We received word yesterday that the three big boxes of personal hygiene kits which the children at Vacation Bible School put together and packed have arrived in Nigeria.  They were taken with other medical supplies by the delegation from St. Paul Reformation Lutheran last month.  These kits will be used as a part of the growing health services out of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria’s Demsa Hospital and clinics.

Thanks Zion kids! Job of sharing well done and we know well appreciated!

Have you ever been invited to an event as a guest of honor? What was it like? How were you treated?

Each day after VBS in the village, we were supposed to hold 2 hours of games with the kids. On the first day of VBS, however, Nicholas organized a soccer game (“Arsenal” vs. “Manchester United”) for us to attend. He kept telling us about the different teams, the school where it was being held, and most importantly, how excited the kids were to play for us. I don’t think any of us anticipated their excitement. As we arrived, the kids once again began to surround our car. Many of them hadn’t attended VBS that day because they were from a different school in the area, so we were somewhat of a novelty to them. The game got underway soon after we got there, so we set up some camping chairs that we had borrowed from a friend in Kampala and settled in to watch. We definitely looked like soccer moms (and Matt played the part of the Dad pacing the sidelines).

"Soccer Moms"

Corner kick with spectactors surrounding the goal

The kids had a great time cheering for their teams. Some would stand behind the goals with drums, while others were watching from the sidelines (or trying to crowd around us, at which point Pastor Jack would smack a stick near them so that they’d run away). What impressed me the most about this experience was the village’s welcome and the kids’ excitement despite their circumstances… The field was sloped, shoddily marked, and defined by long grass; the goal posts looked like they were about to fall down; and the players wore the pinnies Matt and Angela brought them last year, but they were all barefoot.

We all had a lot of fun at the game. We even ran out on the field to see a penalty shot up close. The players were really good at soccer, and I didn’t realize until the end of the game how young they were!

Sloped field

Matt with the teams

More bureaucracy to hamper volunteering?

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I had a little rant about CRB forms. A local journalist picked it up and made a bit of a news item of it. Comments were made on the Express and Star article and on the blog – it seems to be an issue that affects many people.

Since my rant I’ve been off to Sandwell Council to fill in my form and have a mini interview where they viewed all my documents. It’s a good thing I took my marriage certificate, cos since I’d retained my maiden name as a middle name they wanted a copy of that too. I’m still waiting for the disclosure to come through. According to the lady at the council, neither the school nor the council pays for my form since I’m a volunteer. I’d like to know how the agency is funded then – it has to be the taxpayer in the end.

From that interview, and from blog comments, I understand that the really important part of a CRB form is not the disclosure you get given yourself, but the ’soft information’ sent to the applying organisation. But I can’t see why the applying organisation couldn’t see a previous disclosure and then have a system where the CRB takes the number of that form and gives the soft information to the new organisation.

And it seems that the new Independent Safeguarding Authority’s Vetting and Barring scheme will merely add an additional layer of bureaucracy, not simplify the system. The CRB’s website makes it clear that

…the ISA will prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults The CRB will continue to support employers, through CRB checks by providing them with access to an individual’s full criminal record and other information so that they can asses that individual’s suitability for a particular post or position

So now people who volunteer or work in different organisations will have to have both a fistful of CRB disclosures and an ISA clearance. Joy. At least the ISA are able to make their check transferable. Why not the CRB? This seems to be a case of a total lack of joined up government or maybe it’s just a job creation scheme.

According to a survey conducted among 801 Southern Baptist pastors by LifeWay Research, Vacation Bible School is still the top outreach event in the SBC! Here’s an excerpt from the article:

LifeWay Research reveals top evangelism activities

Written by Mark Kelly

NASHVILLE, Tenn., 10/7/09 – When it comes to evangelistic outreach, the most common methods Southern Baptist churches use these days are Vacation Bible School, feeding ministries, visitor follow-up and prayer for people who have not made a decision to receive Christ.

By far the most common outreach event conducted by Southern Baptist congregations is Vacation Bible School. Eighty-five percent of pastors say their churches held VBS in the past 12 months.

To read more of this article, click here!

Yes, believe it or not, we are already receiving some inquiries in the Resource Center for VBS kits in 2010. The basic information is posted on our VBS website (www.saveonvbs.com).  You’ll see the discounted prices there as well. More information will be posted as it is available!

Group is offering:

• High Seas Expedition
• Egypt – Joseph’s Journey from Prison to Palace:

Gospel Light has “Son Quest - Rainforest” (super starter kit and regular starter kit).

Standard has “Hero Quest - Where Kids Join Forces with God” (Power Pak and regular starter kit).

Concordia is offering “Planet Zoom - Where Bold BEElievers Zip Zap and Zoom for Jesus” (Super Duper and regular starter kit).

Regular Baptist Press has “Sea Quest – Diving for God’s Treasure.”

Answers in Genesis has “Egypt File – Decoding the Mysteries of Life.”

Augsburg is offering “Baobab Blast – God’s Great Get-Together. (No, I didn’t make “Baobab” up! It’s a tree in Africa.) 

Starter Kits are discounted by 10% everyday through LRM.

The VBS Extravaganza is being planned for January 16th. We’re working on some extra deals for attendees but if you are out of state, be sure to ask for a deal!

Yours in Christ,

Marty

Após uma ajudinha da Microsoft, consegui minimizar meu drama descrito em posts anteriores. Uma pequena luz no fim no túnel apareceu e consegui automatizar a geração de alguns tipos de relatórios.

Primeiramente, instalamos o Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express. No meu caso, utilizo o WSUS Internal Database (que fica no mesmo servidor).

Para a conexão ao database, é necessário usar autenticação “Integrated” com a seguinte string de conexão:

\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query

A partir daí, já é possível visualizar a estrutura do database (SUSDB), tabelas e views. Entendendo a estrutura básica, já é possível montar uma “query” sql para gerar os dados que queira.

No meu caso, precisava (na verdade preciso mensalmente) de um Report, sobre o status de instalação do último boletim de segurança.

Após alguns dias, consegui montar a seguinte query:

USE SUSDB
DECLARE @strGroup as varchar(20)
DECLARE @strKB as varchar(10)

SELECT @strGroup = 'Nome do Grupo'
SELECT @strKB = '112233' /* número do KB */

select count(*) as Total, uiib.State
from PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdateInstallationInfoBasic as uiib
inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerGroupMembership as cgm on uiib.ComputerTargetId = cgm.ComputerTargetId
inner join tbComputerTarget as ct on cgm.ComputerTargetId = ct.ComputerID
inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerTargetGroup as ctg on cgm.ComputerTargetGroupId = ctg.ComputerTargetGroupId
inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdate as u on uiib.UpdateId = u.UpdateId
inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdateApproval as ua on uiib.UpdateId = ua.UpdateId
WHERE
ctg.Name = @strGroup
AND u.KnowledgebaseArticle = @strKB
AND ua.Action = 'Install'
GROUP BY uiib.State

A partir daí gerei um vbs pra facilitar minha vida:

GetWSUSData "'All Computers'","'971961'"
GetWSUSData "'All Computers'","'970710'"
GetWSUSData "'All Computers'","'973812'"
GetWSUSData "'All Computers'","'967723'"
GetWSUSData "'All Computers'","'956844'"

Sub GetWSUSData(strGroup, strKB)

	ConnSQL = "Provider=SQLNCLI;Data Source=\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query;Database=SUSDB;Trusted_Connection=yes"
	set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
	rs.ActiveConnection = ConnSQL

	SQL = "select count(*) as Total, uiib.State " & _
	"from PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdateInstallationInfoBasic as uiib " & _
	"inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerGroupMembership as cgm on uiib.ComputerTargetId = cgm.ComputerTargetId " & _
	"inner join tbComputerTarget as ct on cgm.ComputerTargetId = ct.ComputerID " & _
	"inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerTargetGroup as ctg on cgm.ComputerTargetGroupId = ctg.ComputerTargetGroupId " & _
	"inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdate as u on uiib.UpdateId = u.UpdateId " & _
	"inner join PUBLIC_VIEWS.vUpdateApproval as ua on uiib.UpdateId = ua.UpdateId " & _
	"WHERE " & _
	"ctg.Name in (" & strGroup & ") " & _
	"AND u.KnowledgebaseArticle = " & strKB & " " & _
	"AND ua.Action = 'Install' " & _
	"GROUP BY uiib.State"

	rs.Source = SQL
	rs.Open()
	Wscript.Echo "Statistics for Groups " & Replace(strGroup,"'","") & " and KBs " & Replace(strKB,"'","")
	While (not rs.eof)
		wscript.echo GetStatus(rs.fields.item("State").value) & "," & rs.fields.item("Total").value
		rs.MoveNext()
	Wend

	rs.Close
	Set ConnSQL = Nothing
	Set SQL = Nothing
	Wscript.Echo ""

End Sub

Function GetStatus(strStatusCode)
	Select Case strStatusCode
	Case 2
		GetStatus = "Not Installed"
	Case 3
		GetStatus = "Downloaded"
	Case 4
		GetStatus = "Installed"
	Case 5
		GetStatus = "Failed"
	Case 6
		GetStatus = "Pending Reboot"
	End Select
End Function

I’ve been avoiding blogging about this as it’s hard to put this experience into words. Even the night after, the team talked about how difficult it would be to share this experience with others. It felt like a once in a lifetime experience, but that’s not how it’s suppose to be. A cold snowy October afternoon seems to be the perfect day to tackle this blog.

On Wednesday, after a morning of relaxing, sightseeing, and shopping in the market, we headed out to Manchen. Manchen is a home for girls ages 10-18. Most of these girls have come from abuse and many are pregnant or have young children. We had planned an afternoon of talking about how these precious girls were treasures to each other, and most importantly to God. We were sharing testimonies and lots of Scripture, making bracelets, painting nails, and more. As the gates were opened for us, the girls were surrounding the gate and were cheering as we entered. They hurriedly reached out for hugs, desperate for someone to show them love. As we got ready, cameras came out and the girls quickly all wanted their pictures taken again and again. We waited for awhile for our third translator who was coming in from Guatemala City to arrive. Soon we started our opening assembly with the ever popular “Mi Dios es Tan Grande” and then the girls sang us a song. We had them separate into three groups and soon wondered how we were going to manage three groups with two translators.

As chaos ensued, we decided to put the two smaller groups together for the Bible study and testimony time. As we started our program, Ronne (our group leader) looked at me and said, “I know God is here. I just wish we could see Him.” Little did we know how much we would see Him. The afternoon continued as we rotated through the centers and we ran our poor translators ragged as they ran back and forth between groups. God miraculously gave Courtney enough Spanish to communicate with the girls without a translator, which quickly disappeared as a translator became available. I soon had a beautiful little girl in my arms, playing with her, so that her mom could participate.

As Ronne share her story with our group, tears started to flow as the Holy Spirit spoke and showed these girls that no matter the abuse, the wrong decisions, or regrets, we are still His creation, treasured and priceless. We finished our afternoon and prepared to leave, but God had other plans. Our team was called into a room where Courtney and Berta were talking with a young girl. Courtney shared this girl’s story of abuse, life in a brothel, cutting, and her choice to become one of God’s treasured girls. We gathered around and prayed for her healing, her new life, and strength when life is hard. Soon, the girls outside the closed doors realized what was happening and they lined up outside the door, wanting to be prayed for. For the next few hours, we prayed for the girls of this home for their drug addictions they wanted free of, for them wanting to return home, and more.

When we had finished praying for the girls, Berta shared her heart with us for the eleven girls who were locked in a room together because they had tried or been accused of trying to kill someone. As we walked over to their room, the girls started reaching out their hands, desperate for touch. As the sun set, we stood and prayed for these girls, holding hands stretched out through the bars on the windows.

More than two hours after we were supposed to leave, we said goodbye to girls with new life and new hope, learning about the treasures they are. We arrived at our extremely nice dinner location straight from Manchen. We were dirty, probably smelly, tired, and completely in awe. As Ronne said, we were covered in “Jesus dirt.” As our team was seated next to a couple that I’m sure was looking forward to a quiet, romantic dinner, we began to share the various stories of the afternoon. We sat and marveled at being part of God’s miraculous work.

From the picture from Ceracaif that there was nothing that we could do to really change these, it was all the more impactful to watch the One who can and delights to do it everyday, do it for these girls at Manchen, and to participate in the miraculous when you are pouring out Him and not yourself.

 This doesn’t do the afternoon justice, but I hope it gives you a peek into the incredible opportunity to be a part of the eternal, and whets your appetite to see the miraculous, to expect big things from God, and to watch in wonder as the least of these realize that the God of the universe treasures them, treasure them enough to die for them. It’s these experiences that keep me wanting to participate in God’s work around the world.

 Pray for these girls, for the many girls with a new life in Christ, and for strength through the difficulties. Pray for these girls as they move in November to “The City of Orphans,” where the Guatemala government is moving many of the orphanages in Antigua and Guatemala City. This “city” will home to over 1,000 orphans, young and old, boys and girls.

So… everyone has been there…

There’s a new version of something out, and your “compliance” folks who always bitch about security and vulnerabilities are screaming at you about the usual problem – You install a newer version of something, but the old ones remain!  How do you CLEANLY uninstall stuff?  Well… I have two great scripts for this.  One uses the classic VBScript, great for MS boxes, and the other uses an oldy-but-goody… KIXtart (KIX32.exe).  Lets’s see what we’ve got…

First, let’s do the VBScript code.

Set WShl = Wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

Wshl.Run “msiexec.exe /qn /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001}”, 0, True

Notice the part with the product code.  You can use some great tools out there like msiinv.exe, or Resource Explorer through SMS or SCCM to get these codes.  the “0″ tells it to run this process in a hidden window, and “true” makes this almost like a child process, so this line of code doesn’t technically exit until the command is done.  The great thing about this single line, is if you have MANY older versions existing on your network, you can apply as many of these lines, and they will run back-to-back, untill they’ve all exited completely!

Now… for KIX…

shell “%comspec% /e:1024 /c” + “msiexec.exe /qn /x {F07B861C-72B9-40A4-8B1A-AAED4C06A7E8}”

Same thing.  Add as many lines of this you need, for each product/product code… and you’re cooking with grease!

The VBS.TV crew has visited the jamaican capital Kingston to shoot a documentary on the contemporary jamaican dancehall scene.  The movie is divided into 9 parts – each dealing with different issues. Sneak a peek on dubplate sessions, dancehall princesses, clubs and more featuring artists like Vybez Kartel, Delishus, Ce’Cile, Einstein, Spice, Sean Paul and Assassin.

Watch all parts here!

Part1:

The Court ruled criminal records can be held on police computers for ‘as long as they feel necessary’, and can be shared with the Criminal Records Bureau, which has the right to show the records to employers or prospective employers.

Opponents to the court ruling state that too many execptions are being made to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and that excessive checks will not allow people to move on from their past.

Recently, a new scheme was setup for employers who work with children and vulnerable adults, called the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS). The scheme is administrated by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) and allows employers to perform an enhanced CRB check.

The ISA has been placed in charge of ensuring that whilst children and vulnerable adults are protected, employees NOT working with these groups have the chance to move on from spent convictions.

The VBS already allows an employer to check an employee for any sexual convictions; hence the recent ruling does not add any extra ability to strengthen these searches – it only serves to diminish the ability of employees with non-sexual convictions to move on.
Employment law specialists
www.appartnership.co.uk

At LifeWay Kids Conference last week, the Young Musicians Honor Choir from Oklahoma did such a great job with the premiere of the VBS 2010 Saddle Ridge Ranch music. I put together a video of some of the highlights for you, but I need to warn you ahead of time – I’m not the best videographer in the world (so you may experience some motion sickness while watching).

I really was blessed to see these kids worship as they sang these songs – It’s very touching to hear them sing “I just wanna be like Jesus” and be able to tell that they really do mean it!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

Vacation Bible School held at Taala Residence, Mansilingan

Teens

Grade School Kids

Younger Kids

Pre-Teens

VBS held at Bethel Christian Fellowship, Purok Progreso, Brgy. Taculing

Bethel Kids

Bethel Kids singing

Bethel Kids with their craft

Bethel Kids praying

VBS held at Bacolod City Gospel Church

Grade School Kids

Pre-Teens

VBS Teachers -- BCGC Youth

Em mais uma necessidade interna emergencial, fiz um script para verificar nos computadores do domínio, quais estão sem cliente de antivírus, já que não temos nenhuma solução de NAC implementada (por enquanto). Inclusive a própria Symantec tem uma solução que integra o  Symantec Endpoint, neste ponto, o Symantec Network Access Control, mas precisa de uma outra licença. Enfim, não vou entrar nestes detalhes agora. Quem sabe em outro post.

O script abaixo foi colocado em script de Logon via GPO do AD e aplicado na OU de usuários. Eu utilizei um banco de dados para armazenar as informações (veja a estrutura da tabela comentada no próprio script), mas também é possível utilizar um arquivo texto, basta mudar o código. Também é possível checar qualquer software, bastando mudar o valor da variável.

Ele gera uma entrada no banco, com o nome da máquina, ip e nome do usuário logado.

On Error Resume next

Err.Clear
CheckSEP

Function CheckSEP()
	'On Error Resume next
	strComputer = "."
	Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
	    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
	Set colSoftware = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
	    ("Select Caption from Win32_Product Where Name='symantec endpoint protection'")

	bInstall = False

	For Each objSoftware in colSoftware
		If LCase(objSoftware.Caption) = "symantec endpoint protection" Then
			bInstall = True
			Exit for
		End If
	Next

	If bInstall = False Then
		CheckDB
	End If

End Function

Sub CheckDB()
	'On Error Resume next
	Const adOpenStatic = 3
	Const adLockOptimistic = 3

	Set objConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
	Set objRecordSet = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
	objConnection.Open _
       "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=10.10.10.10;" & _
        "Trusted_Connection=No;Initial Catalog=db_checksep;" & _
             "User ID=user;Password=password;"

	'Table: tb_withoutSEP
	'Columns: Computername (varchar)
	'		  IP (varchar)
	'		  UserName (varchar)
	'		  Description (varchar)

	SQL = "SELECT COUNT(computername) as Total FROM tb_withoutSEP WHERE ComputerName = '" & GetComputerName & "'"

	objRecordSet.Open SQL, objConnection, adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic

	bExist = False

	While (not objRecordSet.eof)
		If int(objRecordSet.fields.item("Total").value) > 0 Then
			bExist = True
		End If
		objRecordSet.MoveNext()
	Wend

	If bExist = False Then
		WriteToDB
	End If

	objRecordSet.Close

	Set objRecordSet = Nothing
	Set objConnection = Nothing

End Sub

Sub WriteToDB()
	'On Error Resume next
	Set objConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
	Set objRecordSet = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
	objConnection.Open _
          "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=10.10.10.10;" & _
            "Trusted_Connection=No;Initial Catalog=db_checksep;" & _
              "User ID=user;Password=password;"
'Table: tb_withoutSEP
 'Columns: Computername (varchar)
 '		  IP (varchar)
 '		  UserName (varchar)
 '		  Description (varchar)

 SQL = "INSERT INTO tb_withoutSEP VALUES ('" & GetComputerName & "','" & GetIPAddress & "','" & GetUserName & "','" & Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description & "')"

 objRecordSet = objConnection.Execute(SQL)

 Set objRecordSet = Nothing
 Set objConnection = Nothing

End Sub

Function GetComputerName()
 'On Error Resume next
 Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
 tmp = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%COMPUTERNAME%" )
 GetComputerName = tmp
 Set wshShell = Nothing

End Function

Function GetUserName()

 'On Error Resume next
 Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
 tmp = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%USERDOMAIN%" )
 tmp = tmp & "\" & wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%USERNAME%" )
 GetUserName = tmp
 Set wshShell = Nothing

End Function

Function GetIPAddress()

 'On Error Resume next
 strComputer = "."
 Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
 & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

 Set IPConfigSet = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
 ("Select * from Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Where IPEnabled=TRUE")

 tmp = ""

 For Each IPConfig in IPConfigSet
 If Not IsNull(IPConfig.IPAddress) Then
 'For i=LBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) to UBound(IPConfig.IPAddress)
 tmp = trim(IPConfig.IPAddress(LBound(IPConfig.IPAddress)))
 If tmp <> "" then
 GetIPAddress = tmp
 exit for
 End If
 'Next
 End If
 Next

End Function

Quebrou um belo de um galho!