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Executives Confirm Holding All MWC Meetings in Zimbabwe

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — All meetings related to the 14th Mennonite World Conference Assembly Gathered, August 11-17, will be held here as originally planned. Larry Miller, MWC executive secretary, and Ray Brubacher, associate executive secretary of events and administration and international coordinator, now in Bulawayo, have confirmed that no meetings will be held in South Africa. The contingency plan was developed a few months ago when holding the meetings in Zimbabwe was in question.

Groups meeting in Bulawayo include the MWC Executive Committee (August 6), the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren (August 6), the MWC General Council (August 7-9), the Global Youth Summit (August 8-10), and the Global Mission Fellowship (August 10-11 and 16).

Miller arrived in Bulawayo on July 19 and Brubacher about two weeks earlier. They along with local staff are putting final details in place as registrations continue to rise. By July 19, international numbers were nearly 1,900 and total registrations between 6,500 and 7,000.

Five delegates of the Evangelical Church of Mennonite Brethren in Namibia, one of the youngest Anabaptist-Mennonite churches in the global communion, were among most recent registrants. They will undertake a gruelling five- to six-day bus trip from Oshakati in northern Namibia to come to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

One challenge for local staff is preparing to feed the ever increasing multitude. By mid-June they had secured maize, meat, rice, cooking oil, flour and sugar, and wood to do the cooking was ready to collect. The office at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Centre was operating and contracts for technical equipment for the conference were in place.

Miller and Brubacher wrote from Bulawayo: "We solicit your prayers for these events, for this country, and in particular for the Christian sisters and brothers...in this amazing place. Woza! Come. God certainly has something here for you!"