World Missionary Press, Inc.
October-November 2007 Newsletter

Adversities in Asia:

God's Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

By Daniel Buck

   "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia . . . . You also helping together with prayers for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf . . . ." -2 Corinthians 1:8, 11

   Bangkok, Thailand: Friday afternoon, August 24. The WMP Prayer & Praise item for today reads, "Pray for Jay Benson and Daniel Buck as they possibly visit Indonesia before flying home." Well, those weren't the only plans that changed on our trip to Asia.

   After a very profitable week, which included attending the Every Home for Christ (EHC) Asia/Pacific Regional Conference in Manila, we were on our way to Myanmar (Burma) instead, and things were not going well for us that day. Jay's carry-on backpack came up missing; it contained all his notes from the conference, his laptop computer, and his digital camera with most of the pictures taken in the Philippines. And now we were told that our baggage weight allowance had been cut in half! Let me back up and explain why we were in Bangkok in the first place.

    When Jay asked me, in early July, if I would accompany him to the EHC conference in late August, I readily agreed. The trip appeared to hold a lot of potential for my role as Translations Coordinator for the Eurasia/Pacific region.

    First of all, the timing seemed ideal. I already had a passport, my work schedule had recently been shuffled to free me up from some of my responsibilities supervising volunteers on the booklet bindery, and my return would allow Kent Biller to leave for Africa.

    Secondly, the trip abounded in possibilities. Not only could EHC national directors serve as contacts for new translation projects, but some of them would also hopefully be willing to receive large shipments for distribution, now that WMP can no longer send booklets overseas by surface mail.

    Thirdly, we had sensed God's leading from the earliest stages of planning the trip. The Board gave quick approval, and specified funds came in to cover most of the expenses. When both Jay and I independently felt uneasy about the proposed side trip to Indonesia, God led us to the world map in WMP's chapel, where we agreed that Myanmar was the place He had for us to visit instead. Our visas came back earlier than expected, and we were ready to leave as planned when August 17 arrived.

    My own church took a special interest in my role on the trip, especially when they found out I had been invited to preach on the 26th at a church in Yangon, Myanmar. Furthermore, they shared my concern over the riskiness of taking Scripture booklets in with us. Due to government restrictions, we have never been able to mail booklets to Myanmar in quantity, but Martin, our contact in Yangon, had assured us that it was okay to bring them in on our persons and asked us to bring all we could. So one of my suitcases was full of Burmese booklets, and many were the prayers that we would be able to get them safely into the country. In their prayers, many felt that adversities awaited us, but that God would be glorified through it all.

    It was with these prayers in mind that I endured the stringent security checks getting on our first flight. In addition to a harrowing personal search, one of the boxes of booklets was opened and examined, and the suitcase that contained it was marked. In addition to the boxes of booklets in my checked baggage, my carry-on was full of sample booklets in over a dozen languages that I intended to give out to fellow passengers on the eleven flights we were to take on the trip. As it turned out, we spent about as much time waiting in airports as riding in airplanes, and most of the booklets were distributed during those times.

    Throughout the trip, we saw the hand of God going before us, particularly in the way layovers had been scheduled. Though many of our flights ended up being delayed, we never missed a connection.

    Our first day of travel was to have ended with a 16-hour flight across the Pacific, but upon arrival in Los Angeles we learned that our flight had been cancelled due to a taxiway collision between our plane and another one. Even in this delay we saw God's hand at work: We had scheduled our arrival in Manila a whole day early, so even when the 12-hour delay stretched into 14 hours, then 15, we knew that we weren't missing any of the sessions at the conference. The delay also gave us a lot of time to get to know several fellow passengers and to distribute many of the Tagalog booklets we had brought along. Rather than trying to get our night's sleep on the airplane, we were able to spend the night in a nearby hotel at the airline's expense before our bodies began the attempt to adjust to a twelve-time-zone shift in their internal clocks.

    The conference turned out to be all that we had anticipated, and more. In addition to sharing the opportunity of using WMP booklets with some of the EHC national directors who had never heard of us, we were able to reconnect with others who took the opportunity to place substantial orders for more booklets and additional languages. We were able to discuss doing contract printings in several restricted countries, and even found a way to use the U.S. domestic mail system to get booklets to a country just three hours by boat from the nearest U.S. post office. Jay had brought along his musical cowbells, and played hymn arrangements during each devotional time.

     Significant requests for literature came to us from the delegates (see some of them on page 3). We came home also with requests for translating more of WMP booklets into local languages.

    All too soon the conference was over. We had just enough time for an overnight side trip to visit Bert Manlapaz, WMP's Philippines national coordinator in Bataan. Bert took us to some of the 10 churches he has started, using WMP booklets, and Jay used his digital camera to take photos of some of Bert's church members doing booklet distribution. I captured a lot of it on video, along with a few snapshots I made on a cheap camera I'd brought along.

    We returned to our hotel for the night and focused on the rest of our trip, which would take us by way of the Bangkok airport to Yangon, Myanmar. It was the following day that the expected adversities began to pile up, one after another.

    Jay's backpack disappearing turned out to be somewhat of a blessing. When we found the weight allowance on checked baggage had been cut from 100 pounds to 44  pounds each, I did some quick figuring. It was too late to leave Jay's cowbells behind to pick up on our way home, but I was able to figure out how to avoid paying overweight charges on the Burmese booklets. I quickly took out two of the boxes, stuffed one in my own carry-on, and handed Jay the other one to declare as his carry-on luggage! It was not exactly the most inconspicuous way to bring booklets into the country, but we were trusting in the prayers of God's people, as we had been able to send off several e-mails from the Bangkok airport asking for intense prayer on our behalf. And the prayers were answered! Nothing we were carrying matched the description of prohibited items posted at the customs desk, so our bags were never even searched.

    We weren't through with the adversities, though. On the flight in, I began to develop a severe cold that threatened to lay me flat on my back for the duration of our time in Myanmar. Once again e-mails went out asking for more prayer. It took an entire hour for Jay and me each to send a single e-mail, but they both got through and were forwarded around the country. Despite a rising fever and a debilitating cough, I was able to meet with the man who was translating our booklets into Falam and also to finish going over my sermon with Martin, who would be interpreting it into Mizo at church the next afternoon.

    Even as adversities abounded, "helping together with prayers" all the more abounded. I wasn't sure I would even be able to stand up to preach, but when I sat down after the sermon was over, I realized that not only had I remained standing, but I had never coughed once in the entire 40 minutes. A side blessing of my sickness was that, for the first time on the trip, I was finally able to sleep all night. Prayers were being answered! On Jay's part, his excess baggage cowbells were a great hit at church. He has been able to contact the EHC national directors we had interviewed, to help reconstruct the notes of our meetings. Martin even loaned us his camera to get photos of that leg of our trip.

    During our remaining day in Yangon, I was able to keep up a full schedule despite the lingering effects of my sickness.   In addition to meeting with translators and a visit to the print shop that was running pages for Mizo A Bible Study on John, I plied Martin with questions everywhere we went. By the end of the visit, I had a much better understanding of both the need and the work his organization is doing to get WMP booklets published in the many tribal languages of his country.

    Upon arrival back at WMP, I found the plant getting ready for a 4-day electrical shutdown over the Labor Day weekend, to work on a major electrical upgrade of the plant before hooking up power to the new warehouse addition. The enforced rest was just what I needed to finish recovering from the trip - a trip in which God's strength was truly made perfect in our weakness!

    [You can help! A gift $20, $50, $100 or even more will reach precious people in Asia with portions of the powerful Word of God that can save their souls for eternity. No gift is too small to be appreciated nor too large to be put to good use.]

IN ADDITION TO PRAYER AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT, you can be personally involved in worldwide ministry in these ways:

1. Talk to Your Pastor
 If you believe in WMP's ministry and recognize the importance of helping it continue and grow, please take initiative to speak with your pastor. Tell him what you know about WMP, show him this newsletter, and ask him if he would please consider scheduling field reps Fred and Betsy Eiler for an inspiring and motivating service. Eilers' phone: (765) 2588-3641. Cell: (765) 418-2216.


2. "VBS Ideas of Significance"
 Write or call for a brochure with great ideas for VBS projects that have a significant missions focus.

3. "Bible Read-a-Thon"
 Write or call for copies of our "Bible Read-a-Thon" brochure that guides children or young people in reading chapters of the Bible while raising funds for Scripture booklets to reach children around the world.

4. Missions Bank
 Write or call for one or more special banks to encourage families or individuals to save coins and bills for a truly significant and eternal cause-producing God's Word for precious people around the world in their own languages.

5. "Kid's Korner"
 Encourage your children to visit "Kid's Korner" at our website, www.wmpress.org, where they will find "Sammy the Scripture Booklet," a Word Search puzzle, and other meaningful and fun activities.

6. Volunteer Time and Energy
 Individuals and groups can call to schedule a time for volunteer service at WMP. Youth groups can schedule a "Half-Million Missions Marathon." A variety of work is available. Call 574-831-2111, extension 0, and ask to speak with our Volunteer Coordinator.

  Thank you for standing with us in a ministry that is impacting millions with the powerful Word of God!

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