In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of accepting the decisions of leaders and not panicking in times of trouble. They also highlight the need to have prayer partners and to seek clarification from leaders rather than grumbling or complaining. The speaker encourages the audience to have a vision and goals, particularly in the context of missionary work, and emphasizes the sacrifice and hardships that may come with it. The ultimate goal is to reach millions of people with the message of Christ, demonstrating that Christianity works through love and problem-solving.

As this is really in some ways the first time that we've ever sort of officially met together to plan and to pray about this invasion of Asia. And Laura, we ask you to bless any who may be listening to this cassette later on, that the recording may be clear and that they may be blessed. We do, our Father, praise you for that ship that's lying there in Copenhagen. We do praise you for the work that you've done over the years since the vision was first given. And we praise you for those teams that have been out in India year after year, for the Christians that are waiting for us to come, both by land and by sea. And we look to you to guide us, that we may be equipped for that which lies ahead of us. In Jesus name, Amen. Now, these orientation sessions are very, very important. We've had them every year for those going to India, but this year, of course, we're incorporating into it those who are going on the ship. I think we need to realize that whether you're on the ship or whether you're going to India, your destination is the same. It's the hot, in some ways difficult subcontinent of India. And some of these other places, like Indonesia, for example, aren't any better. In fact, when I was in Indonesia recently, I noticed that in many ways it was considerably more backward than India. And so these orientation sessions will be geared really to anyone going to Asia with Operation Mobilization. And for our first session together, I thought it would be good to review the spiritual agreement that all those who go to India are expected to sign. Now those who are on the ship, especially as crew, we do not have such an agreement drawn up for you to sign, though I'm sure that most of these things you would find yourself willing to do as much as is possible. So there are, of course, exceptions. And I hope to make some of them clear in this tape, because there will be a difference between those who are in India and those who will be on the ship. For example, we will take people on the ship who are younger in the Lord and who maybe even are new Christians, who we would not allow to work in India, because the ship will in fact be a Bible school. That's just one example of what I mean. However, before we look at this, let us just remind ourselves of the importance of what we're doing and the fact that Satan is going to be fighting this whole invasion in every possible way. The invasion that you are getting involved in to reach Asia for Christ, you can be sure in the annals of missionary history will someday be written up. And of course, you can be sure that Satan doesn't want that, at least not on a positive note. It may be written up one way or the other. But this is no small thing that a whole ship loaded with young people and equipment and books, plus several vehicles overland, two at least, are going out to reach this country where at least generally right now the drift is the opposite direction. People are coming back. Missionaries are leaving. Work is closing up. So we can realize that from the very beginning, Satan is out to really confuse and to destroy us. I think in one degree, in one way, we have to now sense our uniqueness in this conference, not our importance over anybody else. But it's easy to get swallowed up in the bigness of this conference, 350 people. But this really, from this point on, will be your team. Though some of you, of course, you've not been interviewed yet, you don't know if you're even going. But at least you understand what I'm saying. This will be your team. We want to build a fellowship right here among ourselves. Already the ship has taken terrific initiative and they're meeting together in prayer. I hope you're not neglecting your own private time, meeting so early in the morning. But I do praise the Lord for that in any case. We'll be meeting, of course, here in the afternoon. Not every afternoon but most afternoons we'll have a session. If you miss a session, you should try to find out what happened. If it's a tape, you can get a cassette recorder. Frank will have one especially for India and he'll have the cassette and you can see him and get the message and listen to it. But it is really important that you not miss any of these sessions so that we can really be of one mind and of one heart concerning all that has to be done. So we need to see that we're going into something that's unique and we need to believe God to build a unique fellowship among us to prepare us for that, especially those of us living on that ship. We're going to be living on that ship together. We're going to be living under trying conditions at times and the biggest, you can be sure, fiery dart of the enemy will be at our unity. He will attempt to bring disunity. He will attempt to bring confusion. Of course, traveling out overland in a truck is no easier than going by ship. It's more difficult, apart from the one factor of seasickness, much more difficult. And so you too are going to have to be prepared and ready and willing to press on. Some of the things that you hear in these orientation sessions, you may not see the importance of until it's too late. You may think, well, that's no problem with me, but you haven't known what the situation is going to be. So keep that in mind. Also, it is impossible for us to give stereotype little answers, for instance, about what you're going to do in India. Much will depend on what part of India you're in, who your leader is. And this is something to keep in mind. The same is true of the ship. If you think we have it all down to a science, what we're going to do with the ship, where we're going to go with the ship, you're wrong. Our big burden right now is just to get the ship. Though, of course, we are planning ahead. We have been for years and working on many other details, second major thing being at present the repairs and preparation of the ship to leave. But a lot of other things will not be decided immediately. So those are important things to keep in mind. I think also you need to realize that we face, the two teams here together, the greatest financial battle this work has ever known. India already faces it. And even while we're here, they're out there pushing out millions of pieces of literature that cost thousands of dollars. They're out there keeping 15 to 20 trucks mobile every day. That costs us at least $100 a day minimum fuel just to keep moving. And they have to keep eating. And they have to keep going in many, many, many different ways. So the situation for India financially is critical, very critical. And then add the ship on top of this. And we face, and it's our responsibility as a group to trust the Lord for probably what is equal to more than 60% of the entire budget of OM worldwide, these two fields. Yet we don't have the advantages of other fields. We are 6,000 miles away. Out of sight, you're out of mind. And when we think of the tremendous sums of money that came in in France, we can understand because a lot of that came within France where people can see with their own eyes what's being done. And so they tend to give. Whereas we've had very little giving on the whole of continental Europe for India at all in the past 10 months. Very, very little. We had one gift that came to France that Mike Evans designated part of it for India. But I don't think it was for India. Because who can see India so far away? And this is of course, this puts us in a very difficult situation. The ship is in a little better situation. People somehow can picture this ship. They will soon now that they get our prayer letter. And so, on the natural level, that has a little advantage over India, which means that the ship may at times, in various ways, help India because these two fields are working very much together. At the same time, however, the need for the ship is so great that even though there is some natural inclination to give, it's nothing compared to what is needed, especially since we're not asking for money or not raising money. If we were doing that, of course, getting money for the ship would be very easy. But we're not. Because we want to just see the hand of God. We want to see the hand of God. So move in this thing. When we get out in the most difficult situation, we will know that we're in the center of God's will. And there will be no panicking. There will be no doubt that we've moved in the plan of God. It's not been a project of man raising money from man, but a project from the Lord, seeing the money come in in answer to prayer, which, by the way, we've seen really come in in the last 24 hours. Giving has really begun in the last 24 hours for the ship. And I think we can see this even as a result, to some degree, of yesterday's intercession and the fact that yesterday was the first day that a whole company of OMers began to really pray. This money is not coming in because people found out about this. Most of this money has come in from people who haven't even had the ship letter yet. It's come in because the Spirit of God knows the need and He is working. This 291 pound gift from Switzerland, by the way, two biggest gifts for the ship in the last couple of days, both from Switzerland, represents almost a thousand dollars. So praise the Lord for that. So when we consider this challenge, it reminds us of the meaning of the name Yumanak, mountain. We've got a mountain in front of us, a double mountain, India on one side, the ship on the other. However, I think those of you going to India must have a vision. You must have a vision of why you're going there. God has given us a vision. He's given us a purpose. He's given us goals. You will find it very difficult to carry out the various things that you're supposed to do in the area of discipline, in the area of getting ready, if you don't have any vision of what the ship can do, of what the work in India can do, of what driving a truck can mean, of what sweating in an engine room 24 hours or 8 hours or whatever it may be can mean in terms of men hearing the Gospel. Let's review our thinking. One third of all the people, I mean, sorry, two thirds, two thirds of all the people in the world live in Asia. The only OMers going to Asia are right here, plus Turkey, Iran, and the Arab world. That's also considered part of Asia, the more or less sparsely populated part of Asia, to say the least. We have more Muslims in India than Turkey and Iran and the Arab world. We have combined, probably not now, their population's gone up higher than our Muslim population, but certainly more than the Arab world, apart from Africa and Egypt and Turkey combined. It's incredible. Fifty, now pushing towards sixty million Muslims in India alone. Add to that Pakistan and you have more Muslims than there practically are in the whole Middle East. You could throw in North Africa as well. So this is an enormous challenge. Two thirds of the people of the world live within range, some degree, of where you and I will be, though many of them are locked behind the Iron Curtain. I believe the ship sometime in the future will have a ministry to them as well. So this is a terrific challenge, just in terms of the number of people. At least half of these people have never once had the Gospel. At least half these people have never once had the Gospel. What is the key to reaching these people? It is not firstly OM teams. We'll never get enough teams. We'll never get enough trucks. We're fighting a losing battle if we think that we're going to reach these areas that are our targets through OM teams and OM trucks. It'll never be done. It will be done by a total mobilization. OM teams, the church and every other missionary society. This is not firstly OM's responsibility. Others are already involved in this. But it is our part to play a part. One of the main burdens of Operation 200, which is becoming a real possibility for this year in India, will be to mobilize the church. This has always been our burden, but this year it will be more than ever to mobilize the church. Because though we saw that we could do Operation 100, 10 million pieces of literature, without too much help from the church. We got some. As we think about it, we realize that Operation 200, without strong moving on the part of the church, is totally impossible. Totally impossible. This will mean challenging pastors, Christian leaders, mobilizing churches, and a lot of other things. The ship will play a major role in Operation 200, in getting recruits, training recruits, in mobilizing the church, holding pastors conferences, and training conferences, and then pushing out from that port where we are into everything within 100 miles. In saturation evangelism, in which we'll, with tons and tons of pieces of literature, be able to saturate everything within 100 miles of the ship, using the vehicles, using all existing manpower, and above all else, mobilizing the church. The church will move, if they're given the challenge, if they're set the example, if they're given the training, and if we're patient, they will move. We've seen this. There are not many OM teams that are equipped to do it, because you need men of ability, you need men of gift, you need more than one or two. But the ship, I believe, is going to be able to play a major role in this. So, I say all this, because you must, even as you go through the training, you must see your goals. You must have a vision. The man who gets on that ship without a vision of what can be done, and what we're doing, is a man who's probably not going to last. We're not just getting on a ship for the ship's sake, or to have a ship project, or to be able to say, the Lord answered our prayer, or to be able to demonstrate that God is alive. All that is well and good, but we've got a specific job we're going to do with that ship, and a specific calling, and a specific vision. And that vision, that has been part of my life for six, seven or more years, must become part of your life. Otherwise, the tendency can easily be to get discouraged. Linked to this, we need to have a vision of these individual Indian nationals, and the terrific amount of encouragement we can be to them, the training we can help them get, the facilities we can put at their disposal, whether it's a truck, or a ship, whether it's a tape, or a video film, whatever it may be, to help them become more effective, more trained, or better trained, so that if the day comes when we have to pull out, they will be ready to stick. There's a great danger that the ship will be a gospel blimp. You know the article written in Crusade against us. I can see how easily, through reading just the one letter that this David Winter had, he could get the idea that maybe this was going to be a blimp. It easily could become a blimp. If our main goal is the ship, the engine, the paint, the image, the success, it will be a blimp. Biggest blimp that's ever been launched, a floating one. But if we see beyond that, to people, individual Asians who will come on that ship, it will never become a blimp. This is why David Winter wrote his second article, because after spending time with him, he realized our burden was not a ship, it was people. And he realized that we were far more people conscious than many other movements he's been in contact with. And so it's very, very important to keep this in mind. The other aspects of the work in India also can be a blimp. We can see the trucks, the number of pieces of literature, the number of villages, the machinery, the millions of tracks, all of this, and miss the individual Indian who needs Jesus, who needs reality, who needs love, who needs to see Christ demonstrated. Basically in India, most people have heard something of Christ. They haven't heard the Gospel, but they've heard something of Christ, just like you've heard something of Buddha. Their knowledge of Christ would probably be greater than most of you have any knowledge of Buddha, or of Krishna, or of Ram, other popular figures you'll get to know as time goes on. And so it isn't a matter of just hearing the name of Jesus. It's a matter of hearing the Gospel. More than that, it's a matter of seeing real Christians. And of course, we realize that life aboard that ship must be a practical demonstration of Christianity. That is what is going to speak to people when they come on that ship. Government officers, people to the book exhibit, and they're going to discover people of all nationalities. They're going to see a Norwegian captain, and a Dutch second officer, and a converted Muslim third officer, and a Brazilian as a staff officer, and most Indians have never seen a Brazilian, so that'll be quite unique. But this is going to just throw questions in their mind. How can this be? And of course, we know the answer. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And this is going to be a tremendous demonstration that Christianity does work. Not because it's going to be the perfect environment, but because it's going to be a real environment in which problems are solved, in which love is made the goal. So we see terrific goals, a terrific vision of reaching millions. We're not talking about reaching thousands. Do you realize that most groups involved in mission work only have the privilege, and it is a privilege, of talking about reaching thousands? A few have the privilege of thinking about reaching hundreds of thousands. Some, perhaps just a few movements in the world, apart from radio, of course, which is difficult to know what you're doing, have the privilege of reaching millions. But this ship, and this combined land and sea force, is going to be reaching tens of millions. And that should excite us, because that means one individual multiplied by ten million. And if that one individual is significant and important as a creature of God, how much more important is ten million? When you begin to see this, the sacrifices you will have to make, the hardships you will have to suffer, the food you may have to eat that you may not always like, the people you may have to live with who you may not fully understand, all of this becomes minor, because you've got a goal. Ten million, twenty million, thirty million, a hundred million Asians to be presented with the claims of Christ. How many will come to know Christ? I do not know. Maybe not many. I hope many. But just the privilege of being in God's stream to see this task done, to me, is very, very exciting. Very, very exciting. You realize that there are very few men in my so-called position who live outside of their own home country. My natural place would be, as director of this work, or coordinator of it, to be living in the United States, where so-called work began. The second place would be to be living in Europe. The last place, some would say, would be to be living on a ship in some obscure Indian port, or even important Indian port. But I believe God has honored the fact that I desire to live on the front lines, or as near to the front lines as I can get. I praise Him that He is supplying staff and personnel to enable me to carry on the direction of the work from wherever I am, whether it's the back of a Volkswagen, or the bow of a ship, or wherever it may be. And so, it is a great privilege for me to be able to be with this project. And one of the things that keeps me going, despite many, many other needs in the work, and I've turned down a lot of opportunities. Oswald Smith will fly me all the way from Asia to Canada, pay round fare just to speak at his convention. I told him, I'm sorry, I've got too big a project. And this year I've canceled Mexico. Jonathan is going to go back, because I don't have any intentions of being away from this ship in its early days, except for short visits, perhaps to Kathmandu and other places. But this is because I see the terrific scope. In some ways, the scope of this ship and the combined force on land, which are intricately related, and where we must never allow division, we will have different ways of working. This ship, for those of you who have been out on a team, living it rough, when you come into a port and on our ship, it will be more comfortable. But that will be our ministry, to give you a break, to give you maybe a little bit of better food, maybe an air-conditioned lounge, I don't know. But you must see that that's not working against what you're doing on land, but rather is to train you, to build you up physically, spiritually, and to get you back, so that you'll be back as one of those who sticks. For no one can stick this continual land, living in a truck, month by month, living. Very few. You need a break. You need physical break, spiritual break, mental break. The ship will provide this. The devil will try to bring disunity. Believe me, he tried it even with Kathmandu. Some people felt Kathmandu gave some the wrong vision. If they become little Westerners, whose next desire will be to go live in the USA, we will be defeating our purpose. It will be our burden to see this ship be a substitute for trips to the USA and to Europe. That these Indians will get the kind of training they could get in the West, but Eastern, so that ultimately their desire will be to get back as quick as possible to their own country, to their own people. There will always be some who will get the itch for the West and who will go West no matter how much we try to stop them. And I'm sure there are some who may go on the plan of God. But basically, it is we who must adapt to them, not they who must adapt to us. Now, I'll be very honest, that when it comes to the crew, I would probably be the most tolerable. We realize these are specialist men who have left very good jobs and who are faced with a specialist task on the ship. And I'm sure most Indians are going to be understanding. Though, of course, my burden for the crew, like everyone, is to see them growing and maturing in all these things as much as possible. But when it comes to anyone else whose job is not the engine room or the pilot's wheel, there must be just unlimited adaptation to India, to the East, to the food, to their way of thinking, their way of living, their way of loving, and everything else. And if you're not ready for that, then you're not ready for the India program, and you're not really ready for the ship. I think we can understand a man who's got to put eight hours a day in the engine room, not finding enough time to get all the orientation and to become an Indian. If he becomes too Indian, the engine may not work so well, because India isn't known for its mechanic ability. But they have produced some, praise the Lord. They have the potential, if there's patient men to teach them. But for the rest of us, that includes me, we're going to have to go just 100 percent in adapting, in learning, and above all else, in esteeming these brothers better than ourself. Let's believe from the beginning that this ship is their ship as much as our ship. My burden is to see it with an Eastern name or a neutral name. We're not going to certainly call it the London or the New Yorker. And I just hope that we will realize when they come aboard, though we'll have already been there, we want to make them feel at home. We want to make them feel that this is their ship. And this, of course, is going to take love and flexibility on our part. All the things you hear in the coming days, or a lot of them, if understood in the right context, are going to help you be happier in India. It is not as hard to adapt to another culture as you think, if you've got the right attitude. Attitude is half the battle. In the long run, you're never going to adapt 100 percent. The mature Indian is going to understand this. He doesn't expect you to become a little Indian or a big Indian. He doesn't expect you to give up your love for your food. In fact, many Indians get to like Western food. We'll probably have a mixed diet on the ship of one meal Western and one Indian or Asian, which we've done in India and other places. It's worked quite well. We had more or less some of an Indian food for lunch. Somebody put curry on mine. I don't know about yours. It was quite good. So they're not expecting that of us. Also, there will be problems no matter how hard we adapt, no matter how humble we are, there will be problems. If you want a problem-less project, get out of this setup, because there's going to be problems. It's bound to be. But problems are blessings in disguise. My best friends have been problems. My whole life is one series of problems. Most people come to me during a conference because they've got a problem. They don't have a problem. They don't see me. They just carry on their way. There are a few exceptions to that. People, of course, who are just trying to decide where to go. Of course, that's supposedly a problem, too, a rather thorny one sometimes. So let's turn to this little spiritual agreement and see what it says. You can write in your own amendments before you sign this. That's right. You say, boy, there's a lot more liberty here than I thought. But we want you to sign it. There's something that you can't understand. You write in your amendment and sign it, and we'll let you know whether we feel your amendment is acceptable. The first point is to remain on the India team. You can put this as the Asia team, really, for a period of not less than two years, beginning in September. This most likely means in India, but also could mean a bordering country or the ship. It's a new addition. You can all write that amendment to the Constitution in there. Now this gives a greater facility for those of you who go on India. It means that everyone going to India has the opportunity of a double program, the ship and India. Believe me, we've had that in mind in the planning. We are hoping that most people, after putting their two years in India, will pray about their third year, if not in India, perhaps on the ship. Anyway, there it is. We want as many as possible on the ship to commit themselves for two years, though we're more flexible there. But for India, we want everybody, as everyone else has done over the past years, to commit themselves for two years, unless they feel they have a very special, special reason which they can talk to me about. Why do we have this? Because it takes time to learn to be effective in India. Because it's a long way out and a long way back. And because it is frustrating to all of our Indian nationals to see people come and go so quickly. Two years is hard enough when we're trying to challenge them to stick on for life. And so we've got that two-year commitment. Two, to fulfill the study program requirements, this includes reporting one's progress monthly. Now it's not easy to carry out the study program in India. I feel I've done well in the light of the circumstances. There are special lessons. I'm going to ask Frank, actually, if he can go to my truck and bring those correspondence courses that are under the desk. I'm going to be showing you, after this tape, this correspondence course which some of you may want to begin to study. It's a basic Bible leadership course for Indians. But most of us in the West need this same course. You can have it all graded very inexpensively at the school in Landauer in Missouri. And this will be an ideal study program for between now and when you get to India. And when you're out there, it'll take some time. You even get credit for this if you plot on. There's many, many courses. This is the first one. But I think it will help some of you get in the India Bible study groove to get into this course. And you can do that. So there is a study program. The ship, of course, will have fantastic facilities to study. And if you think we're just talking, believe me, you don't know how much we've prayed over this these past years. I have never been able to put into practice what's on my heart in regard to facilities to study. On the ship, most people will have either a private room or will be sharing the room with one or two other people at the most. That means there'll be a place for you to privately study and pray. And though for married couples, these rooms are a little bit small, for single people on OM, it's a miracle. Because single people in OM just don't get rooms generally. And so to have one other person with you in a room, even though it's small, is going to be an increase in facilities for everyone except married couples who have rooms no matter where they are. So that is something that's going to help study. Of course, in some cases, that room is going to be a little hot depending on ventilation and air conditioning. But there'll be other specific rooms, perhaps one air condition, we hope so, where you'll be able to study in the cool, which will be a great change for those who have been sweating it out in India for months before, and years in some cases. So the study program, I believe, through the ship and related projects is going to become more important. Three, to engage in five to eight hours distribution each day, except when definitely assigned by leaders to do otherwise. Up to 25% of this might be track distribution, which I will be expected to do with all diligence. Now, I put this in so that you realize what you are going to be doing. You are going to be working. You are going to be evangelizing. Most of you here are going to India, not the ship. And you'll be out in evangelism. Of course, in the ship there will be also intensive evangelism, especially in the ports. But when we're at sea, we're not going to be able to have five and eight hours of distribution, naturally. So you can understand that point. But I think you realize that OM in India is a mobile invading force, and you must be ready for that. The exceptions will be secretaries, mechanics, and people in other specific callings, which we prefer people not to get in until their second year, though sometimes it is necessary. Something we can add into this is that all girls, unless they let me know otherwise, must be ready to serve part of their time in the office. This is the most important phase of the girls ministry in India, simply because though evangelism is just as important, OM in India can exist without girls evangelism. We don't want to, but we can. But OM India cannot exist without girls in the office, to carry the load and to keep the men and everybody else free to engage in evangelism. Four, to submit to all leadership as unto the Lord, whether the leader be Indian or foreign. This, of course, includes a strong adhering to the principles found in the discipleship manual. You will have to submit to Indian leadership. The day that Thomas Samuel steps on this ship, I think we need to realize that his responsibilities and his place of authority, even in that project, is very big. Though officially he may not be linked with the ship project, the very fact that he is the coordinator of the work in India would cause us to esteem him very highly for his work's sake, as it talks about in Thessalonians. There can be no room in any of this work to look down our nose at any time at an Indian or an Indonesian or an Asian, no matter how poorly educated he may be. Thomas Samuel, by the way, is very well educated. Just got his degree from the University of Kathmandu and got very high in his exams. But many other Indians are not so well educated. It doesn't matter. We must esteem him. You will probably, and this is a very important thing, one of the most important things I can say in this orientation, you will be working under leaders who probably in some cases will not be as clever as you, will not be as educated as you, will not even know perhaps as much about some of O.M.'s principles as you. He may not have read anything of Tozer, since there's nothing of Tozer in Hindi, or some of the other things. Needless to say, he still will be the leader. I would say, men, this is the biggest area where Westerners have proved weak. They tend to domineer. They tend to be opinionated. You know that word? You've got an opinion on everything. The Indian brother may not be able to give you a sound opinion about hijacking to Jordan, or about the weather in London, or about the Beatles, or about a lot of these things that we talk about a lot in the West. And the temptation will be for you to dominate the team, because you may be more clever, more verbal. You're certainly more unusual, being a Westerner. And this is where there needs to be a terrific amount of humility, brokenness, and esteeming them better than yourself. When these Indian brothers come on the ship, remember it'll be the first time in their life most of them have ever been out of their own country, just to get on the ship. It'll be a very big thing for them. And our attitude toward them will be very, very important. Our attitude toward Indian leadership is one of the most important aspects of the work. There must be loyalty to these Indian brothers, whether we understand them or not. There will be times when you will not understand a decision. That should not cause your loyalty to diminish. There will be times when you don't agree. There will be times when perhaps you did have a better idea that maybe the Indian brother did not want to incorporate. But this must never hinder your loyalty, your love, and your esteeming of him. And you'll be hearing that in orientation sessions between now and the day you get there, because this is where the greatest amount of heartbreak has been. Of course, that doesn't mean you don't submit to Western leaders. We still have a lot of Western leadership in India. This work has grown so big, so fast, there's no pretending we've been able to dump it all over Indians. They don't want it, yet, anyway. We're working hard. We've worked faster than most groups that have ever been to India, in Indianization. But there are still many key Westerners, and you will be working under them as well. The devil will be constantly trying to divide the East and the West. We can have no part of it. We are neither East nor West. We are one in Jesus Christ. Five. To believe God and to practice maximum love to all Indians. To be ready and willing to submit to them. To be their servant. Esteeming them better than myself. To love their country and their culture. Seeking and speaking of that which is good, rather than that which is bad. In any country you can find plenty of negative things, including good old Britain. Everywhere there's negative things. But it's no help to the work of God for you to go to India and expose their weaknesses, whether it's in government or in sanitation or what. That only increases their potential inferiority feelings, and it only widens the gap. So that little section there is very, very important. It's really what we talked about, at least Brother Dale, last night. Six. To pray in all finances for the trip over and back. Some of you will be coming back by plane. That means about 70 pounds, if you want to know the figure. If you come back overland, you can hardly do it for 25 pounds. That's the amount we put as a minimum, but you can't make the journey for that. Minimum if I truck 25 pounds, as well as expenses while in the land, 15 pounds or 50 dollars, which cover all, including postage stamps, any other unnoticed items, and the cost of living has greatly increased in India. So that truly is a minimum. Normal support would be double that. Everyone going to India, within the next week or two, I want to see a copy of your prayer letter. I want it duplicated. I don't care how you do it. If you have to go down to Gestetner, you can't do it here. But there's Gestetner around. I'll give you the cash. You bring the requisition slip. But I want your prayer letter to go out. I want you to get prayer partners. Every one of you should have at least, within the next few weeks, 100 people on your list. I used to accept these lists of 20 or 30. No more. It doesn't work. You get 20 or 30, and you usually get a few who are praying and a few who are giving. And every one of you, this is a big task. We need lots of prayer support, not just one or two. I think of how the devil shot down the Turkey prayer boards. We had two of them seven years ago that I helped organize. Both of them out of commission. Don't exist anymore. The devil will attack. If you've got a small force, the devil wins. You've got nothing left. If you've got a big force, the devil wins a few victories. You still have some left. In your prayer letter, you should let people definitely know that you want them to write you. Make it as clear as you possibly can, and know if they want to receive regular letters. There's three letters that you can offer. Four letters that you can offer any praying friend. The most important is your own letter. The second is the OM general letter. That will give them news of all OM, including the ship and India. Third is the India letter, mainly for people who are more, you know, generally concerned than the ordinary person. That is posted from Bombay. Fourthly, the ship letter. The ship letter. The crusade for reaching India for this team begins today. Began before, but will set today. You don't start working when you land in Bombay. Many of our most important victories will be won now in getting prayer partners, in getting them into an understanding of the work. We want people to know what you're doing. If I were one of your prayer partners, and I didn't know what you were doing, you can be sure I wouldn't send you any money. I may send you a pound or two to encourage your heart, but I wouldn't invest anything. We have too many people who send a pound or two to encourage the OMers heart, but who are not convinced enough about the work to invest. Do you understand the difference? They invest somewhere else, generally in their own little project or their bank account, out of miserable seven percent or whatever it may be. And so, let's begin moving. Let's begin getting this Indian material flowing out. We'll reprint. There are thousands of copies of the main challenge concerning India. Brother Frank can find those. I know they're around. So, keep that in mind. I have to lower my voice a little bit. I hope you can hear me because France is getting oriented for India. They'll all come over here soon and join the India team. So, there it is, the fact about finances. Number seven, adapt to Indian culture as decided by local leaders, which include wearing Indian dress. This is within India. We do allow Western dress in certain big cities, especially when they want to go to Western-type churches, where you look almost out of place in Indian dress. But basically, this policy holds for the rest of the country. The ship, we have not yet decided. You can be sure, whatever we decide on, it will be conservative. We cannot have Indian young men coming on the ship and going up the stairs when a woman is coming down the stairs and see things they have never seen in their life. Though, my, the way things are going in India now, it's changed a lot. But you cannot imagine how conservative India is in this area, especially village people, town people. Most of our recruits come from towns and villages, not cities, where the Indian city dweller is a distinct culture in India, and a very difficult one, to say the least. And so, we do have this India dress. For boys, it's a lot more flexible. That's why Charlie for boys in India is very easy. Charlie for girls is almost an impossibility. There's been some discussion of allowing maxi dress on the ship. There's been even some discussion of allowing trousers. I doubt if that would ever get through, except perhaps for certain work details. Anyway, that will be a problem for the ship people to work out as we pray through and discuss. But those of you going to India, and people when they get off the ship to go into India, of course, will have to keep these things in mind. Eating Indian food. In headquarters situation, we can control the diet, so you get more of some Western food. But when you go out to reach villages, and you're traveling in a truck, you're eating often in Indian restaurants, and they're not the first class air-conditioned joints. They're the third class fly-ridden, disease-infested holes in the wall that some missionaries think we're insane to go into. But they're the basic place that most of our Indian brothers have eaten in all their life. And we eat with them as well. We don't always go to the dirtiest one. We try to find one somewhere reasonable, but it's not easy in villages. Some villages in Rajasthan are fortunate to find food. Fortunate to find food. And so this means identification. You're not going to be able to carry a steak around in your back pocket. And so you need to be ready for a rather unique diet, though it isn't as bad as people think. And it can be supplemented by fruit, and by ground nuts and other things that we somehow are able to locate along the way. See, sleeping anywhere at any time without a grumble. Boy, that's India 100 times over. Anywhere at any time without a grumble. This is especially true of boys out on the teams. You end up sleeping for the first time in railway station platforms, and you're considered a luxury compared to some of the other choices that you may have. Girls, of course, are taken better care of. We don't sleep our girls on railway station platforms. We may not have any left if we did. You generally stay with local churches, but you may be crowded, and you'd wish you were out on an open platform with a little air coming through. So there has to be a lot of flexibility in that area. Worshipping their way, which often includes shoes off, heads covered. And, of course, which also involves at times rather long meetings. Rather long meetings. So that takes patience. Patience is a key word for India. Endless queues. You can wait two hours in a queue to buy a railway ticket. Only to discover that when you get on the train, there's no seat anyway. So it takes a lot of patience. Also, those on the ship. Better not be the in-the-hurry variety of people. I am, but I know that this ship is going to change my temperament to some degree. And that's alright, because I've got plenty of people on the ship to work with. If I was on a ship alone, without my correspondents, I'd be in a hurry. As long as I've got 120 people to fellowship with, to teach, to live with, to prepare for the next invasion, I won't be in so much of a hurry. When something breaks in the middle of the sea, we end up a few days while our ingenious engineers repair her. E. Any other item that my leader believes is important. We have to be flexible. Different leaders have different ideas. Now our tape is coming to the end, and so we'll just quickly go on. To keep the Indian social principles, which means separation in every way of the sexes. This breaks down somewhat in offices. Don't think that boys and girls never have any contact. In offices, it will be necessary. On the ship, it will be necessary. And so there'll be adaptation. Certainly the basic policy, especially once you're out of the city, out of the office, has to be very much segregation. You'll hear more about that later on. To walk in the light with my brethren, especially my leaders, including anything about myself that needs to be known, even before I go. That's very important. You may feel weak in certain areas. You may feel that things aren't going to go so well, or you have a special problem. You need special food, or this or that. All right, walk in the light. Make sure you've been 100% truthful on your health questionnaire. We want to know about you. We're very open, very flexible, but we like to know the facts. We like to know the truth. Ten, to accept the decision of the leadership as final in the time of crisis, rather than that of any embassy. We don't all want to flee India simply because the embassy says we should go. Embassies are very premature at times in telling everybody to get out. However, you can be sure that if you are panicking and you insist on leaving your country, we will let you go. We only put this in here because we want you to at least think about it ahead of time. Crisis may come. We prefer that you would accept our decision as leaders, rather than immediately panic if your embassy says evacuate, because we've seen trouble in this before. And 11, to raise up prayer partners who will uphold this work. We've already mentioned this. And 12, to ask questions of my leader whenever there is something I do not understand or agree with, but never to grumble, to gossip, or complain, and when you do, to repent and make the slate clean. Well, as we come to the end of this tape and this hour, I trust you realize that this is only the beginning. There will be many clarifications, and there will be adaptations, even to what we have said here, but this gives you at least a basic foundation for you to build on. Pray over this paper. Make what you feel are necessary marks on the back or alongside. Sign it and return it to me as soon as possible. And then believe the Lord to enable you to fulfill that which you've agreed before Him. We're always open to the leading of the Spirit. This doesn't change the leading of the Spirit. He may lead you somewhere else after some time, but basically we want Him to lead you now. We want this to be a commitment now under the leading of the Spirit to do this. Let's pray. Father, only You can help us fulfill these commitments and keep this agreement. And we look to You and believe that You are going to do that. For Your glory and Your praise, in Jesus' wonderful name, Amen.