Greetings,

With the help of Sandra Hasenauer who has kindly agreed to serve as moderator, we have launched a news/discussion group through Google.com.  Many of us are engaging with Karen, Chin and others for the first time.  So we hope this discussion group can be used to exchange information and ideas and to learn from each other.  While it is under the name Karen Konnection, we also hope that those involved with Chin, Kachin, or other ministries related to people from Burma will also make use of it.

You can use this link to access the newsgroup: http://groups.google.com/group/karen-konnection?hl=en. If that link doesn't cooperate with you, just go to www.google.com. On the upper left, you'll see some links to other Google features -- click on "more" and choose "Groups" out of the drop-down list. In the Groups page, type "Karen Konnection" in the box, and click "Search Groups". The Karen Konnection newsgroup should show up first; just click on the title.

You don't need to have a Google account to read or respond to messages in the newsgroup. However, without an account you won't be able to access features such as "pages", files, and member lists, or change your subscription type (No Email, Abridged Email, etc.). Since Google accounts are free and require little or no personal information from you, you may want to just go ahead and sign up for one. You may do so through the Google homepage.

Currently this newsgroup is completely public; however, we are going to be moderating postings for security reasons. This means that when you post a message or response, our moderator will need to review and approve it for posting--so be patient since that's not an instantaneous process.

Please keep in mind that since this is completely public, anyone and everyone can see what is written.  So you might want to consider whether names, addresses and other personal information should be posted.

On the other hand, this group will only be effective if many people participate.  So please feel free to let others know about this discussion group and to make use of it.  Right now, there are only a couple of trial messages posted.  Don't be limited by the topics listed.  If you have a question or problem, chances are others are dealing with the same issue and might be able to help or cooperate.

We look forward to hearing from you in this news and discussion group.

Yours,

Duane & Marcia