14th EAST ASIA REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2024 in MALAYSIA .... may I have more info , pls! (Letters & Info Packs)
Dear ITP Eagles, Partners and Friends,
YES!!! It’s less than two (2) weeks to go before our conference. I am excited to see all of you in Kuala Lumpur. The excitement level for our upcoming 14th EAST ASIA REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2024 is rising fast. A good number of your fellow IT Missionaries, ACCESS 2 trainees and special guests have responded positively to our FB announcements and have registered already. But still, a lot more are praying and are still undecided. If you haven’t been to any of our past international conferences, we really would like you to seriously consider joining this one. It would be terrific if you could also invite the others to come with you.
The event was designed to energize, empower, and equip pastors and missionaries for higher level of leadership, to encourage and strengthen them to continue on with their roles as leaders, provide a special bonding time with fellow leaders coming from various places across the world, introduce to new networks and new field connections, impart a fresh ministry mandate and a clearer sense of purpose, and most important of all … meet the LORD in the company of His chosen ones!
Here are additional conference info that I would like to pass on …
1.ONLINE REGISTRATION: Please note that the deadline for online registration is on MARCH 18. We will finalize all documents, conference ID’s, T-shirts, Gifts and Awards, and conference materials starting the 16th..so we may not be able to accommodate anymore those who would still want to be included after the deadline. The whole office organizing team will be departing on the 21st and need to bring all the materials on their flight.
2. VENUE REGISTRATION: Registration tables will be set up at around 1pm on March 25 and will be available only until 3pm. Conference materials including T-shirts and other tokens will be distributed by then. We will have a Welcome Celebration event to kick-start our conference, which may start sometime 2:00pm. If you’re coming in later, please look for any IT Office Staff so they could hand over to you your Registration Packet.
3. PARTICIPANTS: All ITP missionaries, ACCESS 2 Trainees, and partners are invited to the conference. If you would like to invite your friends or relatives to the conference, we would require that they be of the same faith. The conference is not an evangelistic gathering, and the topics will not suit those coming from a different religious background. The qualified guests will be classified as SPECIAL GUESTS. Pastors, Church Leaders, and Board members will highly benefit from this event.
4.HOTELS/ LODGING:
Accommodation is not included in the conference registration fee.
There are many options to choose from and to compare costs, from online booking sites like Booking com or Agoda.Com. Our preferred booking site is Agoda due to easy to navigate format. You could scan the site, choose your preferred hotel and pay directly online.
Our missionaries and friends based in Malaysia are still on the lookout for additional dormitory or church guest house options that offer the cheapest or possibly free accommodation. Some of our missionaries have church networks in Malaysia who are willing to host some missionaries. Please ask your fellow missionaries for any possibility.
We strongly suggest that you book your hotel online prior to arrival to ensure a headache free accommodation in the wee of the night. You may ask your GMC Leaders to assist you in lodging arrangements. As soon as you arrive in Kuala Lumpur International airport, we recommend that you withdraw Malaysian Ringgit (RM) from the available ATM machines right away or have your dollars changed to Malaysian currency, so you will have local currency to use for your travel expenses. Some of the money changers close as early as 8pm but there are changers in various locations inside the airport that are open 24/7 The exchange rate as of March is US$1 = P59.29 = HKD 5.01
5. CONFERENCE MEALS: Breakfast and dinner from March 25 to 27 are on your own. There are a number of restaurants nearby to choose from. Lunch and snacks will be served though as part of the conference package on March 26 and 27. Snacks and lunch meal service times are shown on the program. The venue does not allow food in the session hall so we have made arrangements with nearby restaurants to reserve tables for our group. Lunch instructions will be given at the conference. Snacks will be handed over at the end of the sessions and must be consumed outside the venue also.
6. VISA REQUIREMENTS: There is no need for an Entry Visa for Filipinos to enter MALAYSIA and SINGAPORE. You are required though to present a valid passport upon your arrival. Please check your passport’s expiration date. They won’t allow you to leave the Philippines if your travel date falls within 6 months prior to expiration. If you are Philippine-born but holding a non-Philippines passport, you must check with the embassy for their visa requirements for citizens of the country of your passport. The same is true to those coming from other countries. Joining us at the conference are Americans, Africans, Vietnamese, Indonesians, and Malaysians. Each country may have immigration visa requirements that we, the Philippines organizing staff, are unaware of. Please take time to study the travel requirements for people coming from your respective nations. Just go to Google and type visa requirements for travel to Hongkong.
7.PRE-DEPARTURE BRIEFINGS: Our office has provided and will continue to provide important pre departure ZOOM briefings/meetings on various dates this MARCH to be announced to all conference participants and Access 2 trainees. Meeting ID and Passcode will be provided thru the Group page and will be posted on our website. The objective is to prepare all of you for your airport immigration encounter – both here and in Malaysia. We want to make sure that all bases are covered well before you depart for Kuala Lumpur. You will be provided with all the required departure documents to include ITeams Phils documents stating the nature of the event, conference program, etc. PLEASE PRIORITIZE THESE MEETINGS. Our bad immigration experiences in the past happened mostly to those who skipped the Pre-departure briefing thinking that they could easily breeze through immigration.
8. TRAVEL CLEARANCE FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: If you are currently employed at any Philippine government institution, you are required to secure travel permit before you leave. Please try to secure one the earliest possible time. Our immigration officers will not allow you to board your plane if you fail to present that document. PLEASE DON’T TAKE THIS LIGHTLY. The consequence of failure to secure the travel clearance when you leave the country will be dire.
9. POST-CONFERENCE ACTIVITY: ACCESS PART 2 TRAINING: Our Trainers and Evaluators/ Leaders for the ACCESS 2 Training in SINGAPORE will be at the conference to provide the travel briefing, instructions, itineraries and guidelines on the program. This will also be discussed during our pre-departure briefing.
10. FLIGHT RETURN TICKET: Those who have not booked flight return tickets yet, please make sure that you’ll have one ready before you leave for the conference. Our Philippine immigration officers will not allow you to depart the country without proof that you possess a return ticket. The return leg does not have to be from the same location where you entered. You may book your ticket to the place of your last planned destination … (like Singapore for most of the Access 2 trainees.)
11. SENSITIVITY & WISDOM: For those who will moving around Malaysia, please always be conscious that Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim nation. We hope that you won’t engage in any activity that will jeopardize not just our event but also those who are already serving in those countries. Please refrain from making any public statement against Islam.. There is a time for everything and the right way of doing things. “Be wise as serpents but pure as doves.” . We are people of the gospel of Christ bringing a message of hope and love from the Lord to all … including the Muslim people.
12. STREET CROSSING CAUTION: When crossing the street, please always remember that they drive on the other side of the road. Cars in MALAYSIA and SINGAPORE drive on the left side of the road. The cars they use have steering wheels located on the right side, just like the ones we use in the United Kingdom & Japan. Cars in the Philippines drive on the right side though. Always look to your RIGHT first when crossing, if you don’t, you might be shocked to see a fast-incoming vehicle coming from a different direction that is about to hit you. Many road accidents are a result of careless street crossing due to non-familiarity with the direction of the incoming cars.
13. ELECTRIC OUTLETS AND PLUGS: Malaysia and SIngapore use the “British-Style 3-pin Square plug type. You need to buy an adapter as soon as you set foot in those countries. You need to have an adapter for your standard Philippine/ American type plug to use on the Malaysia/Singapore outlets. If you could not purchase or borrow one while in the country, they are available in the Kuala Lumpur airport convenience stores or you can purchase cheaper ones in their local market.
14. MOBILE PHONE ROAMING: Please have your mobile phones activated for roaming service. You may inquire from your local telecommunication provider for roaming activation instructions. We would like everyone to be fully connected so we could call you right away in case of an emergency. You may not always have wi-fi or internet available so a roaming phone on stand-by will really be helpful. May we remind you though that the cost of international calls and texts made in Malaysia and Singapore are expensive. You may want to buy a local SIM for the use of your group, a shared use card for local calls in Malaysia/Singapore and text messages to the Philippines. You may just consider using your phone activated for roaming to receive calls and texts from the Phils. Text messages sent to you from the Phils will not incur any charges. Please remember that every call made thru your roaming activated phone will incur very expensive charges.
Globe Mobile Roaming or Smart Roaming internet data for one whole day will cost you around Pesos 399. It would be cheaper and better to just purchase a local SIM card that you can use for short period of your stay in Malaysia. There are a lot of mobile/internet service providers offering competitive prices which make it hard to choose the right one. Just do. a quick side by side comparison of what each provider offers and decide from there.
15. HEALTH & MEDICINES: You may bring personal medications for those on maintenance and also for emergency cases – antihistamines for allergy, paracetamols for fever and pain etc. .. Our office will also bring medicines so in any case you feel the need to take some, please don’t hesitate to ask from any of our conference staffs. We also have RT--PCR test kits for use by our group.
16. ACCESS MISSION TRAINING PART 2: Those who joined the conference to fulfill the final phase of the ACCESS training, will be part of the group who will proceed to SIngapore. after the conference. Sis Biyaya Villanueva and the team of Evaluators present at the conference will meet with the whole group to discuss the travel arrangements and the itinerary for Access 2 program. Those who are not part of the training group have the full freedom to determine where they would like to go and what they would like to do after the conference.
17. COURTESY: May we remind you that the teams and staffs who will be assisting you will be doing it from the generosity of their own hearts. The best response that you could give is to show gratitude and appreciation. Please take note that a good number of you will be there to be trained and evaluated and not the other way around. Our field team and conference staffs will appreciate and expect courtesy and humility from all. Let’s all be loving and kind to one another. Rest assured that they will assist & serve you to the best of their abilities.
18. OTHER REMINDERS
1. Don’t forget to prepare: P1,620 for travel tax to be paid online or at the Travel Tax Counter at NAIA Airport.
2. Address to input on your Etravel Phil. Departure and Hongkong Electronic Arrival online forms : THE DREAM CENTRE, No. 2 Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13, 46200
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
3. Check your baggage allowance. Your budget airline (Cebu Pacific or Air Asia) booking starts with the minimum baggage allowance of 7 kilos for hand carry alone. If you need to bring with you a check in baggage, you must pay for the check in baggage weight of your choice. You may go directly to your airlines website and order the additional baggage weight that you want. If you’re baggage is overweight at check in, you will be asked to pay for the excess weight before they allow you to check in. Airlines are stricter now and weights of each baggage specially the hand carried bags are carefully checked if they are not over the weight limit . They will charge you a hefty amount per kilos if you go above the prescribed weight.
4. PASSPORTS: Safeguard your passports to the maximum. Please have it photocopied and bring the copy with you always.
5. No Lone Rangers or Solo Flyers pls! Should anybody want to go somewhere after the sessions, especially at night, please go in a group of at least two or three. Don’t go out alone!”
6. INFO PACKS: Please make sure that you read and re-read the earlier info packs sent to you. We advise that you have it printed so you could bring it with you and use it as your “go to” or reference guide. We noticed that there are some participants who kept on asking questions related to the conference that were fully explained already on those information materials.
7. Please ALWAYS keep in your pockets the address of your hotel or place where you are staying, the conference venue and emergency contact numbers.
8. BE CAUTIOUS. always!! If someone approaches you at the airport and asks for help in checking in their baggage and/or requests if they could include some items to your own baggage, with the excuse that they have no money to pay for the extra baggage allowance… DO NOT ENTERTAIN THEM. You might be used to transport illegal items. You will be held fully responsible for your own belongings. Please always be on the side of caution.
9. MEMORY CARD: With all the beautiful sights and ministry site that you will be visiting, you might need to bring an extra SD card(s) just to be sure that you don’t wind up with a memory full card at a time when you need to take those special shots.
10. If you are bringing a portable power bank, be absolutely sure that you'll have it in your hand carried bag. DO NOT PUT IT IN YOUR CHECK IN BAGGAGE.
11. BE CAREFUL ALWAYS !!! Just like in every main city of the world, there are bad elements (pickpockets, snatchers etc..) that are out to prey on unsuspecting visitors. Please be extra vigilant and always protect your belongings. Of all items in your possession, please make sure to secure the most important item … your PASSPORT
12. . ENJOY THE CONFERENCE AND ALL OF GOD’s BLESSINGs!
19. PRAYERS and INTERCESSION: Please always include the conference and the organizing staffs in your prayers. Pray also for GOD’s provision for all those who will be attending the conference.
We’ll this is it for now! I’m excited and looking forward to another great East Asia Regional Conference.
See you soon … many blessings!
Ptr Gani Sison