Ton Kla

Ok. I finally have the information people have been asking for. A budget. Being as this is a brand new organization, there is a good amount of startup cost involved, but the operations cost shouldn't be too bad.

We found a 3 story town house, newly refinished, and has a half floor on the first floor. That will be where we do the group meeting and just hangout. The second floor will be where we will eventually do some tutoring. And the third floor will be where I live.

A very rough guess of monthly cost looks like this (I'll know better after a couple of months):
Rent - $225
Electricity - $30
Water - $15
Phone/Net - $30+

So roughly $300. Electricity and water should be a good bit less. But the phone could be quite a bit more counting installation. I'll find out about it Sunday afternoon.

Items we need for the startup of this organization are as follows:

Refridgerator - $240-300
Microwave - $60-90
Plastic chairs - $250+
Hot plate - $40-60
Desk - $60
Ant Cabinet* - $60-129
Collapseable tables* - IDK
Plates/cups/etc - $30-40
Misc. (mops, broom, trashcans, buckets, paper, pens, staplers, scissors, etc) $60-80

So here is how this will work.

We may need some help getting a tv, DVD player, etc. But we may be able to get those from Hanclasp. Same with things like couches and such. I will also want to decorate the the walls and floors and such. We will need things to hang and things to hang them from.

I am raising support for two separate entities right now. Ton Kla, and then me by myself. I will be keeping the funds separate. We are trying to get approval for a special projects account where the money can be sent directly to, and you can get a tax deduct and such.

So all the stuff listed so far was just for Ton Kla. Now on to me. I will be paying about $90 a month for my portion of rent and utilities. I also need to buy:

Mattress and Box springs - $400
Wardrobe - $70
Shower shelf - $20

All of my current funds are being put into the deposit for this building. So I will need to recover some of that for my daily expenses.

So, $300 a month for rent and utilities.

The group per month will need about $30 a Friday to pay for supplies for activities.

I also need to raise about $2000 so that I can go home to see my family, do some more fund raising, and then come back. As of right now, this project is considered my own startup. Handclasp is not putting their name on it. So that means all the money to run this will be coming from those who support us as well as out of my paycheck from the university.

All of that plus the extra to make the place look nice.

We will have our first meeting on either the 7th or 8th, and continue until the end of February, when the current term ends.

Then we will reevaluate where we are. At that point I will have three options that I can see now.
1. Leave things alone. This one means we continue doing thugs like they are.
2. Handclasp takes over - if things get too big for me alone, then the company would bring their resources to bear on this and we would funcion of tha area.
3. The last is the one I am leaning towards. Turns. We could take TK and make it into a non-profit organizationd and run it like a corporation.

Those are the three options I see before me right now. So if you would like to support us for the next few months, here is how. If you would like to donate directly to Ton Kla, you can wait for information on the account we are setting up.

If you would like to donate now, or directly to me for things like a bed and such, or you just don't want to wait for the account, you can get money to my mother either by check mailed to her at

Lisa Whertvine
301 W Main, Suite 202
Ardmore, OK 73401

Or just hand it to her if you see her. Please if you give a check, write on there if you would like to designate it to me or to the organization only.

Also if you have and questions, contact me at

zacwhertvine @ gmail dot com.

Thank you so much for reading through this, and for whatever support you are able to give, and I would like to end with this again

The most important thing I can ask for is your prayers. Tearing down strongholds is not done on the physical relm. Only in the spiritual, and there is a lot of spiritual warfare happening here. Even just trying to write this has been much more of a hassel than it should be.

Thank you again. Love you all. Out.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

And the name is........

Well, the Christmas party was awesome. Thank you for all your prayers.

We had about eighty or ninety kids show up, maybe more. I didn't actually get the final tally. And being that we were only thirty minutes behind schedule for our part of things, that's doing it pretty well I'd say.

We had opening speeches and then sang songs with everyone. Up on the house top and Rudolph. Then we got in to groups and played bingo, and pictionary, sang carols, and made ornaments. After a short break with snacks, we did a small skit of the birth story, watched a great video that Rob made asking people what they thought Christmas was, or what it meant to them. Then P.Sinn and I got up and he translated for me as I explained why Christmas is so important and told them about the new group we are starting.

After that the English department gave away like 20 gifts and we took a final group picture. BK gave away bags that had Hope videos, pencils and other things in them. And that was it. We had like 30 kids give us their email addresses for more information about the group. And speaking of that, I will be referring to the new group by name from now on.

Ton Kla (sounds like tohn glah)

It's the name for seedlings that are grown up for the purpose of being transplanted to grow somewhere else, usually trees. It comes from the various parable about seed, especially the one about having the faith of a mustard seed. It also has meaning in that we are an off shoot of BK (which kanoon is also a type of tree), and that our primary goal is to train up Thai leaders to go out grow where they land. It also means brave or something, I'm unclear on that meaning.

Here is where we stand on with the group right now. We have put a request into NCU to use some of their facilities, and we would probably rent them so that the school isn't endorsing religious organizations, so that we could potentially meet on campus for the first couple of weeks.

We also went out and started looking at houses and townhouses to rent (or if need be, buy) so that we can have a permanent location in Hang Dong.

People have been asking me what kind of support we need. Right now prayer is at the top of the list.

Financially we're going to need some support as well. But I don't know what that looks like just yet. I'm trying to find out what the best approach there will be.

I want to keep this legally legit. I should know more about that side of things by the end of this week.

But praying, that's the main thing we need now. Pray that the doors will open where they need to and slam shut where they need to. Pray for us as our first meeting will be this coming friday.

I'll also be starting up a couple of facebook groups, one for people in the states to stay abreast of developments and changes. One for people here who want to go to the group, which will be updated with events and such.

I'm crazy excited right now. The places this could go are astounding. Pray for le that I don't try to run ahead but keep the pace set out for me.

Love yall. More updates more often these days. It's very much needed.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]