Hello from rainy Chiang Mai,
We are in the rainy season which lasts from May through
October. It rains a little almost every day. I carry my folding umbrella with me wherever I go these days. I even took it to Vietnam last month when I went to do leadership training for about 80 pastors. We don’t take photos to publish in newsletters and on the internet because of security reasons. Some of those attending pastor un-registered churches. We sometimes call them underground churches. I was able to pass out a “Teambuilding” booklet in Vietnamese for everyone who attended. I also sold extras at my cost for them to pass along to their leaders. The first 2000 copies are almost gone already. It has been my experience that if you pay for it, it has value. If it is free, there is not much value to it. The second book on “The Leader’s Job Description” will be sold (mostly) at my cost of about 25 cents each. The money will pay for reprinting when the first edition is gone. The government license to print it should come this month. They are also being translated into Burmese and will be printed by the end of summer. Someone is also translating them into Khmer (Cambodian) and Spanish. They are free on the internet in English and Vietnamese at: www.leadership101.asia.
October. It rains a little almost every day. I carry my folding umbrella with me wherever I go these days. I even took it to Vietnam last month when I went to do leadership training for about 80 pastors. We don’t take photos to publish in newsletters and on the internet because of security reasons. Some of those attending pastor un-registered churches. We sometimes call them underground churches. I was able to pass out a “Teambuilding” booklet in Vietnamese for everyone who attended. I also sold extras at my cost for them to pass along to their leaders. The first 2000 copies are almost gone already. It has been my experience that if you pay for it, it has value. If it is free, there is not much value to it. The second book on “The Leader’s Job Description” will be sold (mostly) at my cost of about 25 cents each. The money will pay for reprinting when the first edition is gone. The government license to print it should come this month. They are also being translated into Burmese and will be printed by the end of summer. Someone is also translating them into Khmer (Cambodian) and Spanish. They are free on the internet in English and Vietnamese at: www.leadership101.asia.I have met with several missionaries and pastors this past week since I returned. I give advice on a variety of topics, mostly leadership and organizational management but also do mentoring and personal Bible Studies. I will visit a Thai church on Sunday at the request of the pastor who also does Business As Missions (BAM). He wants me to meet the Japanese non-Christian husband of a Thai leady at his church. The husband does not speak Thai or English. I hope my Japanese will come back to me. It usually does after about minutes of struggling. My brain clicks and then it’s back to remembering.
I met with a delegation from BAM Nigeria yesterday to plan for the BAM conference in Lagos in September. That’s the organization I started last August when I was there. I also spoke with an Australian friend who will bring a delegation from the BAM conference in South Africa. I learned that the Vice President of Nigeria is a Christian and a member of the church pastored by one of the men I met with yesterday. He will try to get him to visit the conference.
I am writing some new booklets but it is slow going. I can’t seem to get myself motivated to finish them. Some of the booklets are Bible teaching subjects and not leadership or management related. I see the need for short single subject booklets that are inexpensive to print. As I mention writing them, others encourage me to do so. Please pray that I can get motivated to finish the ones I have already started.
Thanks for praying for me and supporting the work I am doing. If you would like to help pay for the translation and printing cost of booklets, please send donations to Message Ministries and mark it for publishing ministry. Otherwise, donations will be used for travel costs and living expense. So far this year, I have been to Cambodia three times, Vietnam twice, Myanmar, Laos and Singapore once. I have also traveled several times to the north and western borders of Thailand twice. I love to travel but it is really tiring. It’s not because I will be 70 years old in a few months but because it is just tiring.
Thanks for praying for me. I love what I am doing and would rather be here doing what I’m doing than anywhere else on earth. If you would like to help me by praying and finances, please feel free to do so.
God bless you,
Jim
