Update from China June 14 2005

WARNING: Long, Long, Long. Please go to the washroom before attempting to read this. The Table of Contents is unchained to maintain continuity.
1) INTRO
2) WORK
3) MY FREE TIME
4) THE DEEPER SIDE OF THINGS
5) OTHER “LIVING” RELATED THINGS
6) TO END OFF…
7) POST SCRIPT\\ To My Brothers and Sisters

INTRO

I am almost afraid to begin writing this update, because it has been 4 months since my last update. By my calculations, for a four month span, this update should be about twenty pages long, but I will really try my best to keep it closer to ten. Really, I’m going to try, I promise.

I actually got some emails from people asking me where my next update was, it is really encouraging and heartwarming to know that people look forward to hearing about my life, thank you!

WORK

I’m going to keep this as short as possible, but this will probably end up being the longest part of the update. The only reason why it’s been four months since my last update is because of WORK. I will quickly give you a synopsis of my work status, and you can choose which sections you want to read. I currently am working four jobs: 1) Overseas Program Manager at Executive Communications 2) Lecturer at Peking University 3) Founder and owner of a web design company 4) Co-founder and partner of Artisans de la Chine, a company selling antique and modern Chinese furniture.

1) Executive Communications. I got promoted! You may recall last update I mentioned I got a job at this company as a language instructor, and then as a consultant. Well that all changed pretty quickly. The company quickly recognized the other skills I had to offer, and they invited me to help grow the business. Executive Communications hoped to expand its reach to the rest of the world, recognizing that learning Mandarin is becoming more popular with more people coming to China each year to learn. They charged me with developing an overseas marketing program, in which I would be responsible for procuring overseas students and clients to come to China and learn Mandarin. Thus was born Executive Mandarin’s China Immersion Program, an immersion program custom-built for each client’s personal needs and language goals. This program includes accommodation arrangements, cultural orientation, airport pickup, and excursion planning on top of 1-to-1 Mandarin training classes. The goal of this program is to get you speaking Mandarin in as little time possible, while also showing you the ever-changing face of China. I won’t go any further talking about this, because this isn’t an advertisement! But if you are interested, please go to the website my team and I created, www.chinaimmersion.com for more details. Needless to say, as the Overseas Program Manager, I continue building relationships with universities and organizations all over the world in the hopes of promoting this new program.

As a result of my success with the China Immersion Program, the owners of Executive Communications offered me the Shanghai branch of the company, inviting me to be the General Manager there. This opportunity would require a three year commitment from me in Shanghai, and I would be handsomely compensated by being made partner in this firm. After deep struggle, I decided to turn down the offer, because three years is a little too long for me to be in one place, and my career aspirations are elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is a huge vote of confidence, and I was honoured to be offered the position.

Although I turned down the Shanghai branch, I had my choice of other projects and responsibilities to take on. The owners of the company were impressed with the website I was able to create for the China Immersion Program, so they asked me to revamp their original websites, which I am currently completing with my web design team.

After the reconstruction of the company websites, I am scheduled to take over a magazine, China Life Magazine. The annual corporate planning meeting took place less than a month ago, and I was invited to make a presentation about my plans for the magazine to the partners of the company. I pitched to the owners an expansion of the magazine beyond a mere information medium. In the presentation I outlined how the online magazine would grow to become also a source for online language-learning materials, and eventually into a new branch of the business, a webcam-based language school. Completed in stages, I gave them a one-year plan on how each of the three stages could be completed. After an intense discussion with some very tough questions, the partners agreed that my entire proposal warranted the investment, and I was given the responsibility to spearhead this new initiative.

So now, I am quickly finishing up the reconstruction and renovation of the company’s websites. While I do this, I am putting together my team in preparation for the China Life Magazine project, and the expansion into an online language school. Coordinating people, building teams and watching as projects miraculously get completed is truly amazing. I have already learned so much about project management and networking, I am excited to see what else I will experience in the up coming projects. In a month’s time, my team and I will be ready to begin working full-time on the China Life Magazine and yet another new expansion of the company. If all goes well, I will be working on this project until 2006.

While working on these projects, I am still teaching here and there to business executives. Doing this is helping me make great contacts and connections to some of the leading business people in China. I teach many executives from Pharmaceutical, Marketing, and Construction companies. In particular, I teach the Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire Magazine (China), and am in talks to teach the president of Yahoo (China). Opportunities abound my friends.

2) Peking University. Yes, I still work at Peking University’s School of Software, lecturing one class. It is about wrapped up now; I just finished marking the final exams. I kept this job this past term just because I wanted to keep in touch with the students there, who are always a source of inspiration and resource. I have decided not to teach another term, because it is too far, I am too busy with Executive Communications and also running my own businesses.

3) Web Design Company. My time at Peking University gave me more than just friends. I thought for a long time about what kind of opportunities would come out of knowing these students. In the end it was some of my former student who brought up the idea of starting a web design company. As I, at that time, was working on the website for China Immersion, and knew of the other websites in the pipeline, I thought it would be synergetic to start a web design company, help out my friends, and have a team readily available with my other websites.

However the more I thought about it, the more it dawned on me that the potential for this company was quite large. In developing a web design company in China, I will come back to North America and market this company as an outsourcing option for companies in Canada and the US. Paying my design team in Canadian or US dollars would be far better than what they would normally earn at a Chinese firm, and this discrepancy allows me to offer a much lower, competitive price for North American firms.

This company keeps me fairly busy on weekends and on weeknights, as I must coordinate my team make sure they are working as efficiently as possible. We currently have another 4 projects waiting after we complete our client’s website. I must warn however, that probably by the next update, things will have changed, as this company is still very fluid and in its initial stages. A website showcasing our company will not be ready for some time until after we complete all of our present client’s websites.

4) Artisans de la Chine. This company is a lot more complex and a lot larger than my web design company. Since the nature of this business is so competitive and because there are still many trade secrets that must be kept, I can only tell you the big picture of this company. Artisans de la Chine has four major business lines: 1) Antique Chinese Furniture 2) Modern Chinese Interior Design 3) Contemporary Chinese Artwork 4) Textiles (silk & cashmere). The major vision of this company is to create original, vibrant styles blending ancient antiques with modern creations. That’s about all I can tell you right now about that company. It’s pretty big, and the website should be coming up by the end of this month. And guess whose web design company is creating the website for Artisans de la Chine? Haha yup, you guessed it, mine!

The company has three partners tentatively, all Canadian citizens, all living in China, all three different generations, and all three offering different things to the company. I am offering the web design, a younger perspective, my native English skills and my business training. I am also going to be responsible in the future for expanding the business into North America. The other partners offer the financing as well as the China connections for clients as well as suppliers.

Just yesterday, I went to visit one of our suppliers of antique furniture. When I went to their warehouse, it was so big I couldn’t even see the other end of the warehouse. The place was lined wall to wall with antique furniture between 75 to 500 years old. It was mesmerizing.

This business is designed to be very big, very profitable and catered to high-end, high-luxury clientele. I will inform you about the website and also the progress of this business in the next email, or just write and ask me for an update! The showroom should have its grand opening by the end of the summer here in Beijing. This business keeps me busy the rest of my time on the weekends and weeknights, basically eliminating any free time I had to begin with.

So those are the four jobs I am working at right now. I’m sorry if I couldn’t be more specific with some of the more interesting things (like my companies) but they are still in their initial stages. This means that more development is yet to come to solidify position and direction, and it also means that all of my waking moments and thoughts are constantly consumed with how to grow these endeavors. Last update I also mentioned another job, the English Language College. I quit that quite early on after I got promoted at Executive Communications.

MY FREE TIME

Free time?! What free time??!! As you might have guessed from reading my Work section, free time is a luxury I cannot really afford anymore. China is such an amazing place where things happen so fast, free time is something that can be left for later. While in China, use the best use of your opportunities right? In fact, I rather enjoy working on my businesses, although many people will tell me that is not how I should be using my free time.

My dad always told me to work hard, and play hard; and that is what I do. Last update I mentioned going to Dalian, then back to Beijing, then to Tokyo, then to Kyoto, then back to Tokyo before going back to Beijing. Well, I did all that back in February. And I didn’t really have a real holiday again until May 1st, the Labour holiday (commonly known as MayDay, or the worker’s holiday). That was a week-long holiday, so I decided to take another excursion.

This time I chose to go to the city of Urumqi, in XinJiang, China’s North Western-most province. It borders along all the “Stans” as well as Russia. I have a friend living there, and I had always dreamed of visiting her, so this was my big chance. Boy, was it an experience that I wouldn’t forget. It starkly contrasted with my previous trip. Where the first vacation was a lot of flying around with little rest, this trip was a well-deserved and needed, restive vacation. It was helped by the fact that I lost my voice for the first three days of this trip. Those of you who know me well know how I love to talk, but it was a great relief to be quiet (or be shut up) and just listen for once. My friend took me out to the Gobi Desert and into some mountain ranges, where we stayed at the foot of a mountain for several days. Each day we would choose a different path and hike though different valleys. At one point we hiked to where the mountain stream was still frozen from the winter ice. Melted water trickled and splashed down the stream bed to where herds of cattle and sheep grazed.

Coming back from the mountains I spent a few days in the city of Urumqi, exploring its nuances, especially its Uighur Minority District. Stepping into this part of the city, it was hard to remember that I was still in China, as the entire population of this quarter was Uighur, a Eurasian Muslim minority with their own language, music, dress, food, and culture. Even the buildings and architecture was different. A most wondrous experience, I must say. It was truly eye-opening to see another side of China, so far removed from the Han-Chinese East coast. However, even here at the farthest reaches of western China, modernization is booming. Still the most common sight, even in Urumqi was construction cranes. China’s government is investing serious capital to develop the hinterlands to keep up with the developments of the major coastal cities.

In addition to traveling, my free time has been spent entertaining guests who pass through Beijing. Among others, my friend’s sister came to visit from Toronto via Shanghai, and so did my brother! At the behest of my parents, who do not have enough time to come and visit themselves, they sent my brother as a proxy. It was a real relief to have Christopher come and visit. We shared some real deep conversations and were able to catch up with one another, something that is really hard when one brother is in China and the other is finishing his third year of Engineering at U of T. It was almost a surprise having someone so familiar around again.

My last bastion of free time is used either at the driving range or adding to my ever-growing mountain of DVDs. I am very proud to say that I owned a copy of Star Wars Episode III 3 days after it came out in theatres and I now own the entire set of Star Trek movies (all ten of them). I also completed the entire DVD set of the Alias TV series, and am now fully caught up with Smallville, and CSI’s Las Vegas, Miami and New York. Yeah I know, I’m a geek, so sue me.

THE DEEPER SIDE OF THINGS

The past four months has seen such a dramatic change in my life that it is almost hard to believe it was just one year ago that I finished university. I am still new to the taste of real life and real work, but I feel like I’ve already gained years of experience, especially experience I would never have had the chance to earn back in Canada. Truths first taught in Canada were proven out here in China: 1) The only thing between you and great accomplishments is your attitude. 2) Creativity defines success. 3) Opportunities in life don’t come from how much you know, but who you know. 4) There is no reason to feel intimidated by anyone, not even a CEO. After all, they are just normal people with normal lives, and those that are worth working with will appreciate and be impressed by your candidness.

Nobody ever told me life could move this fast. Nobody ever told me that opportunities can knock at your door so often and so loudly. I don’t know whether to feel scared or excited at the thought that this may be the real pace of life. If this truly is how fast time goes by, then I am beginning to understand why people say life is too short. Thinking about all the things I want to do, and all the things I can do, it becomes ever so apparent that making the best use of every day is of utmost importance.

When people hear about all the jobs I am doing or all the projects that I am undertaking, everyone asks me to slow down, or take a break. I keep on telling them that I am trying to make the best use of my time in China, since I am only here for a short while. I wanted to start opportunities and ventures here, so that I can bring them with me back to Canada. I felt like it was only in China that life could move this fast, propelled by the rapid development of this country. But it has slowly dawned on me these past months that this speed, this momentum in life is not restricted to the location, but is solely based on the individual. I can go back to Canada and live at the same speed I have been here in China. I just never knew it was possible, and never gave myself the chance. I never knew I had this much freedom.

Coming to China has really helped me understand and grasp the freedom that is possible in all our lives. A lot of my friends confide in me that they are scared by the real world, scared by the risks and mountain of choices that face them. Some are choosing to go back to school because they do not feel adequate to even see what is out there. I call all this risk and choice freedom. You can do anything you want, anything. Doesn’t that idea excite you? It excites me. And I plan on acknowledging that I have this freedom throughout my life, even if I get married, or have a family, I still am capable of doing anything. Shakespeare said it right, all the world really IS a stage, and what people must realize is that they have beautiful voices and sweet lyrics.

Ok, maybe you’ve just about had enough of my ranting and raving. To tell you the truth, I’m tired, boys and girls. I’ve seriously pushed myself to the limit and back again. I am really in need of a break, and am looking forward to my short vacation back home. Even though I said I could bring this pace of life back to Toronto, I will not, because I know in the end it won’t be too healthy for me.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few months, in the midst of all the work I’ve been getting done and all the great opportunities that have been coming my way. It has come to the point where I must really begin watching myself and making sure I do not sacrifice my entire youth to a career and forego the real important things in life: relationships. Although all this that I’m doing is really amazing, and has a positive purpose and affect, it all means nothing if relationships around me are left uncultivated. Even though the internet and telecommunications has made maintaining relationships much easier, it is no substitute for actually being there physically for the other person. I really have to be conscious now, and balance what China has to offer me with what I have in Toronto. In the end, opportunities abound, and can be easily created if you are capable, but deep, enriching relationships are far rarer, taking a lifetime to build.

OTHER “LIVING” RELATED THINGS

Living, that’s basically what I’m doing, just living. The past few months I’ve been consumed with work, and being just another resident of this great city. I try my best to get out as much as I can, to do new things, but most of the time I usually get swamped or caught up doing this or that. I do however try to keep up with my golfing (I bought a new set of golf clubs, Taylor-Made baby!).

Going out at night is usually reserved for a special occasion, or if I have visitors in town. Now that the weather is warmer, it is especially nice to go to Hou Hai (translated as Back Sea), which is a long, narrow lake, which is, literally, at the back of another lake (naturally called Qian Hai, Front Sea). This lake is lined on both sides with outside patio bars and cafes, and all have lanterns and lights so when the sun goes down it is especially beautiful. Not to mention the little rowboats with your own personal rower, just like the boats in Venice. There are even some boats where a whole party of 6 or 7 can sit there and have dinner as the boat glides across the lake; really quite a beautiful place.

The weather is really warming up now, or should I say heating up. By the time I get to work in the morning, the entire back of my shirt is soaked through with sweat. Yuck. And it’s a lot more humid. Ew. Beijing is about the same latitude as Toronto. The major difference is that we are inland and surrounded by mountains. The pollution trapping in the heat doesn’t help either. It helps however, that everyday or every other day we have one thunderstorm, to give this city a quasi wash-down. Believe me, this city needs it. The only drawback to the rain is that you really don’t know when it is going to come. You step outside in the morning and you think “ok, for sure it’s going to rain today” and you run back inside just to get an umbrella, and it doesn’t rain! Then on days when you go out in the morning and its all sunny and blue skies, you leave work and it’s pouring and you’re soaked through in less than a minute.

Having said how difficult this city is, I must report that many people who visit me do not understand why I love this city so much. Candidly, the majority of people that come to visit me leave with a worse impression of Beijing than when they came. I will admit this is a tough city. It isn’t hospitable to travelers, or foreigners for that matter. It really isn’t the most comfortable place on earth; its dirty, it stinks, its congested, its polluted. Yet I will tell you what I tell everyone that visits me: Beijing is a city that you grow to love. It’s not like other cities such as New York, Hong Kong or Montreal that you instantly fall in love with, but the love that one has for Beijing runs far, far deeper. I think it says something that so many people are willing to brave the dry cold, the humid heat, the sand storms, and the hard winds all for the sake of what this city has to offer. Because this city takes time to adjust to, it is no surprise that so many visitors who just drop in and pass through cannot fully appreciate what this city has to offer, and thus why so many people love it. Many just come in, see as many tourist sites as they can (because there are way too many) get really frustrated with the local Chinese and leave. I usually warn people who are planning to come that they have to prepare their expectations. Too many times I see people comparing Beijing and China with where they came from, namely a highly developed city and country. They also judge the Chinese by standards completely alien to China without taking into account that this is a developing country. You have to embrace the dirtiness, crowdedness, and rudeness!

Changing tunes, I forgot to mention that I got a roommate! His name is Sam, and he is actually my quasi-God Brother. Actually, he is my mother’s God son, so kind of my God Step-Brother. Anyways, he has really made living in Beijing a lot more enjoyable and eventful. He has been here for over a year now, studying Chinese and being mentored from some Chinese Masters in Traditional Holistic Medicine. He is actually a Traditional Doctor, or Massage Therapist, trained and accredited at Toronto’s holistic college. Whenever I get worked up about something, or pull a muscle because of stress, all he does is massage it back into place, or snap a couple vertebrae back into place, and I’m as good as new!

Sam is actually a very good cook too, and after we got the George Foreman Grill (every bachelor pad has to have one) our apartment has been smelling of delicious charred meat and veggies ever since. Sam even concocts his very own seasoning sauce, which is surprisingly very good! Having him around has really been good for my physical health (cause I actually get nutritious food) and for my mental health. He is also a computer wiz so I have no technical problems, and he downloads like mad, which is why I am caught up with all my North American TV. In a word, he is the flat mate, save for maybe my girlfriend.

So, I’m just living; appreciating all that Beijing is, and is becoming. Embracing as much of it as I can while still keeping my Canadian integrity intact. I sometimes wonder what my lifestyle will be like when I go back to Toronto. I don’t know what it will be like, but for sure it will be different from the one I left.

TO END OFF

It’s been over 10 months since first landing in Beijing. By the time I send my next email, it will be over a year. I have thought a lot these past few months about how long my tenure here will be. For now I’ve decided to stay on until 2006, but I am aiming to come back to Toronto early 2006. Hopefully my businesses will be strong enough by then that I can come back to North America to expand it there.

I’m coming back to Toronto for a short vacation! I will be flying out of Beijing July 19th, and land in Calgary where I will spend several days at my cousin’s wedding. Then I will fly to Vancouver for a short vacation with my family. After that I will return to Toronto around August 1st for around 10 days. I will TRY to rest, but I doubt that will happen. I have already booked all the medical appointments I can, I have an extensive shopping list, and I have to do my tax return and also register a couple businesses with the Canadian Government. All these things, plus seeing my girlfriend, family, and two friends flying in from Chicago and NYC to visit will keep me busy.

I hope I will be able to see all of you while I am back in Canada this summer. Please email me or give me a call if you are available between Aug.1 to 10 and hopefully we can meet up! It would be wonderful to see you all again. Then you can ask me questions that this update didn’t answer, and I can catch up on what is going on with your life!

Stay inspired, stay motivated, and stay joyful!

Sending all my love and thoughts,

Kev.

POST SCRIPT\\ To my Brothers and Sisters

The following is written for those who are interested in my spiritual wellbeing and the spiritual wellbeing of China.

Greetings dear family! I hope the Lord is blessing you in abundance back at home, and I hope He is filling your life with joy and thanksgiving. He is certainly being faithful here in Beijing. Although I am so busy with all these things going on, it is certainly necessary to remember that these are huge blessings from God. I am not capable of doing anything without His strength, inspiration, and the opportunities He presents to me.

In one of the businesses, my partners are all Christians. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn from them first-hand how to be a Christian business person in such a secular world. It is also exciting to be part of an organization that is based on Jesus’ principles and values. The Lord really does bring the right people into your life! I know He is using this business to prepare me for other things in the future. I cannot explain to you how special it feels to be able to pray about your business with your partners. In fact, my partners pray and fast, just for the business! They are really inspirations, and I know that God will use me as a blessing to them as much as they will be to me.

My other business is kind of the opposite. I envision that I will be able to minister to my business partners and employees. In creating a business with them, God is providing me with a long-term opportunity to minister to these people. I pray to God that He will be able to use me to help mold this company into a God-fearing company. Moreover I hope that those in and around me and this company will see the difference God makes to business. I know that this will be a challenge, and perhaps this business may not succeed, but the Lord has His purpose, and in Him I trust.

A major struggle I deal with daily is how to walk into Executive Communications with my head held up, and with a spirit of Peace and Joy. It is a big burden on my heart to affect those around me at my office. I feel a great opportunity to do this is to do one’s work joyfully and for the Lord. That is why I have my devotions in the morning, where I can give the day to God, and ask Him to settle my heart so that when I walk into the office I can give God my all. It isn’t easy, many days I fail, as stress and the workload and the responsibilities placed on me build up, but I continually give my conduct to God daily.

Another real blessing I must share is that in Executive Communications, there are two other Christians! How wonderful is that?!! In a city of 19 million, I have two Christians in my very own office! What is more, they go to the same church I do! It is really such a comfort and a blast of strength to know that spiritual brothers and sisters are just five steps away. In fact, one of the Christian co-workers is a leader on the worship team that serves our church. I am praying to God to see if He will open the time so that I may join. God is calling me back into service in terms of Church ministry, but I will wait on the Lord to see what kind of doors He wants me to walk though.

In more good news, I have been able to slowly and discreetly share my faith with some coworkers. It is a very slow process, as in the workplace things are very sensitive. But at least now some people know that I am Christian (as well as some of my coworkers), and they can come and ask us questions when they feel ready. Some have shown interest, but in God’s time can things be cultivated. It is especially convenient that my Mandarin teacher is interested, so I can share with her some of my faith while we are having class.

I mentioned before that I go to a church here in Beijing. If there is anything that really lifts my spirits it would be my church. The name is Beijing International Christian Fellowship, and by far, it is the best service, and church, I’ve ever been too. Because it is a fellowship, there are no “pastors” only elders and deacons, with the speakers either being guest speakers from all over the world, or the elders, who take turns. But what is wonderful is that they are all laymen, people who have their own lives, with their own jobs, so their messages are practical and applicable. Moreover they speak from their own life experiences which are much easier to relate to, and resound of God’s hand at work.

I am not making a commentary or criticism on full-time pastors or clergy, whom I think are essential and necessary. I am just trying to express how I feel about the effectiveness of the service and the structure of the church.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this church is the multiculturalism. There are over 60 countries represented in the congregation and the people that serve. It is wonderful to see people, who don’t even speak English, come to the service, and use the radio headsets to listen to the interpretation into their own language. You witness the most sincere people, from all over the world, who are so thankful to have a place to worship, and so thankful for the one true God. On top of that, it is even more exhilarating during worship to watch all these people, with different forms of worship styles, worshiping together. Some more solemn, in awe and quiet, others loud, in spirited praise, using all parts of their body to worship the Lord. I have learned so much being here in Beijing about the inclusiveness of Jesus’ love, and how God loves variety. Really it is all about the heart, and the intimate relationship each has with the Almighty. I mentioned to one of my friends before, that it is ironic that I had to come to Beijing, an intensely homogeneous, restrictive culture with controlled spiritual freedom to find the most vibrant, welcoming, heterogeneous congregation and worship. Isn’t it amazing that in the most persecuted places, God can create the greatest strongholds and utilize the most warriors?

Of course, the church is for foreign passport holders only, as the government is still strictly controlling the exposure of Christianity to the people. However, once service finishes, all those in the church (the church has about 3000 people) go out into the city, into their lives, their neighbourhoods, their offices and classrooms, and are vessels for the Holy Spirit. And that is more powerful than any Church service. Moreover, once you finish service, you are able to buy the entire message burned onto CD for just RMB 5! That’s like 80 cents Canadian. I buy a copy every week, and let my roommate listen to it, although he hasn’t yet gotten around to it.

While I was in XinJiang visiting my friend, I took away with me an interesting conversation which has really helped refresh my view on ministering to people. We were discussing the life of a missionary, and the expectations missionaries place on themselves, as well as the expectations others place on them. I asked her, having lived in XinJiang for so many years, what she felt she had accomplished, as a disciple of God. Her answer was very interesting. She said that after so many years, the number of people’s lives she had affected amounted to about a handful. Yet she went on to explain that in coming to China, the people here demand a life-long ministry, a life-long accountability, and the only way to reach them is to be there for them, day-in, day-out, for life. It is not the words you say, or the actions you do, but it is who you are and your commitment to them that matter. Soon after arriving in XinJiang those many years ago, my friend began to understand that, and because she loved those people so much, she decided to change her own lifestyle, and her ideas of what ministry was, to suit those she was called to serve.

I am challenged to ask myself, can I do the same? Can I follow God to the point where I am willing to change all my expectations, preconceptions, and way of life, to follow Him? My friend’s life is an inspiration and example to me, of the depth of servitude and love for our Lord.

We too often judge our missionaries by the number of people they convert, or the size of the project they complete. Too often we take a North American perspective of Results! Results! Results! to judge God’s work, and I myself am at fault of this. I am asked to rethink my own ideas of what constitutes missionary work, and am called to reinvestigate what Jesus set out in the Bible. In the end, the ministry God has given to me, including the career He has set in front of me, I am challenged to offer back to Him with the same kind of willingness to be molded and change as He sees fit.

Thank you for reading this update. I want to thank you for your prayer support and hope that you will continue to keep me in your prayers. Endurance, strength, peace and joy are all severely needed. I look forward to hearing about your spiritual walk, and hope that I may also be an encouragement to you as you are to me.

In Christ,
Kevin.