Peter A.
May 7, 2003
By Peter A.CM/FM 3382C 12/01
FED/CVC Report
1. With the implementation of the board vision, the current FED (Family and Education Department) will soon be divided into two sets of boards: The CP (Children and Parenting) and the FED (Family Education Department) boards.
2. As you can imagine, trying to oversee, establish policies, provide counsel‚ hold seminars and training programs, as well as handle the many other aspects of caring for our families and children, plus provide counsel, resources, and necessary research for the education of the children‚ and oversee the CVC program, issue diplomas and certificates, keep records of CVC students, organize a FED Resource Center, etc.‚ has been a tremendous job for those who have held FED positions—very often just two or three people carrying the main load for an area. Those who have taken care of the FEDs until this time are looking forward to the further assistance that they and the whole Family will receive by having these responsibilities now shared by the CP and FED national and regional boards.
Family education + CVC progress
and plans (CVC 2002)
3. With an increased emphasis on home schooling our children, WS FED has been praying about what we can do to make the task of educating easier at every level. At present, the various educational programs we have developed for the Family over the years need significant upgrading. We would like to tackle everything at once, but our WS FED team is tiny, so we are focusing our attention on providing more childcare and education resources to our Family via the MO site, developing new teaching tools‚ and working on revamping, upgrading and improving the CVC program. Our goal is to do all we can to make sure that each Family young person has easy access to affordable education from kindergarten through to a high school diploma.
CVC Study Support CDs
4. With an increasingly large percentage of our student population now in the 14 to 18 age bracket, a significant expansion of the CVC program is needed to help meet their educational needs, which we are in the process of doing. The CVC program is actually three quite distinct educational programs (academic, Christian, and vocational). In the next update of the program you will see a more distinct separation between our academic (junior and senior high school), Christian, and vocational training programs.
5. We are expanding our CVC academic program to better serve our junior and senior high school population. We're also working on a new series of CVC training CDs‚ including a separate Academic Studies CD for junior and senior high studies. Those who don't have easy access to an Internet connection, but who have access to a computer, will be able to keep in step using this new series of instructional CDs. We hope to coordinate the content and functionality of the CDs with a CVC Web site that will allow students to work online or offline.
CVC Is Preparing to Become
a Cyber School
6. Big changes are ahead for the CVC2002 program. One very significant and challenging task we're attempting is to complete all the programming and groundwork needed to make the leap to cyberspace and put the CVC program online for our worldwide Family. Opening a college online involves significantly more work than just setting up a simple Web site. Our site needs to be able to interact with our students‚ process their application forms, provide secure testing facilities, keep student records and information accessible but private and secure, and be easy for WS and FED personnel to maintain and update.
7. Along with varying levels of access (CM, FM, AM, GP) to CVC courses and reading materials, we want this site to provide a platform for improved communication‚ online courses, easy access to more reference and reading material, study helps and links to helpful Internet resources, as well as be able to be used online or offline depending on a student's access to the Internet. All in all, we hope it will help make study time easier for our teens, instructors‚ and overseers.
8. We're working on filling in more on the levels of junior and senior high school education, so that junior and senior high school studies will be more available through the CVC.
9. Having the CVC online, as well as on CD, should make the program easier, more dynamic, user-friendly, appealing‚ understandable‚ and accessible to our Family teens. We also want the site to provide secure record-keeping facilities, online testing, and make diploma and certification application much easier using online forms. Please claim the power of the keys that we will have the time, talent, personnel, resources, funds, organization, and inspiration required to put this facility online in the coming year. Any volunteers?
Worldwide FED Publications
and Productions (in 2001)
STEPS Program—44 booklets and 2 activity folders (988 pages)
Produced by: EURCRO FED
Comment: This project, composed of faith–building and character-building material designed for use in schools and childcare facilities throughout Africa, is ready to go to print. This educational package includes: 40 illustrated theme-based story booklets; two booklets of fun activities for kids entitled Just for Fun and Active Learning; Sing Along—a booklet of songs to accompany the themes of the story booklets, and a Teacher's Curriculum Guide. Two music tapes are being prepared to help teach the songs.
Pub/Item: Kidkare mag
Produced by: EE
Comment: The EE FED has begun sending out a regular Kidkare mag, containing testimonies and tips that have been sent in relating to our children's education and care, as well as info on schooling, research topics, etc.
Pub/Item: Book List
Produced by: PACRO FED
Comment: This is a book list for PACRO FED's widely used English lending book and video library.
Pub/Item: Math Aid Kit
Produced by: ASCRO FED
Comment: This Math Aid Kit is based on the math materials from CCHB #2. The math aids are bright and child–friendly, made from sheets of foam, similar to what you may have seen in children's puzzles. (How to use the CCHB math aids is shown on the Ministry Training Video on teaching math, produced by the BVM and FC, which may be available through your FED.)
Pub/Item: Video circuit
Produced by: MexFED
Comment (By Uncle Dan:) In the past year MexFED has been operating a video circuit for Mexico and Central America, servicing over 30 Homes.
During the first six-month period of the circuit, I distributed a documentary series called "The Eagle and the Bear," which explained world events from the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall. I made summaries and fill-in worksheets for the 52 programs in that series.
I also have done some video editing for individual Homes who have sent me footage of their CTP work, and am currently working on a video that will show the CTP work of the Homes in all of Mexico and Central America. This project has been in the works for several months and is approaching the final editing stage.
Pub/Item: FED pubs
Produced by: ASCRO FED
4 Family Time Activities and Ideas Book (ideas taken from Raise 'em Right, FSMs, Activity Books and other reference books).
4 Be a Missionary Become One! (a Word compilation for children on becoming one).
4 4 Kids #4 (testimonies from and about kids).
4 Kiddie Kare #7 (counsel and testimonies for parents and caregivers).
4 A Little House (fun arts and crafts project for children of all ages).
4 Beauty and the Beau—Dress Up! Trim Up! And Look Up! (32 pages of tips and counsel on how to be a successful sample).
4 PEP PACK #2 Booklets (PEP Home Monitor and Home Responsibilities; PEP Parents' Responsibilities toward our Children's Training; PEP Reading List for ALL; What People Say About Home Schooling; CLE Special Studies; Sifting the Gold!—CLE from a Religious Viewpoint).
4 Disciplinary Standard Booklets (Disciplinary Code Book; Kiddy Code Book; Physical Education Rules—Love Is the Key!)
4 Sex Ed. Booklets (All About Growing Up; Answers on How to Respond to Your Child's Sexual Curiosity; It's Okay to Say No Color Book).
4 Portfolio Pages (CVC Photo Pages; 6 Areas of Development Portfolio Pages; Home Schooling Portfolio Pages).
4 CVC-Teens (Compiled CVC Newsflashes and pubs; CVC Students! All Power to You! Where your vocational training can take you; CVC—Fitting a Well-Rounded Peg into a Round Hole; The Job of the CVC Supervisor Is .)
Text box:
PEP (Pilot Educational Program)
By Dawn, for ASCRO FED
The PEP was initiated in Thailand to help ensure that our children's spiritual and scholastic needs were being met. The first seminar was videoed, and then the program was introduced via video and seminars in the other areas of ASCRO.
One of the main features of PEP is a short questionnaire on each child's academic progress, based on the Charter requirements—Word, learning the local language, scholastic hours, and vocational training—which the Homes complete. A database program was set up to keep a record of the questionnaires. Based on the information received from the Homes, follow–up letters of counsel are sent out for each child by the FED representative in each area—Thailand‚ India, and the Middle East. The questionnaire helps the FED overseers, parents, and teachers get to know each child individually, as the evaluation of their education is individual and personal, showing both strengths and weaknesses rather than a general, nebulous assessment. The use of the PEP questionnaire helps the Homes to be more aware of the needs of the children; parents and teachers quickly see where they are successfully fulfilling the Charter requirements and where they need to put more attention. Each Home is encouraged to have a PEP monitor to help them oversee the program.
Another aspect of PEP is the setting up of indigenous FED Resource Centers in each area, which serve to make various educational materials available to the Homes: Family pubs, CVC handbooks‚ CDs; Videos: GAPs, HSVs, documentaries for children, etc.
End of text box.
4 PEP Newsletters #1–3 (PEP newsletter of compiled tips, testimonies and educational how-tos; More PEP reactions and testimonies from parents on taking up the challenge of being more actively involved in their children's education and training. Tips for Testing. Benefits of being on the CLE full program. Science equipment available).
4 Flannel Fun #2 (flannelgraph pieces created from stories in LWG 1 and KTK 1, as well as a reprint of stories from Flannelgraphs and FUN #1).
4 The Illustrated Memo Booklet One and Test (Illustrated memory booklet using verses and quotes from the Bible, TKs, Blades, etc.)
4 Seed Sorters, Book 3 (Pre-School Social Studies activity sheets).
(Note: We'll be working toward posting as many of the above publications as possible on the CC/FED section of the MO site.)
CC/FED Section on the MO Site
10. The FED section of the MO site was restructured and expanded, including adding a categorized database of childcare materials produced by WS, the FEDs, and contributions from the field. You can easily search for a topic you want to find, and then choose items from a variety of sources to download. There is also a question and answer section, CC newswire, overflow sections, childcare reference pubs‚ and more.
11. Even though we announced this in a Grapevine a few months ago‚ this section is still a work in progress. There is more material to be added, and we'll continue to work on this. Keep sending in your contributions!
CVC Certificates/Diplomas
12. Since the beginning of the CVC in 1996, 2,730 certificates and diplomas have been issued. In 2001 alone, 636 certificates and diplomas were issued. To date, the three most issued are the Junior High School (627), the Vocational High School (193), and Teaching English as a Second Language (187)‚ followed by Child Care (144) and General High School (137). ASCRO FED leads the way in the number of CVC certificates and diplomas issued at 986, followed by EURCRO FED with 611, PACRO FED with 518, NACRO FED with 378, and SACRO FED with 237.
13. Out of the 50 available certificates and diplomas, there is only one that has not yet been issued to any Family member: Caregiving.
CVC Students from 1996-2001
FED AreaStudents
ASF (ASCRO FED)380
EUF (EURCRO FED)594
NAF (NACRO FED)175
PAF (PACRO FED)220
SAF (SACRO FED)220
TOTAL1,589
TeleTRF Team Update
By Neil
14. The Lord has helped us to continue to improve the new Windows TeleTRF over this past year and to also get more and more Homes using it. Currently, most CM and FM Homes in the ASCRO, NACRO, and PACRO areas are using the new TeleTRF, and many Homes in EURCRO are also using it.
15. We are now in the final stages of testing the latest version of the new TeleTRF, which fixes most problems that have been encountered in the earlier versions of the program. We hope to distribute the final version to all Homes in ASCRO, EURCRO‚ NACRO, and PACRO in the next few months. We also hope to begin getting SACRO Homes started with the new TeleTRF soon.
16. We maintain a small TeleTRF section on the MO site at http://teletrf.familymembers.com that has an up-to-date FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the TeleTRF. You can find answers there to many questions that we have been asked about the TeleTRF, plus information and workarounds to any problems that other Homes have run into with the TeleTRF. The latest version of the TeleTRF is also available there for download.
17. We provide direct e-mail support for the TeleTRF program as well. We normally receive 75 to 100 e-mails a month, and we try to answer your questions as quickly as possible. We try to answer any e-mail within 24 hours that is received during the main TRF reporting period from about the 22nd of the month until about the 28th of the month. It may take us a little longer than that to answer during the rest of the month, but we do try to answer your questions promptly.
18. The task of getting this new TeleTRF program out to all Family Homes has proved to be a much bigger task than we ever expected, but the Lord has done miracle after miracle to bring this about. When you consider that we have 1,470 CM and FM Homes in about 100 countries around the world, you realize that this is a multinational operation. We support the TeleTRF running on five different versions of Windows, in any possible language version, on a very wide variety of hardware, in all of these countries around the world. So it's truly your prayers and the Lord's wonderful help that is making it possible to distribute this program to you‚ our wonderful Family around the world!
WS Audio Progress Report for 2001
By Barry and Windy‚ HCS
19. Thanks so much for your prayers and support toward another fruitful year of Family music! It's pretty awesome how few Family studio musicians there are compared to how much was accomplished this year. Let's hear a round of applause for all these dedicated folks who make those new CDs possible!
20. This year, the Family received the following new CM/FM CDs: My Heroes—KAT#3, I Like to Sing—KAT #4, Flying Colors—FTT #19, Horizon—FTT#20, Rocker—*TCD#21, Shine—TCD#22, Song of Victory—NF#6, Mosaic—NF#7, Angelight—TCD#23, and I Found You—TCD#24. (At the time this report is being written, Letz Dantz, TCD#25, is in the hands of the Family's CD duping and distribution center, so hopefully you'll be receiving this CD before the end of 2001!) A new CD of Loving Jesus songs almost made it as well; but hang on, you'll be receiving it at the beginning of 2002! (*TCD = Teen CD. Formerly FTT.)
Text box:
Since the FTTs began in 1996, you've received a total of 59 tapes, or 10 per year on average! That includes 25 FTTs, 5 Loving Jesus tapes‚ 7 New Feature tapes, 4 Kids tapes‚ 12 GP tapes, 4 Word tapes, and 2 others.
21. Towards these and future CDs, WS auditioned the lyrics (and in some cases wrote new or additional lyrics) to about 120 songs, and auditioned about 115 final recordings. God bless all of our Family songwriters who heard from Heaven for these beautiful songs!
22. The songbooks to the following CDs were compiled and sent to the Family Web Team in 2001 to put on the MO site for your accessibility: My Heroes—KAT#3, I Like to Rock (formerly Best Friends)—GP, Song of Victory—NF#6, Mosaic—NF#7, Flying Colors—TCD #19, Horizon—TCD#20, Rocker—TCD#21, Shine—TCD#22, and Angelight—TCD#23. In 2002, you'll be able to download the songbooks for Bible Bonanza—KAT#2, I Found You—TCD#24, Letz Dantz—TCD#25, the new Loving Jesus CD, and the songbooks to any other new CDs produced!
23. Not only are many of the studio musicians who work on the English songs busy with that work, but they are also involved in their local-language audio projects. John Listen (JAS) is one example of this, who was involved in recording a CD for the local India work. (Read all about it in Grapevine #122!) Four of the songs he worked on for that project also ended up being used on the new Letz Dantz—TCD#25. Michael (JAS) was full-time this year working on Japanese audio recordings‚ Michael Piano and Jono (OASIS) producing for Mideast audio tools‚ and the RAD was pressing in on their Spanish and Portuguese audio goals.
24. So not only are the Family studio musicians so few, but they've got a lot of fronts to fight on—all the more reason to keep praying for them! Thanks!
25. Getting all this work done generated a tremendous amount of messages, duping, audio transferring DAT to CD, filling orders for different areas (i.e., duping centers, studios, and local requests), compiling BMTs‚ minus-ones, archive copies, and backup copying, not to speak of all the packages sent by mail, and many other important undocumented details. Those CDs you receive aren't shaped like bananas, but each surely is one!
26. Also‚ some new studios have recently contributed to WS-released audio productions: Kidz Vidz audio studio (KAS), and Chile audio studio (CAS). You'll be hearing their recordings on CDs to be released in 2002.
27. Now, here's the roll call—accompanied with heartfelt appreciation—of all those studios who contributed toward the new English CDs you received this year: JAS (Japan Audio Studio)‚ RAD (Rio Audio Studio), Cesco‚ ROSE (Rio Original Sound Engineering), MXS (Mexico Audio Studio), OASIS‚ Godfrey, TNT (studio in Tokyo), TSH (Tokyo Studio Home), GAS (Gateway Audio Studio)‚ and WSA (WS Audio department).
28. As we mentioned, LJCD#6 will be coming out at the beginning of 2002. We've got more songs coming in toward new TCDs, lots of new children's songs in the works (new KATs; GP quiet-time CD; GP educational songs; and, DV, a reveille CD), and enough songs to record LJCD#7!
29. With the borders of the Family's tents enlarging day by day with the Activated vision, the audio harvest is increasing at a phenomenal rate. Please continue to funnel your prayers and support to our valuable Family songwriters, musicians‚ and technicians around the world as they work hand in hand with Jesus to make music miracles for the millions!
Text box:
TCD/FTT Target Audience
By Peter
30. The FTTs have been in production for six years now. God bless all of you songwriters and musicians who've been praying down and pumping out our Family music!
31. When the FTTs (now called TCDs: Teen CDs) were first born, the goal was to provide our teens with meaty, Word-based Family music. From a variety of reports‚ as well as personal letters from numerous young people around the world, we're glad to report that the FTTs have helped to meet this need.
32. However, the teens of six years ago are no longer teens! Over the past few years we've heard from some older SGAs, as well as adults, about how some of the songs on the FTTs aren't their style or don't appeal to their tastes. Granted, there is a wide variety of musical tastes among our worldwide Family, and while a select few songs qualify as general "hits," most songs are liked by some and disliked by others. That's just the way it is.
33. At the same time, it's important to realize that the FTTs are not produced for the SGA or FGA audience. Their primary target audience is the teens of the Family‚ and from all we've heard recently, the majority of the songs are still hitting the mark and are being a blessing to this age group in particular. Even though some songs on the FTTs may not be geared to your taste, you SGAs and FGAs can benefit from the songs you do like and enjoy, which is an added benefit.
34. Please keep praying for our musicians, songwriters‚ and technicians, as they pull down lyrics and music from Heaven and produce our Family music!
Legal and Media Developments
35. Our media teams around the world play a vital role in keeping the Family moving forward, promoting our good works and name, and also in dispelling and rebutting the Enemy's attacks on our work and lifestyle. Though you may not be aware of the many fronts our media teams fight on, they work hard day in and day out to help preserve our Family and way of life. When there is serious persecution or members of our Family are put into jail, then they step into the limelight; however‚ all year round they are seeking the Lord and engaging in proactive work to build the groundwork of protection and safekeeping for all of you.
36. Let's take a look at some of the behind–the-scenes work that our faithful media teams have been involved in this past year:
nNorth America Media Desk‚
by Marc and Claire
37. The Lord did many miracles this past year as we teamworked with our wonderful media team in Mexico, Ben and Maria‚ to fight for the release of our brethren in bonds in Mexico. The Lord led us step by step via prophecy to be a witness before magistrates, prison officials, and lawyers, and as we followed His leads, He defied all odds to have our folks released from prison before being subjected to further lengthy legal processes.
38. A little over a year ago, the Lord led us to initiate a nonprofit religious news service, called WRNS (World Religious News Service) as part of our proactive work. Daily, with the help of our SGA teamworkers, we search the Web for articles covering religious freedom and human rights issues‚ new religious movements, as well as trends regarding religion. We have a subscription list of approximately 80 people that includes academics‚ human rights activists, public relations representatives from new religions, and government officials. Some of these folks in turn publish these articles on Web sites, or circulate the articles to government officials in different countries, as well as other academics and universities, so the articles have a very wide circulation. We were able to send out over 5,000 articles this year. We then compile the most outstanding articles on a bi-monthly basis for a 20-page magazine that we send out to a wide group of academics that specialize in new religions, so that they can also benefit from the NRM religious news from around the world. We also compiled two special home school editions that we sent out to home schooling groups in the US and Canada.
39. The young people on our team run a proactive mail ministry for North America, which services 3-4,000 people throughout the year. We rotate mailings on a monthly basis to different groups of people, with each mailing being tailored to the needs of the particular group. The people we send mailings to range from religion news writers for the major media outlets, sociologists and psychologists specializing in religion‚ home schooling associations, Christian churches, embassies, US Senate and House and religious freedom organizations, as well as follow-up mailings to over 800 parents and relatives of Family members around the world. Besides circulating important information to promote religious tolerance and understanding of new religions, each mailing includes materials with a witness and promotion of our good works. Through this mailing, we were able to distribute 3,492 Activated mags‚ 5,995 Reflections, 7,829 FARs, 1,484 CD cards‚ 180 GNs, 1,555 WRNS and other pubs, and 192 statements—with a total of 20‚727 pieces sent out.
40. This year, we also provided information for several books being written or published on the Family. One book, Life in the Family by Jim Chancellor, was published; another, The Endtime Family by William Bainbridge, is being published shortly, and From The Children of God to The Family by J. Gordon Melton should be released within the next few months‚ God willing. This book was already published in Italian and Spanish and is available throughout South America. Research is being carried out at this time for two other books on the Family. Please keep this research in your prayers, especially that it will result in more third–party information being available to those interested in knowing more about the Family. These books should be very helpful in providing accurate information as well as helping people to better understand our message. Several accurate encyclopedia articles and book chapters have also been written on us this past year.
41. We were also able to contribute to the setting up of several Web pages on the Family on sites devoted to religious movements. These four sites all contain factual profiles on the Family, as well as outlining our beliefs, our message, and Dad's role as our founder.
42. As part of our proactive work, we attended three academic religious conferences this past year. These are helpful in making ourselves available to interact with folks we've met over the years, as well as responding when the Family is mentioned and providing information where needed. We were also able to send 300 copies of Sex‚ Slander and Salvation this past year to academics around the country and some overseas.
43. We attended several classes at three universities (one a theological seminary), where we were able to discuss our doctrines, radical beliefs, and pass out quite a bit of information to several classes of university students. These classes are always a fun time to witness deeply and keep our swords sharp in using the Bible to show the foundation for our beliefs. We've also received visits from ten academics to our Home, which is always a wonderful opportunity to be a living sample of what we are.
44. We have attended a number of Congressional hearings/Helsinki Commission meetings involving human rights and religious freedom issues. These hearings provide us with a valuable opportunity to network and meet with government officials as well as international human rights experts and activists.
45. We have also attended or hosted regular meetings with PR representatives from other NRMs to discuss religious freedom issues‚ how we can work together on these issues, etc. We've also attended and participated as speakers at their special events.
46. We're thankful that things have been quiet on the media front, and although we did do several interviews this year, they were mostly for positive programs that afforded us an opportunity to give a solid witness. We have had our names on the most frequently used listing for the media of religious groups and have received a few calls from media representatives looking for religious responses to issues such as cloning or the Elian Gonzalez controversy, which have been good witnessing opportunities.
nMexico Media Team,
by Ben and Maria
47. One of the miracles of our media team is that for most of the year our team has consisted of just three or four adults. Presently‚ our Home population stands at 10 people—four FGAs, two SGAs, two teens, and two kids. Following are some of the projects and highlights of our year:
4We're working on an eight-page PR magazine, La Familia en Mexico (The Family in Mexico), which will complement the PR video for Mexico that Dan (MexFed) is editing.
4We attended the SISR (International Society for the Sociology of Religion), which was held in Mexico last year. We were able to follow up on many of our academic acquaintances and had some visit our Home.
4We've been helping Family Care Foundation on setting up some contacts here in Mexico with their air cargo project.
4We've sent a mass mailing to our media contacts every two months. Last year we sent 2,972 pieces and 46,998 pages. (This does not include all the information packs given out at conferences.)
4We also give regular Bible and Endtime classes, and with the Activated vision will now get more involved with our friends.
Fighting for freedom
48. In 2000 we went on red alert as we began a prolonged media battle for the deliverance of our dear brothers Simon and Joseph. After five long months in jail, on November 29, 2000, the Lord wrought a great victory and our brothers were freed! Romans 8:28 was again fulfilled as the Lord opened the doors for Joseph and Simon to do some powerful personal witnessing to some needy sheep, and 14 wild and woolly Family young people performed in a musical program within the prison walls, bringing tears, light, and hope to many. This episode also enriched the Mexico Family with many lessons.
Zocalo and President Fox
49. December 2000, our Home, along with area Homes and others around the country, organized the Zocalo CTP, and the Lord supplied enough food for over 10,000 Christmas meals for the poor. A full army unit and army kitchen was put at our disposition to handle the huge amounts of cooking required for this mega soup line event. The Lord led us to invite President Fox to come and serve the first plate, but it so happened that he was already planning to be with his family for Christmas day; however, he courteously acknowledged our CTP work with the poor as being important. Although we were not able to meet with the president at that time, the Lord arranged a surprise rendezvous at the hotel where we stayed for a couple of days of W&R, at which time we were able to explain a bit about our work and later passed President Fox an information packet and Family video.
Mexican Chamber of Commerce
50. In Washington, Marc and Claire met a member of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce who got quite interested in our Mexico CTPs. Recently the Mexican Chamber of Commerce sent us a generous donation for Hidalgo's flood victims, all of this being worked out through Marc and Claire, GBT!
Mexican Congress
51. At the Mexican Congress we met with an inter–religious group called Campaña por la Tolerancia (Campaign for Tolerance), and we've been given an open door to participate in their meetings and activities. This group consists of various minority religious groups and NGOs, including representatives from the National Commission of Human Rights. The organization is very active in organizing forums and conferences to encourage and teach on not only religious tolerance, but tolerance at all levels. We understand they also can formulate proposals that can become laws if backed and approved by enough members of parliament, and they do seem to have several of them already backing them. Although this group is relatively new and represents a small voice to the country, nevertheless it is a voice and it has the potential to influence and affect many.
52. Recently the committee asked us to write a press conference speech to be given before several government officials to take a stand for peace in the aftermath of the New York/Washington plane attacks. They've also invited us to attend an upcoming conference on tolerance where we'll be presenting a brief paper titled, "The Beginning of Tolerance Is Respecting Our Neighbors." So it seems the Lord is doing something new as He leads us into this new media frontier; we're excited with the prospects and possibilities of giving the Family representation on this committee.
nEURCRO Media Desk, by Abi
53. Our media desk has been in existence for eight years now. We have the privilege of representing the Family to people of influence; taking advantage of platforms to witness and share the meat of the Word; and serving the Family by helping with media/legal situations that arise. One of the themes of this year has been these challenging Words from our dear Husband:
54. "It's no longer time to be ashamed of who you are—it's time to stand up and be counted! It's time to fight for and secure your place in their society, your right to publish your product, to promote your goods. So secure your positions! Come out on top! Make known who you are, and fight for your right to be there. Once this first round is won, I will have begun to open up new doors of passage to new ground, and I will move you ever onward in My unfailing plan to win the lost. Even though the Enemy will also make great gains, nevertheless, your goal is to win the lost. His goal is to win the chessboard, but as he tries to do so, you'll be winning the captives and setting them free" (ML #3354:59–62, GN 947).
55. In our work with the Family, we're the "media desk" (EMD). To the "outside world," we're the "European Family Information Department" (FID). The FID includes working side by side with media teams around Europe—our faithful network of Family members who pitch in to help with proactive work, whether offering hospitality to visiting academics, attending conferences, answering the media, etc. God bless them and their Homes for all they sacrifice to help in this way. Feeding ministries to the GP and follow-up of former members are another side of our FID work.
56. The Media Desk team consists at this time of Abi (concentrates on FID and working with media teams); Celeste (concentrates on GP and former members); and Hannah and Jo (concentrate on communications with Homes). Extra help comes from Simon (driving, photocopying, and general indispensable happy helper), and we can't forget our new secretary Marie who recently joined us. We've recently moved to London‚ where we're establishing our new FID headquarters.
57. In our service to the Family in the EURCRO area, giving counsel and answering questions about media/legal situations, etc., we receive and send around 100 messages in a typical month. Some are simple; some are more involved situations. We try to bring every question to the Lord to get His leading. Sometimes a more complex situation will involve communicating with sociologists and other people of influence who can help and advise in some way.
Proactive work
58. Our work is not just answering the issues that arise, but trying to proactively promote the Family's good name and give those who are interested an opportunity to get to know us better. One of our aims is to help ensure that the authorities know the truth about the Family, and not the distorted and untrue picture that is often painted by the anti-cult movement and the media.
59. There are two main routes in which we're working to achieve this. One, we try to meet and be available for academics, sociologists, authors‚ and fair-minded journalists. These are people who governments and law enforcement agencies consult (or at least should consult) when making policies and decisions regarding minority religious groups. They also have some influence on public opinion if they can themselves be heard in the media. Reaching people like this has been an ongoing project of the media teams worldwide for some years, and there is now a growing circle of people who know the Family quite well. They understand our history, our progress‚ our way of life, our doctrines, and because they know us, they can help to defend our rights.
60. The other route is by making ourselves known to people of influence in the governments themselves. This is a fairly new aspect of our work that has been gradually developing. The Lord has opened some exciting doors in the past months and we're building a relationship with a growing network of key players, some even in countries where we are unpopular. We seek the Lord desperately about this type of contact because of the repercussions it can have. We don't want to be pushy—not like some other NRMs who are quite offensive in their presentation, which has been counterproductive—but to prayerfully use the opportunities that arise to give a positive presentation of the Family as the Lord leads.
61. An inspiring example of progress in this field: A leading Western European government office is setting up a forum for international religious freedom. One representative from each of the main religions in the country (mostly traditional religions, established churches, etc.) was invited—and we were too! We'll see how this develops.
62. Along the way in our proactive work, we're also coming into contact with other people of influence—lawyers‚ religious leaders, human rights activists, etc., who when hearing about the Family in depth are now quite favorable and willing to work together as the need arises.
Conferences‚ interviews, and mailings
63. In the past year, one or more of us from the FID attended seven conferences, mostly international. Other media teams around Europe also took part in various events. One of the biggest conferences this year was in London, an international gathering of sociologists who focus on New Religious Movements. We had a three-woman team (Hannah, Celeste and myself) at the conference, and I gave a presentation on the Family. The Lord opened up a flat where we could bring people over for visits during the conference, and on the last day we organized an Open House that had a good turnout.
64. German Dave and I attended a seminar on Religious Freedom organized by the OSCE (inter-governmental organization) and attended by representatives of every European state. We were able to enter into the discussions, circulate a written statement‚ and later follow it up with a mailing to those we met, some of whom have responded favorably. We went from there to Germany to a conference organized by the International Communal Studies Association. This conference was an enjoyable witnessing experience as there were lots of sheep and not only sociologists.
65. Often sociologists, students, or writers get in touch with us by e-mail for information. Sometimes it's just one e-mail; other times it's a long process of questions back and forth, sending stacks of information; and sometimes we'll give personal interviews. A few students make the Family the subject of their thesis for their Masters degree, and they need ongoing and in-depth information. It's hard to keep track of how many students we're in touch with‚ perhaps an average of around a dozen per year.
66. Each month we receive about 45 e-mails from academics, sociologists, and the press. Six months ago the average was only about 20, so you can see how this has grown! We do our best to reply right away.
67. Some of the sociologists we communicate with teach courses on New Religious Movements in university, so we are sometimes asked to give a presentation on the Family. This involves a couple of hours of meaty witnessing, and that's real fun! We talk in detail about the Family, show video clips and answer questions, usually before an audience of 10 to 15 students. We've given three classes like this in the past year.
68. One result of this has been more scholarly articles telling about the Family that we can present to governments and to the courts if needed. Although we may not agree 100% with these writings, as obviously not everyone who studies us agrees with all of our doctrines and way of life, at least we have these objective third-party assessments of the Family which can be more convincing than what we write ourselves, and are certainly far better than the ACM versions! One of our ongoing projects is collecting all of these types of articles on the Family—published and unpublished—and putting together a bibliography that we can pass on to people who need impartial information on the Family.
69. We also send out information, without waiting to be asked, to those who defend the rights of religious minorities—various organizations and individuals around Europe. We send out mass e–mailings to those on our contact list once or twice a month (around 120 people), depending on how much news there is to share. We'll include a FAR at least once a month, and other news that will be of special interest to them, like major legal or media events.
70. We also send some mass snail mailings. Sending something on paper gives them material to put into their files and keep for reference. In the past year we sent around 10 of these mailings, including FARs and WS statements, plus articles that we have produced about certain issues or for special events‚ like "Youth in the Family," addressing the question of young ex-members, "Quick Facts on the Family," our statement circulated at the OSCE seminar, etc. We usually send one big mass mailing at Christmas too—it's a good opportunity to remind everyone of Jesus' love and to give them some good news from the Family. Last year we sent out 440 Christmas mailings.
71. One visible result of this can be seen in the articles and books that other people are publishing. In the past year, several significant books were published in Europe: The New Believers, by David V. Barrett, with a comprehensive chapter on the Family; a book on the French judiciary, again with a chapter on the Family written by our lawyer, to name just a few. There were various other articles published as well.
72. Our radical beliefs open doors for us to witness in other ways too. We were invited to join a program on the BBC World Service radio earlier this year that turned out to be a positive and meaty witness. We've also responded to various news articles and TV programs.
73. When we at the EMD deal with "media situations," obviously our focus is on responding to negative publicity. We don't need to do anything about positive articles, except collect them to document the Family's good work. It is inspiring to note that the majority of media coverage in Europe and Africa is actually good publicity! As you have read in The Grapevine, every month there are lots of positive news articles, radio broadcasts‚ etc. God bless our faithful missionaries, and thank the Lord for the positive media coverage they receive!
74. Yet another angle to our FID work is monitoring religious freedom developments, particularly those that could affect us, for the purpose of keeping our Family members in each country informed of their rights and position, and also to positively influence policymakers to make the right decisions in protecting religious freedom.
75. Celeste concentrates on the other two main facets of the FID—former members and the GP "sheep" e–mail ministry—so I'll let her tell this part.
GP e-mail
By Celeste
76. The amount of GP e-mail we receive (from Europe and Africa) almost doubled in 2001! We went from receiving an average of 50 e-mail enquiries each month to over 100. Each incoming e-mail receives a response as we prayerfully try to answer their questions and feed them. We also try to put them in touch with Homes for personal follow-up if they request this.
77. We send out mass e-mailings twice a month, which have received a positive response so far. At the moment we have over 450 addresses in our e-mail address list of folks who have written in and are receiving these bimonthly e-mailings.
78. We've also started taking off big time with the 12 Foundation Stones course via e-mail. So far it's been a big hit, with more people being added to it all the time. We now have about 20 people on this course. Most of those on our 12 Foundation Stones list are in the African countries, and as e-mail isn't all that cheap for the folks there, we'll often send it to an individual who can afford it‚ who will then have their own little Bible study group who he/she shares it with.
Former members
79. We now have about 75 former members who receive the monthly Wine Press mailing. Generally the list is on the increase as more and more of those who lost touch are "finding" us again and are enthusiastic about receiving mailings. The Wine Press mailing includes a Wine Press (put together by Cassie and team in the USA, God bless them)‚ plus other appropriate DFO/GP lit like the END, CLTP, Heaven's Library, Reflections, FARs, etc. Most people help with some contribution to cover the costs. Some give over and above in support of the Lord's work.
80. We also started a "Kiddie Mailing" in which we send a mailing comprised of Heaven's Libraries‚ FC Posters, MLKs, etc., that are suitable for the children of the former members. Though there aren't many on our list who receive this (as not too many have smaller children), it's been greatly appreciated by those who do.
81. Appreciation is also due to various Homes in Europe who found themselves on the frontlines in some way this year, perhaps as the result of a negative article or some ACM activity. God bless them for standing by their faith and Family, sometimes in quite difficult circumstances. Our EMD/FID work wouldn't mean anything without the conviction, faith‚ and good sample of our frontline Family members.
nJapan Media Desk, by Ezra
82. The Lord has blessed us with relative peace on the Japan media front, allowing us to continue on our first line of defense—our proactive contact with our neighbors, city fathers, government officials, and a multitude of friends that the Lord has brought our way. With the advent of Activated in Japanese, there will undoubtedly be a further explosion of souls saved and the strengthening of these precious people that we've been meeting.
83. Invited by other NRMs here in Japan, we have attended two major interfaith conferences‚ one major media conference, and five other events‚ one that included a three-day trip to a southern city with members of other NRMs and some traditional Buddhist sects as well. Through the efforts of a Buddhist priest here who has come to know and grow close to the Lord, we have met quite a few important people, including a former prime minister of Japan.
84. Down south, our Hiroshima team has been very proactive with an ongoing television documentary of their local work, including their Home's CTP work in India. This has been great for the Family and has aired throughout Japan. The Heart to Heart band has continued a string of performances in a variety of places as doors continue to miraculously open for us. We consider this work to be a major part of our pro–active strategy, as the Lord uses music to get us into a tremendously large diversity of social sectors, meeting thousands of people in the process. It is evidence of the era of action, as we watch the Lord do incredible miracles of getting us into places that we would have never been able to go!
85. The September 11th tragedy has rekindled the mindsets that the Aum Shinrikyo debacle started. There is a seething battle going on with the ARM to introduce draconian laws into the Japanese system that parallel the French versions authored by ADFI. Just recently a top MP from France‚ who is one of the architects of ADFI there, came to Japan to talk with kindred Japanese lawmakers.
86. With the history of the Aum Shinrikyo still somewhat fresh in the Japanese mind, the issue of brainwashing has turned from a theory to an accepted fact in the courts and in the government. Deprogramming centers have been set up with government funding, and these are manned and information is gathered by some of our worst enemies. This is somewhat unique, as the brainwashing issue has been basically debunked in the States and internationally, but in Japan it is widely accepted. All of this behind-the-scenes battle is happening somewhat secretively, but we feel that with the Lord's protection‚ everyone's prayers, and powered by the keys‚ we will be able to openly continue our proactive work for some time.
87. Please keep praying for peace and the time to continue our witness, especially now that we have Activated in Japanese!
A book about the Family's relief work
88. Recently a book about the Kobe earthquake and religious groups' involvement in the relief work was published. The book, titled Fukko to Shukyo ("Reconstruction and Religion") is 230 pages in length, and 45 pages are devoted to the Family. This is the first book ever published in Japan that devotes such a big portion to the Family and is favorable.
89. The portion about the Family was written by Mr. Watanabe, a graduate student of Osaka University. He made sure that he heard from us directly instead of from detractors, even though he has read some of their books on the Family. From his academic point of view, those kinds of accusations are quite twisted and not accurate, so he didn't pay much attention to them.
90. His report is favorable and accurate. While doing relief work‚ many religious organizations faced the dilemma of whether they should proselytize and offend survivors, or stick to volunteer work and not share their faith. Mr. Watanabe was quite interested in how we coped with it. He concluded that the Family did very well, because we believe that volunteer work is one way to show God's love in action—and is witnessing.
nTaiwan Media Team, by Tim
91. We've had a semblance of a media team for over five years, involved with proactive work, interviews, etc. However, until last year the Taiwan Media Team mainly consisted of two people that were involved a lot with translations, proofreading and other related CLP work, as well as the Taiwan and Chinese studio work. When events or local interviews were conducted‚ others were called upon for prayer, advice, counsel, etc.
92. This all changed when an article was about to be produced by a group of Presbyterian homeschoolers who were working with a number of CM Family members and found out through unfavorable sources many lies and distorted information and garbage about our past! The article was to reach most of the churches in this country and had a very large circulation in many circles of Christian groups nationwide and local religious bookstores. It goes without saying that the media team got a kick-start and our counselors and members grew.
93. We are now blessed to have national disciples make up half our media team. The three other members are foreign brethren who are married to nationals and are half-Chinese anyway, including myself. Our team is: Taiwanese Vicky‚ Crystal (CLP)‚ Christina (CLP), Noah (SGA), Abe‚ and myself. Hannah (my mate, HK national and local VS) is also a big help and counselor‚ as well as our COs, Jeff and Taiwanese Rachel.
The benefits of negative publicity
94. In early April, our media team met and held several P&P meetings in regards to the above-mentioned negative article. The results of these meetings included:
4 A rebuttal in Chinese and English (for the Homes to use) and a GP one to the publishing house and magazine in question.
4 Numerous messages to the Homes with updates, prayer requests, and counsel on how to approach the church/religious people in general about the Family.
4Sharing the meat of the Word with longstanding contacts, friends, sheep, and especially those in the religious community.
4Testimonies of successful sharing of the meat with others—as well as fallouts and lessons learned.
4Strategies on how to conduct oneself on long-term relationships with religious circles.
4A number of Word compilations on the subject.
We also updated our Chinese Web site to provide the following:
4Improved presentation and maneuverability around the site to make it more "Chinese friendly."
4Clearer explanation of what the Family is and what we do.
4Media packs of related lit covering what the Family stands for‚ and more about the Family's doctrines.
4Link to a meatier site for those who want a deeper explanation on Family history (here we provide a compilation of our Family Statements on the Law of Love, Our Origins‚ FFing history, etc.)
95. We tried to meet with the authors of the articles, seeing that they felt slighted in not knowing more about the Family in the first place. However, they decided to put us off, so unfortunately we weren't able to meet with them. We also requested an audience with the board of the paper after submitting our rebuttal that they said they would most likely publish, being honest Christians, but this also failed, and they declined to meet with us. In any case, we sent letters of explanation and some statements to all the parties involved.
The Family in Taiwan local news
96. Vicky (Taiwanese national, of John Berry) has received three awards for her persevering work as probation officer in a District Courthouse this year, as well as a promotion to national probation officer. This means that she can travel throughout the country and counsel any cases in any courthouse in Taiwan. The Family Home that she lives in also received an honorary award from the top judge in Taiwan for their outstanding work in the Taipei prison this year.
97. The Family has been involved in many personal interviews concerning CTP involvements. One Home down south was recently asked to give a nationwide TV interview (15,000,000 viewers) on one of their CTPs.
nAustralia Media Team,
by Paul and Joy
98. There hasn't been much media coverage in Australia this past year.
99. On the academic side, a postgraduate student at Monash University in Melbourne is in the process of writing a paper including the Family. She is a colleague of an academic the Melbourne brethren have been in contact with for quite a few years‚ who has interviewed a number of Family members, majoring on their testimony of why they joined.
100. A conference in Sydney was held early last year that Michael and Christine from NZ were invited to. This was the first and pilot meeting of an organization for the strengthening of global civilization. There were a number of ambassadors from 40-odd countries, and academics and representatives of different religions. Michael and Christine were invited to be the Christian representatives. Michael was able to give a talk about their missionary work while in India and explain about the Family. The organizers were so taken with him that they invited him to be on a committee to organize their next meeting.
101. Jonas and team in Thailand were the topic of a favorable segment of a current affairs program called "Foreign Correspondent."
102. There have been some very sweet healings that the Lord has brought about with former members. One of them is a big change in Lamb's former husband (Michael), the instigator of the first court case in Melbourne that led to a lot of publicity and ultimately was the catalyst that brought on the raids here in 1992. He has been receiving the Wine Press, which he considers a great blessing. Throughout the whole time he has been away from the Family, he kept a picture of Dad and has been getting back into the Letters.
103. A number of other families have been encouraged by restoring ties with their former member young people who had turned against the Family for a time.
104. (Peter: ) God bless all of our media teams, who are willing to take on this taxing and demanding ministry for the benefit of the worldwide Family. We couldn't do without them! Please continue to uphold them in your prayers, and call on the power of the keys for their conviction, wisdom, and anointing in all their dealings with officials‚ academics, other NRMs, and the news media.
LIM and Lit–Pic News
105. Let's take a look at our wonderful LIM and Lit-Pic teams, who faithfully translate the pubs and GP tools day in and day out! These folks are real unsung heroes. Many of them have worked behind the scenes‚ at their desks, for years on end. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be fed in your local language or have any tools to distribute. Your ability to witness and get out the Lord's message would be very limited.
106. A number of these wonderful folks also live in normal field Homes‚ which means that on top of their translating work, they're also involved in fundraising, childcare, follow-up, and the myriad of details that go into running a happy Home. Please keep them in your prayers, because they are serving you!
Greek Lit-Pic
By Matthew Greek
107. Year 2001 was another exciting year working to translate the pubs into Greek. Our Greek Lit-Pic team is Matthew and Maggie Greek (translating in Thessaloniki) and John and Joanna (correcting and proofreading the pubs in Athens). We worked on:
· 4 Activated booklets
· 2 Activated magazines
· 44 GP Daily Might pages
· 3 GP tracts
· 4 FARs
· 8 Reflections
· 1 Treasures article
108. With the help of the EURCRO team we launched our new Web site: www.greekfamily.org
Our new e-mail address is: gfamily@greekfamily.org
Through our Web site and e–mail address‚ we sometimes receive requests for translation from other countries and Homes that minister to Greek people around the world, which we are more than happy to provide.
109. Another exciting project that involved our kids was working on the Be So Happy CD in Greek. We are currently looking into the possibility, with the help of the Aurora team, of mass marketing this CD in Greece.
Chinese Lit-Pic
By Marcus
(photo not available for security reasons)
110. The Chinese Lit-Pic produces two sets of Chinese translations—one for China and Singapore‚ and one for Taiwan principally, and other Chinatowns around the globe. The written language for China is called Simplified Chinese, as the characters are simplified, and the language for Taiwan is called Traditional Chinese, because the characters are you guessed it! There are also slight variances in the grammar and expressions, so in many ways they are two separate languages.
Simplified Chinese translations
111. All but one Get Activated booklet is now translated. Three of these booklets are in eBook form‚ where sheep can read these files on their own computers, all fitting on a mini 8cm (3.1-inch) CDROM. These include Hearing from Heaven, The Future Foretold, and From Jesus—With Love. More are on the way.
112. 12 Activated magazines are available for viewing and printing out in PDF format. Activated mags 13-18 are also translated and on their way to CDROM, which the China teams use to feed their sheep. The CLP is also online at www.clpubs.com with all the latest files.
113. We also printed a book of Reflections articles. Work is underway to get the Babes Basic Course out, and we're checking into getting the New Wine, at least portions of it‚ into print for new babes.
Traditional Chinese translations
114. The big news here is Activated! Chinese Activated‚ in Traditional Chinese, should, God willing, be rolling by Chinese New Year (February 2002) with its own Activated desk. A Web site has been set up to post the Activated mags in Chinese‚ so that Family members can critique them before they go to print. Discovering Truth—Bible Basics is in print and awaiting distribution, followed closely by Mottos for Success, which is currently being printed in Thailand. Mottos for Success will be bilingual (English and Chinese), which should make for a very interesting gift. Incidentally, the Activated mags will also be mostly bilingual, which was an interesting turn that the Lord showed us to do.
115. We also endeavored to keep up with a monthly mailing to the Taiwan Homes of Reflections, Good Thots stories and FAR reports. These totaled over 30,000 copies mailed to the Homes in 2001.
Thai Lit-Pic
By Anna and Meekness
116. We translated and sent out a total of 35 GNs to the Homes in Thailand. After seeing the need to feed His sheep more‚ we've started to put more time and effort into translating GP pubs. We translated eight Activated magazines, and three of these have been sent out to the Homes. We've also begun to translate and send out the Reflections as they come out. We sent out 13 Reflections this year. Glimpses of Heaven is translated and we sent out the first section, "Homesick for Heaven," to the Thai Homes. A total of 942 A5 pages of pubs were translated and sent out this past year.
117. We also sent out our first GP CD, which includes 37 Reflections, Heavenly Streams 1-7 in Thai and English, and 150 EC3 letters and inserts, in both Thai and English for Homes to use in their follow-up. We were able to help update the Thai Family Web site and the Jonas/Christy Web site twice during this time. We also helped the DF Home translate and print four EC3 letters and inserts, a total of over 1,300 letters. [Note: The ECCC, the Executive Counseling Correspondence Course, is commonly known as the EC3.] We just finished compiling, translating and laying out the articles for Heavenly Streams booklet #8 with a total of 31 pages of English articles and 31 pages of Thai articles. We took the articles from Activated magazines, Reflections, and Power and Protection.
Hindi Lit-Pic
By Peter Attack
118. A major victory was to become more indigenous regarding tool production. All our Hindi tool production is now taken care of in-house, and the Homes order directly from us. This has helped us to pioneer new contacts, and has resulted in us being able to offer cheaper prices to the Homes. There is a tremendous vacuum for tools in the local language.
119. This past year we were granted authority to become a company, which will help us in the production of tools‚ audio and video material, and to be aboveboard. We're now looking into mass marketing possibilities.
120. Over the past year our team worked on the following:
4Kids' audio remastered and duplicated (with a new cover‚ total of 18 songs); 1,500 copies sold within the first three weeks!
4Reprint of Khyal 1 (booklet of Reflections), and translation, proofreading and printing of Khyal 2—a total of over 6,500 copies have gotten out in the past four months! The Deaf Ministry has been instrumental in getting these out by the volumes!
4Translated and proofread draft for Khyal 3. Did cover artwork for same. This will be going to print shortly.
4Prayer Power and Obstacles Are for Overcoming booklets translated and laid out for printing.
4Produced and mastered second kids' audio (another 20 songs); designed cover artwork for it as well (will be duped shortly), making a total of 38 songs mastered this past year! (Not all songs were recorded this year, however.)
4 Wrote, arranged, recorded and produced "Diyay Jaltay Hain"—new Hindi song for Diwali CD card, which took a month and a half of nonstop work!
4 Finished mastering TAs #7 and 8 in Hindi.
4 Wrote and arranged music for two new kids' songs to be included on upcoming kids' audios.
4 Also prepared track for "India, I Love You"—song to be performed for Independence Day programs by show troupes around the country.
4 Produced three dramas to be used by Family Homes in India for performing at shows, etc.
4 Shipped Hindi tools to Homes throughout India for distribution.
4 Mastered and prepared two CDs to be used by Homes for performances‚ consisting of BMTs, minus ones, sound effects, etc.
4 Total pages translated and proofread: 1,280
BRALIM
By Rick
121. This past year our Home underwent big changes, the biggest of which was our 1,100 km move from Rio to Brasília. In addition, a senior translator and her three kids moved on to the field, from where she still helps with translation work. Our long-time shepherdess (now VS) and her husband also moved to a field Home.
122. Our team now consists of six full-time translators—three in-house and three on the field, plus one part–time field translator—two layout people, one GP pubs coordinator, and our faithful secretary and project person, currently in charge of the work on the HomeARC and other projects.
123. Our translators translated and proofread 3,618 A5 pages, and helped with some of the HomeARC proofing and New Wine compiling and checking.
124. We managed to finish and send out a new Portuguese HomeARC last December, thanks to Vicky and Mel's hard work throughout the year on it. In this third release, we've added 149 Daily Bread condensations and 629 Letters, which include 123 missing Babes Basic Course Letters and 258 for the New Disciples' first-year priority reading list. In preparation for the disciple influx‚ all the MLs on both of these lists were included in the HomeARC.
125. We also proofed and added seven Raise 'em Right sections (245 pages), and 26 Treasures sections (50 pages).
126. The GP pubs department finalized and sent to print the following books: God's Gifts, Obstacles Are for Overcoming, Hearing from God, Prayer Power; three Praisin' U booklets, Start Early, four Stories to Grow By booklets; 12 Activated mags (including November and December issues); Dare to be Different, GP FJWL‚ and Parenteening.
SPALIM
By Esteban
127. This past year our translating team produced 5,000 A5 print-ready pages in Spanish. Of the weekly mailings, we translated:
4All GNs, FSMs, FARs‚ Reflections and Prayer Lists.
4Most tracts, MLKs‚ and DFO MLs.
4Some CLTPs, LinkUps, Eves, Kidlands, HTKs, and other FC pubs.
4Portions of Grapevines and ENDs.
128. We also prepared a variety of mags and books for GP distribution and follow-up:
4Activated mags #17-19, plus the Christmas 2001 mag.
4Christmas CD cards (8 designs).
4El Tren de la Alegría CD cards (6 designs).
4A Christmas Secret (children's storybook).
4Mottos for Success (second edition with new layout).
4Discovering Truth: Keys to Happier Living.
4Prayer Power (Get Activated series).
4Parenteening (Keys to Parenting series).
4My King and I.
4Always with You and Tons of Fun (Jesus and Me series).
4Inline Praise and How-I-Love-Ya! (Praisin' U series).
129. Cedro‚ one of our main translators‚ moved to a field Home in Argentina, but has continued faithfully helping with translations. Together with Rubi (in Ecuador), they translate a lot of the GNs and many other pubs. Since our main layout girl moved to Thailand, all the Spanish pubs for this past year have been laid out by Luz (14), Becky (13) and Aurora (11).
Japanese LIM
By Mary
130. In 2000 our old LIM Home closed down‚ and all of us moved into different Homes or pioneered new Homes. Now we have small teams of pub workers in several locations—many in field Homes. We work together via e-mail. It's been a challenge to operate this way, but the Lord is helping us, and as a team we've been able to tackle the Activated push on top of keeping up with GN and other translation/production work.
131. This past year we translated/produced 2,246 A5 pages in Japanese, which include:
4All the GNs.
4Some FSMs.
4Portions of The Grapevine.
4Some MLKs, HL booklets and LOG sections.
4Some Reflections, CLTPs, Statements and tracts.
4Some Kidlands and one Zine article.
4Portions of ENDs.
4Good Thots sections.
4Raise 'em Right booklets.
46 Activated mags.
44 Get Activated booklets.
132. On the Activated front, some of us helped with proofreading two pre-Activated mags, which are special issues for the Japanese who do not have any Christian background. These mags cover a variety of topics and help ease the Japanese into the one-year Activated course. In translating the Activated mags into Japanese, some of the articles and testimonies have been dropped, and in their place some testimonies by Japanese nationals and a special Bible Q&A section have been added. We've made some changes in the artwork and layout too. This has taken a lot of time, prayer‚ and fine-tuning, but it's coming along!
133. A Japanese CD of GP/DFO pub files will be available to the Homes by the end of this year, D.V. This includes much of the GP/DFO lit ever published in Japanese. Some of the pubs are available in PDF format. Another CD of CM/FM pubs is underway. Most of the GNs after GN 330 will be included in the future CD.
EE Translations
By Angelina
134. The MM Home is in the process of morphing into EE Activated, so many of the stats listed below are a result of theirs and many field translators' love, sacrifice, and hard work.
135. Our focus in EE translations this year has been the Activated mags. By the beginning of 2002 we're looking to have the Activated program set up in a number of EE languages. Mags 1-6 have been translated and printed in Croatian‚ Hungarian‚ Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian (Polish, Bulgarian and Albanian next), leaving the final details of the subscription process to be fine-tuned in each country. The translations done for last year come to approximately 655 pages, or 408,500 words!
LanguageProject
AlbanianActivated mags 1-6
BosnianMuslim Reflections
BulgarianActivated mags 1-6
CroatianActivated mags 1-6
Croatian*12FS 00
CzechActivated mags 1-3
HungarianActivated mags 1-8
Hungarian12FS 00
HungarianChristmas Activated mag
PolishActivated mags 1–3
RomanianActivated mags 1–8
RomanianLove's Many Faces
RomanianChristmas Activated mag
RussianActivated mags 1-6
RussianPrayer Power
RussianLove's Many Faces
RussianObstacles Are for Overcoming
RussianMottos for Success
Russian12FS 00 – 02a
RussianChristmas mag
SlovakianActivated mags 1 and 2
UkrainianActivated mags 1-6
UkrainianActivated mags 7-11
UkrainianGod's Gifts
*12FS represents sections of 12 Foundation Stones.
Meet Your NPC Teams!
136. (Peter:) The Lord has poured out an abundance of Word this past year, which WS has worked hard to prepare for you. But the job doesn't stop there. We must give credit where credit is due, and that is to our NPC teams who pipe the Word to the Family. The NPCs have a huge job, and as you'll see, they've been very busy this past year.
137. Please continue to keep our hard-working NPC teams in your prayers. Without them, you wouldn't get your mailings!
ANPC (Asian NPC)
By James‚ Arthur, and Sam
138. This year we sent out a total of 28 mailings. This means a total of 2‚601,040 A5 pages. That translates into 650 reams (1 ream is 500 sheets) of paper, which if stacked on top of each other would be a stack 32 meters high! This is 2‚925 kilos, or almost three metric tons, not counting the envelopes. When including the envelopes, the weight comes to about 3,300 kilos. To print this amount it took approximately 168 kilos of ink.
139. This has been an exciting year with changes of personnel, three going on to new ministries and one new member joining our team. We have had to switch gears and learn new things, so we know that what has been accomplished is only the Lord.
140. One super victory and blessing is that Mama and Peter came for a short visit after Summit 2001, and we all treasure this as a very special gift—one that we had hoped and prayed for, yet never in our wildest imagination had thought possible. Their visit changed our lives, and we pray that we can do our part in being the sample we saw so clearly in our queen and king. They are everything you read about in the GNs and more.
BRANPC (Brazil NPC)
By Pierre
141. This past year has been a monumental one for us, not only with all the wonderful New Wine the Lord has poured out and the exciting challenges He has given us through it, but also in the many miracles He has done through our small NPC team composed of one FGA and one junior-turned-senior teen. The Lord helped us to print, collate‚ staple, package and send out 49 mailings this past year: 26 CM mailings and 23 FM mailings, or 2.1 mailings per month! This is a total of 1,789,370 A5-size pages for the whole year: 1,108,800 in English and 680,570 pages in Portuguese.
142. Apart from the regular mailings, we also did extra printings for three Activated seminars that were held during the year here in Brazil as well as one National Retreat! We printed enough material for the attendees to be able to read and study the material on their own.
143. On the Home front, we moved to a new location‚ which is no small feat for us, with all the equipment, materials, files, computers, etc., that we use to get the Word out to you. The Lord helped us move and to get set up without incident. Our new setup is more efficient‚ as we were able to remodel our NPC office in order to accommodate our larger production, as well as begin using newer programs. Another big victory this year was that we didn't have any major equipment breakdowns or problems.
NNPC (North America NPC)
By Danny
144. This past year, our team of four has worked on and sent out the following:
425 mailings for the one-year period starting in November 2000.
4 379 different pubs in English (an average of 15 per mailing), or a little more than one pub a day for our Family to read!
4 194 Spanish pubs for Mexico and Central America (an average of eight pubs per mailing or one every two days).
4 The total amount of copies printed and sent came to roughly 376,000 of all these different pubs, approximately 1‚000 copies a day, printed and finished (every day). Some pubs are bigger and some smaller, so it is difficult to grasp what it really means! What a bundle!
46,052‚880 A5 pages printed in total—635 kilometers of GN-size pages printed on both sides if the pages were connected to each other lengthwise!
4Approximately 23,000 packages; 1,500 were CD mailers.
4Each envelope was handled an average of 10 times to complete the process of sending it on its way.
145. All by hand‚ we put the return label, the required rubber stamp for each category of mail, an airmail sticker on some‚ and the address label, which we then also tape over to protect it in case of being stepped on or smudged while on its way to the Homes. The envelope is then sorted by the amounts of pubs it needs to be stuffed with and the appropriate postage is put on each one depending on the class of mail.
146. When the actual stuffing, sealing and taping of the envelopes is done‚ they are checked and separated according to countries. (We send to the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America, all of E. Europe and W. Europe and all of Africa‚ which makes a total of 800 Homes!) Once done, we proceed to rubber band each country's envelopes into required bundles of 4 or 5 packages, which are inserted into big official mailbags and rushed to a special International P.O. that puts the bags on airplanes as soon as the paperwork is processed! I don't know how many times the System workers will handle each package before it's in the hands of the brethren, but as you can see that banana there!
SPALIM NPC
By Jonas
147. Last year broke all previous records. We printed about 15% more pages than last year (1.6 million pages). We sent out 54 mailings to CM Homes and 51 mailings to FM Homes. That comes to 15.5 kilos of paper sent to each CM Home and 14.0 kilos to each FM Home during the year. It also means about 100 kilos of ink used and about 2,800 kilos of paper in total!
Continued in GN 981
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