January 2003

Dear Friends,

It is New Year's Day here in Thailand and around the world. The Thai government declared Monday a holiday, too, making it a five-day week-end for many, including those at Christian University. Those not associated with a Christian institution did not have Christmas Day off, although they knew about the day—it's Santa's birthday isn't it? Christian University had two large Christmas affairs, one for the students and alumni and another for the staff and board.

I took a couple of days off to go to Chiang Mai to be with the family as soon as I could get away. The weather up there, 500 miles north of here and at a 900 feet higher elevation, was about 15 degrees cooler, although it has been a warm winter so far.

In other words, it has been a quiet end to a hectic year. Plans for the coming year look like it will be busy, too. We are planning on a two-day English workshop for graduating twelfth-grade students the last weekend in January. We are calling it, unapologetically, "Cram for the Exam." It will be mostly about how to avoid panic and get the best marks possible on the big finals. We will be having a third English workshop for professional nurses a month from now. And then, we will expect to begin the summer courses (schools close in March and reopen in mid-May). We will have a ten-day English summer camp for teenagers, a five-day English camp for English teachers, a four-day English camp for other adults, a five-day English day camp for smaller children and possibly other fun events. My role is to organize these events, provide the structure and ideas, and enable our staff to take over after a time or two. At the end of May a summer service team of young people from the New Wilmington Missionary Conference will be here conducting a whole series of English camps at the Christian schools before the team returns for the big conference at the end of July.

In the middle of that we will be publishing our first full university catalog in English, a major undertaking. We will be launching a funds drive for our new chapel on campus, and welcoming half a dozen visiting groups between now and the end of September. And in June we plan to open our new master of arts program in English as a Second Language. I have recruited some temporary help to open the program, but I still need a fully qualified native speaker of English with an M.A. or Ph.D. in English, linguistics, or teaching English. We pay pretty well. I am also helping a Christian school in town to look for a first grade teacher to open a new international (English language) program. Send suggestions.

All of this comes under the heading of building a Christian university. It looks like this is how I will end my career in ministry. By the time I get to retirement I will have been here at Christian U. for about five years. My retirement date is May 2005. I'm tempted to look backward—it's the age for reminiscing—but I'm still too busy most of the time. However, I'm not too busy to answer your letters, or to welcome you for a visit. And I'm not too busy to wish you a wonderful, blessed and peaceful New Year.

Ken

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 184