ministers serving the Spanish and Portuguese lan
guage areas will attend the Ministerial Refreshing Program session of
January 10-20.
A total of twenty-one men from eight countries are
expected. Before the session begins several days will be spent in meetings
with Spanish Regional Director Mr. Leon Walker and other personnel.