About the Go2Serve.com E-Magazine

Our E-magazine is designed for charity travellers by charity travellers with the needs and obstacles we find on the field related in short blog posts by date.

(Signed in Members will be able to see the entire blog post by clicking on the date.)

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As well, there will be blog posts on helpful-to-know facts & figures regarding resources we list and highlights of what our members are up to.

Jan 10, 2024 The Post Covid World - Visa Restrictions are lifting

Things are opening again in many parts of the world with less restrictive visa's being issued. I highlight news on this front for China and Vietnam specifically.

For China effective from 0:00 on March 15, 2023:

I. Foreigners with valid visas issued before March 28, 2020 will be allowed to enter China. Those already issued the 10 year multi entry visa can continue using them assuming they were not issued before 2015.

II. All categories of Chinese visas can be applied for. Most visas are limited to a 30 day stay but can be valid for multi entry up to 10 years! E-Visa's are not available and one must complete the lengthy application and personally visit an office with your passport,or mail in your application and passport and wait a few weeks for approval and to be sent back.

III. Port visas are no longer suspended.

In Addition there is a visa free zone being Hainan Island. 59 Countries are allowed to fly into Hainan Island, China with no visa. Visa will be issued upon arrival and is valid for 30 days. You cannot leave the Island of Hainan, however. The two airports you must fly into internationally are Sanya or Haikou.

Visas upon arrival, valid for 144 hours (6 days) are also available to most countries citizens for International arrivals arriving into China's major airports. They may have restrictions as to where you can go outside of those cities/areas for the six days however.

Vietnam is opening up in many wonderful ways! An E-Visa can be obtained for a reasonable USD25 for a single entry valid for 90 days or a multi entry valid for 90 days for USD50. You can process the application on this site: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/trang-chu-ttdt

How to use our site in finding opportunities to serve…

Go2serve.com highlights Opportunities to Serve. These opportunities will be selected from the various regions and organizations of our membership.

A full range of opportunities are listed under 9 categories sitting in each Geographical Tab above i.e. Europe, Middle East, Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific.

Here is an example for Asia/Pacific listing the 9 categories:

Once you have chosen a category of interest under your geographical tab you will see a list of Catch phrases for the opportunity. Example Shown is for the Asia Pacific Region and Category of Human Trafficking/Women and Children at Risk:

Only Logged in members can view actual links to the opportunity listings. Members also have the ability to publish their own opportunity or to update an existing one.

Become a Go2serve.com member - membership is Free!

You may want to consider the security of your communications where you are serving. Many governments or other religious bureaus around the world may not appreciate you the way we do! Consider a VPN, here are three we recommend:

The NordVPN service allows you to connect to 5600+ servers in 60+ countries. It secures your Internet data with military-grade encryption, ensures your web activity remains private and helps bypass geographic content restrictions online

PureVPN, a cutting-edge tech marvel, empowers internet users with complete anonymity, Internet freedom and data security against hackers, spies and snoopers. PureVPN leads the virtual private network industry with its feature-rich services and the unwavering trust of 1 million+ users. Today, we have over 750 advanced VPN servers spread across 140+ countries.

Is your organizations opportunity listed under our geographical tabs? If not, you need to advise us. We are working at getting all members organizational sites under the geographical tab where they are serving.

How to add your organizations opportunity - it’s free!

We know there is a lot of good going on out there!

1) Become a Regular Member

2) Request to be an Opportunity Partner

3) We will send you a link for logging in for editing the opportunity space we have allotted for you.

4) If you are logged in below you will find our video tutorial to refer to as you self publish:

Become a member and you will have the ability to post service and training opportunities directly to our site that will sit under the geographical tabs of your choice.

Here is a tutorial:

Travel Medical Insurance vs. Travel Insurance

Please check out our Insurance page for more information on our gold standard in International Travel Medical Insurance.

Travel Medical Insurance and Travel Health Insurance differentiate themselves from the simpler Travel or Trip Insurances in several ways. 1) Beyond the normal coverages for an accident, there is an allowance for inpatient and outpatient care (self determined) and 2) a validity period of up to one year with renewal options. 3) There are provisions for home visits whereby you can visit network physicians in your home country. This insurance is geared to those going overseas long term in nature. Maximum coverage is 364 days and is renewable. Please go to our insurance tab to find our gold standard for members and you will see why we are so convinced those in long term service need it.

Trip or Travel Insurance is also very good to have. A much more economical option, Trip insurance will cover accidents AND Loss from theft AND delays or cancellation cost because of your flight being changed by the airlines themselves. These Travel insurances will also cover the loss you would incur if you have a medical or family emergency and have to cancel your non-refundable airline tickets. Trip or Travel Insurance is not going to cover medical care other than resulting from an accident and is limited to 180 days of coverage. Trip or Travel Insurance is best for the short term mission or short term stay.

NOTE: While most of our products are for any nationality from anywhere. the short term simple travel insurance policies we offer are only for US residents residing in the USA at time of application.

Members, please do consider our longer term Travel Medical or Travel Health Insurance products on the Insurance tab. We also have two very good options for Travel/Trip Insurance. In each product you will find a very simple quote request with instant response for any destination and duration worldwide!

Always Travel Deal Searching for YOU!

Go2serve.com will scan the travel markets around the globe for special offers. Our membership can also enjoy a travel agent concierge whereby humanitarian fares and/or greater luggage allowances are accessed. Members please check out our Flights tab for that.

We also know of many good flight, auto and hotel engines for worldwide destinations and recommend you book with these partners:

Members!

As a member please do take advantage of our travel concierge from the Flight tab. Find a humanitarian fare with greater benefits and longer durations and/or compare them with publshed, private or business fares..

Nov 27, 2021 To the Ends of the Earth

What does the ends of the earth look like in our day and how is it affecting modern missions movements? I was so moved by the movie that MAF put out that was shown in theatres around the world by this title.

If you haven't watched it you really must. We have listed thier website in our Resources section under Media and Communications. The movie documented one place on earth that is as an end in terms of its remoteness - Papua New Guinea. It was moving to see the new believers desire to reach thier neighbors in other remote villages after tasting the goodness of God. We were amazed to see the lengths these small villages in mountainous jungles go to hear the good news. As the world assimilates more and more we are seeing the ends of the earth are changing. Some of those from the ends of the earth are mixing into our neighborhoods. They are now travelling to us! It is also so encouraging to see a new shift in missions being birthed from Southern Hemisphere to the North in addition to our continued Northern Hemisphere to the South. We will also begin to see the Far East going Eastward? There are so many ready to go! Let us be ones to consider how we can encourage and support them. We may feel trapped by Covid in these times but on the other hand Covid may very well be creating a new audience for us! As Jesus tells us. "Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest!" John 4:35

Oct 15, 2021 Travel Updates in our Covid 19 times

While flying domestically in most countries of the world is getting back to normal, International travel still has a lot of extra hurdles.

Covid Testing

The only real difference in domestic travel these days is that masks are required in most cases. Flying internationally however also requires Covid testing of various validity lengths. In most cases the destination country is requiring that Covid tests be done within 72 hours of final boarding time to thier country. Some of the best and most update information can be obtained from the airline websites themselves. After ticketing with us or another service you can go directly to an airlines website to see the most updated rules for your destination. Airlines will have the most updated requirements as they are acting as the gatekeeper for that country in allowing you to board. Also keep in mind that if transitting, the country of transit may also have some requirements or restrictions with regard to Covid. Some countries, may require that these tests be done with thier authorized labs in your country. Usually there is an ISO certification involved in these cases. When planning your trip it is best to keep in mind the labs turn around time and that you will be able to recieve your test electronically by the time you are ready to board your first flight. Additionally will it also be within 72 hours of your final boarding time on your international journey? As an example let's say Tim is flying to Hong Kong. He decides he best fly on a Friday in a week without holidays. His first flight will be Friday evening and his final flight to Hong Kong will be in the early morning hours of Saturday. Tim works backward and finds that as the lab will probably only open at 8AM he will choose Wednesday morning @9AM to get tested. Thursday goes by, Friday goes by and now he stands at the ticketing gate for his first flight around 60 hours later! Woola! His electronic covid test result has been delivered electronically. He is allowed to board and after a transit he boards his final flight to Hong Kong now 66 hours later. Great within 72 hours so still valid.

Quarantines and Hotels

Tim also had to show before boarding that he has a 21 day reservation with an approved quarantine hotel in Hong Kong. Note that Hong Kong is one of the most difficult and most countries are allowing quarantines at friends homes or other faciiities but it is good to find out before you go. Again check what the airlines are going to request of you when checking in. It is good to plan for this extra cost in the event that when you are in that country there are quarantine requirements you need to submit too. At minimum you may be looking at one week of hotel and food service. Before leaving for your destination find out also what measures are in place by the local government if you should begin to have symptoms and/or need to have a Covid test.

Covid Insurance and Riders

In these times it is even more important to have a travel insurance policy. Many travel insurances are offering special Covid coverages with riders to cover extra unexpected expenses such as quarantine or accompanying care giver when in a foreign country. it is good to consider specific Covid issues when deciding where to get your insurance.

Covid Flight Conditions

Thankfully most airlines are taking a very lenient course of action when it comes to cancellation or change. in fact don't be surprised by the airlines themselves cancelling many of their international flights. In such a case of course you will not have to pay any extra fees for the rebooking. Even without it, airlines are often offering the first change with no charge anyway. Charges may occur if you change a date from a low seasonality to a high seasonality however. In this case you may need to pay a fare difference. One consideration during Covid times is to consider the humanitarian fare. Often the humanitarian fare is a bit more costly but it has special provisions such as changing more often with little or no fees and of course greater luggage allowances.

Group Travel in a Pandemic

There will be a lot more dynamics for your group travel. Be aware of the possibility of someone contracting Covid and because they are part of your group you may all need to be quarantined or at the very least make a plan B. Airlines are not as enthusiastic to give group airfares but they are still possible. You may find that unlike in the past a full payment for the group fare may be required much faster than the old days you were use to. I.e. paying a 10% deposit and then paying the final a couple weeks before departure. This also means you may need to be prepared with names and details of your group earlier.

Use your creative, technical or business talents in global media missions

Trans World Radio

Join us in bringing Christian Media to the ends of the earth!

March 4, 2021 Get the true exchange rate and low fees in sending your funds

Stop letting banks charge you for International Wire Transfers!

Many find bank systems cumbersome and costly and without a credit card find paypal to be out of their reach. Paypal can also be a rip off when it comes to the rate of exchange they use. For this featured service you only require a bank account to send from and a bank account to send to which is a different currency than the one you send from. You will need to prepare addresses registered with the bank, routing numbers, account numbers, checking or saving account clarification as well as the full names as registered with the bank. There may be some limits on maximum amounts dependent on countries involved. It does not mean that you can't send multiple times,necessarily however. My experience is that my total amount of fees is between USD1-4 per transaction and they are fast. Many times within 24 hours.

Balances – you can hold and convert money between the 50+ currencies in which we offer Wise balances. We always use the real exchange rate to convert your money which makes our service up to 7 times cheaper than traditional banks.

Bank details – we offer local bank details in 10 currencies (US dollars, British pounds, Euro, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Singapore dollar, as well as Hungarian forint, Romanian leu and Turkish lira). You can use these bank details to receive money for free into your Wise account, which you can then convert or hold.

Direct debits – our US, British pound and Euro bank details allow you to set up direct debits to pay for utility bills or any other subscriptions or automated payments.

Debit card – with the Wise Visa card, you can spend in over 200 countries without the hidden fees. Add it to your Apple or Google wallets for convenient use.

Money transfers – send money to over 60 countries at the real exchange rate and low, transparent fees

Jars – Money in a jar is kept separately from your balances, if you are saving it for something later. You can’t accidentally spend it with your debit card, and you can’t send it or use it to pay Direct Debits. You can open as many jars as you need to organise your money.

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Our mission is money without borders - instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free.

How do we work towards achieving our mission?
Wise builds products that solve the problems of the clunky old-school financial system, making international banking and cross-currency payments fast, easy, transparent, and ridiculously cheap. Today, over 10 million people and businesses use Wise products to make money easier when they live, work, travel or do business around the world.

Dec 21, 2020 End Bible Poverty

Is it possible that every person could one day hear God's word in their Mother Tongue?

Those working at End Bible Poverty think so!

End Bible Poverty Website

On this site you will find opportunities for your ministry to take part in acheiving this goal. While there is a continuous work of translating the Bible into various written languages, there is also an understanding that for many there may never be an opportunity to become literate. Hearing the Gospel in their language and having a complete audio bible is then a very compelling concern. Join with this initiative to help find believers in all language groups that are bilingual and can translate and speak the Bible in their mother tongue. Be ones who distribute micro SD cards for those in these languages, an SD Card that can be inserted into their own mobile phone. Join in taking printed Bibles of various languages directly to the people who can read but have never had access to them. Go to this site to understand what is being done currently and where the glaring needs are for the distribution of God's word. Having worked amongst those whose mother tongue differs greatly from the majority around them and where there has never been a written script in their language, hearing God's word and the teachings of Jesus are so valuable and precious!

Dec 21, 2020 What is a Virtual Private Network?

Why a VPN for your communications is a must have. What is a Virtual Private Network?

All our communications are subject to hijack. It seems the old days of faxing was the most secure way to go! Then, our information was divided into lots of different packets and hard to regroup until deciphered on the other end! If it was hijacked it would only be a peice and not the whole. Well, I don't think we want to go back to faxing do we? The convenience of the internet with the amazing speed of 5G quickly surrounding us is the way to go. However, it could mean getting our whole packet of communication taken out of the stream, copied and put back in. Or even more commonly, all of our clicks and views being recorded and analyzed. Governments around the world can and often do this, not to mention the nefarious tech giants as a means to generate more advertising revenues.

Practically speaking, beside emails being read frequently, there are places in the world where the information you need is blocked completely. Sometimes we refer to these as firewalls. For those in China it is called the Great Fire Wall.

Will using a VPN cause local authorities alarm? It is possible, but technology cloaking your signing on to the VPN is getting better by the day. Alarms would be rare.

A good VPN will have hundreds of dedicated servers around the world to which you can log on. Once logged on your computers location will change to be that Servers location. The connection will be "tunnelled" meaning it goes through fire walls and no one will be able to cut in. They will also not be able to see or record any of the webpages or communications you have been clicking. Most importantly none of your communications will bounce between various servers in your country while enroute.

A good VPN provider will also regularly update and change their server addresses so that as nefarious entities try to hack in, the address will be changed.

The service we highly recommend and know personally that meets all these criteria is Private Internet Access.

Members Feedback

Thanks for your feedback!

You have the insights and understanding with what is going on in the world of charitable workers. Please use this blog to feedback what you are seeing on the site and how it can be made more concise. Feedback where we can make improvements on our services or perhaps a service we need to add that is lacking! Thanking you in advance!

May 1, 2020 Sending large files beyond email capacity

Large files that you want to send and they are too large for email...

It happens all the time in this day and age! Try Wetransfer.com! This is a free service which allows you to upload up to 8GB at one time. What you upload will be available for one weeks time to those emails you register to download it. I love thier service, the ads are minimal and do not get in the way at all! Yay! We Transfer! You can find their link in our Resources area under Media as well.

Please give us feedback on your experience or further questions on We Transfer.

April 20,2020 Download and share all those great videos on Youtube

Get all those great Youtube videos for others and Ad Free!

Are you finding all those great resources on Youtube stuck on Youtube instead of getting to those who don't have such options - now you can bless others with them, without the ads too! Perhaps you are in a restricted access nation and you have the ability to enjoy all the great resources on the web due to your vpn. It doesn't mean those around you can. You know how much they can benefit by those resources. Now you can download and convert to formats useful for those around you! Upload files to your countries sharing sites or save it on a usb for them! Annual costs for this software service is around USD59.

Please give us feedback on your experience with Wondershare/Uniconverter!

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