| Greetings Brethren,Hope all of you are well, as you prepare for the upcoming Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. We here in E. Africa are also trying to prepare for the upcoming Feast, but are struggling to do so. There will be a total of ten sites keeping this years Spring Feast here in Kenya and Tanzania, with just over 700 in attendance.
Not many realize how many cog brethren there are in this part of the world. In the 1950’s the Radio cog under the leadership of Mr. Herbert W Armstrong was broadcasting the Gospel form Radio Luxembourg. A man by the name of Joash living in Tanzania was receiving that broadcast and connected with The church, and the church began to take hold. Even today there are brethren among us here who came into the church during RCOG. I have been visiting this area since 2005, and in 2006 began a nonprofit organization called “Kenya Hands of Hope” to try and raise funds to assist our impoverished brethren, most of whom are peasant farmers. When it rains and they have a good harvest they eat, but when there is drought or flooding there is famine and our brethren literally starve. Currently there is famine touching many of our brethren here. Even last week we had an eight Month old baby in one of the remote church groups die from starvation. The mother was Breast feeding but had very little food to eat. Sad to say, I received word yesterday that the Mom has now also died from starvation. We are doing our best to assist these suffering brethren, but the need is great. If only others in the cog were made aware of the dire situation, I’m sure others would help, but spreading the word is quite difficult. The hierarchy in many of the church groups stop us at the door and will not allow their brethren to be made aware of our impoverished brethren’s cry for help. Many who are suffering are true widows and orphans. One church leader of one of the larger cog organizations told me that even though they had tens of thousands of funds available, they would not help because they like to care for their own brethren (State side) before assisting any brethren abroad. Another high ranking minister told me that they will not assist any brethren in Africa because preaching the Gospel is a business, and they tried Africa but got no return. Brethren, these statements I’m making might sound unbelievable, but they are God honest truth. It was also recently stated on one cog organization’s “newsletter” that “Kenya Hands of Hope” is a “worldly” organization. That statement is untrue, and will prevent some from assisting their suffering brethren. Now, on top of trying to assist our brethren living in famine, we are also looking to assist them in preparing for the upcoming Feast. If you could possible help, that would be great. And if you can spread the word that our impoverished brethren are crying out for help, they will appreciate it very much. For those questioning our legitimacy, please scrawl down on this “update page” it documents years of what we have been doing and where the funds received have been going. It also contains links to statements and letters previously made by members of God’s church who know us. Your brother in Christ Bill Goff |