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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORI', MAY 10, 1985
PAGE 5
International News
From Mr. Peter Nathan A direct mail package was sent out from the Auckland
office 1n March to nearly 10,000 subscribers to TIME magazine. The church
members who volunteered to label and stuff the envelopes for this promotion
noted that the labels included the names of a number of titled and other
upper class individuals. By the end of the month, just two weeks after the
mailing, we had already received a very pleasing 5.6% response, with more
letters coming in every day.
For this package, we decided to test an airmail carrier envelope against
the usual surface mail envelope, to see if this would make any significant
difference in response.
So far, the airmail envelope has brought in a
higher response: 6.0% compared with 5.3% from the regular envelope.
All told, 5,338 pieces of mail came into the office during March. Mail
income was 10.4% higher than for the same month last year, bringing the
year-to-date increase to 1.4%.
Yet another hurricane closed in on Fiji, but our brethren there were pro
tected from any injury.
Here's what our minister 1n Suva, Ratu Epeli
Kanaimawi, wrote to us immediately after the cyclone had passed:
Please convey our gratitude and sincere thanks to the brethren
for their prayers for us in a frightening time of need. With
three very strong cyclones coming through Fiji early this year,
this fourth one was to be an experience of a lifetime!
Listening to the radio announcements on Saturday evening and Sun
day morning, one could clearly detect the terror and intense fear
in the voices of announcers as they described the path and inten
sity of hurricane Hina. There was no doubt that Satan was out to
destroy us.
We are grateful to the Eternal for intervening and sparing us
from real destruction and death. All previous cyclones that I
know of travelled either in a straight line or a gentle curve
through Fiji. It can clearly be seen from the maps published in
the local papers that the hurricane continued to be pushed away
from Fiji's coastline as it approached the western coast of our
islands.
Winds of 120 knots per hour gusting to 160 knots or more per hour
were 40 miles from the centre of our group of islands. The hurri
cane skirted Fiji at distances varying between 60 to 80 miles
away--just enough distance from the centre to save the country.
We have, in a very dramatic and unforgettable way, seen demon
strated the dynamic power of the Eternal and how He is willing
and able to answer His people's prayers. We thank you deeply for
your part in praying for our safety. It has certainly brought us
closer to one another in the unity that I am confident the Eter
nal is well pleased to see in the Church.
Recently, "The WORLD TOMORROW" broadcast was discontinued on two New Zea
land radio stations. However, it is still aired weekly on three stations