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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 25, 1982
PAGE 3
While there Mr. Morton was able to finalize plans to hold the Feast of
Tabernacles in the Solomon Islands' capital, Honiara. This will be the
very first Feast of Tabernacles ever conducted in this area of the world and
will be a tremendous boost to members and families who live on these beauti
ful, but remote Pacific islands.
Philippines Report The months of April and May saw a number of significant
new advances, all in line with upgrading the Church and the ministry here.
The first advance was the observance of the Passover for the first time in
many far-flung areas where a considerable number of God's people live who
cannot attend a local Church. Altogether there were 47 sites (including 27
Churches) where a total of 1,956 members kept the Passover with an elder or
deacon conducting the ceremony. This was an increase of 22.7% over last
year's Passover attendance. Many had never kept the Passover in this man
ner before.
Attendance on the first day of Unleavened Bread was 3,071 (a 22% increase
over last year) and 2,966 on the last day (a 25% increase). The holy day
offerings taken up on both days represented an increase of 34.2% over the
1981 figures.
The second advancement in God's Work here is part of a four-point program of
upgrading the ministry of God's Church in the Philippines. This is i� addi
tion to the Ministerial Refreshing Program in Pasadena, since the-Filipino
ministers have not had the benefit of training at Ambassado� College.
The most exciting aspect of the upgrading program is the one-year minister
ial scholarship at Ambassador College in Pasadena which Mr. Herbert W.
Armstrong has approved. Through this study the local ministers will be
able to absorb the understanding, perspective and way of conducting pas
toral responsibilities in the world headquarters of God's Church. The Work
is now sending two ministers and their families each year.
Messrs.
Reynaldo Taniajura and Mario Dulguime and their families left for Pasadena
in early June.
Another aspect of the program is the Regional Director's regular meetings
or conferences with the ministers. Presently Mr. Guy Ames meets monthly in
Manila with all full-time ministers on the main island, Luzon. He also
meets quarterly with the Visayas ministers in Cebu City and the Mindanao
ministers in Cagayan de Oro City. He hopes to increase the frequency of
these latter meetings as the need arises. With slow communication in these
areas, ministers have felt the need for these meetings to bring them
directly closer to the Regional Director and the directives he receives
from Pasadena.
Just how backward some of these places are is vividly portrayed in a report
sent in by Mr. Victor Lim, pastor of the Iligan-Cagayan de Oro-Butuan cir
cuit. Mr. Lim went to visit an island off eastern Mindanao where he bap
tized an 86-year-old man last April 29. He wrote:
Because of his baptism, I missed the only boat leaving for
Surigao that day. The next trip was on Saturday, May 1, and I had
to be in Cagayan to conduct the services that day. So I took a
pumpboat to a nearby island, Socorro, and from there hired a
purnpboat to Hayangabon, a town on the eastern coast of Mindanao.