Dear Friends

It has been a month of Sundays since I communicated with you. But my silence was not without a reason. Now I have good news all around.

The first piece of good news is that I am back in the harness. I suddenly became sick but I got better! I fell ill in early February and stayed that way for 3 months checking into a hospital in Northeastern Thailand. Now I am back to my old self and biting down on the 2013-14 teaching season that is well under way here. I thank God and the Union Seminary students of Wenzhou, China who got wind of my plight and carried me with their prayers. Spiritually they were and are terrible as an army with banners. They dubbed me the Paul of Wenzhou and with zeal adopted me.

The second piece of good news is that I have been invited back to China. And today my visa came through. On the 17^th of August I depart for Shanghai and from there I will travel to other cities where I will teach courses at four seminaries over a six week period lecturing 8 hours a day.  When I finish in China I take a short break and then go to Cambodia, then Thailand and Myanmar [Lord willing]. The number of schools that exist on a wing and a prayer all over Asia exceeds any one’s expectations and the need for teachers far exceeds their availability.

The third piece of good news is that I started and finished a little book on 2 Corinthians 5:7 “we walk by faith and not by sight”. Finishing something is a big deal for me. I remember doing a memorial service for a man whose son asked for a few minutes to eulogize his father. Of course I obliged but when he ended every one but the son was depressed all the more. He launched into a 25-minute litany of all the things his father started but never finished never mentioning one virtue or accomplishment. I could not help but imagining myself lying in the box and the list of my unfinished projects being shamefully rehearsed to those gathered.

Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary has agreed to put it to press in a few weeks in September. It is entitled “Existence and Faith: The Doing and Undoing of Religion in America”. In the book my thesis is worked out within many familiar passages and challenges of real life and then extended to intersect American religion and culture. It is over 200 very readable pages full of stories but not lacking in theological insight and weight. The proceeds will go to underwrite my Asian educational mission work. You will be the first to receive word about this work when it’s off the press and there is an offer here in this letter for receiving it.

There is yet one more piece of good news. Just this week I entered into an agreement with an IT specialist who will update my blog and do my posting every two weeks. This means the end of promises not kept! Last year the spirit was willing but the flesh weak. I made a great start thanks to several persons but posting on the road was difficult and my posting skills are worse than bad despite expert tutoring. But now, by the time this letter reaches you existenceandfaith.wordpress.com will have come back to life again! My new editor/poster I will let introduce herself in an upcoming posting. Suffice it to say you may now commence to look for inspiring updates every 2 weeks minimum.

I am confident that the blog’s new energy will immediately come alive with your first read. I already have fresh stories to share. For instance on July 18, just a few weeks ago, for 9 days I went in and taught at the Mae La Refugee Camp in KKBBSC [a college established by a native Karen, Dr Simon, a Baptist preacher and educator, for his people who fled to the camp from the military who attempted to destroy the Karen State in Myanmar].

The log opens with the story of my new friend Nai who is the oldest and happiest student at KKBBSC recently released from 18 years 9 months in Asian jails. His story is amazing and so rich in experience but equally moving are the quotes you will read from my 19 to 20 year old Junior ethics students’ homework. Entrenched, ostensibly so, deep in the valley of the shadow in the refugee camp, these students paper’s express faith and hope with a genuine and earthly simplicity rarely encountered in the West. What does the book of James tell us, something to the effect that those poorest in this world are potentially the richest in faith.

If my teaching mission resonates with you then please support it if you are able. Raising the funds I need to underwrite my teaching work is not my strong suit. Your help last year made the difference. All the schools I am serving again this year exist on very humble means. Because of the turn of events this spring I am behind the eight ball but now I am going forward and booking a full slate of teaching commitments for the academic year in Thailand, China, Burma, and Cambodia.  My address is what it was before with one slight change. Daniel Age C/O Aprile Age 154 Grand Street, suite  6- 8, New York, New York 10013.

God Bless You. Stay in touch, as you are able and please keep me in your prayers. I have not missed thinking and praying for you who have carried me in this endeavor.

Together With you In Friendship, Fellowship and Service

Daniel Age

[Written from Chiang Mai, Thailand]