February 2008
Dear Brethren, Friends and family!

Greetings and grace from Fiji.

Bula Vinaka!

WEATHER DOWN-UNDER
We have continued to have heavy rains in Lautoka with over 22 inches of rain since our last report. This means that there is an overwhelming odor of rotting vegetation in the air and a layer of mildew and mold on anything that is just sitting around. This included and is not limited to all leather products such as shoes, wooden items, backpacks, hats, furniture. You name it the mildew and mold was on most everything because the humidity never got below 90%. However the last couple of weeks we have seen drier weather with thunderstorms in the afternoon only. We even had a few days without any rain with lower humidity but higher temperatures. When it was raining the temperatures even got down into the high 70's.

SUVA TRIP

Greetings this Wednesday morning from Athens Greece,

I sit in my office this morning listening to the quiet of the city. Yep, the Greeks have decided to call a general strike once again. That means that all public offices and public services are closed today. That includes the banks, Post office, all government offices, half of the television stations, newspapers and all public transportation. I noticed on the internet that the airport is even closed today. That makes for a very quiet day here in Athens. The only ones out will be the protesters in the center of the city, protesting whatever they feel like protesting today. I’ll just sit happily in my office here at home and get my work done quite nicely. Might even have to make that second pot of coffee. . . . Hum, that sounds good. . . . I’ll be right back.

We finished up our school term yesterday at the school for this month and the students seem to have done very well once again. We’ll see as I plow into the grading of their final exams and term papers this afternoon. I continue to admire and marvel at their undying love of the Lord and their eagerness to study and learn more the Word of God.

1. Roger and Keith, two of the ministers were just here from California. They were an encouragement to us and the work here. It was great to have people who are interested in the work come and experience it 1st hand.

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Dear brethren:

Sunday, January 20th, 2008, was baptized for remission of her sins KRISSIA YAHAIRA RAMOS SANCHEZ, she is a young of 18 years old, that throughout year 2007 was attending the meetings that regularly we celebrated all Sundays, so that, she obeyed totally conscious to the Lord. This is the first fruit of year 2008. Krissia is daughter of sister Leticia Sosa Ramos, who also obeyed Sunday, November 4th, 2007. Her father was visiting the church for several years, we hope someday he obey the Word of God.

Greetings in the Lord, this good Wednesday (OOP’S – I mean Thursday) morning.

A day late this week visiting with you as Jamie Wootton and I had a full day of visiting local sites here in Greece. Jamie has been with us three weeks so far and has now realized he only has one more week before he heads back to the good ol’ U.S.A. So much to see, and so little time to see it all. We spent a full day yesterday taking the opportunity to get out on a boat and visit three local islands nearby, just to give Jamie the experience of seeing a little of the Greek culture outside of Athens.

We are three weeks done in this school term and only have one more week before we get on with final exams. The students made it through their mid-terms ok, and are now getting ready to head into finals. As always it’s been such a joy to be with them in class. Their enthusiasm in learning God’s word and watching them apply His lessons to their lives, gives us much joy. One Student, Iyke Ibekwe, told me this week, “What we learn in this bible are things that change our lives forever.” Wouldn’t it be great if we all had that attitude towards God’s word?

By Rilda Perry

2007 has been an especially busy year for missions among the SAIM group. Following are some of the trips made this year.

Welcome to this month’s Happenings! Thanks to those who have sent information during the last two months. If you want to send information please email it to tedpaull@hotmail.com either in text or Word files, or mail it to P O Box 41 NORTH RYDE NSW 1670 or ring (02) 9888 9664, (02) 9878 3008 or (02) 9878 1078. Ted Paull

Camp baptisms
3 young people were baptised during Camp Challenge, near Sydney – Nathan Clark from Canberra, Belinda Giles from Richmond, and Amanda Olorenshaw from Brisbane.

South East baptisms
Kate Treloggen was baptised into Christ on New Year's Day. She had been attending the South East congregation in Melbourne for some time, being the wife of one of the members. Also at South East, Dale Christensen was baptised on January 12, his 15th birthday.

Tassie Baptism
Good news from the Lindisfarne (Hobart) congregation is that. Josh Troy was baptised into Christ in January.

North Queensland Baptism
Peter Yip from Cooktown was baptised at lunchtime on January 27. He travels down from Cooktown (about 5 hrs drive each way) to worship with the church in Cairns!

Sydney Baptisms

The 18th Annual Church of Christ FAMILY CAMP is scheduled for June 30th - July 5th (Monday 1 PM to Staturday 12: PM)

Location RICHARDSON GROVE RV & CAMP (AT RICHARDSON GROVE STATE PARK)

GARBERVILLE, CALIFORNIA

COST: EACH FAMILY WILL RESERVE THEIR OWN SPACE AND PAY DIRECT TO RICHARDSON GROVE RV PARK THIS YEAR.

For camp planning purposes registeration should be sent to McKinleyville Church of Christ

2208 Walnut

McKinleyville, CA 95521

For More Information Call: (707) 839-5086

Family, congregation shocked by preacher’s death

Roy McLaurin Jr. was also active in volunteer work

Tragedy touched the lives of a local family and church congregation with the death of 74-year-old Roy Gilbert McLaurin Jr. of Victoria.

A preacher at Central Church of Christ in Victoria for 19 years, McLaurin died Saturday afternoon in a farm equipment malfunction on Saturday, said his brother Gary McLaurin, 60, of Victoria. “Everybody was shocked; he was really loved by a lot of people,” he said.

Elders at McLaurin’s church paid homage to him at the worship service on Sunday, said 55-year-old Nancy Schmidt of Victoria, McLaurin’s daughter.

“Because he meant so much to all of them, they all took turns saying something about my dad,” she said. “It was almost like a funeral with the beautiful things they had to say. It was a celebration service.”

Have I mentioned before that God is awesome? We started the year with a congregational meeting to discuss our five year plan and budget for 2008. To say that the meeting went well would be an understatement. The plan was very well received. If I have not previously sent you a copy and you would like one please let me know. A few of the highlights from that meeting are: Have each member involved in an active prayer and study lifestyle; To grow by one-third a year; Involve more men in the preaching and teaching; Work towards becoming self-supporting; Get more active in the community as a group; Get more active on the college campus. We also set a budget of $324 a week. This budget would cover our expenses minus the preacher salary right now.
We had a doctor from Kansas visiting with us for the last of December to mid-January. Floyd was a great encouragement to us while he was here. He was working pro-locum at the local hospital. We hope he gets to come back for another visit.