Letter to the Brethren: December 30, 2021

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from the Five Cities region of California.

Much has been happening.

Typhoon Rai

Typhoon Rai caused hundreds of deaths in the Philippines last week (see Deadly Typhoon Rai shows that devastation can come quickly).

As mentioned in the CCOG Letter to the Brethren: December 23, 2021, I had contacted our volunteer leader in the Philippines to see how and if the brethren were affected by the deadly Typhoon Rai, but had not heard back.

He and his wife were finally able to send an email that contained the following:

Dear Dr. Thiel,

Its a sobering news to report to you that our province (Surigao del Norte) was the hardest hit as first landfall of the deadly Typhoon Rai (named Odette here) then, Cebu and other parts of the Visayas. This afternoon so far the first time phone signaĺs appeared but electricity still nil since it went off at the middle of the typhoon. Our electric power system still in state of rehabilitation in cooperation with other neighbouring provinces’ electric cooperatives to hopefully restore the grid in 2 months time. We are charging our phones in a genset only.

Today is Sabbath. Barely able to open your Letter to the Brethren and the Church’s website.

Yes, for a deadly typhoon such as this, damages are always expected. Our own house sustained only a negligible damage compared to others with only a roof flashing blown away. But our shop and garage (a 5-minute walking distance from our home) was totally collapsed. Had I happened to parked our service car inside our garage, that car could have been wrecked by a collapsed roofing and walling. It was a blessing that we have disposed our SUV 3 weeks before the typhoon. This garage was for this SUV. Another blessing in disguise is that there was a delay of the coming of the NEW ONE as replacement for the sold old suv because a new one could surely be kept in the garage. Our business (store) establishment and office in the city proper was topless. Glass panels were all broken. But despite all this, we are thankful to our God who kept us always safe along the way.

I haven’t any communication yet with our brethren in Cebu. We have heard some news that the typhoon hits the Cebu province with the same intensity as ours. I think we should not be much worry for {our man} in Cagayan de Oro City, their place was outside of the typhoon coverage. I will give you updates from them soon after I could make contact with all of them.

I will send pictures in the separate email. Just this is for now.

Our best regards,

Joe and Fe {Lumpay}

Yes, Typhoon Rai has been sobering. Received the following from another supporter in the Philippines:

My family here in Cebu are safe. But my livelihood is greatly damage. Jose Lumpay family are safe in Surigao but no power they just use generator. In my place Looc, Mandaue City, Cebu the power was restored the other day and water was restored yesterday, many of the place here still has no power and water. Drinkable water is hard to find and price surge of drinkable water 2x to 3x. Gasoline station have very long lines.

This my boarding house.

Thanks and regards,

Leonilo T.

Thankfully, none of our brethren in the Philippines died, nor, as far as we know, were injured by the typhoon.

I wrote the emailers back and provided some assistance.

Please keep the brethren and those affected in the Philippines in your prayers.

January-March 2022 Edition of Bible News Prophecy Magazine

We mailed the January-March 2022 edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine this past week to our USA subscribers.

We mailed to the non-USA subscribers earlier this month.

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Kenya.

I have received reports from all YOUTH Camps in Kenya that the youth camp in December 2021 went very well. I recieved a very good report from kisii that youth camp was fantastic.  But camp at Ndhiwa was wonderful. The youths were very happy and the way they handled the camp this year was quite different. We gave them one full day for their discussion amongst themselves. We noticed that the youths can have a high understanding and true discipline when they get together and teach one another. We saw some good response towards the youth camp. The youths were very happy and some of them wanted me to extend the camp for another week. I was with two deacons who came to teach the youths. Granton Otieno and Kennedy Odhiambo from Oyugis. They gave powerful massages to the youths. I touch a lot from the books of dating by Dr Bob. This book is a very good book for youths above 18 years old. It touches a lot that can help youths to understand about dating and courtship.

The youths from Mbani and Oriang didn’t not attend because of the burial of one of the youths who was in university.

 This time we had 122 youths who attended the camp at Ndhiwa. Ezekiel Oanda also reported that they had many youths in Kisii. I also received a report from {Pastor} Sawek that the youths were so many in Chilani from Kaplecho, Daktech,  motosiet and Chilani. Some came from junction congregation where we supplied cement.

I also recieved a report from Njoro that there was a funeral.  A woman who have been in the CHURCH OF GOD for more than 30 years died a day to the opening date of YOUTH CAMP. So they postponed their youth camp till next week. The report was given by David Cheryot. So they will have camp by next week after burial.

What have noticed that the youth camp is very important and it’s really helping youths for their future life.

Here are some photos from Ndhiwa

Evans.

Pastor Dr Bob,

Here is a photo of the youth camp in Kisii which is cent to me by pastor Ezekiel Oanda.

I didn’t report that Bradox took some videos at Ndhiwa youth camp which he is planning to send to YouTube.

Evans.

It is great that the camps held went well, despite certain deaths.

Pastor Tiongik Sawek sent the following about the camp in his area:

Receive greetings in Jesus Name. The youth camp at Chilani went well. Bomet  and Mau  youth camp went on successfully. The Brethrens were blessed. We taught all the youths to avoid unnecessary plans that are not Godly. We had representatives from Kabolecho and Takitech. We had teachers who taught the youths, the elderly women also contributed in teaching girls to abstain from earthly ways. We taught as seen in Proverbs 22:2.  We taught them through the book of 2Timothy 3:1-7. We further encouraged them to respect the parents and the entire church. They learned a lot about the good ways in the Church and respect for their parents. This will enable them also to show their good behavior wherever they are. (Mathew 5:13,14). We pray that God may succeed the  promise by Evangelist Ochieng concerning constructions of  houses that will be used during church meetings. Attached is the picture taken on that day.

God bless you

Regards,

Pastor Sawek

In the end time, we are to work to, “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). Youth camps are just one way to help do that.

Final 2021 Notice on Year-End Income Tax Matters

(Public Domain Images)

The Roman calendar year is almost over. Those who live in the United States, in order to have their contributions eligible for tax deduction for calendar year 2021, need to send electronic or regular mail donations no later than December 31, 2021. For those who physically mail donations, they must be postmarked by December 31, 2021 to be eligible for deductibility for 2021.

All contributions received via US mail for residents of the United States are to be processed for the tax year based upon the postmarked date on the envelopes.

For contributions received via PayPal, we use the date that PayPal gives us.

The PayPal donation link for the USA is at: https://www.ccog.org/donations/

In Canada the rules may be slightly different for mailed and other contributions, so if you want the tax deduction for calendar year 2021, they likely also need to be made before the end of the calendar year to the CCOG office in Canada. Here is a link to the CCOG Canada donations’ page: https://ccogcanada.ca/donations/

In New Zealand, they use a March 31st date to end their tax year. That being said, here is a link to the CCOG New Zealand donations’ page: https://ccog.nz/donations/