ansas governor Bill Graves expressed appreciation to students from Enterprise Academy who spent several days volunteering after a tornado killed two and injured 28 others in Hoisington, Kansas, on April 21.
According to John Treolo, Kansas-Nebraska Conference community service director, Graves made his remarks as he toured through several devastated areas. The twister closed down the area hospital and high school, completely destroyed 200 homes and damaged another 200.
Academy students distributed comfort care kits and fliers directing victims to the Adventist Community Services (ACS) warehouse/distribution center.
Some 450 families visiting the ACS center received non-perishable food items, toiletry products, and cleaning supplies, says Treolo.
Hoisington mayor Gwen Christy also expressed her appreciation to ACS volunteers for offering the free service.
25,000 Attend Opening of Ukraine Series
An estimated 25,000 persons crammed the Sport Palace in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, for the May 13 opening of the Carter Report evangelistic series. In the four-week series evangelist John Carter presents archeological and prophetic evidence for God and the Bible.
The crowd was so large that at one point five of the auditorium doors were broken, says Rex Edwards, a vice president for Griggs University, who taught a class on preaching to local pastors.
The series was publicized through radio and television ads and 500,000 handbills that were personally distributed.
441 Baptized in Peru Evangelistic Series
Some 3,500 persons attended an evangelistic series in Moyobamba, Peru, conducted by General Conference vice president Armando Miranda, April 25-28.
Assisting Miranda was a group of Bible instructors. Local leaders built interest in the meeting by conducting small group ministries.
"I feel touched and grateful to God for allowing me to be an instrument in this cause," Miranda said. "I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of hundreds of people and in how the local pastors and members worked to reach other people."
At the end of the meetings 441 persons were baptized. Peruvian leaders have set a baptismal goal of 810 individuals this year.
Former GC Publishing Official Dies
Charles Milton Willis, a long-time literature evangelist and publishing leader, died May 30, 2001, at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland. He was 87 years old.
Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1914, Willis became a literature evangelist at a young age. In June 1952 he was ordained to the gospel ministry. He organized churches in Chicago, Illinois, and Queens, New York, and later became a publishing leader in the Northeastern and Allegheny East conferences. Willis also held positions at the Review and Herald and Southern publishing associations before he was elected as an associate publishing director in the General Conference in 1975. He served at the General Conference for 10 years before retiring with 45 years of denominational service.
Willis is survived by his wife, Ruth; three sons Daniel, Joseph, and Stephen; and four step-children; Joy Brown, Hetha Dixon, Robert Hannum, and Stanford Hannum.
Adventist Academy Basketball Team
Takes Top Honors in Philadelphia
The varsity basketball team (below) from Larchwood Adventist School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
recently won the championship of the Philadelphia Area Christian Schools Athletic Conference on March 26. PACSAC is composed of 12 Christian middle schools and academies.
As an added attraction, league organizers arranged to have the championship game played in Philadelphia's First Union Center, the home of the Philadelphia 76ers
of the National Basketball Association. The game was played immediately following a 76ers game.
Friday Race Brings a Sabbath Witness in South Africa
For 12 years, Seventh-day Adventists in Capetown, South Africa, have organized a Friday alternative to the Two Oceans Marathon race, held on Easter Saturday, April 14.
With 12,000 participants, the marathon is the second largest race in South Africa, says Eric Webster, editor of Signs of the Times, South Africa. This year the special Friday race, conducted by Two Oceans race officials, included 38 Adventist and Jewish participants, along with some officials from the Two Oceans race. At a post-race luncheon each participant received a special medal, along with the Two Oceans medal normally awarded to that each runner, Webster says.
News Notes
There's a new Adventist Church near Cairo, Egypt, according to the General Conference Office of Global Mission. With 28 members, the new church is located in the Cairo suburb of Matarea, where the church has operated an orphanage for many years. The church was established under the leadership of Farouk Rizk, pastor of the Adventist Church in Heliopolis.
Erkki Haapasalo, Finland Finnish Conference president was recently elected president of the Finland Union Conference. Haapasalo replaces Pekka T. Pohjola who is retiring.
Sibrina Kalliokoski, editor of Nykyaika magazine, a Finnish outreach and membership journal, became the first female elected union secretary ever for the Finland Union Conference and within the Trans-European Division, according to division officials. Kallioskoski replaces Joel O. Niininen, who also retired.
Harri Kuhalampi, an ordained pastor in Finland, replaces Haapasalo as president of the Finland Finnish Conference. Currently 5,589 Adventist church members worship in 71 churches and six companies in Finland.
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