Participants:
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000153A
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00:41 On this mission trip, we're going to take you
00:43 to the city of Chennai in South India. 00:49 When people think of India, they often think of food. 00:53 There are all kinds of wonderful 00:54 delicious dishes available, 00:56 and because a lot of the people are Hindu, 00:58 there's a lot of vegetarian meals to choose from. 01:01 The assortment of colors appeal to the eye 01:03 and the variety of flavors burst in your mouth 01:06 albeit sometimes very hot. 01:09 I'm getting hungry just talking about it. 01:11 Another reason why the food in India tastes so good 01:14 is due to much of the ingredients 01:16 coming from open markets such as this one. 01:19 Often the produce is just a day away 01:21 from the served meal, so everything's fresh. 01:24 When I walk through a market like this, 01:26 I'm so envious as one does not find 01:28 such healthy looking produce in the supermarkets of America. 01:31 The color of the fresh fruit and vegetables 01:34 is as bright as this lady's clothing. 01:36 And then there are chilies 01:38 which are a main staple here in India. 01:49 Indians take great pride in their cooking. 01:51 Their cultural dishes are seen around the world. 01:55 Restaurants such as this one in Kerala state 01:58 has a large assortment of South Indian dishes. 02:02 Rice is always the center of most of the meals. 02:11 The owner of this restaurant also doubles as a priest. 02:14 This is something you would never see in America. 02:19 The owner burns incense throughout the restaurant 02:21 right before the busy evening shift starts. 02:24 He believes this will bring prosperity and good business. 02:32 Pastor Johnson and I got into our auto rickshaw 02:35 with our driver Ravi to go see how the Bible workers 02:38 sponsored by Laymen ministries are doing. 02:46 The rickshaw is one of the fastest ways 02:48 to get around in India if you don't mind the noise, 02:51 and the dirt, and the pollution. 02:53 Our Bible workers share spiritual food 02:55 with those they meet. 03:21 Today, we're going to go look at a group Bible study 03:25 that the Bible workers are having here. 03:27 And they've been meeting here, do you know how long 03:29 they've been meeting at this place? 03:30 Last one year. 03:32 A year? Yeah. 03:33 And so this is just a small group of 03:34 part of the Friendship Ministry you were telling me about. 03:36 Yes, that's right. 03:37 It'll be interesting to see what they're doing. 04:13 Our Bible workers have small group meetings like this 04:16 in many places throughout the city of Chennai. 04:19 Prayer is a big part of these workers' ministry. 04:23 These groups are formed by contacts 04:25 made from going door to door. 04:29 This is a small group. 04:30 But in some places, they have up to 20 people 04:32 meeting in someone's home. 04:34 Much of the work is also just a one-on-one basis. 04:38 These ladies take turns sharing their testimonies 04:40 on how they came to Christ and what was currently 04:43 happening in their lives. 04:45 These ladies pray together and support each other. 04:52 The Bible workers went and knocked the door 04:54 and then prayed earnestly for her job. 04:57 Now she got a job. 04:58 She is going for the job. 05:16 Okay, so this is the area which you were talking about 05:19 where they'd like to put a temporary church? 05:20 Yes. 05:22 And I think that some of our viewers 05:23 have probably seen over the years 05:24 on our television programs where we've taken you to 05:27 temporary churches is what they call it, right, 05:29 that are on top of roofs like this 05:31 and they put up either a thatched roof 05:33 or a metal roof and they have 05:35 church service for maybe 25, 50 people at the most. 05:38 Yes. 05:39 And then what's the next step in the process? 05:41 After that, maybe, it depends on our financial situation, 05:45 we'll purchase a property and we'll build a church. 05:48 Yeah. 05:49 And in this area here, 05:51 how many churches have we established, 05:52 any at all or is this a new one in unentered territory? 05:56 Around this area, we have so far entered into 15, 06:01 one-five, 15, unentered territories 06:04 we have entered around this area. 06:05 In temporary churches in those areas or established? 06:08 We have temporary churches, four, 06:11 and we have built eight in this area. 06:13 Wow. 06:15 And what is the cost to build like a temporary church, 06:16 just to put a roof on a building like this? 06:18 It is $1,000. 06:20 About $1,000. 06:21 And then they use that for maybe a year or two years 06:24 until they can establish a full-grown church. 06:27 Yes. 06:29 It's one thing about Pastor Johnson 06:31 and the Bible workers, he runs a really tight ship, 06:33 you could say. 06:35 He's really firm with the Bible workers 06:36 but very loving, and they have correct accountability 06:40 about what they do every week, 06:41 how many hours they put in, where they're at. 06:44 Every Monday, they have kind of 06:45 a staff meeting where they come together. 06:47 These Bible workers with our group, 06:49 we monitor everything they do very closely, 06:51 we know what they're doing, we know where they're at, 06:54 and we know that they're working in. 06:55 Besides that, they have a real heart for the work, don't they? 06:58 Yes. 06:59 They do it because they really want to do it. 07:00 They have a passion. 07:02 A passion for it, yeah. 07:04 So where are we heading next? 07:05 Next, we are going to how our Bible workers 07:08 entering into a new home and giving the Bible study. 07:12 Like going and actually knocking on the doors 07:13 and giving Bibles? 07:15 Yeah. Okay. 07:37 A lot of mosquitoes in this area, huh? 07:39 Yeah, a lot of mosquitoes 07:41 and roads are also very dangerous. 07:56 The Bible workers are working in this area right now? 08:04 Our Bible workers go door to door two by two. 08:07 But this day, a group of four were visiting a home 08:10 where they recently made contact 08:11 with a Christian couple along with some neighbors 08:14 all who wanted to study the Bible. 08:24 I had a chance to meet the people 08:26 who recently started Bible studies, 08:29 they shared with me what happened 08:30 when the Bible workers first came 08:32 to their door a few weeks earlier. 08:43 They opened the Word of God like this in many homes. 08:46 They never know what faith the people might belong to. 08:49 Sometimes they can be Hindu, Christian, or even Muslim. 08:53 A few days earlier, this couple was reading 08:55 a Bible verse Revelation 3:20 that says, 08:58 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. 09:01 If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, 09:03 I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me." 09:07 Right then there was a knock on their door 09:09 and it was two of our Bible workers. 09:12 The first step in the process of what the Bible workers do, 09:14 they followed this verse he was just sharing the Bible, 09:17 knocking on the door and then if the people open the door, 09:20 they come in, and they eat, and they sup with them, 09:22 and they share the Word of God. 09:24 So that's a first step of what the Bible workers do. 09:27 Then finally, they have like a group Bible study, 09:29 and then eventually, they establish a church 09:31 and people start worshipping together. 09:34 And also, she is attending 09:38 where we went just now. 09:41 That is a place, 09:43 every Saturday evening, they meet. 09:47 So she's a regularly going. 09:48 She's the grounds of us. 09:53 That is the meaning. 09:56 No, no, no. 09:57 Still we have grandchildren. 09:58 But I think we are old. 10:00 Still we have, no, still we got... 10:04 A short distance from this home 10:05 was another lady we went to visit. 10:07 She studied with the Bible workers 10:09 and was recently baptized as a new Christian. 10:13 She had a dream that confirmed 10:14 she needed to study the Bible with her Bible workers. 10:17 After her husband's death, 10:19 she got work in the postal service, 10:23 and after her retirement, with a lot of huge challenges, 10:28 she came to the city of Chennai with her son. 10:31 And she was kind of in need of prayer in her home 10:37 for the difficult situation. 10:39 Her house maid told, "Shall I bring a Bible worker 10:44 who is coming to my home regularly?" 10:47 Then she said, "Okay, bring, but except Jehovah Witness, 10:50 you can bring anybody." 10:52 Then the day came, our Bible workers came 10:56 and she was so happy, 10:58 and they started sharing the truth. 11:02 And the pastor also came 11:04 and shared a lot of Biblical doctrine, 11:06 state of the dead, sanctuary, second coming, 11:10 all of that, and she was excited, 11:12 and she took baptism. 11:14 How long did she study the Bible 11:15 with the Bible workers? 11:20 Six months. Six months. 11:23 And then she was baptized right after that? 11:25 Yes. 11:26 So a six-month study period before she was baptized 11:30 because we're really careful not having somebody baptized 11:33 until they're really grounded in the truth. 11:36 We've shared on a number of our television programs 11:38 about the simple process that we use here in India 11:40 to be able to establish churches. 11:42 We sow seeds with literature and television work. 11:45 The television and literature goes to places 11:48 where no man can go. 11:49 It goes into homes and into people's hearts. 11:53 And then when the Bible workers go door to door, 11:55 they often knock on the doors and they introduce themselves 11:58 as being connected with the literature 12:00 or the television programs 12:01 that a lot of people here are familiar with. 12:03 And that often opens the door for them to come in 12:05 and to be able to share. 12:06 So this next step is basically personal visitation, 12:09 going door to door, and getting to know people. 12:12 And eventually as they work an area, 12:14 they get us a core group of people who come together 12:17 and start studying the Bible in a home, 12:19 like we've seen already on this program. 12:21 And that leads to a temporary church oftentimes 12:24 on the roof of a house or in somebody's home. 12:26 And then as the company continues to grow, 12:29 they buy property, they build a church, 12:31 and a church is established. 12:32 And even then, even though 12:34 there's been a number of churches established 12:35 in Chennai by Laymen Ministries 12:37 Bible workers, they do not get neglected and forgotten. 12:40 The Bible workers continue, even years later, 12:42 going back and visiting these churches, 12:44 keeping these churches strong, making some of the people 12:47 in those churches become leaders, 12:49 and then having a pastor assigned to those churches 12:51 to be able to keep those churches 12:52 functioning properly. 12:54 So it's a really simple process, you know, 12:56 it's a proven process, the Gospel process. 12:58 Visiting people in their homes, meeting their needs, 13:01 opening the Word of God, establishing a church, 13:04 and then allowing that church to get involved 13:06 with sharing the gospel to others. 13:47 Every year when we come to India, 13:49 we have group meetings like this 13:50 with our Bible workers and overseers. 13:52 But they also have staff meetings like this 13:55 every Monday morning to outline their work for the week. 14:02 These Bible workers often travel great distances 14:05 to work areas of the city. 14:07 They have a heart for the work and love to share 14:10 the bread of life with those that hunger and thirst. 14:14 Many of them have worked 14:15 with Laymen Ministries for years 14:17 and are our friends as well as our co-workers 14:19 together with Christ. 14:25 We met a man. 14:28 This man is an alcoholic. 14:33 I guess Ruby and Christy are whipping up some idlis 14:36 in Ruby's kitchen. 14:37 So let's go in and check it out. 14:41 This morning, we're in Ruby's kitchen 14:43 and we're going to make what's called sambar and idly. 14:47 And to begin with, there are basically 14:49 three ingredients that are used in idlis. 14:53 Idili is spelled I-D-I-L-I, not like the country. 14:59 We've got three items here. 15:01 We have what is called dal. 15:05 Basically, it's your black bean. 15:07 It's been broken and skins have been removed, 15:11 and this is one of the foundations 15:13 for the idli mixed with the rice 15:15 and the fenugreek. 15:17 And what happened with these three items 15:20 is they were soaked, 15:22 and they were soaked for about four hours, 15:25 and then they were ground. 15:27 And after they were ground, 15:29 we ended up with a product that looks somewhat like this. 15:34 It's kind of a milky substance. 15:37 Also, what's been added to that is a little bit of salt. 15:41 And so we've got four cups of rice, one cup of dal, 15:45 about a tablespoon of fenugreek, and about, 15:48 I'd say, a teaspoon of salt, 15:50 and that's the basic ingredients for the idli. 15:54 The idli ends up being a really nice little round rice patty, 15:59 and if you just looked at the rice... 16:01 At the idli, you would think, "Oh, how simple? 16:04 It's just a rice patty." 16:05 But it's really more involved than that. 16:08 The idli is often served 16:11 with something that's called sambar, 16:13 and it's like a delicious kind of soup 16:17 and it has in it the dal once again, 16:20 and this is a little bit different, 16:22 this one is actually like a gold lentil. 16:25 It has tomato in it, onion, and garlic. 16:29 It has curry in it. 16:31 And this is a point I really want to make. 16:34 This is the curry that's used in India. 16:37 It's the leaf curry. 16:40 Many times in the States, when people make Indian food, 16:43 it's a ground curry, it really has a different flavor to it. 16:47 So this is a key element 16:48 to making authentic Indian food. 16:53 And the other ingredient that is the mustard seed. 16:57 I had no idea that that was 16:59 what those little black things were. 17:01 All this time I thought it was little black peppers, 17:04 peppercorns. 17:06 But it is a mustard seed 17:07 and it adds a really nice unique flavor. 17:12 Tomato is added to that, and it just makes 17:15 a really nice type of gravy that goes over the idli. 17:24 Okay, the next process 17:25 in the making of idlis is this boiler. 17:29 And it's really interesting 17:30 because it has about this much water in it. 17:34 And it has these little trays on the top. 17:37 I'll kind of lift it up so you can see. 17:40 Hot, hot. 17:42 So we're going to wait for the water to boil 17:45 and then we're going to dip the idli mixture 17:50 into each one of these 17:54 like little muffin pans, 17:56 and it will steam the idli. 18:05 So we'll make seven idlis at a time with this dish. 18:10 And now do we cover it? 18:11 Yes. 18:13 Okay. 18:14 Okay, we are going to take out the idli now. 18:17 You put a little water on there? 18:19 Yeah. 18:24 Okay. 18:27 I'll move that. 18:43 Do you keep dipping the spoon so that it doesn't stick? 18:47 Yeah. 18:48 Okay. 18:50 We're ready to eat our idli. 18:52 And we've got it here on the banana leaf 18:55 which is a very traditional way to eat the breakfast. 19:10 Next, we want to take you 19:11 to Laymen Ministries' television studio 19:13 and administrative building outside the city of Chennai. 19:16 We have our bookstore here as well and a church. 19:20 How many years ago did we build this building? 19:23 Four years. 19:24 Four years ago? Yeah. 19:25 So that's 2013... 19:27 March 2nd. March 2nd. 19:29 When did we have the dedication? 19:31 On March 2, 2013. 19:34 Oh, that was the actual dedication, 19:36 but we bought the property like a year before the construction. 19:38 A year before. 19:39 I think almost we can say five years, 19:42 but the studio and everything started to function since 2013. 19:46 This place is really kind of transformed a lot 19:48 because I remember when we first built it, 19:50 it was just bare, you know, it was like... 19:53 We didn't even have the cement or anything here yet. 19:55 Yeah. And no plants. 19:56 Wow, everything is green 19:57 and you've got flowers around here. 19:59 Yeah. 20:00 I want to see that new addition where you put 20:01 all the books in for the book store. 20:03 Yes. 20:04 And that's on the top of the church, right? 20:06 You are right. Okay. Yeah. 20:07 Right now we're heading up to the new addition 20:10 on top of the church that we have for book storage. 20:12 We moved the bookstore out of this building. 20:15 So we have more, like, 20:17 living quarters up on the upper storey of the studio, 20:19 and we moved all the stuff up 20:21 to the upper floor of the church. 20:28 Nice room. 20:30 It's a tradition in India. 20:31 You have to take your shoes off 20:33 whenever you go inside of a room. 20:36 It looks pretty nice. 20:39 This room is a lot bigger than the other storage room we had. 20:41 Yes. More than double portion. 20:42 Yeah. We really need the space. 20:44 And what all do we have here? 20:46 Got a lot of boxes and stuff here. 20:48 We have morning devotions, and these all storical lessons. 20:53 These are the Amazing Facts storical lesson. 20:55 Amazing Facts storical lessons. 20:57 And then the song book church, song book. 21:01 A song book. Church song book. 21:03 Then Steps to Christ. 21:05 Yeah, we did a new print of Steps to Christ. 21:07 You are right. 21:09 Do you have any of the new Great Controversy here yet? 21:10 And that by... 21:12 We printed everything, new translation, and... 21:17 Do you have a copy here? Everything... 21:19 Any copies of it? 21:20 Copy will come tomorrow. Oh, coming tomorrow. 21:22 They're just now starting to come off the press. 21:24 Yes, yeah. 21:25 Yeah, so we just printed Great Controversy 21:26 and you were saying it's done in two books, right? 21:29 Two volumes. 21:31 Part one and part two. 21:32 And The Desire of Ages is going to be the next one 21:34 to come off the press. 21:35 Next one, yeah. 21:36 And is that going to be in several volumes, 21:38 one, two, three? 21:39 Yes. 21:40 Yeah, we are planning for three. 21:42 Three volumes for that one. 21:43 And what's the reason that we broke those books up 21:45 into separate volumes? 21:46 I think it's very easy to read because when you give a kind of 21:49 800 page or 900 page book to a reader, 21:53 even if a person wants to read, 21:55 if he sees the pages or the book size, 21:59 "Oh, this much, how can I read?" 22:01 Yeah, life is so busy now. 22:02 People don't want to obligate themselves 22:04 to reading a thick book. 22:06 And it's interesting here, all the years 22:07 that we've been involved with translating literature, 22:09 which you can see we've worked 22:10 with a lot of different types of publications, 22:12 that when you take a Great Controversy book, 22:14 that's like about this thick in English, 22:16 and translate it into Tamil, 22:18 it all of a sudden turns into about that big of a book. 22:21 So to hand that book to somebody 22:22 is pretty intimidating unless they're really committed to it. 22:25 And also, I would like to thank the donors 22:28 and the support to build this storage building 22:34 because the reason is we are waiting 22:36 for another almost 10,000 to 15,000 books. 22:40 On the way coming, more books coming? 22:42 On the way by another three months 22:44 because we want to store the books 22:46 as much as we are all printing and... 22:47 This room is not going to be big 22:49 enough even to handle... 22:50 Big enough. 22:52 I mean, we're printing large volumes of books here, 22:53 and then we're working with some other organizations too 22:55 that sponsor the printing of books 22:57 and they donate books to our ministry 22:59 because they know that we have a good system for distribution. 23:01 Yeah. So yeah, all storicals. 23:05 Why don't you tell us about these a little bit? 23:08 Because this is very nice one. 23:10 The storical lesson by Amazing Facts. 23:13 And we have translated in multi-color, 23:16 and this is very nice, it's attractive to the people, 23:21 very much, to the readers. 23:23 Yeah, these look just like the ones in America 23:24 but they're in the Tamil language. 23:26 And by the way, I was in contact 23:29 with Amazing Facts recently, 23:30 and I gave them the PDF files for each one of these, 23:35 and these are now available at Amazing Facts 23:38 on their website. 23:39 And also some of the other ones 23:41 that we've translated in other languages, 23:43 you can get these to share with your Tamil friends 23:45 or Lithuanian friends 23:47 or some other countries like that 23:48 that have been provided to Amazing Facts 23:51 from Laymen Ministers. 23:52 Yes. That's very nice. 23:53 Tell us how this is distributed. 23:55 And this one, the first one, 23:58 people who call from our television program, 24:01 wherever we hold evangelistic meeting, 24:04 people, they ask the books. 24:05 Then we send the books, and also... 24:09 Is it just mostly going to people 24:11 around the city of Chennai? 24:12 Around the city of Chennai and the whole India, 24:14 not only Chennai. 24:16 Whole India, whole India. 24:18 Then, this is very interesting. 24:20 The Southeast India Union of Seventh-day Adventist 24:25 in the southern India, the Union has made a law, 24:29 they have to buy all of these books 24:31 and sell in the school. 24:35 To the Adventist church schools? 24:37 You are right. 24:38 So they're saying, all this literature now 24:39 is getting distributed in Adventist church schools. 24:41 Yes. 24:42 Does any of this literature go overseas to other countries? 24:43 Yes, the third thing is, people who are in Far East 24:47 like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, 24:50 even France, even America, 24:53 people who come, "Oh, Johnson, I heard you have this book, 24:56 this book, why can't you give?" 24:57 Because now a lot of IT people are in America from India. 25:01 They are from Hindu background. 25:03 When they come to America, slowly, through friends, 25:06 they are coming to the church, then they would like to read, 25:09 "Okay, this is the concept of the church," 25:11 and this is truth. 25:13 So they start to read like that. 25:16 So, even throughout the world, these books are going. 25:20 Yeah, praise God. 25:21 And before you call our ministry 25:22 and request a Tamil version of the Great Controversy, 25:25 realize, we really don't store 25:27 any of these books at our ministry, 25:29 we'd have to put you in contact with our office here in India. 25:33 So these are the guys from the studio. 25:35 Who are they? 25:37 Christo Samuel, he is a studio manager 25:42 and coordinates all the programs for television, 25:46 and YouTube, and evangelistic meetings. 25:49 He is in charge of production. 25:51 Then he's Praveen. 25:53 Yeah, Praveen, you're new here, aren't you? 25:55 Yeah. 25:56 How long have you been working? 25:58 I'm here working for past six months. 25:59 Six months now. Yeah. 26:01 Okay, good, yeah. 26:02 And what is he doing? 26:03 He is a kind of marketing guy. 26:05 He can handle all the situations. 26:07 He is smiling. 26:09 So if there is any challenge, 26:12 we can send him front he will do everything. 26:13 And what kind of technical stuff are you doing? 26:15 He is an editor. 26:16 Editor, huh? Editor. 26:18 And he is Sudhakar. 26:20 He does graphics. 26:22 He graduated diploma in graphics, 26:24 and he's also an editor. 26:26 You've been with us two years now? 26:28 Yeah, it's two years. Two years, yeah. 26:29 More than... 26:30 Almost more than two years. 26:32 And he is kind of a behind the scenes guy. 26:33 He does a lot of the camera work 26:35 and different things like that too. 26:36 And also, he's the security... 26:39 You are the security guy? 26:40 And the storage manager, bookstore manager. 26:43 So he is involved with the shipping of the books 26:44 and things like that too? 26:45 Yes. Wow. 26:47 So he is involved in everything. 26:48 And we have an evening community service 26:50 called tutoring. 26:53 They're all from villages 26:55 and they go to the government schools. 26:57 So our team, the technical team, 27:00 after their work, five o'clock, 27:03 voluntarily they involve in this evangelism. 27:07 So you're just kind of helping the kids, 27:08 like in the areas they might be weak, 27:10 in like math and other. 27:11 Yes, English. English. 27:14 Science, and also for you information, 27:17 even the school teachers came 27:19 and they appreciated our technical team. 27:21 Wow. Wonderful. 27:22 And they appreciated us. 27:24 Are you guys involved with the tutoring? 27:25 Yeah, one of the things that I've noticed 27:27 in coming to the studio over the last four years 27:30 is that the presence that 27:32 this studio has with the workers here, 27:33 the Bible workers, 27:35 actually even the studio tech guys, 27:37 all the people in this community love them. 27:39 You know, this is a predominate Hindu area, 27:41 but the children come here, they're getting the tutoring, 27:43 and everybody's well respected here. 27:46 I'm eager to see what's going on at church here 27:48 and see how many people are attending. 27:56 Across India, Laymen Ministries is sharing the bread of life. 28:01 Just as we have a need for physical food, 28:03 there's a hunger for spiritual food. 28:06 Become a team member with us by your prayers and support. |
Revised 2023-02-13