John White - Developing Church Leadership in the Russian Speaking World 1634 King Ct., Green Brook, NJ 08812 * jwhite@alumni.princeton.edu April 27, 2000 http://www.blarg.net/~maruchck/jw.html
I just got back from my four weeks of training in Colorado, and I've learned quite a number of things. We split our time between language acquisition and cross-cultural training. In the first section, we learned "lamaze for the mouth," as we were taught how to make and identify sounds that don't occur in English. This was a very good warm up for my two months of Russian language study this summer. We were also given dozens of projects and tools we can use to help us learn a new language. It was a very encouraging course, and made me feel that learning Russian will be doable.
The second half focused on how to deal with various issues when moving to a new culture as a missionary. This included practical exercises, some fun and some quite sobering. We acted out models of different cultures interacting, conflict resolution, and a hostage situation. And let me keep you in suspense no longer - one day, we went to Cripple Creek, CO, a small stakes (less than $5 per bet) gambling town. After joking that we were going to learn "creative support raising methods," we were assigned to determine how we could start a ministry there.
My group decided to split up, and we gathered information from the one pastor who lived in town, from the police, from store owners, and from youth about what the needs and assets of the town were. It was a very interesting task, and similar to what missionaries need to do before they start ministering in a new area. Of course, it was impossible to come to firm conclusions after only a morning in Cripple Creek, but we did see the need to provide a ministry to the youth, as they often had nothing to do as their parents gambled. The pastor of the town had a heart for this, too, so we proposed to work with him on this project.
Many of you have asked how my support is coming, and it continues to grow. You may notice that my financial numbers have changed from last month, as I've dropped my personal estimated support level and am only listing the "official" CBI support level. As I draw closer to my departure date, I need to reach 100% officially. So, I decided I should focus on this number, even though I have some additional personal promises.
As you can see, I've already reached my overall prayer goal, but could still use some more daily and weekly prayer partners. And, it would be ideal for me to reach even higher than 100% of my financial goal since this is a minimum amount, and additional expenses could easily occur in the next few years. So, if any of you are interested in helping me in either of these areas, I would really appreciate it. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
Thanks so much for your prayers,
John
Prayer support: 100% Financial - Daily prayer: 20% Monthly support: 85% (CBI) Weekly prayer: 70% Outgoing support: 86%
If you'd like to support me, please write CBI at the address below, and make checks out to CBI.
CBInternational
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Littleton, CO 80120-5612