SOUTH AFRICA—Twenty-seven members of the Johannesburg congregation met on March 30 at the home of the Smith family for their first fundraiser of the year, a garage sale with a goal of raising R10,000 for the building fund and local fund.

Early in the morning, each volunteer was assigned a section and went to work unpacking and organizing the merchandise. Signs placed outside the gate attracted the first customers of the day.

“We had a slow start, but after a few sales the merchandise really started to fly,” Steven Hoeksma said.

Curious passersby stopped to see what was going on and stayed to browse and buy. Some even remembered the garage sale the congregation held last year and had come to see what was for sale this time round.

One woman, who was driving a pickup truck loaded with goods she was about to donate to her church, stopped her trip and decided to donate the load to the pcg instead.

“It was inspiring to see local brethren transform into dedicated sales people, focused on producing the best contribution possible for the building fund,” local single Divan Muller said. “I have no doubt that the public could see that this was a garage sale with a difference.”

The sale benefited from beautiful weather despite threatening storm clouds hovering overhead, which later moved on. The steady stream of foot traffic changed the plans to end the sale at 2 p.m., so volunteers took turns resting and having a bite to eat, before taking up their positions again. At 4 p.m., brief rain stopped trade, and everyone rushed to put the remaining merchandise in storage.

“It was a very encouraging and great day,” Local Elder George Githembe said. “There was a wonderful response from the brethren in terms of contributing and helping out on the day. God answered our prayers for good weather, for wonderful customers, to meet our target, for the safety of the staff and customers and an increase over last year’s garage sale. To crown it all, at the end of the day God gave us a bonus by providing us with a very beautiful double rainbow at the venue. Compared with last year, there was a much better response and this is definitely an event we will plan to have every year.”

“It was wonderful to see many more brethren present with this garage sale,” said the host for the sale, Rohann Smith. “It made a big difference. Sales did not start out as early as the previous garage sale, but they were consistent throughout the day.”

The following Sabbath, excitement was high as Mr. Githembe announced that not only had the congregation achieved its goal, but it had earned a 92 percent increase over last year, with a total sum of R11,657.