50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 635 Your church has problems with its management.
Instead of helping them, Dong Haoyang and Zhu Hongfei stayed in the living room watching the spectacle.

Zhu Hongfei, in particular, would occasionally make a fuss as if courting death.

Sun Zhiwei could easily imagine that Zhu Hongfei would suffer a terrible fate during their routine training later on.

Despite the noise around him, Sun Zhiwei felt no annoyance; this was the life a normal person should have.

Sun Zhiwei lay on the bed, opened his eyes and thought for a while, only to find that he had nothing to do today. He immediately felt a sense of relief. It felt so good to be a hands-off boss.

Although he will need to stay in New York for a few more months to assist the group in integrating its companies in various locations, he will be able to truly relax once the group is on track.

He can't complain about this; he has to do his best in his last shift so that he can enjoy his own life in the future.

From now on, money will just be a number to him. Whether it's a small goal or a big goal, a little more or a little less is enough. He doesn't care about the rich list.

The billionaires on today's rich list are significantly different from those on the rich list in the internet age decades from now.

The majority of the assets of today's billionaires are tangible assets.

Unlike later, when the world's richest person's assets reached 1000 billion this year, then shrank to 500 billion next year, and then returned to 800 billion the year after.

Their assets fluctuate entirely with the stock market, like a rollercoaster ride. He doesn't want to be the world's richest man like that.

Sun Zhiwei lay in bed for another half hour, and only got up to wash up after breakfast was prepared downstairs.

Tong Jiajia spent a leisurely week at home. Every day, she went to work at the foundation, while Sun Zhiwei was unemployed and spent his days wandering around the neighborhood.

When the weekend came, the two of them went to St. John's Cathedral for worship.

Father Irwin always warmly welcomed them, because each visit brought the church a considerable amount of extra income.

Every time Sun Zhiwei saw this magnificent cathedral, he would think of Bishop Wilson in his office, tugging at his gray hair and carefully calculating the month's expenses, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Even as a regional bishop, he has it tough. He has to maintain the cathedral's prestige while also worrying about next month's income.

Compared to the fat and bloated abbots in China, these bishops are really miserable.

Can you believe that the only St. John's Cathedral in the United States has a fixed monthly income solely from tourist ticket sales?

This amount of money isn't even enough to light candles in the church hall. It's heartbreaking.

This time when Sun Zhiwei came, he saw Father Owen again, who still greeted Sun Zhiwei and his wife with a smile.

After the service last night, Sun Zhiwei donated a check as usual, but couldn't help saying, "Father Owen, you have problems with the management of the church."

Upon hearing this, Father Owen first looked at Sun Zhiwei in surprise, then seemed to suddenly remember something.

He immediately grabbed Sun Zhiwei's hand excitedly and pleaded in a low voice, "Mr. James, please be sure to give us some guidance."

Father Owen couldn't help but be excited. This man in front of him was a super-rich tycoon who wanted to give you advice on business matters. What would you think?
Later, Buffett's dinner was auctioned off for $1.2 million. Just imagine how incredible that was.

(Anyway, if a super-rich person said that to me, I'd kneel down before him immediately. What's the point of writing?)
So, Father Owen dragged Sun Zhiwei into the staff passage in full view of everyone.

Tong Jiajia shook her head helplessly behind them, then followed in their footsteps.

Soon, the three arrived at Bishop Wilson's office. Father Irving didn't even stop at the door; he excitedly grabbed Sun Zhiwei, pushed open the door, and rushed inside. Inside the office, Bishop Wilson was frowning, considering next month's expenses.

Their church originally had a full-time accountant, but their financial situation is no longer optimistic.

Unwilling to let other regional bishops or even the archbishop know about the plight of St. John's Cathedral, he had no choice but to dismiss the accountant and take charge of the accounts himself.

January 1st is the Feast of Circumcision, and churches need to hold ceremonies. If 200 believers attend, the cost will be around $4000.

However, there has been a significant increase in the number of new immigrant believers in the area recently, so at least an additional $2000 needs to be prepared to cope with the potential influx of believers.

But it takes him a long time to prepare the Holy Communion for so many people. As he gets older, he is starting to find it harder to do this kind of physical work.

There is also the Epiphany on January 6th, also known as the Feast of the Three Kings, which commemorates the three wise men from the East who presented gifts to the Lord.

There are quite a few offerings to prepare, and it's definitely not enough to rely solely on donations from believers. The church also needs to prepare a portion of the offerings, which is also an expense.

That evening, a celebration will be held featuring singing Christmas carols and masquerade dancing, requiring food and wine to be prepared for the believers participating in the event.

The wine inventory in the warehouse seems to be insufficient; we need to purchase a batch in advance as a backup.

In total, a "Feast of the Epiphany" costs approximately $1.5.

But the church's monthly income is limited, and last month's largest donation came from that wealthy Mr. James.

Fortunately, he was friendly enough to this wealthy man that time; otherwise, such wealthy believers rarely come to church.

That would create a shortfall in their Christmas expenses this month, forcing him to use the reserves he had set aside for continuing church repairs.

Thinking of this, Bishop Wilson's brow furrowed even deeper.

Just then, Sun Zhiwei and his two companions rushed into the office.

Bishop Wilson frowned and looked at Father Owen, who was leading the group, about to reprimand him, but his eyes fell on Sun Zhiwei and his wife behind him.

Immediately, his expression changed from gloomy to cheerful, and a reserved smile appeared on his lips.

"Mr. James, it's been a long time! What brings you here?"

Sun Zhiwei and Tong Jiajia immediately bowed to Bishop Wilson, then looked helplessly at Father Owen.

Father Irving, finally able to contain his excitement, began to recount the events clearly:

“Teacher, after the service just now, Mr. James told me that our church is having some problems. I felt this was very important, so I brought him to see you.”

When Sun Zhiwei heard Owen address Bishop Wilson as "teacher," he finally understood why Father Owen held such a high position as the other priests in this church.

And just now, Father Owen didn't even knock before barging into the bishop's office. If it were anyone else, they probably would have been kicked out of the church.

So the two were actually teacher and student. That makes sense. Bishop Wilson is getting old, and Owen is clearly the one he's grooming to be the next bishop.

(End of this chapter)