Miracle in the desert
Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates—For the first time in history, the Seventh-day Adventist Church owns a building in the Persian Gulf region. Some called it historic, but George Mathew, the elder of Ras al-Khaimah Seventh-day Adventist Church, called seeing the reorganization of the Gulf Section into a field and the inauguration of the new Seventh-day Adventist Church Center in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), a miracle.
The building has church facilities for about 1,000 people, offices, apartments, and guest rooms. God blessed through not only securing the permission and funding for the construction of the church premises, but also when, on May 20, 2011, under the leadership of Kjell Aune, president of the Middle East Union, the Gulf Section was reorganized into a field and held its first session.
On Saturday, May 2 1 , 2011, before the inauguration of the building, Bertil Wiklander, the president of the Trans-European Division, delivered a heartwarming message on revival and reformation, based on Micah 6:6–8, to the audience of delegates of the Gulf Field session, the Middle East Union session, and a number of visitors— where approximately 1,000 people were in attendance.
The Gulf Field president , Michael Collins, called the gathering “a foretaste of heaven” as he welcomed the dignitaries, delegates, and honorable guests. The afternoon inauguration was also attended by representatives of His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr al-Qasimi, ruler of Ras al-Khaimah and Supreme Council member. Kjell Aune extended a word of appreciation to His Highness for the piece of land graciously granted to the church.
On Sunday, May 22, the Middle East Union Session began, ending on Monday evening. During the sessions, Sudan was reorganized into three fields. The former South Sudan Field territory, as proposed, was renamed the Greater Equatoria Field, while the Sudan Field remains as the Sudan Field. A new field was created in the northern part of South Sudan, with the proposed name of Greater Upper Nile Field, which covers five states and the northern part of Jonglei State. The headquarters will be in Malakal. An unprecedented number of locals were elected to field and union positions, making this session a milestone in the history of the church in the Middle East. [Clement Arkangelo, tedNEWS]
One family to donate 500,000 books
In Indonesia, Seventh-day Adventists have the practice of welcoming and closing the Sabbath with family worship. Some time ago, I was in West Indonesia on a Sabbath. As it came time to close the Sabbath, I visited the family of a church member who owns the largest printing press in Indonesia, among other business interests. This dear brother prints the textbooks for the public schools in Indonesia and is very supportive of the work of the church.
After the worship in this brother’s lovely home in Jakarta, we had a conversation about two things: printing The Great Controversy in the Indonesian language and also printing Bible textbooks for our elementary and high schools in Indonesia.
After explaining the project to this family, they agreed to print, as a gift to the church, 500,000 copies of The Great Controversy in its classic version. Praise God!
[Albert C. Gulfan, Great Controversy Project News]
