HomeARC ML 0808
LOCAL LANGUAGE IRF MAIL MINISTRY FOR KQSs & TCCs--The LLIMM! DO808 24 June 1979
1. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS ARE MINISTERING ALMOST ENTIRELY TO NORTH AMERICA & NORTHERN EUROPE, where a high proportion of the population speak & read English. On the other hand, the number of IRFs in places like Iberia, Latin America & so on, is extremely low, because they do not read English, much less speak it.
2. THEREFORE, THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED IN JOINING THE IRFs even though it is simpler, easier & cheaper, because they can't read the English. So I suggest that any local area such as France, for example, which has the burden, is enterprising enough, interested enough & ingenious enough to build up their own mail ministry, their own IRFs, who are industrious enough to translate & print the new Letters & Family News & other lit on their own, in the local language, should get the benefit.
3. IF THEY MAIL IT ALL OUT, receive all the answers in correspondence & minister to them & care for them, they deserve it, whatever they get out of it!--
4. I THINK THEY SHOULD SIMPLY SEND US THEIR REGULAR 10%, that's all. I don't consider that this is chiselling into our ministry, I don't consider that they are robbing us in any way, because they have been faithfully building up their own mailing list, translating, printing & mailing to them & handling their correspondence & ministering to them.
5. I DON'T CONSIDER THAT THIS IS ROBBING US AT ALL. I think they are performing a marvellous ministry, & something that I love to see them do. I wish some of these other language areas could get the burden such as Dave & Iberia who is the lowest, almost in the world, on IRFs. They must not have more than about 3 IRFs there in the whole Iberian Pennisula!
6. IT'S BECAUSE, I'M SURE, THEY ARE NOT MINISTERING TO THEM! (Thanks Dave--You've had the burden!--We just received your letter about it!) You are not offering them the IRF proposition, & you are not handling it. It's work. Now you do translate, & you do reprint in Spanish. You've got the biggest opportunity.--Just add FNs & other materiall!
7. YOU'RE HALF WAY THERE ALREADY, because you are already translating & already reprinting. All you have to do is get busy & start handling the mail. Advertise the IRF proposition, the IRF offer.
8. ADVERTISE THE IRF OFFER & then start handling your mail ministry & faithfully mail to the IRFs that you manage to glean there.--People outside the Family or backsliders or friends or whatever, & offer them the IRF offer. I think we should, by all means.
9. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS WAKE UP TO THE POTENTIAL OF A MAIL MINISTRY in your area, & reprint the Family News--that is one of our biggest items! Translate & print the Family News. You're missing the boat by just sticking to the Letters, because the Family News & Davidito Letters & that sort of thing are going to be some of the most important stuff that we print!
10. PEOPLE WOULD BE MORE INTERESTED IN GETTING THOSE THAN ALMOST ANYTHING. Just getting the Letters & the Komix aren't enough; they want to hear the Family News, but only a few of them can read it.
11. YOU NEED TO GET BUSY & TRANSLATE A CONDENSED COPY OF THE FAMILY NEWS to go out every week, or at least every two weeks, & make the IRF offer in the Spanish Family News, & I bet you would get a flood of mail & then you'd have to get set up to handle it, because
12. I WOULD EXPECT IT WOULD PROBABLY GROW TO BE THE LARGEST MAIL MINISTRY next to English, as Spanish is spoken in more countries by more people than any other language, except of course English & Chinese. France has got a headstart on you, but I would say it ought to be at least equal if not more than that of France, your mail ministry, &
13. YOU'RE MISSING THE BOAT BY NOT GOING TO WORK ON TRANSLATING THE FAMILY NEWS & Childcare Letters & other publications & making IRF offers to the Spanish speakers who read Spanish only. I believe that you areas who are industrious enough & faithful enough & hardworking enough to go to work & translate & print & mail in you own language certainly deserve to reap the fruits of it as well as financial fruits & benefits, & the only thing you have to send us is your 10%
14. (MARIA: BUT, WILL THAT MEAN THAT THE TCC WILL BE WORKING RIGHT WITH THE MAIL MINISTRY?) Oh!--I think that absolutely would have to be, that's practically the only kind of central offices we have now; the TCC & the mail ministry would virtually be one & the same.
15. (MARIA: THE INCOME THAT THE MAIL MINISTRY BRINGS IN WOULD THEN BE SHARED WITH THE TCC.) Of course! What do the TCCs live on?--We used to give them our 10% & the local KQS, or whatever it was, was supposed to give them their 10% & so on. They've had a struggle. I think if they go to the mail ministry, they would have no problem.
16. IF YOU'D COMBINE THE TCCs WITH THE MAIL MINISTRY then you'd really be rollin! The TCCs are allowed to charge the Homes not more than 4% of their total income for their translations. If the Homes, of course, are not contributing, the TCCs can't very well be furnishing the translations. I think if the TCCs would go into a full-time mail ministry, an office operation, not only translate but also print & mail the various publications, with an IRF offer,
17. THEY COULD MORE THAN SUPPORT THEMSELVES! (Maria: Well, this is in fact what they were doing before, right?) No, they were just furnishing the fulltime Homes on the old-fashioned basis, with no idea of IRFs.
18. NOW THEY CAN MAIL OUT TO ANYBODY & EVERYBODY. They were mostly existing before on orders for lit, volume orders, big orders, lit for litnessing. Now, they could exist on this IRF basis, by making the same offer, as well as offer a very needed ministry.
19. OUR IDEA FOR THE KQS' SUPPORT was that they, after the NRS, would work very closely with the TCCs & have almost the same office, combined office &/or quarters, & get part of their support through them & help to support each other, which, I'm sure, they could do if these language areas would go into a real mail ministry.
20. IT HAS REAPED RESULTS, & it is now a very big help in our income. It has really helped to offset the recent decline in our income which would have been much worse without it.--And it's a very needed ministry.
21. THERE ARE SO MANY WHO WANT THE WORD: Backsliders, Homegoers, furloughers, friends & all the little folks who'd had to drop-in & who are no longer fulltime missionaries but still want to get the Letters & the literature. So, I think that any of you language areas that are neglecting a mail ministry are missing the boat, & maybe
22. FRANCE CAN BE A SHINING EXAMPLE TO YOU of what can be done. If you're not reprinting the Family News, those people aren't getting the Ads & therefore they're not joining the IRFs. That's why our IRFs are so low in Iberia & Latin America, about 3 in Iberia & a dozen in Latin America!
23. THAT'S WHERE YOU WOULD BENEFIT if you would go to the trouble of translating & reprinting the Family News, which I think is vital & essential & almost as important as the Letters now, in the language of the land, because it's communication, it's sharing. It's news of the Family. It's going to be more & more important.
24. I THINK IT'S ALMOST THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATION WE HAVE, frankly, especially after I'm gone & there are no more current Letters anymore, the Family News I expect to be the most important publication!
25. I THINK THAT IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU START TRANSLATING & reprinting the Family News! I think you're really missing the boat in not sharing news of the world with your particular language area, except the few who speak English. It's really sad!
26. (MARIA: THE MAIL MINISTRY COULD HELP SUPPORT A BIGGER TRANSLATION DEPARTMENT, too, which they can't afford now, & that's why they don't have more translated.) Of course, you could afford the whole works if you'd be faithful & translate, reprint & start a good mail ministry.--You have to!
27. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE FAITHFUL TO THE LORD & the "Birthday Warning" & God's promises for proclaiming the Word, the Lord is going to be faithful to you & more than support you, so you are just going to have to get busy & get on the ball & do it!
28. YOU'VE BEEN DRAGGING YOUR FEET about it because it was an extra job & you could hardly afford to do what you were doing. You're not selling much lit anymore to the kids, so I think you are going to have to get busy & establish a mail ministry.
29. EVERY TCC OUGHT TO ESTABLISH A MAIL MINISTRY & have its share of the IRFs in their own language, & they would have a tremendous, wonderful ministry that is much needed, as well as have a terrific new source of income which could support them.
30. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, DAVID, IS TO PUT OUT AN FN IN SPANISH, start off with the FN, if nothing else, if you can't afford anything else, & send it out to all your Homes with a Spanish ad for IRFs, & tell them to send their names & addresses & contacts & converts & everything else & go to work on trying to build up a mailing list.
31. IT'S GOING TO COST YOU MONEY TO BEGIN WITH, just like it did us, although I was amazed! Even our first mailing more than paid for itself, even though we only got back responses one out of ten, it more than paid for itself! So what you need to do is start off with the minimum, Family News, which I think is the next most important thing to the Letters.
32. PUT AN AD IN IT, MAKING THE IRF OFFER, & giving your public mailing address, & start on an IRF ministry as quick as you can in Spanish, & think it would more than pay for itself & maybe even help support you even better.
33. WHAT'S TRUE IN SPANISH IS TRUE OF ANY OTHER LANGUAGE AREA. You're already supposed to be doing the job at the TCCs, so why not even print them yourselves, enough for your own local language mailing list, & build up a language mailing list that will support you. I know it will! If you are faithful to do the job, God will pay you! PTL!--Amen? Hallelujah! GBAKYAMYAB!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
