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WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
WORLD HEADQUARTERS
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91123
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
President and Pastor
December 27, 1978
Dear Subscribers to The PLAIN TRUTH:
GREETINGS!
What a year this has been! With me it has been largely a
year of regaining health and physical strength after a complete
heart failure in August of last year. It has been a traumatic
year in some respects, yet a very successful year.
I have just returned from my first trip abroad since my severe
illness. This was another visit to Jerusalem. I had a very busy
and eventful four days in this city soon to become the WORLD CAPITOL.
I had meetings with President Navon, with Prime Minister
Begin, Yigael Yadin (leader of the Democratic Movement for Change
Party), Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, Speaker of the Knesset (a
friend of ten years standing), Shimon Peres (leader of the leading
Labor Party), Mayor Teddy Kollek, Knesset member Gideon Hausner
(who prosecuted the German Eichmann as Attorney General for Israel,)
Professor Benjamin Mazar, who directed our great archaeological
project adjoining the south wall of the Temple, Dr. Joseph Aviram
of the Hebrew University, and many others.
Mayor Kollek had arranged a special inauguration of the new
downtown city park in my honor, with a formal ceremony, a band,
and speeches. Over the park was flying the stars and stripes,
alongside the Israeli flag, and at the entrance on a special stone
sculpture work, a plaque had my name engraved in it (since I had
sponsored the Children's Playground area at the entrance of the
park). This was done through the AICF (Ambassador International
Cultural Foundation). The park is called the "Liberty Bell Park,"
and inside the entrance is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell
--a gift of the city of Philadelphia to the city of Jerusalem.
So it's like a bit of America in the very ancient and historic
city of Jerusalem.
There was a special program for me and our party at the ICCY
(International Cultural Center for Youth), founded by Eleanor
Roosevelt and by Moshe Kol, for years a member of the Knesset
and Minister of Tourism for the nation. The program consisted
of special dances by both male and female Israeli and Arab youth.
The ICCY has been almost wholly supported in the past ten years
by Ambassador College and the AICF, and is doing a good work in
bringing about an active friendship between Arab and Israeli youth.
In front of the entrance of the ICCY building is a large
paved court. It has been named the "Herbert W. Armstrong Square,"