Herb Hoefer
Update
February 9, 2007
Family and Friends,
I thought I'd start with a few more cultural
experiences. In the Ambur/Vaniymabadi area of the
IELC, I noticed a couple of huge white crosses that
had been painted on some rack facing high on the
surrounding hills. One of them was in the line of
sight for a Hindu temple that was on the top of the
high hill. I asked about it, and they said that the
local IELC congregation members do this each Christmas
season now, climbing to the site and hanging on ropes
to refresh the paint. It is a Hindu custom to say a
prayer to the deity of any temple that comes into
their sight. Now they have a cross as well in front
of them.
Cell phones are ubiquitous in the country. A new advertisement is for sarees with a decorated side
pocket for keeping one's phone.
As has happened so often for me in trying to get to
Sri Lanka on one of these smaller national airlines, I
was getting bumped. They had cancelled an earlier
flight, probably because it didn't have enough
passengers. In all the chaos of people pressing for
attention and seats at the desk, I made my case as
well, that I had no way to contact the party who was
coming to meet me, so I couldn't go on the later
flight. In the midst of all that tension, the airline
employee looked up and commented, "You have a
beautiful smile." They have such a wonderful way to
bring humanity and sanity into the chaos they live
with.
The innovations in airports in Asia are helpful: huge
shopping malls, ramps with moving escalator floors (so
you can walk your roller luggage), baggage unloading
with an eye to stop baggage until there is a spot for
it to fall into on the belt.
I had a newspaper while waiting in the bank. As I
read part of it, I put the rest on the seat next to me
because there was no one around. Someone came in and
sat in the adjoining seat and picked up my newspaper
to read it. When I was done with my section, he
immediately gave me what he was reading and took my
section, no questions asked. It's so cool that people
just help each other.
At the LCMS World Mission Asia Management Team meeting
in Hong Kong, I rejoiced that the team designated the
two missionary needs in India as the top priority.
One is a theology professor at our seminary (who will
also serve as a theological resource throughout the
region), and the other is a broader mandate in India.
The idea is a Business Manager for the seminary, as
they develop all their upgrading plans, and help for
the church in all the administrative work involved in
developing properties, carrying out human
care/development projects, etc. LCMS World Relief may
be interested in supporting this second position.
Praise the Lord!
I also got great news from India a few days back that
the Madras High Court has removed the Hindu appointed
as administrator of the church more than a year ago.
We should have a clear administration now, and
hopefully good elections of leaders in June. Please
pray for that.
Hong Kong is quite a dynamic place, as are most of the
cities of Asia. Of course, construction is going on
everywhere, and yet it's very clean. Energy is
evident even in the way people walk with a spring in
their step on the streets. Restaurants are well
managed. (I love their soup!), and everything is
totally modern. They created a new airport a decade
back by flattening a nearby island and putting in a
bullet train service to the city.
Much of the outreach work in Asia is being done
through human care and development projects and
through teaching English. These are the only ways to
get a Christian presence in many of these closed
countries. We have gained a great deal of confidence
and respect among the people and with the authorities,
so everything will develop from that, we pray, in
future years. Even now, thousands of Bible Study
groups led by nationals have sprung out of our work.
With the goodwill that has been developed, we have
open invitations for hundreds of teachers and schools
around the region. The major problem for us is the
lack of long-term teachers. Pray the Lord for workers
in the harvest field!
At the AMT meeting, we struggled with the conflict
between traditional, cultural administrative practices
and the needs for modern accounting. The cultural
pattern is for funds to be put in a pot which the
leaders simply allocate as needs arise. However, we
need funds to be put in distinct accounts and used
only for designated purposes. We're thinking we need
a special regional seminar on this issue, and my
suggestion is that we have leaders of major businesses
do the training so they see that this is not just a
mission issue but it is an issue of doing business
worldwide in the 21st century.
In the HK newspaper, there was a notice that the 11th
of each month in Peijing will be "queuing day." As
part of the citywide "etiquette training" in
preparation for the summer Olympics, they are trying
to get the populace to be more "Western" in their
habits. They are distributing tissues and teaching
people to put them in dustbins on the street and
issuing fines for public spitting. All of the drug
addicts are going to be rounded up and put into a
one-year rehabilitation program.
God bless.
Herb