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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 22, 1986
From the Spanish Office
PV Bible lectures were conducted in Uruguay for
the first time ever May 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25 by Mr. Alberto Sousa,
pastor of the Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Salto, Uruguay, churches.
Total attendance was 125, with 72 new people, 20 of whom wished to attend
future Bible studies.
Fifteen visit requests were received, and Mr.
Sousa said that several people promised to start tithing as soon as
possible.
Those in attendance were mainly middle-aged, Protestant
background people.
They had many questions about Church doctrines,
especially those relating to the Sabbath and obedience. (Mr. Sousa also
reported that on May 29 he would make the first visit ever by a minister
to see a prospective member in Asuncion, Paraguay.)
Some 850 miles west of Montevideo, Mr. Mario Seiglie conducted his fifth
series of PV Bible lectures since 1981 in Santiago, Chile's capital of
4,000,000, on May 17, 24 and 25.
Total attendance was 700, and new
people numbered 385, 8.5% of those invited. He will conduct four follow
up lectures through mid-June and said that there were many "good
prospects" among those in attendance. Mr. Seiglie almost had to cancel
the meetings the day before the first lecture. A Chilean political group
had invited congressmen from all over the world to attend a series of
seminars, but had not received authorization from the military government
to do so.
Chilean army personnel began to cordon off the area three
blocks from the Hotel Tupahue, where the lectures were to be held, and
threatened to close all the meeting rooms of the hotel, but somehow Mr.
Seiglie was able to convince officials to allow him to conduct the first
lecture on Saturday, May 17. Although he could not conduct :qis planned
lecture on May 18, by the following weekend events had calmed down enough
so that the lectures of May 24 and 25 were not impeded. Earlier, on
April 12 and 13, Mr. Herbert Cisneros conducted lectures in Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, for a total of 43 people. He spent over two hours answering
questions after the second meeting.
This is the fifth lecture series
held in Honduras, and Mr. Cisneros now has a group of 40 interested
people who meet periodically in the Honduran capital.
Spanish-language Feast sites are scheduled for Maitencillo, Chile;
Melgar, Colombia; Liberia, Costa Rica; Antigua, Guatemala; Acapulco,
Mexico; Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico; and Cullera, Spain. There will be
Feast sites in Peru and Argentina, but the exact locations are not known
at this time. There may be a Feast site in Venezuela. The Mexico and
Puerto Rico sites will have simultaneous English translation.
Total
attendance is expected to be 2,500-3,000.
Through April, some 133,000 pieces of mail have been received by the
Spanish Department, a 6.2% increase over the first four months of 1985.
Also, the number of active Correspondence Course students now stands at
13,337. This year our ministers are emphasizing to those who attend PV
Bible lectures the need to receive the Bible course or to ask for more
lessons.
(From Leon Walker, Regional Director)
--Larry Salyer, Director of Church Administration