$18 Indy to Chicago

The reader must excuse my stretch of topic on this post. Normally, I write here only about generosity, giving, and closely related topics. Today I write about travel by train.

Actually, if you think of the topic of this blog as not merely generosity, but "good stewardship" then the topic of saving expenses by travelling by train is easily within my mandate here...

Justification aside, I just want to share this with you...

I travel a lot for my work with Wycliffe. Both the work and the travel are a joy. But in an effort to save expenses (one of the best ways to insure funding for thew field work), I've begun to think about ways to seriously reduce travel expenses.

Hertz, my favorite care rental company, rents "green" cars that get better gas mileage. Nice.

But then I thought of Amtrak and my long-held wish that the US had an interstate or intercity train network. A friend told me the fuel consumption for the train, per rider, equates to a small fraction of driving your own car.

"Wow," I thought, "I could greatly reduce my footprint on the earth, and save cash? Why wouldn't I?!"

So I just booked my first online Amtrak ticket from Indianapolis to Chicago. Price: $18.00! To rent a car for the 4-plus hour, white-knuckle drive would be at least $35, plus the gas at about $20 or $30... I just saved more than 70% of the cost to get up there! And, I will have the four hours I would have been driving to sit, and get some work done on the laptop. Nice!

Also, at the end of the booking, the following was listed. Interesting. Amtrak is smart enough to see that some of its users are environmentally-minded folks and offers them one more way to tread lightly:

Payap University Partnership (New Linguistics Institute)

One of the strengths (and an increasing emphasis) of Wycliffe's work around the world is partnership. This term may be defined in a variety of ways, but I can tell you that at Wycliffe, especially as seen in our partnership with Payap University, it is a genuine reality that is worth more than the sum of its parts.

Payap U. is a Christian university in Thailand. It has a long-standing and formal relationship with SIL, a partner organization of Wycliffe USA. The latest development in that relationship was the Payap U leaders offering an on-campus building to SIL for their use in establishing a Linguistics Institute. The institute will have many advantages over the current relationship. I'll explain more if you so request....

To the left you see several SIL missionaries who also serve as staff at Payap U, standing with Becky and I, in front of the building given to SIL. We are standing on ground soon to be broken to add a three-story addition to the building you see here.

If I was a really cool blogger, I would have taken GPS measurements so you could drill down on the exact satellite image... able to monitor the construction process. One day I will get to that level.

God’s provision of a Linguistic Institute to serve as a sustainable visa, training and access platform is an answer to fervent prayers on behalf of Bible translation in this region. The renovation and expansion of the building will provide a home for focused re-search, training and language development as well as provide space for up to 30 staff, plus another 25 people to participate in training workshops. This will rpovide a visa platform and critical training for national workers essential in translation projects in the region for many years to come. Funding will help provide for construction, renovation, furnishings, equipment, air conditioning, architectural and engineering fees, and site preparation.

Currently, the center needs all of its "Phase 2" funding (USD $113,000+) before ground can break on the addition. By the generosity of many, we believe it will come...

Retreat Concludes; Wycliffe Tour Begins

The WR-C Retreat has concluded. It was, we think, a good balance between fun and relaxing time and a good dose of ministry and teaching. We'll know more and be abel to report after WR senior staff compare notes.

A couple of tremednous and personal things occured and I can't go into them. Suffice to say God is knitting individuals on the Team from College Park together with individuals in the Cambodian church in a way that manifests an excellence in generousity, not only with talents but also treasure.

... Now... Becky and I are in the Bangkok airport. The rest of the Team is staying here in Bangkok for a day of shopping and lots of Tom Yam soup. Bec and I are flying to Chiang Mai,

View Larger Map
way up in the Northwest corner of Thailand. Our purpose: get together with many staff and leaders of Wycliffe (actually, it is an SIL office, which most readers here might not realize is distinct from "Wycliffe" only in that SIL is the research and functional ligusitic arm of the family of Wcyliffe organizations) projects based out of the Southeast Asia office, which serves as a hub for much of Wcyliffe/SIL activity throught a multi-national region.

I'm excited and happy: the Retreat went very well. The Team bondd and aserved well together. I perosnally forged at least one relationship with a Cambodian Christian (a young pastor named Sina) that I know will endure and develop into the future. And now Bec and I are excited to see Wycliffe projects in the Chiang Mai office, including a partnership with Payap University that is very exciting.

Stay tuned for posts related to Grace International School (GIS) where the Miyakawa family will serve for a year (or more???) starting next year... and for Wycliffe projects...

Care Group Model for Health Education

Another project we had the privilege of seeing is the S.P.Y program*. The acronym, in three Khmer words, means "Our Healthy Village." It employs a very strong, grassroots method of distributing important, life-saving health information through a system of volunteers who represent villages, communes (sets of villages) and districts (sets of communes). The photos show a group of volunteers gathered for their monthly training. The leader (blue golf shirt) is "training the trainers" who will go back to their district/commune/village and share with their people.

* The good folks at USAID have funded the SPY project. ("Give honor where honor is due," you know.)

Grand Rapids 2

We stayed at the Khardomah Lodge in Grand Haven, Michigan. Our room the Matser Suite was as big our house! Becky and the kids had a blast: walked to the (cold, but who cares?) beach... rode the trolly into town... and just enjoyed the Fall colors.

Drive to Grand Rapids

My family and I are driving northward to Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'll spend the days visiting with supporters of Wycliffe--encouraging their generousity--while Becky and the kids enjoy the fall colors and the beach.

This is pretty cool: I'm blogging this while Bec drives up I-69. An aircard and a laptop make it easy to record not-so-important thoughts at 72 mph. Meanwhile, the Microsoft Streets and Trips, with GPS, keeps us on track. But I know that one day, maybe quite soon, the technology will either be useless or meaningless... more

As of 11:38 PM we are at mile marker 8 just north of the Indiana line...

Bored by this post? Me too. But consider it a warm-up for what I hope will include photos tomorrow...