It’s been a while since I wrote a newsletter because I have been busy doing the same old things, training and personal mentoring of key leaders.  I usually teach FREE seminars focusing on leadership skills for missionaries here in South East Asia, but also train and connect them with Business As Missions opportunities so they can earn money while doing the work of the ministry.  However, this last month, I had two new things happen in my life.

The first thing was that I went to China.  Before this, I had only been in Chinese airports but never getting to see the country and its people.  This was the fulfillment of a promise God made to me 40 years ago while China was closed to Americans.  I was there escorting a Jewish philanthropist lady from Dallas, Texas.  We stayed at the guest house of an orphanage that cares for handicapped children, mostly babies with deformities.  Often they only need surgery to repair their abnormalities.  Handicapped children are usually given up because of the “one child” policy in China and are adopted to families, mostly in the US.  I used my I-Phone to take photos but it was hacked and I lost everything.  I got to see the Great Wall and much of Beijing but no photos remained.  I will be back, I’m sure to work toward seeing God’s kingdom firmly established.

Another first is that we were deported from Myanmar.   We did not have the right paper work.  We were missing a letter from an “authorized” travel agent.  I had set up our flights in and out and hotels online.  In the past, I had a business visa but this was my first tourist type trip.  We were exploring new opportunities and not working with an established company.  I lost the cost of one airfare and three nights at a hotel that I had already booked and paid for.  It is easier to get into China and every other country in SE Asia than it is to get into Myanmar.

I began the journey with Sandy in Cambodia where we met the founder of Daughters of Cambodia, a ministry that rescues sex workers and trains them for productive lives.  They have a café and a sewing factory.  They provide a day care for the children of those they are training.  Because of the general slowdown of tourism in SE Asia, every ministry is tightening their belts.  We also met with some other BAM people who are starting businesses that will hopefully supply jobs and funding for others, especially at the huge garbage dump where many people make a living searching through garbage for things to recycle.