Our World

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this..




There would be:

* 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (both N. & S.), 8 Africans
* 52 would be female, 48 would be male
* 70 would be non-white, 30 would be white
* 70 would be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian
* 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth; all 6 would be from the U.S.
* 80 would live in substandard housing
* 70 would be unable to read
* 50 would suffer from malnutrition
* 1 would be neart death; 1 would be near birth
* 1 would have a college education
* 1 would own a computer.

Consider this...

- If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

- If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

- If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

- If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

- If you can read this, you are more blessed than 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Dr. David Hartman, Northern Arizona University

What Would Happen ...

...in missions if all churches channeled all their resources, people, finances, and prayers exclusively to frontline missionaries? Bob Petzel, pastor for 37 years and now administrative dean at Victory Bible Institute, Greenville, SC asked that question. This is the scenario that came to his mind.
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MISSIONS WORLDWIDE SHUT DOWN

Missions organizations announced today that all church planting missionaries will have to leave their ministries and return to their home countries. The mass exodus is not caused by illness, or political upheaval or missionary "burnout", but is due to a decision of churches to support only "frontline" or "overseas" missionaries rather than "nonstrategic" support role missionaries.

As a result, there will be no computer techs available to keep computers running for translation work, no office people to see that the missionary gets his monthly check and no one to deal with the myriad of government regulations the missionary needs to comply with. There will be no teachers in the MK school, and no boarding home parents to care for the children while parents labor in the tribe. Because there will be no instructors in the Bible schools or missionary training centers no new missionaries will be able to help plant tribal churches.

There will be no missionaries anywhere for churches to support and tribal groups will remain withouth the Gospel!
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Support for both frontline and support role missionaries is critical. It truly takes a team because there are so many aspects of the job that need to be done. Anne and I are so glad that we are an integral part of the Bible translation team. We're glad too, that we have such a wonderful team behind us.

God bless you all the way you have us!

Computer Support Funny

Customer: "Your sound card is defective and I want a new one."

Tech Support: "What seems to be the problem?"

Customer: "The balance is backwards. The left channel is coming out of the right speaker and the right channel is coming out the left. It's defective."

Tech Support: "You can solve the problem by moving the left speaker to the right side of the machine and vice versa."
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Tech Support: "All right...now double-click on the File Manager icon."

Customer: "That's why I hate this Windows - because of the icons - I'm a Protestant, and I don't believe in icons."
Tech Support: "Well, that's just an industry term sir. I don't believe it was meant to-"
Customer: "I don't care about any 'Industry Terms'. I don't believe in icons."
Tech Support: "Well...why don't you click on the 'little picture' of a filing cabinet...is 'little picture' OK?"
Customer: [click]

Can You Guess Anne's Reaction?

Question 1

Anne is turning 45 this year. How do you think Anne is mentally processing this?

Like this....?
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Anne being consoled as she approaches her 45th birthday.

Or... (scroll down)











Is Anne gracefully approaching her 45th birthday like this...?














The beautiful and gracious woman that I married 23 years ago?






(Scroll down for question 2...)








Question 2
Will Ken still be married to Anne when Anne turns 45 on February 17 after she sees this blog?

You can vote by clicking on the "Comment" button below

February Praise and Prayer Requests

We Praise God for...

1. Christine's car. We trust it will provide safe and reliable transportation for quite some time.
2. Christine's academic progress. Christine made the Dean's List this last semester (see previous post). Her is feeling less stress as, although her courses are equally demanding, her load is a little lighter this semester.
3. Laura's wedding plans. Laura's wedding plans are coming along slowly but surely.
4. Anne's job. Anne works at Harris Teeter, a local grocery store chain. She is doing well in her job, she enjoys her work, and the feedback she has received indicates that they are very pleased with her work, her work ethic, and her people skills.
5. Ken's recent trip to Jamaica and Brazil. A server was set up in the Wycliffe Caribbean office. The office infrastructure is now in place for John Roomes and his staff to recruit, process, and send out new Bible translators into the world. The classroom computers were also set at ALEM, a Brazilian missionary training institute. The students and staff are very excited and anxious about the next phase of the project. Read the previous postings for more on their reaction.
6. YOU! We are still overwhelmed and humbled at the continuous and sacrificial prayer & financial support we've received over our 21 years of ministry. You are truly an encouragement to us.

Please pray for...

1. Godly lives. Please pray that we, as a family, would walk by faith and not by sight.
2. Laura's continued wedding preparations. Although Laura and Stuart are planning on having a simple wedding, it seems as though most waking moments for both Laura and Anne involve some sort of planning for it. (We men never realize how much goes into these things!)
3. Anne's work schedule. Anne enjoys stability. Harris Teeter moves personnel to locations of greatest need. Anne was just transferred again back to the store she initially started in. Although she is anxious to work again with the colleagues she initially came to know and love, the transition can be somewhat stressful.
5. Ken's role at JAARS. He is working on a large HelpDesk computer support project. Pray that he and the rest of the team could locate the best possible software and hardware solution to this ever increasing need. Information technology touches every part of the organization so the need continues to grow while the amount of people entering the organization continues to shrink. We're hoping the HelpDesk will remove the boundaries and barriers to effective technical support.

While we in the United States have multiple versions of the Bible, thousands of language groups around the world are still without God's Word in the native tongue, the language that speaks to the heart. Thank you dearly for your role in helping eliminate that disparity. We love you and thank God for you.

Ken, Anne, Laura, and Christine Haugh

Does God Care About a Car?

"Ken," Anne said, " I was on my way to work this morning and realized I hadn't prayed for a car for Christine in a while. I asked God to send the right car for her. Shortly thereafter, Galina called and said she was selling her car and wanted to know if we were interested."

Galina is Anne's friend. Her husband restores vehicles that have been damaged in an accident. He had restored a Nissan Maxima for his new wife, Galina, but they were now selling it because they were using the money to purchase a house. We looked under the hood, kicked the tires, and test drove the car. We knew it was the right one. They gave us a very special price and we agreed to purchase the car right then and there.

Anne must have a hotline to God because I had been praying for a reliable and safe car for Christine for some time. When nothing seemed to happen, I took matters into my own hands and began searching the papers and the Internet. I'm still growing in the patience category but God knew where to start. And He answered Anne's prayer. Interesting enough, the day after we made the decision to purchase the vehicle, one of our long term faithful prayer and financial supporters wrote and said she felt let to give $500 towards a vehicle for Christine. What a tremendous gift! What a tremendous blessing! What a confirmation!

We believe God does car about cars.

Hard Work Pays Off!

Christine works hard (much harder than I did when I was in college!) to keep her grades up. We just received news that she has qualified for the Dean's List, an honor awarded to students who have earned a 3.5 GPA or greater for the term.


Congratulations, Christine!


(Anne and I keep wondering where the kid gets her smarts. We know it ain't from us!)

Meet the Future Fam

Most of you have have not met Laura's finance, Stuart, and Christine's boyfriend, Jessee. Our Christmas pictures came back with both of them so I thought I put them up for you to meet them. They are Godly young men and I am proud to have Stuart as my future son-in-law. I would be just as proud to have Jesse if the Lord desires such.


Stuart and Laura












Christine and Jesse

President & CEO Responds

Jim Akovenko, the JAARS President, was encouraged by the response to our recent trip to Brazil. Here is his letter, soon to be published in some of the JAARS publications. The letter is such an encouragement to me I thought I would share it. It is obvious that investing in the lives of others during January's trip to Brazil's ALEM center had a tremendous impact on the leaders and students of ALEM, the Brazilian national missionary training organization, Davi, the local computer support technician, and Cristiano, a Brazilian with excellent IT skills involved in Bible translation.
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February 2006

Recently some men from our Information Technology (IT) department went to Brazil to assist with training for ALEM, a national Bible translation organization. For Cristiano and Davi, Brazilian men who show promise, the training had a twofold benefit: they participated in a desktop computer evaluation and installation process, as well as received positive input from the IT team.

Another result of the visit was getting ten desktops installed and working, which will enhance the training of young people this year. Two students commented, “It is hard to imagine that such high quality technical people would come to help set up computers so that we can be better trained. And who paid for all of these computers?” This was an opportunity to explain the team effort—some people willing to fund, some willing to plan, and technical experts able to evaluate and put things in place.... The students’ response was “only in God’s kingdom is that kind of love and service seen.”

Our IT staff are competent professionals, gifted technically, and know that investing in the lives of people is just as important as working with machines and systems. The input the ALEM students received will have a lasting impact in their lives—for eternal purposes. They saw and they learned the way IT professionals can contribute to Bible translation. One of the men, a quiet influential leader, said how pleased he was to see Christian organizations willing to commit to excellence in their work and not just “dar um jeito” (get by).

Thank you for being part of the team investing and impacting lives for eternal purposes.

James S. Akovenko
President