Tan Bunkun
This past Saturday was an important milestone in our progress towards registering a foundation in Thailand. We had our first board meeting and then signed a contract to rent a building that will serve as an office (and later on, a teaching center). We're happy to have two Thai friends who are willing to serve on our foundation's board. Ju (second from left below) is Candice's long-time language tutor and someone who has already been an important cultural adviser for our team. Pat recently received her doctorate in law from an Indiana university and has returned to Bangkok to work for the government. She will bring some much-needed expertise to this venture! Also pictured (on the right) is Joe, the lawyer who is walking us through the registration process.
We're registering the foundation under the name "Tan Bunkun" (pronounced "boon-koon"). It's a Thai concept that's a little difficult to adequately translate but it has the idea of paying back a kindness that's been received. We hope that the name will lead to many interesting discussions in the future. The mission statment that we are working from is: "The purpose of the Tan Bunkun Foundation is to facilitate Thai and North American interchange, to see the message of Christ positively influence the business environment in Thailand." This is a broad goal and we will be looking for more people to help us work towards this it.
Here's the building that will house our office. We are renting one of the three-story units. It's within walking distance of our house on a street that is just being developed.
Thanks to those of you who have been praying for this process - and please don't stop now! We still have a lot of work to do with setting up bank accounts and getting some other documents in order before we can submit our paperwork to the local government.
-Tom