Jesus 4 Asia Now

Trapped In Poverty, Glimpse of Hope

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: JFAN

Program Code: JFAN000070A


00:01 (dramatic orchestral music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia now.
00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and today my husband John is with me.
00:27 We're going to take you to a little village in India.
00:31 Welcome to the show, dear.
00:32 - Hi, darling, it's good to be here.
00:34 - You know, we're going to a little village in India today.
00:36 But it's an outcast, very poor village.
00:40 - Yes.
00:42 - And the only reason we could go there was...
00:44 - One of our Bible workers put in many months
00:47 of reaching out to connect with this village.
00:50 - Okay.
00:52 - Because the first time she went, they were afraid of her.
00:54 they've been abused and taken advantage of
00:57 by the outside world and so when she came in,
01:00 they didn't trust her.
01:01 And so they wouldn't talk to her.
01:03 And they wouldn't work with her.
01:04 - Wow.
01:06 - And so we've actually, we learned about this village
01:08 a couple years ago.
01:09 And we really wanted to go in and help this village,
01:12 but they were afraid of us.
01:14 And so over time, we've established a relationship
01:18 with this village through our Bible work.
01:20 And it's an amazing story, what she ended up having to do
01:23 to actually gain their trust.
01:24 - Right, and it shows the power of God.
01:27 - Yes.
01:28 - And the power of the love that God has given
01:29 to this Bible worker, that we're meeting today,
01:33 for these people.
01:34 - And that's exactly where this comes from.
01:36 That's the origination of the story.
01:39 Is in the heart of God there is love for people
01:42 that we don't even know.
01:44 - Right.
01:45 - In fact, that's the origination I believe, of missions
01:49 is that love that's in the heart of God,
01:51 for a people that don't know that He exists.
01:54 - That's true.
01:55 - And when we get close to him,
01:58 then he puts that love in us.
02:00 And we go for him.
02:02 Then after we meet them, often we fall in love with them.
02:05 But many times people or all the time people that
02:08 start that journey, have no idea who they're going for,
02:12 or don't know the individuals.
02:13 They may have an idea of the type
02:17 of people that that's there.
02:18 - Right, some vague understanding.
02:20 - Right.
02:21 - Of the culture, maybe and the lifestyle,
02:24 but to really put names and faces together,
02:27 you have to go there.
02:28 - You have to go there.
02:30 And and until you go there, you know,
02:31 all the mission statistics are just numbers.
02:34 - Right.
02:35 - But after you've been there,
02:36 - Then they have names and faces and stories.
02:40 So we're going to go with our Bible worker.
02:42 Her name is Salvi.
02:43 And we're going to go to the village of Amaravathi.
02:46 - Yes.
02:47 - We have a picture of it here.
02:49 And you can see the kind of village that it is.
02:52 - That's not much of a village.
02:54 There's about 45 families that live there.
02:57 All in small huts like that.
02:59 - Okay.
03:00 So Selvi, the Bible worker.
03:03 We're going to meet her in this video.
03:05 She went back after a year.
03:08 And well, let's start with her story.
03:11 Let's watch the video.
03:12 - All right.
03:23 - My name is Selvi.
03:24 I teach Bible for the children in this evening school.
03:32 In the beginning, it took three months of time for her
03:36 even to get the ladies to talk to her.
03:39 That if she could come, they would all go away.
03:42 They would hide themselves.
03:44 It took three months of time for her in the beginning
03:47 for them to understand that she has come to help them.
03:53 I go to each house.
03:55 I put my hand on their shoulder.
03:58 I tell them, I am also like you a human being.
04:01 I'm a female like you.
04:03 Don't be scared, don't feel shy.
04:05 I have come here to tell you good things.
04:08 So I am one of you.
04:09 That is how they became very friendly.
04:12 Now they're very friendly to her.
04:14 And she used to bring the used saris
04:17 and some dresses for the children.
04:20 And that is how she became very close
04:22 and acquainted with these community people.
04:27 Before we could even start this tuition,
04:29 I used to bring rice and cook for them and feed them.
04:34 Now this has become a great blessing
04:37 for the children and the community here.
04:39 They are very happy about it.
04:44 She has a request.
04:46 This is shed built with some Sunday-worshiper's help.
04:50 They have given us like a rent you know,
04:53 like to use the shed.
04:58 The pastor said, "you can use this for any cause,
05:01 but for the biblical cause."
05:03 But we are the remnant people.
05:06 We need to have a shed of our own.
05:09 So that is her request.
05:10 Through that we can boldly tell them about the truth.
05:15 Now we are in need of their help and their support.
05:23 She's saying, "we are teaching them Bible more,
05:26 "and they are also learning."
05:28 She says, "we cannot teach them doctrines."
05:31 We need to tell them small small stories,
05:34 like Esther like Naaman.
05:36 You know those stories.
05:38 They really love to hear stories.
05:40 So through that we are giving Bible study.
05:52 - Are you tearing up already?
05:54 - Getting close.
05:56 - This is the beginning of the show.
05:57 - It's just so beautiful, so beautiful.
05:59 She won them over.
06:01 And what the video does not tell
06:03 is that she went every day for three months,
06:07 to this village, and she took food
06:10 to share with the people.
06:11 - That she cooked them food.
06:13 - Right?
06:13 - Yes.
06:14 - And she won them over.
06:17 Can you imagine cooking for people every single day,
06:20 that didn't want to talk to you
06:21 - Wow!
06:23 - That's such an amazing show of patience and love.
06:26 - Persistent love.
06:27 - Right. - Yeah.
06:28 - And they were afraid of her
06:30 because she had such a nice sori on.
06:32 - Yes.
06:33 And her sori, was probably $5.
06:36 - Yeah.
06:37 - It's not a fancy sori, by any stretch of the imagination.
06:40 - Right.
06:42 - Anyway, we're just really thankful
06:44 that she was persistent.
06:45 Because now there's opportunities.
06:48 - And this is what's amazing to me
06:49 is that we talked about what reaching to the poor
06:53 having the gospel preach to the poor.
06:54 It's very difficult actually to get to the poor.
06:59 It's difficult to find them.
07:01 And it's difficult to talk to them because
07:03 there's such a vast gap between,
07:07 you know, like an American, if I showed up in India,
07:10 you know, I'm automatically a super wealthy man
07:13 because I bought a plane ticket.
07:15 - Yeah. - You know.
07:15 - It's true.
07:17 - And so having these Bible workers that live there
07:20 that speak the language that understand the needs,
07:22 understand the culture.
07:24 They can go into places where that we never really could.
07:28 - That's true. - Yeah.
07:29 - That's true.
07:30 - Though we got to go there.
07:32 And that's what's exciting.
07:33 We fell in love with this village.
07:35 - Yeah. - Yeah.
07:36 Now that we get a chance to see the people.
07:38 They're comfortable with us, because of our Bible worker.
07:41 - Right.
07:42 We fell in love with them.
07:43 - Yeah.
07:45 And it's neat to see the changes in the children also,
07:47 but I'm getting ahead of the story.
07:49 - Yeah.
07:50 - First, we want to find out more about Amaravathi.
07:52 - Okay.
07:53 - So we have a little video that was put together
07:54 about how they work
07:57 and how they earn a living.
08:00 - And a little bit of their lifestyle.
08:01 - Right. - Okay.
08:13 - This place is called Amaravathi.
08:15 You can see there is a lot of mountains here.
08:18 These people has been living here
08:20 for more than 60-70 years.
08:23 They are just surviving living with a nature here.
08:30 35 families are living in this village.
08:36 She says our main job is collecting woods from the forest.
08:42 If you don't do that, no food.
08:46 We go into the village here nearby.
08:49 People come and get those woods from us.
08:52 They pay money for that.
08:53 She went morning to collect that piece of wood.
08:58 She took so long because,
09:00 there are so many wild elephants here.
09:02 They would fearfully take gather and see here and there.
09:06 And it took the whole day to gather this
09:09 small bunch of wood.
09:11 So, pity to see these people
09:15 how much they are suffering in this forest.
09:18 Her name is Palaniammal.
09:20 she and her husband they are staying in this house.
09:26 For more than 25 years,
09:28 we are staying in this house.
09:31 A very small, tiny house.
09:33 The kitchen and everything is together.
09:35 So this is their lifestyle here.
09:39 - What a life.
09:40 I mean to have to collect firewood
09:42 and it took her half the day three quarters of the day.
09:46 And she's having to watch out
09:47 for wild elephants the whole time.
09:50 And she comes back with a bundle of firewood.
09:52 - Yeah.
09:53 - I mean, it's...
09:54 - And that lady's house.
09:55 - I know.
09:56 - That's actually kind of the head woman.
09:58 - Wow.
09:59 - And so...
10:00 - So she's important in this village.
10:02 And this is how she lives also.
10:04 - Yeah.
10:05 And when it rains they have to sit on a rock.
10:09 Because their ground, their floor turns into mud.
10:12 It's like wow, to live like that.
10:14 We have no concept.
10:15 - Yeah.
10:16 - No clue. - No.
10:18 - But to bring hope to people like that.
10:21 I mean, I can't imagine
10:24 the look on their eyes when they come into heaven.
10:28 - It's gonna be awesome.
10:33 - It's gonna be really good. - Yeah.
10:34 One thing we wanted to mention.
10:36 And right at the end of the video,
10:38 it was talking about how two children die every year.
10:40 - Oh, yes.
10:41 - From poor nutrition and poor food.
10:43 And we saw this also, in Mindora
10:46 in the Philippines in the project there.
10:48 How children would die every year.
10:50 And then we started a lunch program
10:52 where they get a good meal every day at lunch.
10:55 And now children haven't died
10:57 and they haven't had so much sickness
10:59 in the village.
11:00 So we're looking forward to seeing the results
11:02 of our evening school,
11:04 - Providing that.
11:05 - Providing food for the children.
11:07 Of course, we're getting ahead of ourselves,
11:09 because we're not quite there yet.
11:11 Anyway, I just wanted to mention that.
11:13 That when we can give them better food.
11:16 - Right.
11:17 - Then this changes completely.
11:18 - So it doesn't just help them economically.
11:21 - Right.
11:21 - It actually saves.
11:23 And there's a street children's lives.
11:25 - Right.
11:26 - But then there's the children that
11:27 grew up developmentally disabled.
11:30 They may not have died from lack of food,
11:33 but they grew up with some kind of disability.
11:37 - From the poor nutrition. - From the poor nutrition.
11:39 - Right. - Yes.
11:41 And so that saves, who knows how many
11:43 of those kids from that situation.
11:45 - Right, right.
11:47 Now, the next part is kind of sad.
11:50 And it's a look at what happens
11:52 to the girls in this village.
11:54 And, you know, the government education
11:57 for the poor villages.
11:59 From what we've seen is very sad
12:02 if there is any government education.
12:05 And so we want to be a part
12:07 of making a difference for their lives.
12:09 And this is part of the reason why.
12:11 - Yeah, a lot of these kids, when they go to school,
12:14 if they go to school, they'll have to sit in the back
12:16 because they're not of the same class.
12:18 - Right?
12:19 - And so they don't learn very well.
12:21 And so they get up to fifth grade,
12:24 in a very poor school system,
12:27 and they don't have much hope.
12:28 So we'll play this little clip about these girls.
12:35 - They get married when they are 12 years,
12:38 15 years here in this community.
12:44 They allow one only for elementary education.
12:48 Once they complete the fifth grade.
12:50 The next stage is marriage.
12:53 The girl who is sitting there with the baby there,
12:56 she has three children,
12:58 but her age now was 16.
13:06 During rainy season,
13:08 these people have very difficult time.
13:11 Because you can see the roof here,
13:12 it's completely broken.
13:14 It pours inside.
13:16 They tell me that they gather all the bricks
13:20 and big stones they put it inside.
13:22 They would sit on those big stones and rocks
13:25 because that floor will be fully wet.
13:27 They say during that time till the rain stops,
13:30 we would be just sitting under the roof
13:33 which is broken completely.
13:35 What to do, this is our life.
13:46 We eat morning and in the evening night,
13:50 if there is food we'll eat,
13:51 but afternoon we have never eat any food.
13:58 Per year two children die.
14:00 Without proper nutritious food, two children die.
14:06 And there was a year, maybe four or five years ago,
14:11 four children died without proper food.
14:22 - It's amazing.
14:23 I mean to be in a village and look around
14:26 and see a 16 year old girl,
14:29 who was the age of my daughter at the time.
14:32 Already had,
14:33 - Three kids. - Three kids.
14:38 - When you think about her life, from now on.
14:41 It will just be that of a mother.
14:43 a wife and a mother.
14:46 - I mean, not that that's bad.
14:48 Being a wife and a mother.
14:49 - Oh, no, but it's like she's a child raising children.
14:53 - And she's got no choice.
14:54 - Right.
14:55 - That's all she can do.
14:56 - Right. - yeah.
14:57 - And this happens over and over again in the village,
14:59 as we saw,
15:00 in the video. - Generation after generation.
15:02 We saw what kind of work they do.
15:04 But this village is blessed
15:05 because nearby is a government water source.
15:08 - It's not on all the time.
15:09 Comes on maybe once a day or once every few days.
15:13 But they don't have to walk far to get their water.
15:15 And I've never really seen somebody put water on their head.
15:21 So I want to play this little clip again.
15:23 This frail, thin, young lady.
15:27 This is how she does this.
15:28 I could not do this.
15:30 - No.
15:31 - Just saying I could not do this.
15:32 Look at that, she's just like,
15:33 Oh, I think I'll put this other 35 or 40 pound water thing.
15:37 I'll pick that up and put up on my head.
15:39 - Yeah.
15:40 - And then walk as if everything's fine.
15:42 - She's carrying 70-80 pounds right there.
15:44 - Yeah.
15:46 And she's walking and not even holding on to
15:48 what's on her head.
15:49 It's just balanced there.
15:51 - Amazing. - Yeah.
15:52 - Really amazing.
15:53 And unless you think that the men don't help.
15:58 I had to put this picture in there too.
16:00 Because he's carrying at least one.
16:02 - Right.
16:02 - So he's helping the family.
16:03 - He's helping too.
16:06 - As we were coming into the village,
16:07 we came across this man.
16:10 The villagers say that he's over 100 years old.
16:13 I don't believe it.
16:15 Because I can't imagine anybody living that long
16:18 in those conditions.
16:20 - Right.
16:21 - But he sitting in front of his home.
16:23 - That doesn't look like a home.
16:24 - No.
16:26 And this is him later, he is sleeping inside his home.
16:31 This is his home.
16:34 - Wow, we have no idea. - No.
16:38 I also made a friend there.
16:39 - Okay.
16:41 - And he was very kind.
16:42 He's very friendly, he show me around.
16:44 He's talking to me and I was talking to him.
16:46 We're having this whole conversation.
16:48 I didn't understand a word he said.
16:50 But I understood his intent.
16:52 - Right.
16:53 - And he brought me a goat.
16:54 - Okay.
16:55 - And he brought you several goats.
16:56 And I love goats.
16:58 I love animals.
16:58 These goats were so young
17:00 that they still had their umbilical cord connected.
17:05 Here's a couple other people from the village
17:07 that allowed me to take a selfie with them.
17:09 - Okay.
17:10 - Here's a shepherd.
17:12 - Sharon really enjoyed the goats also.
17:16 - Sharon works with us here at Jesus for Asia.
17:18 Some people may not recognize her.
17:21 But we did another show with her
17:22 right after she came back from this trip.
17:24 And she shared some stories.
17:26 And one of her stories is from Amaravathi also.
17:29 So you might wonna watch that.
17:32 - This is the teacher of our evening school.
17:36 And he's from this village.
17:38 And here's just one of the little kids
17:40 that is in our evening school.
17:41 - Oh Precious.
17:43 So we started the evening school after the Bible worker
17:46 was able to connect with the people.
17:48 We were able to start the evening school there.
17:51 So here's the teacher teaching in the new evening school.
17:55 (goats bleating)
18:00 - The children here in this community,
18:03 they don't want to go to school.
18:05 Moreover, the parents are not allowing the children
18:07 to go to school.
18:08 So I'm encouraging each and every one
18:11 to study through this evening school.
18:17 I am not only teaching them the worldly education,
18:20 I teach them also from Bible.
18:23 I teach them about Jesus.
18:25 I have a concern for these children.
18:27 Because I want to see them have a good bright future.
18:33 I asked her after going to the evening school hours
18:37 the changes in her grandson's character?.
18:46 She says he has changed a lot.
18:49 He's obedient now and that school is really helping their
18:53 character building.
18:54 And in their everyday life,
18:57 that school has become a very great blessing, she says.
19:04 My main aim is to reflect
19:08 and show the love of Jesus
19:10 to these children.
19:10 Because that is most important.
19:13 And that is why even the children
19:15 who come from Hindu background.
19:16 I'm teaching them.
19:18 We have so many oppositions but still,
19:20 I'm teaching them about Jesus
19:22 and also the worldly education
19:24 so that they will come up in life.
19:32 She has a passion for cooking.
19:34 So it is a blessing to cook for these children.
19:37 She's enjoying, she says.
19:39 I asked her how much it is useful for her grandson
19:43 the food what they are giving.
19:45 And she says, the evening food
19:47 what they give here is very good.
19:49 Children are enjoying the food.
19:52 It is a great blessing for them.
19:59 When they eat and then they come to me
20:00 they tell me, "brother, we enjoyed the food,
20:03 "thank you so much for the food.
20:05 "It was very tasty."
20:07 That really gives me so much joy.
20:10 I'm really happy
20:11 that you people are helping out this project.
20:14 It's a great blessing for the children.
20:19 The children, they used to tell me
20:22 we are very thankful for those people
20:24 who are made it possible so that we can eat the food here.
20:28 They used to say, million trillion times,
20:32 praise the Lord, for those people who are helping us
20:36 who are supporting us.
20:37 They always tell me that we need to pray for...
20:40 These little children, they are telling me
20:43 we need to pray for them.
20:44 Who are helping us to have this food.
20:46 God has to bless them abundantly.
20:55 The children, when they go tell their parents,
20:58 "we had a wonderful food.
21:00 "our stomach is full now."
21:01 The parents are coming and asking me,
21:03 "who is helping like this?
21:05 "We need to thank them.
21:07 "We are very thankful for that."
21:09 Through this, I am able to tell about Jesus to them.
21:13 Because of Jesus, you are getting this help.
21:15 Jesus is helping you.
21:17 And it is opening the doors
21:19 so that they can know about Jesus.
21:26 She says that, thank you so much.
21:28 That is all I can say.
21:30 Thank you so much for the help you're doing.
21:35 (soft orchestral music)
21:54 - Aren't they precious children?
21:55 - Yeah, what a beautiful opportunity it is
21:57 to help them.
21:58 - Oh my goodness, yes.
21:59 - And to see that they're so grateful.
22:03 - Yes.
22:04 - We just really want to thank the donors that help.
22:07 - Right.
22:08 - That give to help these schools especially.
22:10 To give these beautiful children
22:12 this food that they're so thankful for.
22:14 - And to see that these kids are praying for the donors.
22:17 - Yes.
22:18 - You know, they're praying for us.
22:19 - Right.
22:20 - God hears their prayers.
22:21 - Right. - Yeah.
22:22 Because they pray out of a sincere heart.
22:24 - Right. - Yeah.
22:25 - And their blessing upon the donors.
22:29 God has to bless them abundantly.
22:31 I love that.
22:32 That's so precious.
22:33 - It is.
22:34 And what's beautiful also is that
22:36 not only do they get the meal for their physical well being,
22:41 but the character development.
22:43 Even the parents are noticing that.
22:45 - Right, and the grandma.
22:46 - Yeah.
22:47 - So and it's giving opportunities
22:49 for people to know about Jesus.
22:51 That's the best part.
22:52 - That's the bottom line right there.
22:53 - Right. The best part.
22:54 - Yeah.
22:55 - So we're in this village and we're looking around
22:57 and we're thinking, man,
22:59 we've got to do something to help them while we're here.
23:01 And so we asked the head woman,
23:04 what does the village really need?
23:07 - Right?
23:08 - And this is what happened.
23:09 - Okay.
23:11 (soft orchestral music)
23:19 - We're at this village called Amaravathi
23:21 and it's a very poor village.
23:22 They make their living by cutting firewood and stuff.
23:25 And selling that.
23:26 Well we have a evening school here,
23:28 really excited about that.
23:30 Providing the children with a free meal,
23:33 as well as a couple hours of tutorials
23:35 and tutoring and stuff like that in the evenings.
23:42 - They don't have a good blanket.
23:46 There is no mat for them to sleep on.
23:52 That's all the real need for them.
23:54 Day to days need.
24:03 - Some kind people in America have donated the funds,
24:06 we went and bought some mats
24:08 and some blankets and we just gave them out.
24:11 And they were all very happy to receive them.
24:13 In fact, we had a little problem because
24:16 they received one and then go change their name
24:18 and get in line again and receive another one.
24:20 So we just hope and pray that they are
24:22 able to use these things to stay warm at night
24:25 and stay a little bit more out of the dirt.
24:27 (crowd applause's)
24:36 That's a lot of fun doing this kind of stuff.
24:38 And I hope that, you know, we didn't do much.
24:40 We're not going to make a huge impact
24:42 for the kingdom doing this.
24:43 But I'm hoping that this paves the way for the Bible worker
24:47 that's here every single day, every single evening,
24:50 providing the food
24:51 and the teacher that's providing the training.
24:53 I hope it gives them a little more clout
24:55 little more credibility
24:56 and allows the opportunity for them to work more,
25:01 with the Holy Spirit in breaking down prejudices
25:04 and opening up ideas,
25:05 opening up possibilities in the villagers minds that,
25:09 there maybe somebody out there that cares.
25:22 Can you guess what the total cost of getting a blanket
25:26 and a mat for every single family
25:27 in the entire village was?
25:29 - No. - About $240.
25:32 - Wow.
25:34 Well praise the Lord that we were able to help them.
25:36 - And we had some leftover that we were going to use
25:38 in other poor areas also.
25:40 - Okay.
25:41 - So as we were leaving the village,
25:42 I saw these girls sitting on a rock
25:43 and I took a bunch of pictures and stuck them together.
25:47 So this is...
25:51 You can just see their little personalities.
25:53 - Yeah.
25:54 And to think about if the school wasn't there,
25:57 if their life continues as it always has been
26:00 for however many years that they've lived in this village.
26:07 These girls will be married at the age of 13.
26:08 - Yeah.
26:10 - But with the school there, hopefully,
26:12 they can have more opportunities.
26:14 - Yes, this may give them some hope
26:17 of doing something different life.
26:18 - Right.
26:20 - As we were leaving, walking out of the village,
26:22 this little girl
26:24 came up and...
26:26 Just the light in her eyes. - She's so precious.
26:28 - You know that light.
26:29 And I've seen it so many times before
26:31 with these young kids, you know.
26:32 You look into their eyes and it's just black, just dark.
26:36 They find out that Jesus loves them
26:38 that they have value.
26:40 They get this hope and the lights come on in their eyes.
26:42 - Right.
26:44 - And like this little girl, I mean, she's just like,
26:46 I can see in her face, she's saying thank you for the food.
26:49 Thank you for the education.
26:50 Thank you for the hope that I can now do something
26:52 other than get married at the age of 12 or 13 and a have...
26:56 - It's such a privilege.
26:57 - It is a huge privilege. - To be a part of,
27:00 offering this to these kids.
27:02 - Yeah.
27:03 And you know, even Jesus, you know,
27:04 he went to the cross for the joy that was set before him.
27:08 He didn't go to the cross because he liked pain.
27:10 - No.
27:11 - But he saw the joy and he gives us these little
27:14 taste of that joy that he was going after.
27:16 - Right.
27:17 - When he went to the cross.
27:18 He didn't live on the cross.
27:19 He's not on the cross anymore.
27:21 And so the suffering is temporary.
27:24 But the joy is eternal.
27:26 - Right.
27:27 Well, what a blessing it's been
27:29 to go to Amaravathi today
27:30 and meet these dear people
27:32 that Jesus has always known.
27:34 - Yes.
27:36 - I would like to invite you
27:37 to be a part of giving hope to these young children,
27:40 and so many more like them.
27:42 Please contact us at Jesus for Asia.
27:45 P O Box 1221.
27:47 Collegedale, Tennessee 37315.
27:51 Call us at 423-413-7321
27:55 or visit our website
27:57 at Jesus4asia.org.
27:59 And as those young children pray for you,
28:01 we pray also, that God will bless you more abundantly.
28:05 Until we see you next time on Jesus for Asia now.
28:08 (dramatic orchestral music)


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Revised 2019-11-12