november in india

thanksgiving in india

2009-08-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving in India from Peter Yunho Chung on Vimeo.

Truthseekers Promo

2008-03-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

Right click to download

link to their website.

the shot

2008-02-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

attempting to get a shot of the sign and then pan to the entrance -

take 1

take 2

looks like we're close to having a cut for the promo piece..

what are you doing?

2008-01-04T01:41:00.000-08:00

article and update

2008-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, we hope you had a blessed holidays. We just wanted to let you know that we are making progress. We had a rough assembly of interviews, and we finally exchanged our faulty hard drive. Hopefully our hardware problems are over.

Even after our eye opening experience in India, it is still easy to forget the horrors that still exist in India. here's an article from the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal

UNTOUCHABLE
Brutal Attack in India Shows How Caste System Lives On

By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
December 27, 2007; Page A1

KHAIRLANJI, India -- Not long ago, the Bhotmange family was a showcase of how Dalits, the former "untouchables" at the bottom of India's caste ladder, are improving their lot amid the nation's economic boom.

Forgoing his ancestral occupation of handling rotting cow carcasses, Bhaiyalal Bhotmange set up a tiny wheat and rice farm in this village. The income enabled him to buy a cellphone and educate his three children. His 17-year-old daughter learned English, a rarity here. A son studied computers and enrolled at a local college. "I knew that only through education can we uplift our status," Mr. Bhotmange says. "This was my dream."

Last year, the dream ended. A mob of higher-caste neighbors, angered by the family's refusal to accept their destiny as the lowliest of the low, attacked their home. Mr. Bhotmange's wife and children were dragged out and murdered, their bodies dumped in a canal. Mr. Bhotmange, who had managed to flee, is now a refugee in a nearby city, afraid to venture into Khairlanji.

The killings and their fallout show how the rising aspirations of India's most downtrodden can exacerbate age-old social tensions. A prolonged economic boom has improved the lot of millions of the nation's poorest, including Dalits. Still, despite a ban on "untouchability" and decades of affirmative-action aid to Dalits, the rigid stratification imposed by the Hindu caste system is proving resistant to change, sometimes violently so.

In parts of rural India, in particular, the upward mobility of some is causing tension along caste fault lines. "The actual practice of caste is strengthening, and the [Dalits] are still the main victims," says Buta Singh, an official who heads a federal commission on Dalit issues. The murders at Khairlanji ignited weeks of Dalit rioting that further deepened the divide.

Following the protests, India's federal government took over the investigation late last year. It is only now, as a murder trial moves ahead, that a full picture of what happened here on a rainy fall afternoon is beginning to emerge.

Mr. Bhotmange moved to Khairlanji from a nearby village almost 20 years ago. He claimed a five-acre plot that belonged to his relatives and that, until then, was illegally farmed by higher-caste villagers.

Unwelcome From the Start

Most of the 800 people in this remote village, set on a dirt road amid palms and tamarind trees, hail from the farmer and trader castes known as "kunbi" and "kalar." Pegged below Hindu noble castes such as the priestly Brahmins and the Kshatriya rulers and warriors, they are considered "backward" by the government and entitled to affirmative-action benefits. Their standing, however, is well above that of the Dalits, who are viewed as unclean by the Hindu tradition and who have been confined for millennia to the most demeaning of occupations.

Mr. Bhotmange's family, one of only three Dalit households in Khairlanji, was made unwelcome from the start, he says. The village council refused to recognize him as a resident and barred him from building a permanent home. His hut at the village edge is made of bricks piled atop each other without mortar.

Villagers, he says, usually addressed him as "mahar," a caste slur meaning carcass handler. "I would tell them, 'Please don't call me this way, I have a proper name,'" Mr. Bhotmange says. The village chief, Hasan Dhande, says Dalits are treated with respect here.

Mr. Bhotmange's little farm was a good earner, bringing in almost $2,000 a year, a hefty sum in this area. His wife, Surekha, earned some more by rolling homemade cigarettes. This success and the children's schooling aroused dark envy from higher-caste neighbors, he says: "I earned more from my five acres than they did from 10-acre farms, and they were jealous. They couldn't forgive me."

Worse, his plot lay on the way to some other villagers' holdings. Instead of using a roundabout access road, many drove their tractors and bullock carts straight through his property, and through his crops. He lodged several complaints with the police but got no help. As the dispute escalated, Mr. Bhotmange finally asked a relative of his wife from a nearby village to intervene.

The relative, Siddhartha Gajbhiye, embodied Khairlanji villagers' worst fears about Dalits upending India's age-old social order. A bulky man with thick, meaty fingers, Mr. Gajbhiye had become one of the wealthier local figures, accumulating 47 acres and even employing some higher-caste villagers. He was the "patil," or auxiliary policeman, responsible for settling small disputes in his own village.

Riding his motorcycle into Khairlanji, Mr. Gajbhiye became a frequent visitor to the Bhotmanges, checking on them and arguing with villagers on their behalf. "I never wanted any quarrel," he says. "But what the other villagers wanted from the beginning was to drive them out and to take over their land."

Things came to a head on Sept. 3, 2006. As Mr. Gajbhiye passed through Khairlanji that evening, he was attacked by several men armed with thick bamboo sticks used as cattle prods. The reason is in dispute. Some villagers testified at the murder trial it was retribution for his slapping one of them during an argument over unpaid wages. Mr. Gajbhiye says there was no provocation and that the attackers hurled caste insults and said it was because of him "that Bhotmange has become so arrogant."

Hearing the commotion, Mr. Bhotmange's daughter and wife ran out and confronted the attackers, using the family cellphone to call Mr. Gajbhiye's brother for help. Two weeks later, out of the hospital, Mr. Gajbhiye filed a complaint against the villagers under the Scheduled Caste Prevention of Atrocities Act, which prohibits bail for those accused of crimes against the Dalits.

The local police station, however, registered the incident as simple assault. The officer in charge is now on trial for allegedly taking a bribe to do so. According to witnesses in the murder case, higher-caste villagers told Mr. Bhotmange's wife, Surekha, that the men who beat up Mr. Gajbhiye had the backing of police and politicians, and warned her against testifying.

She defied the threats. The morning of Sept. 29, 2006, 13 village men named by her and her daughter were arrested and taken to court. All were quickly freed on bail. As they set out for home in a tractor-drawn cart, one of them called a Maharashtra state legislator representing a nearby district, Madhukar Kukde.

Mr. Kukde says he was told the villagers believed Mr. Gajbhiye was organizing a gang who would avenge his beating. Mr. Gajbhiye says he had no such plan.

By the time the released villagers reached Khairlanji, they were ready for battle. Unable to find Mr. Gajbhiye, they turned their fury on the Bhotmanges, whose testimony had caused their arrest. The rampage began just as Mr. Bhotmange returned from his field about 6 p.m. Converging at his hut, the gang yelled, "Let's finally cleanse our village of the mahars," according to neighbors interviewed.

Mr. Bhotmange escaped out the back. "I thought that if I weren't in the house, they wouldn't touch the womenfolk," he says ruefully. From Khairlanji, he ran to Mr. Gajbhiye's home in the nearby village. Mr. Gajbhiye says he quickly phoned the police and asked them to rescue the family.

The crowd around the Bhotmanges' hut swelled to some 60 villagers, who by now bayed for blood. Trying to scare them off, Mr. Bhotmange's wife, Surekha, went outside waving a torch and set a cattle shed on fire, according to trial testimony. This only further enraged the mob. One man pulled her by the hair and smashed her head against a drain wall, according to the prosecutors' charge sheet. Then the crowd closed in, pounding her with bamboo sticks, bicycle chains and axes.

'Save Us!'

"First there were shouts of, 'Save us! Save us!' and then just, 'Kill them! Kill them!'" says Gayabai Khandate, a woman whose hut is a few dozen yards away.

The Bhotmange children were dragged out next. "I didn't do anything to you -- do not beat me," 21-year-old Sudhir pleaded before he was bludgeoned at the cow-dung pit, according to witness testimony. After killing him, the mob turned to his brother Roshan, 19, cracking his skull.

The 17-year-old daughter, Priyanka, who tried to hide in the burning cattle shed, was the last to be discovered. After the first few blows of bicycle chains, she lay on the ground, calling out, "Mamma, they killed me," according to witnesses' testimony. "Mamma, I am dead."

Suresh Khandate, in front of whose hut some of the killings occurred, says the frenzied villagers shouted that they had to find and kill Mr. Bhotmange, too. When they noticed that Mr. Khandate -- who, as a member of an aboriginal tribe, falls outside the caste system -- was watching, he says one told him: "Go indoors and keep your mouth shut or you will be next."

As darkness fell and a downpour began, the mob piled the four bodies in a bullock cart and took them to an irrigation canal. The next morning, according to trial testimony, one villager asked a tea-stall vendor for free tea. He explained that he had accidentally destroyed some of his money when he burned a shirt stained with the Bhotmanges' blood.

Mr. Bhotmange returned before dawn to search for his family. Finding only a ransacked hut, he went to the police station. In late morning, while he was waiting, the police received a phone call: The body of a young woman, naked and with the name Priyanka tattooed on her arm, had been spotted floating in a canal. The three other bodies, partly nude, were retrieved from the canal the next day.

Even though Priyanka was found naked, a doctor who performed a post-mortem exam didn't check for signs of rape. Local politicians played down the slaughter. "It had nothing do with caste. It was just a small village conflict about a road. There is no problem between Dalits and others here," says Mr. Kukde, the legislator.

But as the news filtered out, often exaggerated with even more gruesome detail, Dalit neighborhoods exploded throughout the state of Maharashtra. The big industrial city of Nagpur was brought almost to a standstill as protesters set vehicles and storefronts on fire, and at least three people were killed in the area. Days later, Dalit mobs stopped a train between Mumbai and the city of Pune, forcing passengers out and torching the cars.

As Dalit activists from all over India arrived in Khairlanji, they accused the state government of complicity, citing the lack of police response to the Bhotmanges' complaints and the flawed post-mortem. Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil rejects the accusation. He says that, while at least five law-enforcement officials in the Khairlanji area have been suspended for alleged misconduct related to the case, there's no reason to believe their actions were caused by caste prejudice. Some of these officials, he says, are of Dalit origin themselves.

The riots died down only after the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, took over the case. Its agents had a hard time collecting evidence as a pall of silence descended over the village. The CBI filed charges against only 11 of the 47 villagers arrested by local and state police. Ranging in age from 21 to 56, most had lived all their lives in Khairlanji, seeing the Bhotmanges every day. The other suspects, including Mr. Dhande, since elected village chief, have denied wrongdoing and are back in Khairlanji.

The trial has been going on for six months in a dingy, cream-colored room in the district capital of Bhandara, an hour's drive away. On a recent morning, a session in an empty courtroom was quickly adjourned at the request of witnesses who said they needed to work their fields. Lawyers for the 11 defendants say the investigators have charged the wrong men. That's a view partially shared by some Dalit leaders, who contend the main conspirators have escaped because of their political connections. A verdict is expected in around three months.

No Apologies

Mr. Bhotmange has been given a government job as a watchman at Bhandara's Backward Boys Home. He spends his days by a broken window, guarded by a plainclothes policeman who also rides on the back of Mr. Bhotmange's bicycle when he pedals home. Not a single villager from Khairlanji, Mr. Bhotmange says, has come to see him to express regret about the killings. "I think they're happy. They got what they wanted," he says.

Back in the village, dozens of policemen camp in tents around the Bhotmanges' hut, looking out for the property and for the few villagers who testified for the prosecution. Still visible at the hut's door post are pencil marks that recorded the changing heights of the children. Tattered pictures of their favorite Bollywood stars, Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai, are still on the wood.

Otherwise, life in Khairlanji has returned to normal. "The village is very peaceful these days," says Krushna Titirmare, whose bullock cart was used -- without his knowledge, he says -- to dispose of the bodies. "There are no quarrels anymore."

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

urgent prayer request from India

2007-12-21T17:26:00.000-08:00

When the Newsong LA film team was in India, one of our greatest blessing (besides the crazy delicious food) was the wonderful beautiful people of India and the ministry workers we became friends with there. Unfortunately, it is common that the workers of our Lord's ministry of Love is met with resistance. The Sardar family have face persecution in the form of repeated Visa denials. Here is their urgent prayer request. Please pray for them and God's ministry in India.

Dear Beloved Who Pray,

It has been an eventful season for us...Thanksgiving in India was amazing! The Truthseekers family along with 68 guests from the U.S. washed the feet of the lower caste. We gave them a moment where we could look up into their faces and express the love of Christ. We caressed the feet of those who, in some places, are not allowed to wear their shoes. Not allowed to touch a cup. Not allowed to walk a path or enter a door or study in school. This is simply by means of their birth. It is impossible to describe the evil of this system on paper. When you come, you can see it.

In the midst of the joy of the season as we celebrate the birth and life of our Saviour, we are experiencing evil of a different kind. I am including an excerpt from my last letter, so I won’t have to re explain, but just give you an update for prayer.

My Visa Battle

continues to rage. Upon our return to Indiana, it became clear that the Indian government was not going to give me a visa without much prayer and persistence. This has been a decade long battle, and we are weary. My name is on the blacklist, so it is always a complication for me to enter and exit India. I was told at my departure that I would not be able to re enter, so it cast a shadow over our entire summer. However, through much prayer and persistence, I was granted a 3 month tourist visa. We are in process of applying for an extension as we work with the home ministry department and our dedicated friend and lawyer to get my name removed. No one that we know in the history of this list has ever been removed. Also, no one has been placed on it that is married to an Indian national. Above all else, this situation needs to be bathed in prayer. The case the government has “built” against me is absolutely false. We believe it has been one of Satan’s deepest strongholds, and we also believe God has his purpose for not releasing it until now...even if we don’t understand. We also believe the spiritual climate is shifting and we are on the winning side!

Above is the history...the update is on December 18^th a brief letter was delivered to me by the Home Ministry.

It said, “Your request for an extension of visa has been considered and denied. You are therefore advised to go back within the validity of your present visa, December 20, 2007.” I wrote a rebuttal letter stating the impossibility of my return by that date and the reasons why. For the last 2 days, Sunil has been meeting with high profile government officials. We had a meeting with the President’s personal secretary and others. Phone calls and inquiries have been made, but yesterday Sunil was told that I would need to buy a ticket to leave until the case is settled. We still have hope to settle it without my departure as that would be an incredible emotional trauma for our family for a myriad of reasons. Sunil says about the only people who could make a decision to reverse the order are the Home Minister or the Prime Minister. The personal secretary of Sonia Gandhi is also involved.

In the meantime, we have Christmas festivities and friends coming abroad to celebrate the New Year with us. We feel a cloud over our celebrations, but we are, as I said above, on the winning side. Whatever the outcome, God is bigger than all these authorities combined. It is in HIS Hands! However, our contribution is fervent prayer, and Friends, we are asking you to mobilize whatever prayer you can on our behalf.

We will keep you informed!

May the beauty of His presence rest with you in this season!
Pam for us

yes, there will be updates

2007-12-10T22:41:00.001-08:00

and yes, please keep checking this site for those updates on our editing process.

Just wanted to say another heartfelt thanks to those who supported us. If you are new to this blog, feel free to relive our trip by reading the old posts.

Also, please keep praying for the post production. We had a minor hiccup with a hard drive failure. We didn't lose any India footage, just man hours...and by man, I mean Peter. But from now on, a continued speedy and flowing post production would be nice.

If you would like to support TruthSeekers, you may do so here.

as for the editing process, we're sifting through hours of footage and thousands of photos, simultaneously capturing tapes and converting files. A lot of computer processing at this point (aka waiting for the solid bar to move from left to right).

I guess if our editing process had a solid bar moving from left to right, it would be closer to the left side.

thanks for reading!

preview

2007-12-03T00:49:00.000-08:00

we were asked to show something for our return from India.

India for the Eyes

2007-11-27T01:39:00.000-08:00

(mostly) non project related pictures (from jenny and gary). All the project related ones are on a hard drive somewhere.

postpartum

2007-11-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

I miss India.

It's great to be home. It really is. But I can't help but feel a bit of postpartum anxiety being separated from India. I miss the vibrant colors of the sarees and the great Indian food at the truthseekers office. I miss our new friends and I miss my teammates. Most of all though, I miss being part of His plan 24/7. I miss being inspired by the great men and women of India who work for His Kingdom with reckless abandon.

It was always our intention to bring the mission back home. Not to leave the mission-mindedness behind in India. But it's hard to come back to your life and not settle back into the old way of doing things. You begin to rely on yourself again. In India, being so dependent on God and on your teammates made things so real. So simple. I miss that.

50 hours of footage. Thousands of photos. I know that our mission begins now.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue our mission. That we don't settle back into the comfort of our lives, but remain focused on God and His Kingdom.

fyi - we're back

2007-11-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

that's all. more later. pray for peter's health. I think it's all hitting him now. Exactly what is hitting him? Not sure.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T03:08:00.000-08:00

here are some pictures that show more of us in action.

Action packed, aren't they? as you can see in the first picture, our crew was huge.

The last picture is of this guy who wanted his picture taken (this happened a lot at the events, esp with kids) but then he wanted a copy. Hard to do without a polaroid or email. So I wrote down this blog address and maybe he'll find it. Not sure if he understood what I was telling him . But if you do end up finding this, man in green, Happy Thanksgiving!

We're all sick but Jenny might have some minor food poisoning. Two 5 hour train rides yesterday didn't help esp. the one back (roach infested). So me and her are spending Thanksgiving in as the other groups dine together. Hopefully the pizza will get here soon.

Sheer Skill

2007-11-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

One more post,

So here in Delhi, you can imagine with the amount of people here the traffic is a nightmare. However, we don't have a problem with traffic when you have a driver like Diol (spelling). This guy has an ability to squeeze an SUZ between a bicycle ricshaw and a cow with only inches of clearance. We get through traffic with a cut off of a cow here, narrowly passing between small autos, and other cars. The level of skill is astonishing.

Bravo

What the heck?

2007-11-20T06:13:00.000-08:00

I find that the level of inhumane treatment that the Dallits get in India just sickens me. To treat an animal better than that of a human is just insane. The treatment here is like as somebody here put it, "as long as you have somebody below you, you're ok". People here live out their life according to what caste you're in, do it well so that when you die, and you get reincarnated you can come back at a higher caste so that you can dish out the crap to somebody below you. People are so fearful to come back in a new life thats even less than the caste they are in now. Sounds insane huh? Its reminds me of a hazing thing in fraternaties.

That thing about "don't believe everything it says in print or in history books"?? Well its true for India. The west has such a distorted picture of India. If you were to ask which country has more human rights violations between India and China, I guess people would ordinarily pick China. However I would say they're the same. India's treatment of the lower caste here is almost satanic.

Picture this, about 70% of the population here is of the lowest caste. The rest are either the highest castes and foreigners. Now with 1.2 billion people here in India that makes it about 800 million people living in conditions that we as westerners would consider demeaning. Thats about 15% of the worlds population.

I guess if after this experience with my trip to India and Thailand is that there is so much to do about the injustices of people here in the world. Who's gonna do it? Don't know. Hopefully messages like ours will start to put an end to it.

Sorry for the rant, I guess i'm just pissed.

no photography

2007-11-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

there was this sign at the Taj but pretty much everyone ignored it. When we got to the entrance, there was a nice single file line which seemed odd for India. About a minute later, some people pierced the queue and beelined for the entrance, causing a mad rush to enter. So... we had to wait in a mob and squeeze through to go in.

McDonalds has the sign too. Not sure why. Maybe b/c they have different menu items. Contextualization. Marketing. Segway - a lot of what Sunil's ministry does is contextualize the gospel into Hindu culture, possibly rubbing evangelicals the wrong way. Basically, God has been revealing Himself to the Indian people in their language and he's just continuing the process. Westerners don't need to bring the gospel to these people. God is already working here. It just needs to be pointed out to them.. if that makes sense.

Lately, we've been eating more McDonalds. Peter loves the Tiki burger? McTiki? but we miss the office food.

The last picture is of us on a chai break in the office. Office food usually consists of some daal, tasty veggies, rice and something like naan.

The first 2 footwashing events went well. Was a tad chaotic last night due to the swarms of people, but today it was better. One more tomorrow. We have to take a 5 hour train ride there but anything's better than the 5 1/2 hour rollercoaster ride to the Taj. Complete with intermittent 5.0 richter scale bumps, tailgating within a foot of huge trucks at 50 mph, constant honking, slow vehicles, tractors pulling into traffic, scooters going the opposite direction in the shoulder and random sudden merging. I think there were 2 wrecks on the road home. Exciting stuff.

some of us are sick and allergic to stuff. Continue to pray for our health, for the footwashing events and for India.

untitled

2007-11-18T07:03:00.000-08:00

What a(n incredible) day!

2007-11-17T09:59:00.001-08:00

We started our day at 5:30am to see the Taj Mahal. Most of us seem to be still jet lagged so getting up at 5am seems to not affect us much. Besides, various types of noises on the street seem to wake us up; like firecrackers, then there's SUPER loud fire crackers that sound like there's a war from a distance, music playing at 3:30am, dogs barking, pigeons hooting, street vendors chanting, and so on but... all this makes up the beauty of India.

Two other teams also joined us to see the Taj, one of them we are staying with now.

I was under the impression the drive was only two and a half hours away-it was roughly 5 hours. It was quite a bumpy ride-I think it was a combination of bad road and the bad suspension of the bus. What was most interesting on this journey to Agra (city of Taj Mahal) was to see cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles and wheel carts being pulled by either horses/camels or cows all being shared on one road. Truly amazing. The funniest thing I saw today was a cow pulling a wheel cart while the driver was sleeping.

India has absolutely no safety regulations. It's completely normal to see three to four on a motorcycle, a women sitting sideways on the back of the motorcycle holding her baby or 11 people in a typical 5 passenger vehicle.

Anyhow, orientation begins tomorrow for the Truthseekers International footwashing event. Although we are not actually participating in the footwashing, please pray that God will help us capture the right moments (whether it be through interviews and/or the actual event) to expand his kingdom.

The people of India are truly amazing. I have learned so much about this country by being here. Please also pray for the people of India-especially for those that don't know Jesus as their savior.

One more thing, we are all now addicted to "Chai" tea. We look forward to the twice daily compulsory chai.

Sunday 11/18-

Praise God, He has blessed us again with a wonderful day. This morning we had an interview session with Sunil Sardar. It went very well and it was very informative. Afterwards, he prayed for us which was a blessing. Sunil is truly a servant of God and we have great faith that He will use him in mighty ways.

Today was orientation in which all the teams gathered. There are approximately 70 of us. We were told double from last year! Hallelujah!

Tomorrow will be our first foot washing event. Please pray that not only will we be able to capture the right moments but the people of India will come to know Christ through this incredible event. We interviewed a caste leader who said last year's event caused him to come to know Jesus. He saw the westerners washing the feet of lowest people and this caused him to wonder why they would do this. Anyway, pray for more stories like that.

2007-11-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

Well it's early Saturday morning. Were getting ready to head down to the Taj Mahal. Apparently, its a tourist trap for not only tourist from America and all over but millions of Indians go there to visit as well.

Were taking a much needed day off and taking a 3 hour bus ride down to the Taj Mahal. The week previous has been hard and rewarding. Hard because we're working constantly and having to endure the incredible noise, air, everything else pollution. It is incredible polluted here, going outside is like striking up a cigarette every minute.

Well pray for us.

a few select photos

2007-11-16T05:36:00.000-08:00

this might be the last post for awhile.. we're changing our place of stay and don't know the internet situation at the new place..

today, we went out to visit some of the footwashing sites. If you read the last post, you would know this. A lot different than where we're staying. Lots of animals roaming, cows, pigs, dogs, et cetera. It's hard to put into words.

here are some pictures. Not from today.. but I didn't look at them too carefully..just wanted to get something visual up here. Yooch on the balcony of TruthSeekers, some food, Peter trying on some new clothes, us taking pictures and the back of my head...

we're off to the Taj tomorrow for our day off. no big deal..if you do a web search on Taj Mahal you might be able to find some photos of it. Good luck.

some answers to your questions

2007-11-15T04:22:00.001-08:00

thank you thank you thank you for all your prayers. Our stomachs are fine so far and the food is good. The TruthSeekers office prepares lunch for everyone everyday so since the last few days, we've been doing interviews there, we get lunch. Have I mentioned that it's superb?

The day after our lights blew, someone showed up with some old movie lights. They didn't have plugs on them, but wires and he would use a screwdriver to jam the wires into the outlets. Maybe that's what we should've done.

The interviews have been going well for the most part. Good stories. God is good (But you know that). Tomorrow we'll be traveling out and about to the sites of the footwashing to try and get some pre-interviews and other footage.

We continue to be humbled by the hospitality and love of our hosts. There's a delay in pictures b/c we're shooting RAW and have to convert them. Sorry. I can tell you that the color scheme of the environment is mostly browns. Apparently, we smoke 2 packs a day by breathing the air here. Some of us might get addicted.

In the next few days, other teams from the US will be coming in to participate in the footwashing. Pray for their safe arrival with all their bags. A few flights have been delayed. Is the weather bad over there?

lights, camera, action sans lights

2007-11-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

for the most part, interviews went well.. had problems with the voltage and burned out most our lights .. we had a converter but something about the fluctuating current kept blowing out the CFL's. We have 2 left.

But today, more interviews, a lecture, then interviews.

India is quite dirty. You can tell what's in the air when you blow your nose. There aren't any laws about burning trash so the smell of stuff-on-fire looms in the air constantly. When we landed the other night, the pilot said it was "smogey". Yes, smogey indeed.

We had a devotional with Sunil (the founder of TruthSeekers). quick tidbit - We shouldn't love money and use people. We should love people and use money.

Oh, we got all our luggage. Time to go.

fyi - we made it

2007-11-12T06:16:00.001-08:00

after about 24 hours of travel, we landed.. 2 of our bags didnt make the transfer but thats okay. Yooch didnt need to brush his teeth that bad.. But he has his bag now, which we're all really happy about. We're also super thankful for our hosts who have been super hospitable and super helpful. Super.

So the goal today was to stay awake and good news. Mission accomplished. We spent some time with Truthseekers, talking about God in India over chai and a superb lunch. Then we stuck 5 of us in an auto (auto rickshaw), 6 including the driver and went to India Gate.

right now, Peter and Yooch are out to buy Peter some traditional shirts.. Jenny fell asleep immediately after dinner and me? well, you can probably guess what i'm doing..

tomorrow is all interviews.

waiting...

2007-11-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

it's that time when you're waiting for your ride to the airport, unsure of how to fill the 20 or so minutes. backs packed. am i forgetting anything? scan the apartment. scan it again..

perfect time to blog! well, maybe not. but that's what's happening. jenny's brushing her teeth. peter and yooch are .. who knows where? waiting for their ride as well, probably. Not sure what to expect, but excited for what God has in store.

and then we'll be at the airport.. waiting again. waiting for boarding. waiting for take off. waiting for landing.

and maybe you'll be waiting for us to update this blog.. hopefully soon, but not sure for sure. (maybe I should've titled this "not sure for sure").

But until then - Thanks again for all your prayers, support, love... and thanks for reading.

the weather. (people ask about this)

2007-11-07T11:37:00.001-08:00

10-Day Forecast

NEW: Larger Radar Maps & No Ads

		High / Low (°F)	Precip. %
Thu Nov 08	Sunny	88°/62°	20 %
Fri Nov 09	Sunny	88°/63°	20 %
Sat Nov 10	Sunny	87°/62°	20 %
Sun Nov 11	Sunny	87°/60°	10 %
Mon Nov 12	Sunny	88°/60°	0 %
Tue Nov 13	Sunny	87°/59°	10 %
Wed Nov 14	Sunny	86°/58°	10 %
Thu Nov 15	Sunny	84°/57°	0 %
Fri Nov 16	Sunny	83°/55°	0 %

God is so good

2007-11-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Our team is leaving for India in a few days. The past month and a half in preparation for our India trip has been an incredible journey. As most of you know I experienced different forms of spiritual attack. One of them was not being able to sleep for a whole week! It was awful. The enemy was doing everything in his power to discourage me from going to this once in lifetime experience.

As I clung to God for comfort I realized that I was growing stronger and closer to Him. In addition, I ran across a few people whom I felt God's loving arms wrap around me and reassure me that everything was going to be okay.

One of the most important things I've learned during this time was that He ALWAYS provides. As most of you know my job situation has been a haunted rollercoaster, literally. I can definitely say that I've experienced more in the past two years than an average person will in their lifetime.

As some of you know I was offered a position at Edmunds. Unfortunately they were not able to follow through because of my absence on our India trip. I was so bummed.

About a week later, they decided to offer me another position that opened up. Even when sacrifices are made for God, He will bless you ten folds more.

Praise God, He is good!

Anxious Anticpation

2007-11-02T00:26:00.000-07:00

Well we're coming up to just almost a week away from our trip. Its basically a week till we leave, and i've realized that in the week, my income would probably match that of somebody's year income in India if not less. Its weird, that I can sit here on a computer typing away when people half way around the world are living on what I pay to do one load of laundry per day.

This is why I really encourage people to go on mission trips to see how God has blessed us with what we have. As the Bible says, beyond shelter and food, everything else is a blessing. I wish more and more people realize. With this mission trip and the topic currently running at church, its shameful the amount of money I waste on spending. I think i'm gonna save money more now. Ramen and water from now on haha.

Seriously, though. We should be mindful of injustice, global warming, michael vicks, of the world. We only have one Earth. Lets do something to protect it.

In the immortal words I saw on a Tshirt. Life is short, pray hard.

another...

2007-10-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

...article that points to the injustice in India

here.

giants in India

2007-10-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I hope I don't get squished.

I'm starting to feel like we've been called to capture the actions of giants. To use an analogy in our training materials: I feel bit like a mouse in a ring with elephants. And getting squished is a real possibility.

The more I learn about India, the more I meet giant men of God who have been faithfully obeying the Lord for years. Men who have received big visions from God. Men who are putting everything on the line.

I've been frustrated with my inability to cast the vision of what God is doing in India. I just don't know where to begin. It always seems like my mind goes to the small individual stories.

Here's one story on Newsong Live, from one of the giants I mentioned.

The Journey Continues "A Cry..."

A Cry…
I almost brushed “Sonja”, not quite touched, as I leaned over to get water from the kitchen sink, in Hyderabad India. The servant girl “Sonja” pulled back with perfuse apologies and stretched her hand toward me and then putting it to her bowed head in utter submission time and time again. I did not speak her language yet it was unmistakably clear she was seeking forgiveness and acknowledging submission and accepting my superiority.

I was embarrassed, shocked and taken aback. I did not know how to respond especially when nothing wrong was done. Even if there had been a mistake it was a shocking response. I was visibly surprised and quickly I sought privacy in my room to get a handle on it. Why was this normal hardworking young woman so distraught by the possibility of a slight brush of another human?

I was daunted that ‘Sonja’ was conditioned in her social and belief system that she is not equal but less of other humans in her world. I remember Sunil Sardar explaining that, Hinduism as taught by the Brahmins and believed by the vast population that the few were created from the head to rule and the others from shoulders, side and the leg or the foot to be servants and untouchable. They believe Brahmins are higher cast being created from the head, rest are to slavery of the mind to believe in their fate.

Latter that week David Lall from the Madhya Pradesh, India, in a meeting was relating to us the terror of a woman from one village who was forced to sleep with the Hindu priest, a spiritual leader before she would be allowed to be married in his village. He said the lower caste woman submits without resistance regularly and they take the place without question because of the Cast slavery in India. Even though this practice is outlawed and illegal, no protection of any kind is provided and hence the practice goes on even now.

I was so incensed and visibly upset that I had to excuse myself to get it together before I returned. I wondered how could we be talking about it so matter of factly? Is there any ounce of outrage left for justice and human dignity in us any longer? I could not sleep that night. Sorrow engulfed my soul and anger and rage within me began to build as I imagined what would I have done if this girl were my own precious, fragile and beautiful daughter?

I could not contain myself and I cried and sobbed like there was no end, and asked God to help me in any way to bring His freedom to these 850 million backward caste caught up in the cross road of slavery and awful abuse. It was not easy to own up to this about my own country. I with intense grief questioned how could I be so free while so many of my innocent brothers and sisters were being raped by these ruthless religious hooligans.

I keep asking why me? I am not ready for a task so impossible and I don’t trust myself to keep my cool, if I am ever to encounter face to face such gross prejudice and human indignity. I know the afflictions of these people have taken apiece right out of my heart for sure. I can’t wipe them out of my mind, and my soul is perpetually heavy. I am for the first time beginning to grasp why my master has been called ‘a man of sorrow’. He is showing me the plane delays, discomfort of flying long distance, jetlags, being alone at times and mosquitoes, are nothing in comparison to people’s suffering in their abject poverty and cruel discrimination.

Ecclesiastes 7:4
“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of merrymaking.” This is a heard lesson for me to learn that I must seek to be connected with suffering Indian people and not disengage or mask the grief of their pain. It is my prayer that, I rather have my heart in the house of morning with those who weep than be elsewhere.

Lot of questions: How will my family deal with the call of this intensity and magnitude? Will the churches see this as a call or be lost in its own agenda? Will friends see this as hype or a heartfelt cry of the people in slavery for help? Will people abandon us because this is too out there for their comfort? Will the free world respond with compassion? Will there be coming together or splitting apart on this call...? I don’t know about you but as for me please pray that I will do as “He will” and will not excuse myself...

Hopefully a faithful seeker,
Jaipaul

what time is it?

2007-10-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

Out of curiosity, I decided to check the local time in New Delhi. It's currently 2:17am here and 2:47pm there. I never knew a time zone could be a half hour off. Interesting...

Please keep praying. It's come to our attention that there may be individuals who might not like what we're doing over there, and might try to sabotage or interfere. Please pray for protection. On the flip side, people keep telling us how blessed we'll be on our trip. So we can choose to think about our fears or the blessings... Sure, we may come into contact with opposition, but I am confident (in the Lord) that the blessings will far outweigh any trouble.

2 weeks to go. Then it's 11 hours to London and 8 more to India where it's 12 1/2 hours ahead. Trying to figure out what book to buy for the plane....

articles

2007-10-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

a pair of recent articles on India

this one involves monkeys.

the one below was forwarded to peter by his sister.

The New York Times
September 27, 2007

New Delhi Journal

Picking Up Trash by Hand, and Yearning for Dignity

By AMELIA GENTLEMAN

NEW DELHI — After a bad day at work, Manorama Begum can hardly keep from vomiting. After a good day, she is merely disinclined to eat for a few hours, until the stench has receded from her nostrils and her fingernails have been scrubbed clean.

A garbage collector in India's capital, Ms. Begum is one of 300,000 little-seen workers who perform a vital role for the city: rifling through the detritus of modern life, recycling anything of worth and carefully disposing of the rest.

More than 95 percent of New Delhi has no formal system of house-to-house garbage collection, so it falls to the city's ragpickers, one of India's poorest and most marginalized groups, to provide this basic service. They are not paid by the state, relying instead on donations from the communities they serve and on meager profits from the sale of discarded items.

But after centuries of submissive silence, the waste collectors are beginning to demand respect.

On Oct. 2, Gandhi's birthday, the Delhi state government will make a small but significant concession. In response to pressure from a ragpickers' union, it will supply about 6,000 with protective gloves, boots and aprons.

For now, though, they still pick through refuse — shards of glass smeared with the remains of yesterday's dinner, broken shoes mixed in with rotting meat — with bare hands.

This is the first time the government has made any effort to recognize this band of essential workers, and the moment will be marked with a celebration near the city's Gandhi memorial.

"Looking after rubbish, anywhere in the world, is not dignified," said J. K. Dadoo, the secretary of Delhi's Environment Ministry. "The very fact that we have acknowledged that we need to look after their health is a tremendous acknowledgment of their dignity."

The waste collectors are underwhelmed by the move. They do not want gloves, they say. They want wages, pensions, health care, uniforms that they hope will discourage police harassment, education for their children and decent housing.

The waste disposal system here is informal yet highly organized. Its capacity to recycle plastics and paper is efficient beyond the dreams of the most progressive recycling nations in the West. In a society where hundreds of millions live in desperate poverty, everything has a value and nothing is redundant. Most strikingly, the city's neglect of those who perform this service is typical of a much broader blindness toward those excluded from India's blossoming economy.

Ms. Begum, 35, learns much about humanity during her daily rounds of 350 government apartments occupied by low-ranking state employees in south Delhi. Sifting through the onion peels, chickpeas and half-eaten chapatis, she can tell which families are struggling and which are feeling flush. From her fleeting encounters with them every morning, she knows which households consist of good people and which she would rather avoid.

There are the hard-up families, who save their plastic milk cartons to sell to passing dealers for a few extra rupees. There are the generous ones, like those who recently donated money for Ms. Begum's 16-year-old daughter's wedding. There are the mean-spirited, who never give the expected monthly donation of 10 rupees, or 25 cents, she needs to feed her four children.

"If everyone paid me, I'd earn 3,500 rupees," she said, about $88. "I never even get 1,500," about $38.

She has other ways of gleaning a return for her work. Finding good food discarded among the litter, she transfers it to a separate plastic bag. Later she will give it to one of the dairies whose cows wander the streets of Delhi, in exchange for milk for her younger children.

The work is exhausting, but she said that after 14 years she had developed stamina.

Her husband, Muhammad Nazir, who works in a more affluent area, said he could see the city's transformation in the trash he handled. "People are earning more, they are spending more, they are throwing more stuff away now that Delhi has got rich," he said.

But it remains hard to scrape an existence from the refuse of middle-class life. The couple separate the vegetable matter from plastic bags (about 2 to 3 cents per 2.2 pounds), newspapers (2 to 3 cents) and glass bottles (about 18 cents), then take the salable items for sorting in their nearby slum, where the middleman is based. On average, they each earn 30 to 50 rupees a day, about 76 cents to $1.26.

In a home made from items salvaged on their rounds (the walls lined with flattened cardboard boxes; the ceiling patched with automobile floor mats), they express bitterness about their lives. "It is the poverty that makes us do this work," Ms. Begum said. "If I had an alternative, I wouldn't be doing it. Who would like to collect garbage?"

At a meeting of ragpickers organized by a support group called Chintan, the government's plan was met with little satisfaction. Several people told of beatings by police officers suspicious of their presence in residential areas in the early morning. Some said the city authorities refused to grant them space for sorting recyclable goods, and constantly harassed them to move on.

"They are providing us with gloves and boots just so we don't get sick and stop working," Mr. Nazir said. "If we stop, who is going to do this work instead of us? They know they won't find other people who are willing. Within two days the whole city would be stinking and filthy."

Ironic

2007-10-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Isn't it ironic that the Cleveland Indians are doing so well in the ALCS and we're going to India. It is definitely a sign.

I think the most interesting part of this trip was how spontaneous it was from the start. It was just Pastor Adam coming up to me and asking if I wanted to go to India. Then I pull Peter into the conversation and then BAM!!!!. Its on. I think its Legen....... wait for it....... dary. Phone five.

I'm really looking forward to what this video can become. A tool to spark people's interest. To make people aware of the crap that these OBC's (other backward castes) have to endure in India. When I say crap, I mean it literally for some individuals in India. Hopefully, this will make more people want to do something about the injustices not only in India but in our own backyard. I have to say that i'm ashamed at the lack of voter turnout in the U.S. to change things.

In the immortal words of Michael Jackson from the song, Man in the Mirror. Make that change.

Schedule in India

2007-10-18T01:22:00.000-07:00

Our rough schedule in India. Thank you Steve Smith so much for all your hard work on this.

Mon, Nov 12- Team arrives, 1:25am. Sleep, rest. Devotions, visit Jama Masjiid (mosque) and Old Delhi to get a flavor for how the majority of urban Indians live. Goal- stay awake.

Tues, Nov 13- Day of interviews- Sardars, Smiths, and others as listed below.

Wed, Nov 14- Film Sunil’s cultural keys.

Thurs, Nov 15- Film Sunil’s cultural keys. Come to small group at Smith house (not for filming purpose, simply for refreshment and fellowship).

Fri, Nov 16- Day off- visit Agra.

Sat, Nov 17- Pre-visit to Delhi footwashing site for interviews of footwash-ees.

Sun, Nov 18- Orientation and Satsung

Mon, Nov 19- Footwashing Program- Uttar Pradesh site- 100 km away.

Tues, Nov 20- Footwashing Program- Dehli site.

Wed, Nov 21- Footwashing Program- Agra site- transport by train.

Thurs, Nov 22- Sleep in. Afternoon Worship and Thanksgiving Meal.

Fri, Nov 23 - Possible revisit of compelling footwashee, etc.

Sat, Nov 24 - Team departs, 6:55am

outings

2007-10-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

we've had a few outings leading up to the trip.

one saturday, we took our cameras and went into downtown to take some pictures. here are some of them. It was downtown on a saturday so it was pretty dead. I imagine India will be a bit more crowded.

we also went to see the Darjeeling Limited. The opening scene is of Bill Murray in a speeding taxi, weaving through traffic, people and animals as he rushes to catch a train. Seeing India got me excited to go.. seeing the movie got me excited about filmmaking. simultaneous excitement.

we went to this place Pink Taco after. slightly overpriced. get the tacos.

our brothers in India

2007-10-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I said goodbye to my mentor and older brother Nitro as he left his position as Director of Creative Arts Ministry at my church: Newsong LA. On stage, I stumbled on my words as I struggled to find the right things to say thank you for all that he's done for me. My gratitude for all the love that God has poured through this man. Then the miracle of it all hit me.

Who would look at this skinny four-eyed Asian kid and this tough stocky black man and guess that we were brothers? And I mean REAL brothers. Who would guess that this former engineer from South Korea and this former music producer from South Bronx would be thick as thieves?

That is the blessing of my church. No... that is the blessing of THE church. That every week I worship with a little slice of what heaven will look like. Not just with people that look like me. And that I serve in the trenches with people I never imagined I would serve with.

And now that brings us to India. I am asked all the time, why we're going. Yes, we're going because of the 750 million Indians of lower castes who have been systemically oppressed for 3000 years. And yes, we will shoot a documentary that we believe will help the fight against that oppression. But above all, it is because our brothers in India are our REAL brothers in Christ. And we will worship with them. And we will serve in the trenches with them, as they fight and follow God's command:

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Psalms 82:3 (KJV)

immunizations

2007-10-15T13:20:00.001-07:00

im not sure if I'm allowed to post the same day as Peter, but I'll check on that later..

so when I went to get immunizations, I was unaware that meningitis was a problem in India.. Maybe it was a scam, but the nice lady described it this way - you can get it by just standing around and then you'll feel flu like symptoms. Then you'll go home and die. So I went ahead and got that one.. please pray for those of us who didn't..

the funniest comment I've heard about our picture was from a friend of Tracy (if you don't know her, it's not super important.. no offense, Tracy) who said something like this - They're letting that little kid go to India?

..or maybe it was the saddest comment..

letter

2007-10-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

We hope all is well in your life as we would like to share some exciting news in ours. We’re going to India. “Why?” you ask. Well, keep reading.

The four of us have been invited to document an event put on by Truthseekers International over the Thanksgiving holiday. If you click the link at the end of this sentence, you’ll see information on the event from their Footwashing India brochure (link)…Okay, done reading?

As you know, we dabble in film, video and photography. Some of us are even lucky enough to make a living at it. As artists, we have a unique gift that can not only bless Truthseekers and the Indian people, but also you at home. We’re called to be witnesses of the gospel and this event is the gospel in action. What better way to demonstrate God’s love for people than through honoring, blessing, praying for and washing the feet of Indian peoples who have been rejected for centuries in India? And we get to witness this grand act of love. Not only that, God has blessed us with the opportunity to bring back the words and actions of our brothers and sisters in India back to you. This opportunity is tailor made for us to use our talents to bless others…and by tailor, we mean God.

Join us, will you? Here’s the help we need. Most importantly, please partner with us in prayer. Some things to pray for:

- God’s protection against spiritual and physical obstacles
- Sensitivity to His will
- A collaborative attitude
- That we can capture this event honestly and truthfully

Also, our goal is to raise $2500 each for airfare, food, production costs and other living expenses while in India. We will be leaving on November 10th and coming back on the 24th. Please send your support by November 3rd (checks payable to NewSong Church, tax deductible - write INDIA MISSION in subject line if you dont have a reponse card) to:

NewSong Church
5800D Hannum Ave
Suite D
Culver City, CA 90230

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.

Love and Blessings,
Jenny and Gary, Peter, Yooch