Drug testing for food stamps

Recently there has been even more movement in the direction of requiring drug testing to receive food-stamps. (http://goo.gl/WB38xv).
Many would argue that legal drugs as well as some food items might test positive and deny you your benefits. The same could also be said for opiates like heroin, they are also used to relieve pain. However if you test positive for opiates on a drug test your CDL license will get yanked, and at many jobs you will be fired. 
The way it works in a FREE society is if you receive funds from someone they do have the right to dictate the terms. If I want to drink, smoke and party I have that right until someone pays me not to. I am all for making all drugs, food and medicine legal (ideally with proper warning labels). However if you receive a check or compensation from either the government, company, or private individual they should have the right to place whatever conditions they wish on the compensation as long as they are stated up front.
I have worked places where I was not able to eat any poppy seed muffins as they could taint a pee test. I knew this before I took the job but deemed the sacrifice of a good lemon/poppy seed muffin in the morning with coffee worth the wages I could earn. 
Government aid is no different. Food Stamps, SSI, medicare, medicade, etc are not rights. We have the choice to except them or not. For most of the history of this nation most of these things did not exist as we were not trying to create a socialistic state but a constitutional republic where we had the right to pursue happiness. 
   The founding fathers never intended the government to become so large as to become responsible for providing for everyone's happiness, health, food, shelter, or any of the other things free men can provide for themselves when the government gets out of their way and does not regulate or tax them excessively.
    One of the reasons so many are on food stamps (about 1/7th of the population last time I checked) is because the government has nearly regulated and taxed small business out of existence. The number of news stories on things like police closing down kids lemonade stands for not having a permit (http://bit.ly/15N4FJQ) or requiring every small business to pay so much money in taxes or in the new health care they are forced to close or lay people off (http://bit.ly/15N4IVP) are now so many it should be obvious how bad this nations experiments in socialism are failing.
      The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
I realize many do not hold God’s word to be the standard and one of our founding principles is freedom of religion but even common sense would dictate only so many people can ride in the wagon per people pulling it. If we reward laziness and steal from those trying to work and provide jobs and services to our society then soon everyone will be poor waiting for the next working person to rob with excessive taxation.
     Requiring drug testing as well as making people who receive benefits from the government seek work or do things to make themselves more attractive to employers is a good 1st step. Even better would be reducing taxes but both the reduction of government programs and the reduction of taxes are needed if we hope to be a free country again.
   If we cut all programs overnight there would be massive civil unrest as much of our population still needs weened from the government tit, but perhaps these 1st steps of drug testing and making people prove they are looking for work are a first step to turning this country from a nation of dependent children into a nation of free men and women yet again.

Why the change of Linux distribution?

In the last few months there has been a lot of progress in the linux world. As windows becomes both more feature rich as well as slow and buggy the more full featured Linux distributions have been released to both match and exceed offering from the MS camp (7,8,RT, etc).
I have been using Ubuntu Linux and installing it on most of the computers I work on for at least 8 years now, but now that Ubuntu has been mirroring windows by adding more features to it's OS at the expense of speed I am beginning to explore other options.
I still like Ubuntu for it's robust support and all the extras it comes with, as well as the ease of use for beginners, and the fact that it does not get viruses and still runs faster and with less issues than windows. However I often work with older equipment and as ubuntu grows, much of the equipment I work with does not.
Much of the work I do is on computers for ministries and churches where there is no budget, and people donate their old computers rather than new ones (AKA "Last Fruits")
I remember back in the days before Ubuntu was popular I used to use Puppy Linux a lot. The biggest issue I had with it then as well as now was support for wireless cards. More often than not it was a nightmare to get all the hardware to work. On the plus side it was screaming fast so fast it made XP look silly even when puppy was running on a computer with 1/4 the ram and 1/16th of the CPU speed.
But lets return to current day. After nearly 8 years of ubuntu and it's derivatives like Mint, lubuntu, kubuntu, and others have made it so that you can install on almost any system and it just runs without having to search for drivers and special instructions to get all your hardware working.
 However the standard ubuntu has gotten slowly more bloated with it's unity interface and other improvements. Currently stock Ubuntu is running just a hair faster than stock XP (although XP needs a virus scanner and ubuntu does not so in practice ubuntu is still a lot faster).
The wonderful thing is that while windows only gets more bloated and develops more security holes Linux forks. There are now 1000s of different versions of Linux available (Ubuntu and Android being the largest).
 A good way to understand this if you are familiar only with the Microsoft and Apple world would be to remember back to the days of D.O.S. and Windows 3.1. windows was a program you would load on DOS and as new versions of windows came out they bundled them together.
   IBM also came out with a product called OS2 Warp which was IBMs failed attempt to compete with microsoft after they had already taken most of the home PC market. OS2 was just another GUI that sat on top of DOS so you had a desktop, mouse, and a nice graphical interface to keep you from having to type commands at the DOS prompt.
    Now I mention this because back years and years ago before Bill Gates was even a gleam in his fathers eye Unix was running computers around the world, and even after DOS was invented it was and still is the operating system of choice for servers and larger computers. Unlike DOS which could only run one program at a time and had to rely on windows sitting on top of it to multitask. Linux could multi task and multi thread better and faster than even modern day versions of windows back as far as the late 1960s.
     The only reason that DOS and Windows exist is that most computer nerds seemed to miss the idea that the average Joe wants an easy to use system that has a point and click interface. So for years windows ruled the roost.
     All this has changed. in the last 15 years. Development on graphic user interfaces that sit on top of linux/unix/gnu (essentially the same but with minor differences and licenses) have exploded and in the last 8 have pretty much caught up and surpassed windows in usability.
   A good example of this is one of the places I volunteer my time at The Lord's Ranch a combination missions training center/drug rehab. In the past when I lived in town there would be a computer in the office running windows xp or vista that would crash no less than once a month (and at times weekly). Multiple users most with little training, a staff that rotates often, and no budget made it a IS support nightmare. Often the newest staff member would refuse direction and click on every virus infected link that came in an email.
     About 8 years ago I installed Ubuntu and while I get the occasional call because from time to time someone who is new to the system needs instruction, or there is to much stuff accumulating on the hard drive that needs cleaned out. I have had few calls and no crashes or viruses in 8 years.
     Ubuntu is just one version of linux, as I mentioned just like windows sits on top of DOS Ubuntu is pretty much the Unity interface sitting on top of Linux. Just like the android interface, or the Mac interface does (Mac is sitting on BSD Linux a slightly different version).
     All these different versions of linux/unix all have one big thing in common. Rather than sitting on top of DOS or a microsoft core they sit on a linux/unix core that is developed and improved by a massive world wide user base rather than just the resources of one company and has a good 20 year head start on development.
     In the past I would go from place to place fixing windows computers, have my phone continually ringing, have massive phone bills and nearly no personal time at all that did not involve someone calling me for tech support. I even remember at one time totally loosing it as I smashed my cell phone on the pavement of my dad's driveway after nearly 120 hours of people calling for tech support in a week.
     Now I find myself with vast amounts of free time to go camping, ride my motorcycle and read. I still service about the same number of computers. I reactivated my cell phone (and even have the number listed on the web).
   For the last 6 years I have refused to help windows users to do anything other than switch to a Linux distribution (usually Ubuntu). Now I am considering moving away from Ubuntu because while it is still very stable they have added so many features, bells, and whistles that it runs slow on old single and dual core CPUs with under 2 gigs of RAM.
    I find now that with the slow donated cast off computers I find in ministry as well as some of these interesting computers that cost under $100 and fit in your hand the trick is yet again to get more speed at the cost of some of the eye candy of the newer GUIs. So in the coming months you will start hearing more and more from me about other linux distributions.
  

But it's all about relationship brother !!!!!

Not to be boastful, but I have read the bible cover to cover more times than I can count. I have spent the time to look up every word in the old testiment in the strong's as well as the Brown Driver Briggs and done looked up every word in the new testiment in the Strongs and most of them in the thayers as well.
Again I say this not to be boastful or to seek aproval for my use of snowed in winters up in the woods north of spokane and other cold miserable places, but to add weight to the following point.
    The word "relationship" is rarely used when talking about how man is to relate to God in The Bible.
Words like "obey", "follow", "listen", and "sacrifice" are however used often.  So one might wonder why we hear phrases like "It's all about relationship" so often in western European and American churches. Statistics are not my strong point as I always hated algebra and solving for "x" However a quick glance at google tells me that most of the surveys they have done point to a better than 60% female population in churches.
     Back in the 1800s this resulted in the women's temperance movement and got the communion wine replaced with grape juice as men rather than going to church were getting drunk and shooting up the town. Had The Church been primarily men we would most likely have more beer, sporting events, fishing and hunting in our churches. However instead of the gospel according to Bud Lite we have endless drivel about relationship, church plays, bake sales, and the like.
     To a certain extent any of these things is not evil in itself, but the problem is like many things of the world they have a tendency to distract from the true purpose of the regular gathering of the saints, and unfortunately in many cases weave there way into the teaching of The Word.
     A good example of this is the situation I find myself in this weekend. tomorrow is Easter and I am currently camping outside the town of quartzsite AZ. I know that any church I am likely to visit tomorrow will have eggs, bunnies and other trappings of the pagan spring fertility rituals.
      Because most western churches are "all about relationship" and have little to do with God's Word or the truth they will value the relationships between people more than the COMMANDMENTS in The Word of God. I can hear the same cries I hear around December of "but it's all for the children" already. To which I always reply with Mark 9:42 and ask if they have a millstone handy. Teaching kids to celebrate paganism and lying to them about mythical bunnies and fat elves could land a person in a hot place (rev 21:8).
     When we place "relationship" as the primary goal of the church we more often than not sacrifice things like obedience to God's word and truth on it's altar. The fear of offending people or causing a stir in the group become more important than offending an almighty God.
    So while it is important that we Know God, and we remain his faithful bride, it is not all about relationship. It is however about obedience to his commands, faithfulness, and surrender to HIS will. He commands us to lay down our lives and die to our own desires. He commands that we turn from the things of this world and back to him (aka repentance).
      If there is any relationship that is most important it would have to be the one between God and man. What kind of relationship could there possibly be between a holy God and a man who would place social acceptance, domestic harmony, and financial gain before the maker heaven and earth other than Judge and condemned.
     As for the pastors who should know better (Titus 1: 9) and continue to condone and even encourage the celebration of pagan holidays in your churches. Is the added revenue from the tithes of those seeking tickled ears and feel good messages worth the eternal fires of hell? Read James 3:1 and consider that there just might be a little bit hotter section of hell reserved for teachers that would lead God's people astray ( Yes God's not yours in spite of your continued bragging on the head count).
    When you step into the pulpit and begin to teach God's word do you even feel the weight and conviction of The Holy Spirit anymore? Are you even remotely aware the magnitude of the responsibility of leading poorly or deceitfully for financial gain? It is not to late repent and confess your sin to your congregation tomorrow morning before they chase after bunnies and eggs. before one more child you must give account of before God is lead astray or adult is taught that compromise with the world is acceptable.
      I do not envy the Job of most pastors. I remember my time working in community churches and around boards. I still get a tick from time to time when the words "board" and "meeting" are mentioned in the same sentence. The amount of times I prayed the prayer of moses ("if I have found favor in your sight kill me now") before a board meeting. The temptation is to try to become the politician rather than the mouth piece of God (1 pet 4:11).
     I often think at times God sent me to minister to a Taliban controlled village in south west Kazakhstan in response to my prayers before church board meetings. God has a sense of humor and delivered me from both board meetings and certain death and for this reason I can say with confidence you can rely on him when placing his commands over relationships in the church. Love those around you, but place obedience to God and his will 1st in all things. Original recipe is much better than extra crispy and if you really love them you should be more concerned with their eternal destination than their momentary irritation with you for banning the bunny.
      May the Lord greet you with "well done good and faithful servant" when he comes.
Yours in Christ,
Donald C Phinney

September 11

Today (sept 11) is the birthday of Iron Felix (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky).
The man who is responsible for the founding of the Cheka later called the KGB (The Russian version of homeland security and TSA). He was instrumental in the Red Terror
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror) which was russia's version of our 2012 NDAA (http://goo.gl/SzLKz) that had the government rounding up citizens without trial for indefinite detention.
Of course the "Red Terror" was a response to the earlier "White Terror" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Russia)).
And by the time all the terrors were done so was any shred of freedom of the Russian people.
Here in the US we were terrified by Drugs so we gave police the ability to knock down our doors  with no knock warrants  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-knock_warrant) the FBI access to all our telephone switching stations and other govt agencies both permission and funding to monitor almost every part of our lives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON).

Of course this was not enough and eventually the people were not afraid enough of the drug dealer boogie man so another had to be created. "The Terrorist" So on September 11 2011 some planes crashed into buildings without being stopped by any of our numerous counter measures and air force bases bristling up and down the east coast setup to stop everything from planes to missiles. The whole incident was so suspicious that theories ranging to the government deliberatly ignoring the threat to directly participating in the events still circulate even amoung the non paranoid mentally ballanced portion of our community

 In response to Sept 11 we created our own KGB and started systematically taking away the rights of every american and ignoring our own constitution. Beginning with "The Patriot Act" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act) which was sent to congress to be passed the night before they were to vote on it and then voted in the next day by both democrat and republican alike. A bill that is thicker than many phone books written in legal language which even the brightest trial lawyer could not read and understand in under a week delivered to congress and passed in under 24 hours. This one bill allowed for warrantless searches and wiretaps as well as a slew of other violations of our civil liberties, but of course this was not enough. There needed to be a way to get people used to the Idea of even the most intrusive searches so we now have the TSA to grope and xray us every time someone gets on a plane and recently they are beginning to show up at bus and train stations to further violate our rights.
      This year we get even more legislation to "protect us" from "Terror" the 2012 NDAA (http://goo.gl/SzLKz) now allows for police and military to round up citizens of the USA without trial, without giving them the ability to even call a lawyer and make them disappear to a detention camp for an indefinite amount of time. Some of the language of this bill even allows for the murder of these same US citizens that were never given a trial or convicted of any crime.
      Right on the heels of removing the right to fair and speedy trial, right to be secure in our persons and the rest that was ripped from us finally they passed H.R. 347 (http://goo.gl/J8kd6) which takes away our right to complain about how our elected representatives are treating us by removing our 1st amendment right to peaceable assemble and petition our government (http://goo.gl/hyw8)

     So when people tell me how important it is to remember September 11th 2001 as an argument for why we should succumb to terror, destroy our freedom and become like Stalin's Russia I often think perhaps we should 1st remember September 11 1877 and the birth of the man responsible for turning Russia into the very form of government we are headed for when we allow ourselves to be driven by "Red Terror", "White Terror", "Terrorists" or any other form of terror that those at the top try to use to make us give up our rights and freedom.
Militarised police on our streets I find a lot more disturbing than Islamic crazies crashing planes into our buildings. Islam and it's cycle of violence has existed for a long time the answer is not to enforce martial  law on our own citizens, or revert back to the oppressive form of government our founding fathers drafted our constitution to avoid. More freedom to the people, not less is the answer to dealing with "Terror" both domestic and foreign. Our founding fathers knew this and for most of our history free men have defended our rights making us one of the best countries in the world. We were not only one of the wealthiest, but people from all over the world would come he in hopes of the type of success and freedom not found in any other country on the globe. What we have now would make our founding fathers along with many of our veterans who have fought and died to protect and defend our constitution hang their heads in shame at what we have become in spite of all their best efforts. When we trade freedom for security and private enterprise for socialism you end up with Stalin or Mao. Below is a humorous, but better solution to terror than fondling the genitals of children at the airport when you are through giggling at the satire of the videos please remember the main theme before you enter the voting booth and from the choices given vote for the candidate that will best protect and defend the constitution and your rights.

A alternate way to celebrate Oct31

Adult version of "trick or treat"

Teaching kids about extortion

So the time of year has begun again where we try to instill the important worldly values of how to extort what we want through threatening into our children (commonly know as "Trick or Treat"). One of my favorite activities during this time is the practice of bobbing for apples. The way was in the old days under druidism ( Called samhain) you would round up the kids for human sacrifice to appease the evil spirits loosed on the planet and give them one last chance to avoid being sacrificed. The "game" of bobbing for apples. It began with taking the already bound children and placing them in front of a barrel of boiling oil with apples or other fruit floating in it. The kids got to try to grab the fruit in their teeth which even if successful would result in at least 3rd degree burns over most of their face. This is commemorated all over the country even today in churches that claim they are Christian under the guise of a "Harvest Party". We fear our children will miss out on the fun their unsaved friends are having celebrating a pagan holiday that rather than teach them that we need to be changed and die to ourselves and follow Christ that it is ok to mix in Paganism and worldly values with the Church, and that begging rather than work is the way to get what you want.

I Suggest an alternate holiday if you absolutely feel you must do something with the kids on Oct31. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the church door in Wittenberg Germany. This event began the reformation and is the root of most Bible based churches today. He suggests that the Bible is to be trusted more than the counsels of men (or popes), and that the church as a whole had turned from the faith and was doing things contrary to scripture. Back in those days it was common to use the Church door as a community buletin board for public notices, and most were made more robustly than most church doors today (many today are made from glass) so perhaps rather than a nail, duct tape would be a better choice. 
    So here is my suggestion have the kids make up notices outlining a few scriptures from the bible about turning from idolatry and pagan worship and go tape them to the door of the local church that is having a "Harvest Party" on oct 31. It might be fun to add what Luther himself used as the opening to his notice;
ut of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

Then add in some scripture about children stumbling and millstones, worshiping mammon, and other points that you and the children find relevant to turning children from Christian homes away from Christ and into thinly disguised pagans for the night.  When you get home you could have a bit of German chocolate cake and start preparing for Thanksgiving which at least has some biblical roots, but that is material for another blog entry at another time. Until then remember that even if you fish from the swamp, it is not wise to swim in it.

Yours in Christ,

Donald C Phinney II

http://donphinney.com

    

    

The True Church

It has been a while since I got behind the computer to write. I struggle sometimes with the politics of what I write when I am staying with or working in ministries that are struggling to set people free through the truth of The Gospel of Christ. Often in the process of attempting to breath life into a ministry you run into people so bound by traditions rather than scripture that the old wine skin needs to be discarded so that a new one can be found to contain the new wine. Such is the situation I found when I rode my bike from Seattle to Illinois to help and old friend.
    On my previous trip to Atlanta Illinois (not Atlanta Georgia) Dan had just started to pastor this small church that had been closed for many years. people were beginning to re-dedicate their lives to Christ, He helped to bring unity to the local churches and often local pastors would preach from each others pulpits or have common outreach events. Missionaries from around the globe would come to visit, there was door to door evangelism, street witnessing, revival meetings in the park, regular baptisms of new believers, and kids giving their lives to The Lord.
   You would think to yourself hearing this that under such conditions there would be rejoicing in the streets and praise from the 4 corners of the earth for such a servant of God who would be used to bring about such things. You would of course be wrong. You see this is all happening in the mid-west of the USA where most everyone has heard The Gospel but has chosen to either harden their hearts against it, or has become so wrapped up in religion and self-righteousness they would most likely kick Jesus out of the church if he were to show up because he did not wear a tie, and his bloody feet might stain the carpet.
   What most want these days is to come to church a time or two each week hear a happy feel good message, be entertained by good music (but nothing with convicting lyrics) and restrict the membership to people who dress like them and are from the same social and economic class. They have no tolerance at all for people who are just coming to Christ, preachers that tell them to talk to the people around them about Christ, or God forbid praying for the persecuted church or encouraging people to go to the missions field.
    So on the first visit about to this town when things were getting started there was a massive increase in the church, on the second the older crowd was doing their best to use political and social manipulation to remove Pastor Dan. The result was that almost all the new converts and those that had re-dedicated their lives ceased to meet in the Church building and moved to home groups where they decide things like how best to go out and evangelise their towns. Meanwhile the building the old guard removed their pastor from is all but empty, and looks very much like it is on it’s way to a full downward spiral.
     I often wondered why The Lord had me drive 2000+ miles on my little 700cc bike to such a thing and slowly it comes into focus, the why of the whole thing. while I was there I was able to help a few missionaries as they past through, and fill a short gap of time when Dan was without a helper. The big thing I see though this is a change in the way church happens. I am seeing more and more that the real life of the church is not so much in buildings and the old traditional worship services, but in overstuffed houses full of believers where kids are running between adults standing packed shoulder to shoulder in living rooms worshiping.
    I have since got on the bike and drove another 1500+ miles to the 4 corners reservation near Gallup NM where there is a ministry starting up in a little double wide mobile home. A handful of men live in the home full time recovering from their addictions while they continue to study the word and challenge each other with the word and prayer. On friday they feed anyone who shows up and pack out the living room.  This last Friday there were at least 40 adults in the livingroom of the double wide trailer and many kids running around (no idea the number would be like trying to count fish in a bowl). The fun part of this model is that because little is spent on buildings the church size is self limiting. when things get to big for the space the group is forced to raise up new elders so the group can divide and plant a new house church.
      This model is not limited to only the house church of course, just last night I went to a church on the rez where they have planted 4 churches in 3 years. While this is still a lot slower than the multiplication found in most house churches this church has also a few people raised from the dead and multiple healing from diabetes and cancer documented by doctors so I think perhaps they get a hall pass for slower multiplication as they seem to be giving strong evidence of God’s blessings.
       In short what I have been learning is that groups of people who function from fear and tradition tend to be so controlling the quench the work of God. While in theory there should be no reason why God can not move just as well in the traditional style of church we see in Norman Rockwell paintings that play organ music and are filled mostly with grey haired old people and their grandkids the tendency is for us to lean on our old perceptions of what WE think church should be rather than what the bible says it is in such enviroments.
     The word Ecclesia that was translated into the word Church in most bible translations literally means The Called Out. The word Church has it’s roots in a totally different place. the word Church comes from the root Circe and the gathering of people who worship Circe is of course..... The Circus. Now I do not blame the language for the state of the modern church, but as of late it has become more a place of entertainment than discipleship and true worship of God. What is needed in today's church climate is a drastic change, enough so that it is impossible to lean on old unbiblical traditions and force people to turn back to the bible to learn how to behave.
     The current church has failed to be salt and light to this country. With so many claiming to be Christians and all the buildings with crosses on them one can not help but wonder why we kill the unborn, allow homosexuals to adopt children, remove the bible from schools but allow the teaching of almost every other belief, and change our law of "freedom of religion" into "freedom from religion". There is a desperate need for us as Christians to lean to trust and lean on The Bible alone and to chuck this luke warm ear tickling vomit that comes out of the mouths of most of the board controlled 501c3 corporation, government regulated, hirelings we have placed behind our pulpits and allowed to lead us astray.
      Time has come for full surrender to God as the bible commands. As things are going in this country now it will not be long before the persecution we hear about in other countries comes here. This may be one of the many reasons that it would seem God is moving more in small groups, cell groups, home church, and other more persecution resistant venues than the traditional church. Jesus said a servant in not greater than his master, and that if they persecuted him they will do the same to us. The time for going to a big building with a cross on the front with weekly feel good entertainment, money chasing, like warm, and living like the rest of the world but with a fish bumper sticker will thankfully be over soon.
    If you are reading this and getting upset and feeling like I am pointing a finger at you please feel free to open your bible and dig out some scripture in context to try to justify your current behavior. However if on your search you come up empty and find nothing please do what John the baptist commanded and then later Christ himself “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. He is coming back soon and repentance is not something you do once to get fire insurance it is a lifestyle choice to daily die to self and take up your cross and follow him (not dead traditions). May the lord help us through his Holy Spirit to see the truth and walk in it.
Yours in Christ,
Donald C Phinney II

A few Tech tips (kindle, portable power,etc)

As many of you know that travel a lot you sacrifice a lot to save weight and make compromises based on what you can do with intermittent access to power and other infrastructure we commonly take for granted at home. We also are not accustomed to thinking about what works globally verses at home.

Water;

Lets begin with something we don't think much about and take for granted. Clean water!!! even if you see the local people drinking the water this does not mean that your body will handle it well. It is hard to do a lot of witnessing and kingdom work while sitting on the toilet. If you do not filter or boil your water you will either be doing just that (living glued to a toilet) or spending a lot of money on bottled water. I highly recommend the filter on the left it is made by MSR you can get it on amazon or a lot of camping stores. also Katadyn makes some very good ones for larger groups. Make sure it will filter bacteria and spores. Most cheap filters like the ones you have at home are only to remove chlorine taste and light sediment. This is an area I recommend you spend a few dollars on. boiling is not always an easy option and dysentery is no joke get the best filter you can afford and you may even be able to be a blessing to others with the clean water you can provide.

POWER;
We have a few concerns here. first is that not every place has the same size wall plug or voltage. many laptops and cell phone chargers have small transformers that can handle American and European voltage and frequency.
    In the USA we have 105-135 volts AC at 60 hz in Europe most places are around 220 volts at 50hz. Before you head out check the transformer on your laptop or cellphone charger for what it can handle. Transformers will be stamped into the plastic or on a little sticker glued on it. If possible when buying devices check the transformers 1st to make sure they can handle 100-230 volts and 50-60 hz.
    The next problem is the physical size of the plug. there are a multitude of plugs out there, but most of Europe is one type of plug. the UK is another, and then there is American. you could get adapters for each country, or get a multi adapter like the one in the picture. these are cheap and can be found on amazon for under $4.

USB Port and plug

I do not recommend toting around gadgets that require 120v or 220v only as voltage converters tend to get heavy especially anything that requires much power like hair driers, coffee pots, etc. the best bet is to go as light as possible and try to keep everything running on either rechargeable batteries either internal (like a kindle) or replaceable (like in a digital camera) and charge them from USB. you can also charge your AA batteries from USB with a little charger that doubles as a USB port. I have This one  and recommended it highly as it puts out good voltage to charge even the most hungry Iphone or android. Lastly if you can not get the device you need to run or charge on 5v USB there is always 12v with a car charger and a small wall voltage to 12v adapter make sure you get one that handles both 110 and 220 voltage and you can use it in any country. the combination of a car celphone charger, and a wall voltage to 12v adapter is close to the size of a single wall wart style charger but gives you more options, and if you have multiple things to charge you only need one wall to 12v adapter and can use it with all you chargers so if you have more than 2 devices you need to carry the net result is lighter and smaller.With a USB charge cord for your phone, kindle and a 12v car lighter to USB adapter and your laptop you should have all the power you need. the laptop can get a plug adapter when your near regular power and be used to charge everything else off it's USB plugs, and when your not you can use the 12v plug on either a car (most all cars and trucks are 12v dc everywhere in the world) or off a small flexible solar panel .

LIGHT ;

    It is hard to read your Bible without a light and often even when there is a light in a room it is not in a convenient place. Also with just a little light, a white board, and a tarp to keep the rain off your students it is possible to do a lot of teaching. I  recommended having a few different sources of light around for reading and such that run on battery or USB. the little flexible gooseneck lights that run of the USB port of your computer when plugged into the battery powered USB port/charger make a good desk lamp and reading light that requires no country specific power, pack very small and are cheap. Another thing to consider is area lighting for your workstation, and this also can be handled to some extent via USB power via cheap LED christmas lights.
Phone ;

      The next thing to consider is communications and that usually means you need a phone. I now use a Nokia e72 with a nice shockproof otterbox case. In the US most places Verison has the best signal, but unfortunatly verison phones are next to useless for international travel. what you need it a UNLOCKED quad band GSM phone. there are 2 main frequencies for USA and 2 for europe and most of the rest of the world a quad band will get you signal almost anywhere.
Verizon uses CDMA type of phones and most everyone else uses GSM, and lastly you need it unlocked so you can put in the SIM card of any provider world wide and not need special permission or have to go through a lot of aggravation with your service provider. Many androids can do all this (but not the verison one) as well as other phones.    
The next feature that is a big plus is if the phone can be tethered to your laptop. this means that you can either connect the phone to your laptop via bluetooth or USB cable and use it as a modem to get on the net when there is no other WIFI. This is usually not cheap as you are charged by the megabyte, but if you need to get a plane ticket, or check your bank account before charging something to your card it a good to have. there are several standards for this such as GPRS,EDGE, 3g, etc mostly this is a matter of how fast, but as this should not be your primary method of getting Internet, speed it not your largest concern. Compatibility to your computer operating system (windows, Mac, Linux, etc) is.

The next feature would be WIFI. if your phone can do 802.11 b, g, or n  WIFI and runs a popular phone operating system (Symbian, android,Iphone, etc)  you can use it to surf the web directly with some limitations, and to run Skype. Skype is almost a must for international calling, and I use it a lot on my computer to make calls. If your phone can run it and has wifi then you can keep the laptop in it's bag and save some battery life. Also if the phone runs Skype it is a lot easier and convenient to use. the only limitation is it is easier to do conference calling on the PC version of Skype than the cellphone version.

 Printed books, magazines, and tech manuals.

    The next thing I highly recommended is a kindle. My laptop is advertised as having a 6 hour battery, but in reality gets an honest 4. A kindle get 2-4 weeks of use on a single charge. can do a little light web surfing as well as check e-mail, but most of all is like reading off of paper and as you will not be packing a printer around you will find this indispensable in a hurry. Most of the things you would normally rely on your laptop for you can start to off load onto the kindle.
A good example of this is a service called Instapaper you start a free account and place the little shortcut button on the favorites on your web browser on your laptop and when you come to a page you want to read later you click the button. at the end of the day it will come to the kindle with all the other pages you saved as one e-book you can read at your leisure off the nicer screen on a device that fits in a coat pocket and runs 2-4 weeks on a charge. When you get the kindle you will get a e-mail address so you can send things to your kindle it will be something like yourusername@kindle.com if you have the 3g version and you are not on wifi at the time you will incur charges for the data transfered. it is not very expensive but you can avoid charges all together by setting up your Instapaper account and sending all documents to yourusername@free.kindle.com. this will hold all documents until you come in range of free wifi and keep you from running up a charge on your 3g.
   The next trick is PDF documents. In short the way the kindle displays PDFs is less than stellar (same goes for the Nook, and the Sony reader) to overcome this amazon has provided a conversion service. simply send the file to your kindle e-mail account with convert in the subject and 1st line and then attach the PDF. it will come to you in e-book form and your device can even read it out loud to you if you wish. Lastly if you follow rss enabled blogs those can go to your kindle as well for offline reading via Kindle feeder.
E-mail;

Often you will have intermittent internet and have to use WIFI hotspots at cafes and places where it is loud and hard to work. I suggest either getting a free Gmail account, or paying to upgrade your Yahoo or Hotmail account so that you can use IMAP. with IMAP you can setup your phone and your laptop to download all your email to your computer so you can read it and respond to it when you do not have internet. This means you can take your phone or laptop to a place with internet, download all your mail quickly, then later when you are somewhere you can take the time and have a nice place to work read and reply to all your mails. When you next go to the WIFI hotspot you can quickly send all the e-mails waiting in the outbox of your mail program and get any new mail waiting. This is an option you will grow to love as many of the Internet cafes have loud irritating techno music playing with kids playing video games making it hard to concentrate. much easier to go there for less than 5 minutes at a time to toss email back and forth to your laptop and leave, or use the time in public for witnessing.
Bible;

While we all have our favorite print version. I recommended getting the bible on every gadget you can. A bible on kindle is a great tool as it is easy to read off from, and if you get a good case for it you will also have a book light. the kindle can give you large print with better readability than a printed bible of any reasonable size, and it is a lot lighter to carry and fits in a coat pocket. HOWEVER navigation or finding verses in a hurry is not the best. I like it when I am just reading the bible a book at a time rather than preparing a sermon or trying to witness. For preaching, witnessing or sermon prep there are a few other options I like better than the kindle. My 1st choice is e-sword or bible time on a laptop both have multiple bible translations in multiple languages with concordances, greek and hebrew lexicons, commentaries, study guides, maps, and other supplemental works like foxe's book of marters and Luther's 95 thesis and many others. All keyed to the verses you are viewing and easy to navigate or search.

   However if your in motion like at a pulpit without power, out on the street, or waiting for a plane/bus/train etc it is easier to use your phone. I have used the Jolon Go Bible a lot. it comes in many languages, is easy to navigate, and like e-sword and bible time it is free. In addition to having it installed on your phone it is good to keep a copy of the installer stored on your phone as well. Tracts are cheap, but sending someone a bible via bluetooth is free. if you send one person a bible and they in turn send it to a few of their friends and so on you could make a massive impact for Christ in a very short period of time for almost no money in an area open to the gospel but lacking the materials.
   Last but not least a paper bible is handy. when all the other tech is out of batteries or your trying to communicate to people over 40. Often older folks are put off by to much tech and rather than press your culture upon them it is easier to pull out a GIANT PRINT king jimmy and avoid friction over generational or cultural differences. However I would note that most of the time you are limited as to how much stuff you have in carry-on or you can jam in your pockets for a trip out and about town. considering your gonna need things like passport, visas, cell phone, maps, and perhaps a phrase book. smaller is better and the kindle and the phone can hold the bible, the phrase book, and the maps. leaving your hands empty and you looking less like a tourist and a potential victim.
Clothing;

You will find that many of the places you go will not have clothing driers. It seems clothes driers are only very popular in the USA. most other places I have been in east and western Europe as well as western and central Asia they don't use them. They hang everything to dry. This is not a big deal if your stationary but if your trying to be mobile you will find yourself doing a lot of ironing, or traveling with wet clothes. consider your clothing choices carefully before you head out. In cold places it is better to have a lot of thin layers both because of the trapped air between them, but also because they dry faster over the radiator in your room, hanging on the bathroom shower rod, or near the camp fire. You may find yourself with no real laundry facilities and have to hand wash in a sink. consider how heavy that pair of jeans or sweat shirt will be when wet and how long it will take to dry before you toss in in your luggage and head out. Often fashion has more than one cost.

     You must also consider where you are going and the local culture. Many cultures find our way of dressing offensive so before you go to the mid-east wearing a tube top and mini skirt, or wearing a T shirt emblazoned with a picture of Mohamed being kicked in the but by a cartoon Uncle Sam consider the possible blow back.
   People will forgive your lack of polish attempting to speak their language much faster than mistakes in local etiquette. Often small mistakes can get you killed. A good example of this is in many places in the middle east you sit on the floor to eat. If the bottoms of your feet are pointed to someone else at the table it is considered an insult. If you plan to go visit and witness to Islamic extremist groups, or other folks that may lack a sense of humor these are the kind of things it is good to know in advance.....

Go Ye .......

    When God tells you to go, do not let lack of preparation or resources stop or slow you. God will always provide for any mission he sends you on. Remember if it's God's will its God's bill and he always pays his. Do as much as you can to prepare without dragging your feet. Equip and train yourself as best you can without using any lack as an excuse to delay or prevent going. I have given a few tips that may help you in your travels, but know that even if we do everything wrong and opposite of common sense and logic if God tells you to do something don't let logic or man's reasoning prevent you. Walking around a walled city and playing some trumpets and shouting does not seem like a sound military strategy but it worked and they did not even have a decent electronic sound system or overhead projector.
As it says in the book of  1 Corinthians....

1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

May God bless you in your mission where ever that may take you.
Yours in Christ,
Donald C Phinney II
http://donphinney.com