2015 Tour 1 - Complete!

Well, it looks like I've finished running around for now. The next trip isn't scheduled until July, so I have a few months to process things and work on other projects. I'm still recovering from the travel (I just got in yesterday), so to make up for last week and give you something to look at this week, I give you a picture of my route for this tour:

Stage 1 - The March Route:

Thanks to Google Maps for the Image

If the image is too small, the distance covered was approximately  3500 miles or 5633 km. I was able to visit several of our supporters and friends, and it took about two and a half weeks to cover. I stayed in Broken Arrow for about a week and a half before taking off again, which gave me a bit of a break. Then came stage 2:

Stage 2 - The April Route:

Thanks again to Google Maps - you are quite useful.

This trip covered about 1800 miles or 2900 km. I stayed in Lewistown for about a week, which was the longest stay of the trip back. The entire trip took about 2.5 weeks, with the Lewistown stay counted in.

The grand total distance covered for the trip was about 5400 miles or 8690 km. Yes, I know the numbers don't all add up correctly, but I'm estimating and rounding a bit. The basic idea is there. That basic idea being that this was quite the long haul. 

In addition to the distance traveled, I had to get the car repaired twice along the way, and I still need to get the AC fixed (it broke down somewhere around Denver). It turns out cars don't like being driven over 5000 miles in two months. Overall, though, it was a great trip, and I'm glad I was able to go. Thanks to everyone I got to talk to and stay with along the way, and to everyone who pitched in and helped me out with various (mostly repair) expenses. Y'all are great. (What? I went to Texas on this trip, I can use "y'all.")

Incoming From the Philippines

Finally, in the last two days of my trip to the Philippines, I am able to get online to make a post. It has been an exciting, traumatic, exhausting, and enlightening time here. I will post more specific details once I get back to the U.S. (and no longer have to borrow other people's computers to make a post), but for now, let me sum up:

Arrival and 1st Stop:

Al, Ken (our host), and I arrived in the Philippines on the 20th of March, just exactly five weeks ago. We were met by Marie Panti, one of Ken's associates here. We traveled to her home, which would serve as the venue of our Insight Seminar. Between preparation and execution, the seminar lasted about two and a half weeks. We had delegates attending from the Philippines, Myanmar, and Hong Kong. When the seminar was over, the group from Hong Kong returned home, and the rest of us traveled north to our next scheduled stop.

2nd Stop - It All Breaks Down:

Our second stop was the home of Glo - one of the delegates who attended our seminar at Marie's home. The trip north took around eight hours by bus, and was fairly comfortable for a bus trip. Upon arrival, Ken and several nationals began preparation for the retreat they were running. Before the retreat began, however, there was the matter of a wedding to attend (and participate in - more about that in a later post). After the wedding, we kicked off the beginning of the retreat with Ken and the others.

Then Ken died.

The Aftermath:

Ken's death was both unexpected and traumatic. Everybody at the retreat loved and respected him, and he was liked by many people in the community as well. Everything came to a halt, until we could get his family there and determine how to handle memorial services and transportation of his remains. I will give additional information in a later post, but suffice to say it changed everything.

After all the arrangements were made and the funeral was conducted, Ken's family left with a few of the nationals for Manila. From there, the family took Ken's remains back to Hong Kong. Al and I remained behind, our previous plans cancelled, and spent our time working with the local people setting up a week-long community program. Al coached the locals to identify and develop solutions for their local issues, and by the time the remaining nationals returned from Manila, the program was being led by local leadership.

Now:

Now the extended community development program is winding up (the locals decided to extend the program an additional week to cover all the issues they were uncovering), and Al and I are getting ready to head back to Hong Kong on Friday. I plan to post another quick update as that leg of the trip winds up, then set up a more detailed account (with pictures, even!) once I get back to the U.S. and have easier access to the Internet.

That's it for now - stay tuned next month for details of the Hong Kong experience!

Still Here

While I have not posted in quite a while, I am still around. I've been traveling quite a lot since Alaska, and should be settling down back in Wyoming next week. I plan to post more once I get a break from running around, but until then:

• Alaska was great - as I mentioned earlier, the people were very friendly and we were well-recieved
• Following Alaska, I traveled to Texas by way of Oklahoma and Illinois - I was able to meet with several friends, and speak about the work we are doing. Overall, a good stop.
• After Texas, I spent about a week and a half in Bakersfield speaking to various groups and contacts. I also got to spend a few hours with friends and family in the area.
• To conclude my runaround trip, I have recently been visiting people in Colorado and Wyoming. We still have a few speaking engagements before heading back to Africa, but most of the long-distance travel is over until then. 

The short summary is that interest in the seminars is increasing, and we may have opportunities to put on seminars in Alaska, California and perhaps Texas and Colorado over the next year or two.

Our Vice-President and co-founder, Doug Berry died earlier this month. We had to split our traveling group so that some of us could attend his funeral, while the rest of us continued our scheduled meetings. I am sorry I could not make it to see his family, but I know he wanted us to continue to raise interest in the work we are doing, and hope that I was able to honor him by doing so. He will be missed.

NMC Expenses and Follow-Up

Happy New Year!

It appears the holidays kept me a bit more distracted than I had anticipated. I was planning to post the expenses for the Lexington, KY trip in November after the National Missionary Convention, but I see it is now the 1st of January. My apologies.

I have the totals for the November convention expenses, and a quick summary of how things went at the convention:

NMC Expenses:
Transportation: $518.00
Lodging: $449.16
Food: $85.90
Misc: $89.00*
TOTAL: $1097.56

*Misc. expenses include cash food purchases and other untracked items. As not all misc. expenses may be convention-related, the final total only includes half of these expenses.

Post-Convention Debrief:

Going into the convention, I had three main goals:

• Meet with organizations that have expressed interest in seminars to see if they would like to pilot a seminar.
• Identify new organizations who express interest in the seminar.
• Identify organizations with resources that can help Insight International advance or promote the seminars.

So how did we do? Pretty well, I think.

During the convention, I was able to follow up with organizations that have expressed interest in the seminars in the past. As we expected, there was a unspoken concern regarding the effectiveness of the seminars. Everyone was too polite to straight out ask us to prove our claims (that the seminars create lasting change in the participants's perspectives and lives), but the implication was clear. This was far from discouraging, however, as we expected this response, and most people still seemed interested in the potential to do what we claim. We just need to provide some "proof-of-concept" in order to get people on board. I think the data we gather in the 2011 seminars will help us tremendously in providing the kind of data these organizations were looking for.

I also identified a few organizations who may benefit from the seminars in the future. I plan to keep their contact information and speak with them again once we gather some of the aforementioned data. For the most part, I looked for education-focused or lifestyle-focused organizations, including orphanages and inner city missions. Many of these organizations have programs that could benefit from using the seminars as a foundation. I have also targeted a few select colleges to ask to sponsor or host pilot seminars.

Finally, I have identified several organizations whose resources can help us. These fall into two main categories: logistics (travel agencies, insurance, etc.), and what I will call "networking" groups - groups which help other organizations coordinate and share resources in the field. The first can help us keep overhead down or give us access to better resources - the latter can put us in contact with additional organizations who may need the seminars.

Eventually, I plan to invite representatives from various organizations to pilot seminars over the next several years. I find it is much easier to explain why the seminars are important once someone sees what the seminars actually do. Once we get through our first seminar in San Antonio (see below), we will start planning additional seminars based on the feedback we receive there.

That's the end of the convention summary - it was a great experience, and I look forward to going back next year armed with some real data from the 2011 seminars. The first of these is coming fast - our San Antonio leadership seminar hosted by the Heart of Texas Evangelistic Association (HOTEA). The seminar is scheduled for February 9-13. Registration will be available on the Insight International website; there is a $295 registration fee that covers the seminar, lunch and snacks for all five days. Registration will be capped at 30 people on a first-come, first-served basis. We will have a standby list for anyone who is interested but registers after we have reached capacity. More information coming soon on the Insight International website.

Have a happy new year, everyone!