About Jonathan Parsons

Jonathan thinks and writes about practical aspects of missionary service to help train and equip missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission. Jonathan ministered in East Africa with the International Mission Board. He now serves in the International Ministries office at the headquarters of Word of Life Fellowship coordinating logistical and administrative matters. He and his wife Amy live in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York.

Lost Passport

What would you do if your US passport is lost or stolen?  If overseas, you would contact the nearest US Embassy.  You will often need a police report.  If in the US, your need to report it lost or stolen and then apply for a replacement passport.  You may call 877.487.2778 or 202.501.4444 for assistance.  It is a good practice to carry a copy of your passport (and driver’s license)  with you while traveling.  You could also scan your passport and email a copy to yourself so that you can access it while traveling.

SPOT Satellite Messenger

I came across an interesting product this week in Brigada.  SPOT is a satellite messenger.  This handheld battery operated device can broadcast your location to up to ten people you choose.  Every time you press the ok button, your friends receive an email or text message letting them know that you are ok and giving them your longitude and latitude.  When you press the help button, your friends are sent an email or text alerting them that you need help, along with the GPS coordinates for your location.  If things become worse, pressing the 911 button will alert the SPOT response center who will contact you friends, police, and other rescue services.  SPOT retails for $169 and the service fee is $99/year.  Another $50/year allows your friends to track your movements on Google Maps while another $150/year provides search and rescue assistance.  It doesn’t cover the whole world so check the coverage map – Sub-Saharan Africa is not covered.  The help button differentiates SPOT from traditional personal locator beacons, as it offers a middle option between calling 911 and doing nothing.  In addition, the ok button gives peace of mind to friends and relatives.  This is a very handy device that I would classify as a mix between a “poor man’s satellite phone” and a “poor man’s Codan.”  By that, I mean that if you worked in a rural area and your friend or emergency contact worked in an urban area, you could use the help button to send him a text message and he could contact you via HF radio.  If you use HF radios and can’t afford a satellite phone this may be a good option to let friends know that you’re ok or that you need help.  Visit the SPOT website.

Portable Apps

We know that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is the pen drive mightier that the hard drive?  A USB flash, jump, or pen drive is something that most people own and use to store files.  While these drives are useful for backups and file transfers, they can do much more.  As a solid state drive they are not as fragile as your computer’s hard drive.  One way to get more out of your USB drive is to run applications from it.  Many applications have been created or adapted to run completely from your USB drive.  That means that you can use your programs, bookmarks, and files from any computer.  This empowers you to leave your computer at home and carry your USB drive instead as it is smaller, lighter, more rugged, and less likely to be stolen that your laptop.  Many of the portable apps, as they are called, are free.  There are two main “platforms” or launchers – U3 and PortableApps.  U3 comes on certain USB drives, but is not worth paying extra for since PortableApps is a free equivalent.  You can download many other individual programs.  Here is a list of my favorite portable apps.  You can also install these portable apps in your Dropbox folder instead of your USB drive.

3 Ways to Transfer Money

How do you get your funds from your US bank account to your field account?  Wire transfers, ATMs, exchange houses, and PayPal are some common methods.  You should always have more than one way to move funds from the donor country to the field.  This is important in case one method is no longer available.  Here is a simple chart to help you think through the ways to get funds to the field.  View the PDF worksheet.

RSS

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is an easy way to keep up with your favorite websites without having to look at each page individually.  Certain websites and blogs that display the RSS symbol (on the right) make their content available by syndicating articles.  Many news sites use RSS.  You can copy the RSS feed address and paste it into a RSS reader.  There are many RSS readers available.  Some mail clients, such as Mozilla Thunderbird, also serve as RSS readers.  One of the easiest RSS readers to use is Google Reader, a web-based RSS reader.  The link below is the RSS feed for this website.

 http://missionaryhelp.com/wp-rss.php

Church Planting Movements Booklet

What is a church planting movement?  This 60 page booklet by David Garrison explains that a church planting movement is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment.  He explains this by describing some recent church planting movements (CPMs).  He then describes common elements and obstacles of CPMs, tips for missionaries, and concludes with a glossary.  Download the PDF.  Learn more.